6 Top Contemporary Canadian Artists To Buy This Week
This April, Artsy has partnered with Toronto-based auction house Waddington’s to feature a selection of work from their biannual Concrete Contemporary sale. Ranging from monumental photography to intimate works on paper to video installation, this auction serves as a panoramic snapshot of the best of contemporary Canadian art. Here are 6 of the talented artists whose included work continues to push the boundaries of this genre.
Marcel Dzama’s visual world is defined by fantastical yet macabre characters presented in his signature palette of dark browns, greys, and reds. Though Dzama is best known for his ink and watercolor drawings, he is a multi-disciplinary artist who most recently collaborated with the New York City Ballet to create costume and set designs for “The Most Incredible Thing,” a ballet based on the dark fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson.
Wanda Koop is a one of Canada’s most renowned contemporary artists, whose monumental work has redefined landscape painting for more than 40 years. Most recently awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Koop utilizes her multi-disciplinary practice to explore the impact of industrialization on the natural world.
Tony Scherman was born in Toronto in 1950, and has been exclusively mastering the encaustic technique over the course of his artistic career. The rich layering of wax and pigment speaks to bygone eras of art history, and results in works of immense visual depth and sensuality.
Best known for repurposing discarded materials such as photographs and postcards, Angela Grossman combines gestural painting with collaged imagery in order to explore themes of sexuality and displacement. Though her careful collage-work appears cohesive, the final pieces result from extensive manipulation and a multitude of print sources.
Stephen Andrews’ artistic trajectory can be viewed as a series of responses to crises—from greyscale portraits of subjects with AIDS, to dot paintings of crowds following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Through an aesthetic defined by distance and repetition, the artist creates a visual space for reflection and catharsis.
James Lahey is most avidly interested in investigating the boundaries between experience and memory. He is known for a wide range of media and subject matter, including photorealistic landscapes, public installation work, and colorful abstractions. His painted seascapes incorporate photography as the artist explores the tension between these two modes of expression.
