Twenty-four artworks by seven artists acquired at this year’s art fair expand the AGO Collection in new ways.

This is the fifteenth consecutive year the AGO has purchased artwork at Art Toronto, with the assistance of funds raised at the preview. We have acquired new and recent work by artists Rae Johnson, Luke Parnell, Shuvinai Ashoona, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino, Julie Voyce and Moridja Kitenge Banza, in addition to a suite of five historical photographs by Canadian photographer Minna Keene. 

Julian Cox, the AGO’s Deputy Director and Chief Curator, led the museum’s selection committee, which included Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art; Sophie Hackett, Curator, Photography; Dr. Julie Crooks, Associate Curator, Photography; Wanda Nanibush, Curator, Indigenous Art; Adelina Vlas, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art; Renée van der Avoird, Assistant Curator, Canadian Art; and Alexa Greist, Associate Curator, Prints & Drawings.

“The AGO is proud to be able to acquire works by seven artists at Art Toronto 2020. We arrived at a selection that amplifies and invigorates the collecting priorities across various departments,” says Julian Cox, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, AGO. “In all but one instance, these acquisitions are the first work(s) by the artist to enter the AGO Collection. We take great pride in this, as we do in the commitment made to Canadian artists and those who are, or have been, part of Toronto’s vibrant art community. We thank them for their inspiration and can’t wait to share these works with our public in the months and years ahead.”

You can read about all the works in great detail via this week’s profile in the AGOinsider.