The Grange Prize Videos – Moyra Davey on Finding Ideas and Working with Multiple Media

September 17th, 2010

In anticipation of the start of public voting next Wednesday, September 22, we’ve been posting new content every day featuring one of the artists shortlisted for The Grange Prize all this week on the blog.

In the third video of this week’s series, Canadian artist Moyra Davey discusses how concepts of time affect her practice, inform her ideas, and are threaded into her pictures.

See Moyra and the three other artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 in person at The Grange Prize talk, hosted at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall on Wednesday, September 22 at 7pm. Watch the talk, check out the exhibition, and vote for your favourite, all on September 22!

Why is this a letter?

September 16th, 2010


Moyra Davey, Canadian, 32 Photographs from Paris, 2009, chromogenic print, postage, tape, each 30.5 x 45.7 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Murray Guy, New York.

“At one point I put down the camera, because I had a very strong desire to write something. It was just after September 11. The idea was to write something and then, hopefully, to make a video, although I was not convinced at all that this text could become a video… Somehow the act of writing and publishing some of these texts, and bringing my photographs in to play with these texts, gave me the desire to start photographing again. It became this circularity of one thing feeding the other.”

- Moyra Davey, nominee for The Grange Prize 2010

Who will you choose? Vote for your favourite online at thegrangeprize.com or inside the exhibition at the AGO beginning September 22!

Why is this a document?

September 15th, 2010


Josh Brant, American, Untitled. chromogenic print, 24.4 x 20.3 cm.

“I guess my photographs represent the way I spend my time. They sort of evolve out of these habits that [I] have, from the way that [I] live. Having a job where I worked as a printer for a long time, my time was spent in the dark thinking about the materials a lot, and for a long time. So, the photographs represent that experience of being around the materials constantly.”

- Josh Brand, nominee for The Grange Prize 2010

Who will you choose? Vote for your favourite online at thegrangeprize.com or inside the exhibition at the AGO beginning September 22!

The Grange Prize Videos – Leslie Hewitt on Photography and Time

September 14th, 2010

In anticipation of the start of public voting on September 22, we’ll be posting a new video every day featuring one of the artists shortlisted for The Grange Prize all this week on the blog. Remember, you choose who take home the $50,000 on November 3, when the winner is announced at a free public ceremony at the AGO!

In the second video of this week’s series, Americann artist Leslie Hewitt discusses how concepts of time affect her practice, inform her ideas, and are threaded into her pictures.

See Leslie and the three other artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 in person at The Grange Prize talk, hosted at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall on Wednesday, September 22 at 7pm. Watch the talk, check out the exhibition, and vote for your favourite, all on September 22!

The Grange Prize Videos – Kristan Horton on Space, Perception, and “The Philosophical Itch”

September 13th, 2010

In anticipation of the start of public voting on September 22, we’ll be posting a new video every day featuring one of the artists shortlisted for The Grange Prize all this week on the blog. You choose who take home the $50,000 on November 3, when the winner is announced at a free public ceremony at the AGO!

Kristan Horton is a Toronto-based artist, and one of the four shortlisted artists for The Grange Prize 2010. Here, Kristan talks about why he works in photography and discusses the medium’s relevance and importance today.

See Kristan and the three other artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 in person at The Grange Prize talk, hosted at the Art Gallery of Ontario’s Jackman Hall on Wednesday, September 22 at 7pm. See the talk, check out the exhibition, and vote for your favourite, all on September 22!

The Grange Prize Videos – Josh Brand on Memory, Perception, and Repetition

September 9th, 2010

The Grange Prize web series continues with another video featuring American artist Josh Brand, nominated for The Grange Prize 2010. Watch as Josh discusses how concepts of memory, perception and repetition affect his practice, and stay tuned for more videos from all four artists nominated for The Grange Prize 2010 in the coming weeks.

Don’t forget! September 22 is the big day: voting opens at thegrangeprize.com, and the AGO’s exhibition of works by all four artists opens to the public! Not to mention, all of the artists will be present for a free talk in Jackman Hall at the AGO! Vote, see the show, hear the artists, all on September 22. And the best part (well, a really good part) is that it is all free – the AGO is Free on Wednesday Nights after 6:00 pm!

The Grange Prize Videos – Josh Brand on Materials and his Childhood Darkroom

September 3rd, 2010

In the latest installment of The Grange Prize web series, artist Josh Brand discusses his early experience in the makeshift darkroom he worked in as a child, and tells us about the ways that materials at hand – in the darkroom or in his home studio – affect his practice and work.

More and more content will be upload to thegrangeprize.com over the coming weeks, givine you a chance to get to know all four of the shortlisted artists – Americans Josh Brand and Leslie Hewitt, and Canadians Moyra Davey and Kristan Horton. Remember, voting opens September 22, the same day that The Grange Prize Exhibition 2010 opens at the AGO, celebrated by a free public talk at the Gallery with all four shortlisted artists. See you there!

Why is this a film?

September 2nd, 2010


Kristan Horton, Canadian, Orbit: Dorknob, 2009. chromogenic print

“What I did with the camera was, in a sense, to snap off shots as I circled them, and encompassed them. And then each of those shots, they’re layered up. I guess they’re photographs. But they live somehwere between documentary photography, with this moving around, and formal aesthetic – an abstract formal aesthetic. They’re holding a line between these two possibilities of what they are.”

- Kristan Horton, nominee for The Grange Prize 2010

Who will you choose? Vote for your favourite online at thegrangeprize.com or inside the exhibition at the AGO beginning September 22!

The Grange Prize Videos – Moyra Davey on Choosing Photography

September 1st, 2010

Another edition of The Grange Prize web series is upon us! Watch Canadian artist Morya Davey discuss how an early encounter with a pair of artists impacted her, and why she chose to work in photography.

Stay tuned to the blog for an introduction to Josh Brand, the other American shortlisted for the prize, coming soon! And we’ll have more from each of the four shortlisted artists as we approach the big day: Wednesday, September 22, the date that The Grange Prize Exhibition 2010 opens at the AGO, and voting begins! Plus, the AGO will be hosting a free talk that day with all four artists in-person! Save the date!

The Grange Prize Videos: Kristan Horton on Becoming an Artist

August 27th, 2010

The Grange Prize web series continues with artist Kristan Horton, who shares the story of how he became an artist, and reflects upon why he chooses to work in photography. Take a look!

Stay tuned to thegrangeprize.com over the next few weeks, where we’ll be regularly posting new videos and content featuring all four of the shortlisted artists – Americans Josh Brand and Leslie Hewitt, and Canadians Moyra Davey and Kristan Horton -, giving you the chance to get to know each of them before choosing whose work will gain your vote on September 22, when voting opens at thegrangeprize.com!

Government Partner:

Canada Council for the Arts