Our artists had a busy month exhibiting locally, nationally, and internationally.
The Art Toronto Fair, 2023 (ArtTO), held October 26-29, showcased so many of our TFVA prize winners that we thought we should outline them in this newsletter. TFVA is proud of them all!
The Focus Exhibition, curated this year by Kitty Scott, brought together contemporary artists who, through their diverse practices, address viewers and challenge them to reflect on what constitutes a good life. The Focus Exhibition featured works by Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Artist Prize 2022, Derek Liddington, Artist Prize Finalist 2011, and Lotus L Kang, Artist Prize Finalist 2015.
Galerie Nicolas Robert presented recent sculptures by Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Artist Prize 2022. Her works use materials as diverse as stained glass and loofah to highlight materiality. Galerie Nicolas Robert also showed two works by Sameer Farooq, Artist Prize Finalist 2022.
Daniel Faria Gallery showed works by Nadia Belerique, Artist Prize 2015. Working in photography, sculpture, and installation, Belerique expands on photographic strategies of framing, aperture, depth, and the distance between objects and their representations. Daniel Faria Gallery also featured Jennifer Rose Sciarrino, Artist Prize 2013, and Derek Liddington, Artist Prize 2011.
Christie Contemporary Gallery showcased Erika DeFreitas, Artist Prize Finalist 2016. DeFreitas’s multidisciplinary practice includes performance, photography, video, installation, textiles, drawing, and writing. Placing emphasis on gesture, process, the body, documentation, and paranormal phenomena, DeFreitas mines concepts of loss, post-memory, legacy and object-hood.
Patel Brown featured a solo presentation Aimikkii Opens Its Eyes by Maria Hupfield, Artist Prize 2023. Subsequent to the the exhibition, it was announced that “Outer Heaven Rhythms”, from this special project, has been acquired by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
ArtTO hosted the Canadian launch and book signing of Breaking Protocol, a new publication edited by Maria Hupfield. In this book, she converses with contributors Vanessa Dion Fletcher, Archer Pechawis, and Georgiana Uhlyarik, about Indigenous performance art practices.
Niall McClelland – Artist Prize Finalist 2015
Niall McClelland’s show, The Juice, is at the Clint Roenisch Gallery until December 9. The exhibition features new oils painted on burlap and incorporating sand. Shot through them come intimations of approaching storms and mercurial elements, of changing seasons, of bright mornings full of promise, or fading evening light and the darkening of mood as the days got colder and shorter.
Yam Lau – Artist Prize 2008
Yam Lau is a Hong Kong-born, Toronto-based multimedia artist. His artistic practice references and engages with Chinese culture and literati practices. Lau’s work explores new expressions of space and time, past and present, fantasy and reality. In his most recent work, the artist uses video and computer-generated animation to re-imagine familiar spaces in varied dimensions and perspectives. His show if there is / if not will be on display at Christie Contemporary Gallery in Toronto from November 18 to December 22, 2023.
Travelling to San Francisco?
Tau Lewis – Artist Prize Finalist 2019
TFVA congratulates Tau Lewis whose work Trident, 2022, was recently acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Art. Well done!
Jen Aitken – Artist Prize Finalist 2021
The Power Plant Contemporary Gallery hosted a book launch for Art Toronto VIP guests, and Jen Aitken was there to sign copies of her newly launched catalogue. She also debuted her first major institutional exhibition, The Same Thing Looks Different, at The Power Plant. Featuring both new and existing works, Aitken’s installation considers and criticizes how we relate to space, form, and material in an urban environment. In her artist’s talk, Aitken was in conversation with the Head of Curatorial Affairs and curator of the exhibition, Adelina Vlas. The two discussed Aitken’s practice as well as the artist’s interests in space, form, material, and their relationship to the urban environment.
Anique Jordan – Artist Prize 2020
In/Tension is a new art podcast presented by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. The podcast features a series of intimate, thought-provoking, and inspiring conversations with some of Canada’s most prominent visual artists. Tune in to hear Award-winning Canadian writer, curator, and artist, Anique Jordan, discuss the impact of community on her work. She touches on the concept of hauntology, as well as the triumphs and challenges of organizing a performance like The Feast.
Sur Gallery (LACAP – Latin American – Canadian Art Projects) – Project Support 2023
This TFVA-supported exhibit, Diaspora Dialogues: Archiving the Familiar, runs from October 4 to December 2, 2023 at Sur Gallery. Co-curated by Sarah Shamash and Tamara Toledo, the exhibition ultimately produces a curatorial archive that aims to generate further dialogue on the significant contributions, knowledge production, and archival safeguarding of diaspora communities that exist within, and despite, the nation state. Diaspora Dialogues highlights the way border regimes have been catalysts for the conditions of migration and diaspora within Canada.
Travelling to Berlin?
Edward Burtynsky – Founders Achievement Award 2008
Edward Burtynsky has captured environmental issues for decades in strikingly beautiful images that document both the impact of industry on the earth and environmental disasters. The Canadian artist’s new series, African Studies, is dedicated to sub-Saharan industrialization and features images from various African countries, including views of mining activities and untouched nature. The exhibition runs at Galerie Springer in Berlin from November 4 to February 3, 2024.
