Sculptures about statues: spoke with London-based contemporary artist Thomas J Price about his nine-foot bronze cast sculpture outside the AGO, and his take on the meaning of monuments.

Since July, the corner of Dundas and McCaul Streets outside the Jackman Hall entrance has been home to Within the Folds (Dialogue 1) – an original nine-foot bronze cast sculpture made by London-based contemporary artist Thomas J Price. The sculpture, part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021–2022, depicts a Black male subject standing upright in a relaxed position, gazing forward, wearing a casual hooded sweatshirt and pants.

In recent years, Price has become recognized for his large-scale sculptural works situated in public spaces. These massive bronze figures depict fictional Black subjects described by Price as “psychological portraits.” Their identities are derived from several sources, including real-life individuals observed and sketched by the artist and the use of 3-D scanning technology for body and clothing detail. Confronted with the towering presence of each figure, viewers are prompted to critically reflect on how they socially interact with Black bodies.

AGOinsider recently spoke to Price to find out more about the creation of Within the Folds (Dialogue 1), his philosophy on monuments, and what’s in store for his practice in the coming months. Read the full interview, here.

Tuesday March 29, 4pm via Zoom

Join Julie Crooks, AGO Curator, Arts of Global Africa and the Diaspora, and catalogue contributors Christian Campbell, Emily Cluett, Dominique Fontaine, Andil Gosine, O’Neil Lawrence, Annie Paul, Marsha Pearce, Harclyde Walcott and Mary Wells for a conversation celebrating the publication,  Fragments of Epic Memory.

This critical volume includes works by Caribbean artists such as Wifredo Lam from Cuba, and Sir Frank Bowling and Aubrey Williams from Guyana—who represent the first generation of migrant modernist artists—alongside 21st-century artists such as Paul Anthony Smith from Jamaica (based in the US), Zak Ové from Britain (of Trinidadian heritage), Nadia Huggins from Trinidad (based in St. Vincent) and Sandra Brewster from Canada (of Guyanese heritage), among others. Their works, along with texts by prominent writers of Caribbean descent, serve as counterpoints to the historical photographs and the violence of the imperial project, constituting a conceptual generational bridge across history, geography, time and space.

Register, here.

Voting closes March 31, 2022. Get your vote in!

We are excited to share this year’s projects for funding consideration through the Volunteer Endowment Trust 2022-2023. As part of the Volunteer Council’s (VC) ongoing mission to demonstrate transparency in our decision making, Volunteer President Maya Kotlarenko has once again created an online voting process for the volunteer community to help choose the project you collectively want to support most. As a reminder, you won’t be ranking the projects, you can just choose one to support. Your vote matters!

Please click on the link to read more about this year’s funding options that support the Gallery’s strategic priorities of Art, Access and Learning:  https://forms.gle/Jm9dDzwA1RmApueP6

The 3 projects can be read about in much greater detail in the attached proposal PDF, prepared by Erin Thandini, Senior Manager of Philanthropy and Planned Giving.

Voting is open to volunteers until March 31, 2022.

Want to know more about the Volunteer Endowment Trust? The VET was established in 2001 with a Letter of Agreement between the AGO, The AGO Foundation and the Volunteers of the AGO. The original capital that created the fund continues to remain invested and an annual distribution of 4% of the fund (approx. $50,000) is made available in order to fund a project. Each year, the AGO’s Development team identifies 3 projects for consideration that reflect the Gallery’s strategic priorities.  Many thanks for your support!

Maya Kotlarenko,

Volunteer President, on behalf of  the Volunteer Council

Many of you will remember Florine Stettheimer Painting Poetry, a much loved exhibition back in 2017, the first major exhibition of her work in North America in 20 years, and the first ever in Canada.

Art Historian Barbara Bloemink has written a new biography and the author is interviewed in this week’s AGOinsider, linked here.

Hello Everyone,

Next week is March Break, which means that some of you will be on vacation and others will be busy working onsite greeting families visiting the AGO. It should be fairly busy at the museum as many people are venturing out more and health restrictions loosen. We have great art on view for our public to enjoy, including some exquisite recently installed works by Tom Thomson.

The next few months will be a transition period for all of us. As always, we will follow public health guidance. I will continue to wear my mask for the next several weeks along with LT members. It is important that we recognize that we are moving into a period where different people will have different perceptions of risk. We need to make sure we accommodate a range of perspectives. I ask that you all respect one another’s perspectives and communicate clearly with one another.

We’ve come a long way together and how we exit from this period is just as important as how we entered it – with the utmost respect for one another’s well-being.

Planning for AGO Global Contemporary is advancing and we will soon be interviewing a short-list of the top five architects who responded to our RFP. This is a project that will impact all facets of the AGO, and our aim is to create the Gallery that can successfully meet the future needs of our public.

