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Wangechi Mutu: This You Call Civilization? panel discussion (Audio)
May 17th, 2010
Recorded: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 @ Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario
Duration: 1:29:38
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Join Robert Enright and panelists Allyson Mitchell and Dionne Brand in a lively discussion about the art of Wangechi Mutu. The alluring, stunningly intricate collages of Wangechi Mutu draw the viewer into contemporary and feminist narratives about beauty, consumerism, race, identity, and gender politics. Focused upon imagery of the human body, Mutu’s work offers a radical deconstruction of traditional figuration that bridges her Kenyan upbringing with contemporary American reality.
Robert Enright is the Senior Contributing Editor to Border Crossings magazine and the University research Professor in Art Theory and Criticism at the University of Guelph. Allyson Mitchell is a feminist artist based in Toronto. She is also an Assistant Professor in the School of Women’s Studies at York University. Dionne Brand is the Poet Laureate of the City of Toronto. She is also Professor of English in the School of English and Theatre Studies at The University of Guelph.
Wangechi Mutu, This you call Civilization?, 2008, Mixed media, ink, contact paper on Mylar, 98 x 52 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. Photo credit: Bill Orcutt
Meet the Artist: Brian Jungen (Audio)
May 17th, 2010
Internationally renowned Canadian artist Brian Jungen is the recipient of the 2010 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the AGO for his outstanding contribution to visual arts in Canada. The Gershon Iskowitz Foundation and the AGO celebrated the $25,000 prize at a public reception on May 6, and Jungen delivered a talk about his work. The AGO will mount an exhibition of Jungen’s work in the coming year.
Born in 1970 in Fort St. John, British Columbia, to a Swiss father and a Dunne-za mother, Jungen has risen to prominence over the last decade by creating artwork that recasts traditional Indian symbology using ordinary objects such as plastic lawn chairs, golf bags, and Nike Air Jordans. He has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally in venues including Tate Modern, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, which is currently staging a major retrospective of Jungen’s work.
Recorded: Thursday May 6, 2010 @ Baillie Court, Art Gallery of Ontario
Duration: 1:07:41
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The Grange Park
May 17th, 2010
The park that currently sits to the south of the Art Gallery of Ontario was once the front lawn of The Grange, the original home of the AGO. The Grange Park was part of a 100 acre lot running between Beverley and McCaul Streets, and from Queen Street (then Lot Street) all the way up to Bloor Street. The British government colonized the land as their own, and then sold it in the early 1800s to D’Arcy Boulton Jr. for 350 British pounds.
Boulton built his family home on this site, and his estate also featured flower and vegetable gardens, an orchard, stables, and servants’ cottages. The Grange became a hub of British aristocratic social life in Toronto, with this park being home to many community picnics and garden parties hosted by the Boultons throughout the 1800s. Today, The Grange Park is at the heart of a vibrant neighbourhood featuring many residential homes, the AGO, the Ontario College of Art and Design, and is within the Kensington-Chinatown city district.
More information on The Grange can be found here.
CONTACT 2010 – Student Exhibition Opens Tonight
May 14th, 2010
Stop by the Community Gallery today to help celebrate the opening of the student exhibition CONTACT Digital Photography Exhibition of SW1 Schools in TDSB.
Friday, May 14
4 to 6 pm, Remarks at 5 pm
Community Gallery, concourse level
On display from May 14 to 30, the exhibition is part of this year’s Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. In the inaugural year of this Toronto District School Board project, participating teachers attended a workshop at the AGO where they were given an introduction to digital photography and compositional techniques. Students were then provided with digital cameras, photo paper, and printers generously supported by Scotiabank to capture and produce images that focused on the theme of the environment.
During the run of the festival, each school is displaying the work of its students in their schools to celebrate their creativity. The top three photographs from each school have been selected for this culminating exhibition at the AGO.
The exhibition at the AGO is presented by the Toronto District School Board in partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, and generously supported by Scotiabank.
