David Milne has long been recognized as one of Canada’s most original and influential artists. After showing at the British Museum, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, this exhibition returns home to Canada to feature some of Milne’s finest works. You can hear more about the artist and the exhibition.
Katharine Lochnan (the AGO’s deputy director of Research and R. Fraser Elliott curator of Prints and Drawings) describes highlights from David Milne: Painting Toward the Light.
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Internationally regarded as one of the most accomplished artists to emerge in recent years, Peter Doig embodies a renewed purpose and spirit in figurative painting. Born in Edinburgh and raised in Toronto, he established himself in London in the early 1990s.
Doig talks about his work with the AGO’s new Director of Exhibitions, Bruce Ferguson.
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Also, for the first time in the history of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Gallery is launching an exhibition created entirely by the public. The exhibition, called In Your Face, opens July 1, 2006. One of the AGO’s initiatives as part of Toronto’s Live with Culture celebration this year, In Your Face will allow everyone to become a creative part of the Gallery’s future.
Image: The Living Room Project, by the AGO Youth Council
The AGO’s Youth Council was a winner at last week’s Untitled Art Awards Gala. Held this year at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, the Art Awards pay tribute each year to all aspects of the active visual arts community in Toronto.
With its first-ever nomination, the Youth Council took the prize for Best Independent Solo or Group Exhibition or Project, for The Living Room Project, a public installation in Toronto that was inspired by a visit to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park installation The Gates.
To tackle this creative task the AGO’s Youth Council formed The Upholstery Militia, a group that arose from the Public Alterations project – an AGO initiative that allowed council members to travel to New York to see The Gates.This collaboration of 13 youths from across the Greater Toronto Area was paired with local artist Swintak in order to devise creative responses to the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Motivated by the artist’s temporary installations that challenge ideas of public space, the crew created The Living Room Project – a living room installation that was transported and installed in various locations in the city, and which was constructed to reflect the results of a poll that gathered information about what Torontonians have in their living rooms.
So what’s next for the Youth Council? In March, the council is organizing Collide, Confront, Capture Toronto – a photography project to exhibit the diversity of the city. Through an open call for photo submissions from youth across the city, participants will be asked to document the unique and bizarre aspects of their neighborhoods, with a goal of opening dialogues between communities that might otherwise have nothing else in common.The call will be advertised with flyers and paper airplanes. The exhibit collections will be shown formally in a gallery, through either a collage or mosaic for 2 weeks, and will also be exhibited in public venues, guerilla style. This event will also include a launch party. Stay tuned on this site for specific dates, which will be listed soon.
Image: The Living Room Project, by the AGO Youth Council
April will feature The Video/Mockumentary: Video installation on loop, in a “view window” on a construction site wall – social commentary on gentrification by means of a mockumentary. April also marks the second issue of their zine Seizure. Launched last March, this publication provides a unique public voice to the city’s young artistic community with articles, stories, poetry, drawings and art.
Planned for June, Is this Normal? will present an exhibition and panel to provide information on healthy sexuality and the right to make your own informed healthy choices for young people in the GTA, and will also feature performances, music and dancing.
The AGO Youth Council meets weekly at the gallery to design programming that is relevant and responds to the needs of youth in the GTA.The council’s past projects include: Hype I, II and III; Sew What?; and Metro AGO-GO: Youth Propositions for an Ideal City.
To find out more about the AGO Youth Council, visit www.ago.net.
For more information about the Untitled Art Awards, visit: www.theartawards.ca
The Phoenix was abuzz with art and excitement at Wednesday’s Untitled Arts Awards Gala – which turned out to be a win-win situation for the AGO as our Youth Council, and curators David Moos and Michelle Jacques each walked away with an award. Also, Jane Perdue, a member of the AGO board and public art coordinator for the City of Toronto, was awarded the Lynn Donoghue Award, recognizing outstanding contribution to the Toronto Arts Scene.
With its first-ever nomination, the AGO’s Youth Council took the prize for Best Independent Solo or Group Exhibition or Project, for The Living Room Project, a public installation in Toronto that was inspired by a visit to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Central Park installation The Gates.
Two of our contemporary curators received a shared award for Best Curated Exhibition in a Public Gallery – David Moos, curator of contemporary art, for The Shape of Colour, and Michelle Jacques, assistant curator of contemporary art, for Luis Jacob: Habitat.
Image: The Living Room Project, by the AGO’s Youth Council.
The AGO’s curator of Canadian art, Gerald McMaster, was on hand to present the Artist of the Year award to Luis Jacob, whose work was recently showcased at the Gallery.
The Art Awards pay tribute each year to all aspects of the active visual arts community in Toronto. The annual Awards Gala is an unparalleled occasion for artists, writers, dealers, collectors, and the arts community to gather together in one place for an evening of celebration.
These community-based awards collect nominations from the public. A jury of artists and arts professionals selects a short list of the best artists, curators, art writers and supporters in 12 different categories. Winners in each category are announced at the Awards Gala.
Congratulations go out to David Moos, Michelle Jacques and the AGO’s Youth Council on these tremendous accomplishments.
Also, for the first time in the history of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Gallery is launching an exhibition created entirely by the public. The exhibition, called 
