Jennifer Murphy: Cut and Paste

Since she graduated from Queen’s University a decade ago, Toronto artist Jennifer Murphy has been gradually charming gallery-goers with her playful but well-weighed collage works. Though these collages (which the artist has also called drawings, and some have compared to paintings) are terrific in traditional 2-D, Murphy has also been trying to push the strategy into sculpture and installation, using cutouts from magazines, books and newspapers to paper over and renew the white cube. Her strategy will be in full view this week as Paul Petro’s ground floor space opens a show comprised of Murphy’s new wall works and sculptures—from rainbow-enclosing spheres of text to delicate webs of animal life, the exhibit promises to please. Upstairs, historic 1970s works by Suzy Lake and Bill Jones provide a different take on pastiche, with Lake posing as publishing-heiress-cum-bank-robber Patty Hearst. (980 Queen St W, Toronto ON)