Features
In the Atmosphere
On January 20, 2021, Jill Biden highlighted a Robert S. Duncanson painting at the US inauguration reception. Find out about Duncanson’s years in Montreal and connections with Canadian artists in this story from our Fall 2020 issue, “Chroma”
In the Atmosphere
On January 20, 2021, Jill Biden highlighted a Robert S. Duncanson painting at the US inauguration reception. Find out about Duncanson’s years in Montreal and connections with Canadian artists in this story from our Fall 2020 issue, “Chroma”
Collage Crimes: Maddin Remixed
Indie film favorite Guy Maddin trades the director’s chair for a seat at the curatorial helm of “Collage Crimes,” an exhibition featuring new and reimagined versions of his films, as well as a spotlight on collages by art collective Ordnance Pictures.
John Bladen Bentley: Archival-Prints Charming
John Bladen Bentley is a contemporary master of the colour carbon transfer print, a nineteenth-century photographic process. Its colour fidelity elevates the mundane into the monumental, and creates photographs whose lifespan rivals those of paintings.
The Quebec Triennial: Altmejd, and Alternatives
With David Altmejd creating one of the biggest Canada coups ever for the Venice Bienniale last summer and Michel de Broin winning the Sobey (as well as some court cases) this past year, Quebec artists are at the forefront of our national scene. Now the Quebec Triennial, opening in Montreal this weekend, offers viewers a survey of the scene’s strengths under one roof.
Arnaud Maggs: Contaminations and Other Conventions
Arnaud Maggs’s latest photo exhibit, “Contamination,” is based on a ledger from the Yukon gold rush. In the artist’s hands, this marred, mouldy book unexpectedly reads as a broken fever that speaks to material desires and delusional dreams.
KRAZY!: Going Ga-Ga for Comics and Animation
You don’t have to be a Lichtenstein, Petitbon or Huyghe to know that comics, cartoons and anime provide ample fodder for contemporary artmaking. But are these dime-store mags and virtual-world videos art themselves? “KRAZY!” is a new blockbuster show which attempts to make the case that yes, by Jiminy Cricket, they are.
MANIF 4: A Certain Je Ne Sais Toi
When our nation’s anglo culturati get together for a little misery-loves-company love-in, a particular (if needless) complaint often surfaces: “Why are there no Canadian biennials?” Of course, the reason these complaints are so needless (and so niggling) is that there are already some good internationally inclusive biennials north of the 49th.
Arena: The Art of Hockey
From street riots to silver cups, Arena’s varied works demonstrate the continued power that hockey holds over our national psyche.
Aude Moreau and Charles Stankievech: Sweetness and Cosmic Sounds
While French artist Aude Moreau’s sprawling Tapis de sucre # 3 is made from more than two tonnes of refined white sugar, there’s nothing sweet about the troubled colonial histories it implies. In contrast, Montreal artist Charles Stankievech’s multi-media installation Constellations offers a clever play on silence and entropy.
Max Wyse: Naïve no More
The BC-bred and Montreal-based artist Max Wyse has made his way onto a few best-of art lists in his adopted city lately—and looking at this exhibition of paintings on Plexiglas, it’s easy to see why.
Eric Cameron: Thick, Thicker, Thickest
Eric Cameron has created a remarkable body of process-determined conceptual art. The veteran Canadian artist is best known for his Thick Paintings in which everyday objects—an alarm clock, a beer bottle, a book of matches, a head of lettuce—are subjected to repeated layerings of gesso (some up to 10,000).