David Altmejd The Eye 2010–11 Installation view / photo Christine Guest, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
A variety of Quebec artists, dealers, curators and galleries are in the running for awards to be handed out at Montreal’s Gala des arts visuels next month.
The second annual gala, which takes place December 12, aims to recognize and celebrate outstanding contributions to the visual arts scene in Quebec, and to strengthen ties between members of the art community. Prizes will be awarded for gallerist of the year; best exhibition of the year for private gallery, artist-run centre, municipal arts centre and museum categories; best review of the year; and best curatorial project, among other sectors.
David Altmejd is nominated for the public art award for his work The Eye outside the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal’s new Bourgie Pavilion. Also nominated in that category are Cooke-Sasseville for their work Mélangez le tout at Centre communautaire Jean-Claude-Malépart and Guillaume Lachapelle for La façade at Bibliothèque Père-Ambroise.
The best exhibition for a museum institution category has a major group show facing off against two solo shows, with the cross-Canada touring show “Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965–1980” at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Valérie Blass at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, and “Patrick Bernatchez: Lost in Time” at Galerie de l’UQAM all nominated for the prize.
Séripop (Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau) is in the running for the Prix Pierre-Ayot for emerging artists alongside Jacynthe Carrier and Guillaume La Brie.
Stéphane La Rue is up for the Prix Louis Comptois for mid-career artists, along with Mathieu Beauséjour and Jean-Pierre Gauthier.
Optica’s “Archi-féministes!” is up for best exhibition at an artist-run centre, as are “La chambre magmatique” at ARPRIM and “Patrice Duhamel: Le catalogue des vents qui ont soufflé” at Centre Clark.
The curator of the year race is split between Stéphane Aquin of the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal for the Tom Wesselman survey: “Au-Delà Du Pop Art”; John Zeppetelli of DHC/ART for “Chronicles of a Disappearance”; and UQAM’s Thérèse St-Gelais for “Loin des jeux près du corps” at Galerie de l’UQAM.
Best exhibition at a private gallery has Art Mûr’s Cal Lane exhibition, Galerie Donald Browne’s Jérôme Havre exhibition and Parisian Laundry’s Alexandre David exhibition all in the running.
Gallerist of the year nominees are Emilie Grandmont-Bérubé of Galerie Trois Points, François St-Jacques et Rhéal Olivier Lanthier of Art Mûr, and Joyce Yahouda of Galerie Joyce Yahouda.
The awards will also include a special tribute to Phoebe Greenberg, founder and director of DHC/ART and the PHI Centre, for her contribution to the visual arts community.
