My Highlights from Art Toronto 2014
I’m always a little skeptical about making decisions about art based on digital reproductions, so I mostly stayed with artists whose work I know. From there I selected images that intrigued me based on formal qualities or content.
My selection:
Alex McLeod, Black Cloud, 2014, at Galerie Division
Fascinating artist. I like this one because it reminds me of Paterson Ewen.
Silvia Argiolas, I looked at our love that went away, 2013, at Robert Kananaj Gallery
The image looks quite playful and fun, but it’s actually a primal, visceral expression of sadness and loss. It also feels like a haunted, mythological tale or nightmare.
Paterson Ewen, Milky Way In Stone, 1997, at Olga Korper Gallery
It’s a beautiful, even breath-taking image, like the best of his works.
Valérie Blass, La chose pour la partie, 2013, at PARISIAN LAUNDRY
Very strange, haunting, delightfully absurd and compelling—like all of her work.
Harold Klunder, Self Portrait, 2012, at Studio 21 Fine Art
I’m a big fan of his work, from way back. There’s so much going on in this image: the multiple-layered faces—possibly a metaphor for multifaceted consciousness.
Tristram Lansdowne, Blow Out II, 2014, at LE Gallery
It’s a subtle and beautiful image—maybe with a bit of a sinister edge if you think of a nuclear cloud. But I’m not necessarily thinking of it that way. I also do watercolours, so I can really appreciate how well he handles the medium.
John Vanderpant, Untitled (cylinders and lines), 1934, at Stephen Bulger Gallery
Vanderpant is one of the most underrated photographers of the 20th Century.
Jordan Broadworth, Finned plow, 2013, at Galerie BAC
For some time now, Broadworth has been doing unusual things with paint, colour, surface, depth, and composition. This image is perceptually disorienting and challenging, but colourfully enticing.
Marcel Dzama, Untitled (Trees), circa. 1999, at Galerie BAC
Humour and horror—classic Dzama.
