Reviews
Brontez Purnell
In this project, the artist, writer, arthouse film director and frontman of the punk band The Younger Lovers exuded candid pathos and humour over Zoom
Brontez Purnell
In this project, the artist, writer, arthouse film director and frontman of the punk band The Younger Lovers exuded candid pathos and humour over Zoom
Kim Ondaatje: Factory and Fiction
Though created over 30 years ago, the works in “Kim Ondaatje: Paintings 1950–1975” still speak to current concerns. Moreover, shimmering alternately with the heat of summer and the chilling winter wind, they’re poignant documents of the Canadian landscape.
Yves Saint Laurent: An Art Made for the Body
Though it’s taken on an elegiac quality since Yves Saint Laurent’s unexpected passing, the YSL retrospective in Montreal feels enjoyable and emotional. After all, clothing is art made for the body, and this show surveys 40 years of the best.
Rebecca Belmore: Rising to the Occasion
In this review of Belmore's mid-career retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery from summer 2008, Gabrielle Moser highlights enduring themes in the Anishinaabe artist’s work
Not Quite How I Remember It: Rapid Memory Gloss
The need to examine the past—personal and otherwise—to make sense of the present is a strong, if not innate, human quality. This tendency gets a fair, though sometimes uneven, treatment in the Power Plant’s summer exhibition.
Yvonne Lammerich: Belief and Other Illusions
Yvonne Lammerich titles her spring exhibition at Diaz Contemporary “Belief,” but as the lettering on the invitation indicates—the title is printed right side up and then upside down—belief is changeable, a result of the complex coming-together of social and political factors at any given time. Belief can be stood on its head.
Heritage Complex: From Stereotypes to Nuance
Suburbia may seem a sea of cookie-cutter homes, donut shops and big-box buildings, but a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peel, “Heritage Complex,” drops the stereotypes for a more contemplative kind of analysis.
Alex Livingston in Review: Blurring the Boundaries
A purist might find fault with Alex Livingston describing his newest work as painting—but that doesn’t stop him. Though mediated by digital middlemen, the works look, after all, rather like large abstract paintings, a frenzy of vibrant colours and energetic, loopy lines.
The Quebec Triennial in Review: Provincial Powerhouse
According to Montreal writer Isa Tousignant, the Quebec Triennial serves up a delicious, well-arranged show of world-class art pieces—all from La Belle Province. Don’t believe her? She’s already been five times, and can’t wait for the sixth.
Roula Partheniou: Changing the Rules of the Game
Roula Partheniou finds complexity in unexpected places with “100 Variations,” a rewrite of the Rubik’s cube. The work, which recalls Sol LeWitt at times, challenges viewers to unravel a formally demanding game that is also genuinely playful in spirit.
Lyne Lapointe
Lyne Lapointe’s exhibition“La Perle”transformed the upper mezzanine of the Carleton University Art Gallery into a refined version of a 17th-century cabinet of curiosities.
From the Archive
Divya Mehra Undoes White on White
“You have to tell Them, I’m not a Racist.” desecrates the white cube with gleeful impunity.
Trouble Me Venice: An Indigenous Curator’s View of the Biennale
Ryan Rice was part of an international delegation of Indigenous curators at Venice's preview week. Here are some of the triumphs and troubles he saw.
Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?
Rosalyn Drexler, the proto-feminist painter, sculptor, playwright, novelist and former lady wrester, is criminally unknown. A new show aims to change this.