Take care and stay safe,

Stephan

For more on these exhibitions, see this week’s AGOinsider

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to share the news that Kenneth Brummel, Associate Curator, Modern Art, has been appointed to the position of Curator of 20^th Century Art at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. It is an exciting opportunity and truly reflects Kenneth’s curatorial and professional excellence.

Kenneth joined the AGO in 2014 as Assistant Curator, Modern Art, and was promoted to Associate Curator, Modern Art in 2019. He has left an indelible mark on the Modern and Contemporary Art Department, and the AGO during his 7-year tenure. His scholarship, commitment, and determination have led to the implementation of many successful projects.

Most recently, Kenneth curated the acclaimed exhibition Picasso: Painting the Blue Period, which is now on view at our partner institution, The Phillips Collection, in Washington, D.C. The exhibition is enthusiastically reviewed by The Wall Street Journal as a curatorially innovative, “not to miss” show. Also in 2021, Kenneth curated the AGO presentation of the Andy Warhol, organized byTate Modern. His other major projects over the years include Mitchell/ Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation (2018; organized in partnership with Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec), Anthony Caro: Sculpture Laid Bare (2016/17), SuperReal: Pop Art from the AGO Collection (2016/17), Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi, (2016; organized by SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen), and A New Look: 1960s and ‘70s Abstract Painting at the AGO (2015/16). Kenneth curated numerous collection installations in various spaces at the AGO. Kenneth’s art historical research included the technical studies that he helped coordinate on the AGO’s two Blue Period paintings by Picasso have been included in The New York Times, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, The Guardian, the BBC and other international media outlets.  

He fostered deep relationships with modern art collectors and patrons in Toronto and beyond. One of the most notable gifts he stewarded was a major painting by Helen Frankenthaler.  

The opportunity at the Joslyn Art Museum will allow Kenneth to continue deepening the scholarship, collection-building, and exhibition-making in the field of Modern Art. I have no doubt that his work will have a lasting impact. Kenneth’s last day at the AGO is March 18, and he begins work at Joslyn Art Museum in early May. 

Please join me in congratulating Kenneth’s on his accomplishments at the AGO, and on this exciting appointment. We wish him the very best in his future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Xiaoyu  

We’re excited to report that the Gallery’s Development and Philanthropy team has been working hard behind-the-scenes to offer three projects to choose from for this year’s Volunteer Endowment Trust support: 2 upcoming exhibitions, and a public programming and learning initiative. You’ll hear more in the coming weeks, with an opportunity to make your selection via online vote.

In 2021/2022, the volunteers voted to support the Gallery’s Access Initiative and in 2020 volunteer support funded research into The Montgomery Collection, and the resulting exhibition Fragments o Epic Memory. We look forward to this year’s vote!

Hello Everyone,

It is really wonderful to see so many more of you onsite this week. Combined with good attendance and several new installations, the galleries are feeling alive, fresh and full of energy.

We are deeply fortunate to live and work in this city. I know you join me in thinking about artists and cultural workers in other parts of the world who are suffering. We salute the art and strength of those in Ukraine, as we all hope for peace. Their contributions bring much beauty to our world. The AGO is home to works by Ukrainian and Ukrainian-Canadian artists. The images posted today on AGO’s social channels (below) – all artworks by Ukrainian Canadian artist William Kurelek from the Thomson Collection of Canadian Art – were selected by Roman Baran, a Ukrainian Canadian and longtime AGO colleague.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGOToronto/posts/10159732106689144

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/CasE3Gfun7f/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/agotoronto/status/1499784466105094156?s=20&t=XzPVdwLk2MaZSVIDpIok7A

I am thinking of Roman and others who have loved ones impacted by war. It is indeed most stressful. I encourage you to talk to one another and reach out to one another for solace.

Take care and stay safe,

Stephan 

For over 50 years, Anishnabe Saulteaux contemporary artist Robert Houle has been trailblazing. Since the Canadian Museum of History’s 1970 acquisition of his painting Red Is Beautiful, Houle’s influential work as an artist, curator, writer and educator has profoundly impacted the world of contemporary First Nations art in Canada – and globally. 

On view now, the AGO exhibition Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful surveys five decades of the artist’s monumental career and includes more than 90 large installations, paintings and drawings. Friday, December 3, 2021 – live from the AGO’s Baillie Court (and online) – was the kickoff of aabaakwad 2021, the third annual international gathering of Indigenous artists, curators and thinkers. This year, aabaakwad welcomed Robert Houle to deliver an opening keynote address, followed by a panel discussion with artists Faye HeavyShield and Barry Ace. 

We love this conversation between Curator Shirley Madill (currently of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery), and Robert Houle, “Rebels and Iconoclasts” for more perspective on Houle’s career and approach.