Steve Nash and Julian Schnabel (Video)
May 12th, 2010
Canadian basketball superstar Steve Nash has generously lent a painting from his collection to the AGO. Now this just isn’t any old painting, it’s a commissioned portrait of Steve’s twin daughters Bella and Lola. And it (of course), isn’t by just any old artist, but his friend Vito’s father, Julian Schnabel. Check out this video to hear Steve and Julian talk about the day the painting was painted, and what it was like trying to paint 2 very active 3 year olds. It was installed at the AGO in late April, and you can find it in Gallery 123.
Also, since the NBA playoffs are on right now (and the Raptors are out), we’d just like to say – go Suns! Steve is playing amazing basketball right now, don’t you think?
And oh yes, we’re opening a major Julian Schnabel exhibition on September 1, 2010.
Lynne Cohen to speak at the AGO tomorrow
May 11th, 2010
Photographer Lynne Cohen will be appearing at the AGO tomorrow to discuss her work. One of the artists shortlisted in 2009′s Grange Prize, Cohen’s talk is essential for those interested in contemporary Canadian photography and fans who followed the drama of last year’s prize.
The talk is tomorrow, Wednesday May 12 at 7:00pm in Jackman Hall. For more info click here.
Girl Guides of Canada Celebrate 100 Years with Exhibition
May 11th, 2010
Join us Wednesday evening, May 12, from 6 to 8:30 pm in the AGO's Walker Court for the launch of the exhibition Canadian Girls Say… This photography exhibition by the Girl Guides of Canada speaks volumes about what matters to girls in Canada.
Canadian Girls Say… is a groundbreaking project that empowers Canadian girls to use photography to explore and speak out on what they care about in their community. Through the project, Girl Guides aged 5 to 17 from coast to coast used their ‘photovoices’ to express what matters to them – themes range from relationships and culture to citizenship and protecting the environment.
Visit the online gallery of the top 100 images.
Summer Primer at the FRANK Wine Club
May 7th, 2010
Date: Wednesday May 26, 2010
Time: 7-9pm
With the first long weekend of summer down and 3 more to go, we’re looking to some great summer sippers! At the cottage, by the pool, or on the beach, we’ll look at some of the best wines to enjoy with BBQ, fresh summer salads, and simply on their own. Join us Wednesday, May 26 for this essential summer primer!
Hosted by celebrated sommelier Courtney Henderson, the evening will take you through a tasting adventure of wine and food.
Barbara Kruger Installation Video
May 7th, 2010
Hat-tip to AGO-neighbor Jerry Mcintosh for his inspired video of the Barbara Kruger installation, created using his Blackberry and posted on Youtube:
“In partnership with Toronto’s CONTACT Photography Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario commissioned renowned American artist Barbara Kruger to create a large-scale public installation for the AGOs signature glass skirt, which spans an entire city block on the Frank Gehry designed facade. My office is located directly across the street from the AGO and I used my Blackberry to capture these images in a reflection and tribute to Kruger’s work.”
– Jerry Mcintosh
Stephanie Dickey: Rembrandt, Prints, and Portraiture (Audio)
May 5th, 2010
In seventeenth-century Europe, the new and rapidly developing medium of printmaking made it possible for images of prominent citizens to be circulated more widely than ever before. Rembrandt van Rijn, renowned for his painted portraits, brought to this medium his unique blend of innovative skill and penetrating insight. In this talk, Stephanie Dickey, author of Rembrandt: Portraits in Print (2004), explores the significance of the printed portrait for the art of Rembrandt and his time and the contribution of this expressive art form to our enduring fascination with the human face.
Stephanie Dickey (PhD, NYU, 1994) holds the Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art at Queen’s University. She is the author of numerous publications on portraiture and printmaking in the Dutch Golden Age, including the books Rembrandt: Portraits in Print (2004) and Rembrandt Face to Face (2006).
Recorded: April 28, 2010 @ Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario
Duration: 1:04:19
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