Clockwise from top left: works by Gareth Moore and Derek Sullivan at the 2012 Sobey Art Award exhibition at MOCCA. Photo: Fayiaz Chunara; Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Now's the Time" (installation view), 2015. Photo: Barbara Solowan; curator Stuart Keeler; SPA longlisted artist Isabelle Hayeur, Death in Absentia II, 2011. Collection National Gallery of Canada. Photo: © NGC.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Nominations are open for the 2015 Sobey Art Award. Any arts professional can nominate an artist (and more than one, if they so choose). Nominations close on February 27, 2015. Sarah Fillmore, curator of the Award, underscored the importance of nominations to Canadian Art, explaining, “The Sobey Art Award nomination process is vital to the selection of each region’s longlist. The Sobey Art Award strives to highlight Canada’s young visual artists and with considered contributions from the arts community the award continues to advance national discourse of contemporary art.”
A new secondary market has emerged in the art world: event tickets. The AGO’s First Thursdays event coinciding with their Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition sold out almost immediately, and tickets quickly appeared on websites such as Kijiji, with asking prices ten times higher than their original cost.
Artist Charles Pachter was appointed to the Order of Ontario on Tuesday. Pachter’s Canadiana-inspired work has been shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
Stuart Keeler is leaving his position as the executive director and curator of the Art Gallery of Missisauga. Keeler began working at the AGM in 2011 as the curator, and assumed the directorial role in 2013. He will join the City of Mississauga as the chief curator of museums and traditions on February 23, 2015.
Scotiabank announced the longlist for their $50,000 photography award. Eleven artists from across Canada were nominated. The shortlist will be released in March, and the winner will be decided in May.
Galerie de l’UQAM, with support from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, will present a series of live interventions by artist Jean-Pierre Aubé during the 2015 Venice Biennale’s preview days (May 6 to 8), followed by an exhibition at RAMradioartemobile in Rome opening on May 14.
