Join artist Hank Willis Thomas for a conversation with the AGO’s Sophie Hackett about his work, the documentary photography of Ernest Cole and the role of historical images in contemporary life.
Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, NJ; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is a conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and abroad including the International Center of Photography, New York; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain; Musée du quai Branly, Paris; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, and the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Netherlands.
Is that a seed catalogue on your coffee table? In these anxious times, country life has never looked so good and this week we’ve got some of the quirkiest, most interesting arts and culture news to prove it.
Plant yourself down, and check out what our team at the AGO is digging into this week:
An exhibition 15 acres in the making? At the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, art is in full bloom. A “horticultural evocation” of Monet’s beloved Giverny gardens as seen through the eyes of artist Roy Lichtenstein, the current exhibition promises a surprising tour into the intersection of Impressionism and Pop art.
Lichen, not Lichtenstein, is the inspiration for an exhibition by artists Tracey Bryant and Rhonda Harder on now in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Although not actually a plant, lichen loves northern climates, almost as much as Nathan Myhrvold, inventor of the snowflake camera. He believes his new invention, which has a minimum shutter speed of 500 microseconds (1,200 times faster than a normal camera), has the world’s highest resolution.
Elsewhere, those mysterious monoliths continue to roam the earth. With over 200 sightings reported since last November, in locations as far flung as Antarctica and a South African grocery store, they remain a mystery. Who is the artist behind them? How many are copycats? What exactly was the Turkish space agency doing with theirs? Fortunately for those of us who wish to keep our landscape biolithic, there’s a tracker for them now.
Speaking of field guides, the new online exhibition Birds of the Northeast: Gulls to Great Auks elegantly breeds photographs, paintings and sculpture with natural history specimens. The work of one museum director and two biologists, it will leave you crying fowl over dwindling biodiversity.
There’s a new blue in town. It’s called YInMn and it’s the first new shade of blue in over 200 years to become commercially available. Nothing natural about it sadly – blue is a colour that rarely appears in nature. It was discovered accidentally in a lab in 2009 and just recently added to the Forbes Pigment Collection at the Harvard Art Museum.
Finally, a parting note: Scientists in France recently determined that a conch shell, thought to be more than 18,000 years old, is actually a Paleolithic musical instrument! Listen here.
In another co-vid pivot, the Gallery is offering three paid digital artist residencies, available in 2021
Lisa Myers, installation view of Each Portion, 2015. Photo credit: Leah Mahogany.
This year, we celebrate 10 years of the AGO’s Artist-in-residence program! This year, the AGO X RBC Artist-in-Residence program invites artists to submit proposals for a digital project or experience to be created over a two-month residency, responding to the theme of “Together, Apart”. The residency provides resources, learning opportunities, platforms and mentorship for emerging artists working in any field, to realize a digital project. At the end of the two-month residency, each Artist in Residence will be invited to show their work publicly.
Describing himself as both an “archeological ethnographic Dadaist” and a “perceptional engineer”, African-American contemporary artist Willie Cole has been transforming everyday objects into art throughout his nearly 30-year career. He has exhibited his work extensively since the 1980s, gaining widespread recognition. His work can be found in both private and public collections, including at the AGO where three of his works were acquired in 2008.
Often repurposing discarded materials that evoke human presence and intimacy—such as the implied connotations of a household iron and its practical uses—Cole’s work teeters between playfulness and reverence towards African iconography and the history of the African Diaspora. He often refers to his practice as “making things look African out of American-made objects”, implying a deliberate re-coding of mass-produced goods to highlight the ancestral lineage within African-American identity. He takes on the role of an archeologist, discovering “ancient relics”, and then formulates the meaning and historical context behind them. Cole has referred to the spirituality behind his approach, as he draws out the “life force” within each of the objects he finds.
In February 2021, Cole’s relationship with the AGO extended into the Virtual School Programs. Mother and Child (2008) was featured as part of AGO Schools: Celebrating Black Creatives programming with spoken word artist and musician I.M.F and Rafiki. Elementary students were prompted to consider how objects can be redefined and take on new meaning. Mother and Child (2008) mimics the appearance of traditional African sculptures with a seated mother figure and a child on her back.
On Wednesday, the AGO Board of Trustees met to talk
about art and our collecting strategy, and to think ahead about our future –
and potential – post-COVID. It was a good discussion and our trustees are
supportive and engaged. Our president, Bob Harding, will attend Town Hall next
week to share a few words on behalf of the board. Bob has been a remarkable leader
during this period and I am deeply grateful for his support.
With the current closure, we continue to offer lots of content on AGO.ca. The high quality and amount of content is impressive. Check out https://ago.ca/agoinsider/stories-tell and explore works from our collections created by artists from the African Diaspora.
Many of you and others in our city are celebrating the
Lunar New Year. I always like to look for opportunities for new beginnings.
Let’s see what the Year of the Ox brings! I am optimistic.
National Ballet of Canada’s virtual Spotlight Series features excerpts of a ballet inspired by the northern landscapes of Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris.
Selene Guerrero-Trujillo and Antonella Martinelli in The Dreamers Ever Leave You. Photo by Karolina Kuras courtesy of The National Ballet of Canada.
Heralded by The Globe and Mail as “a remarkable and moving experience”, The Dreamers Ever Leave You was captured on film by Canadian director Ben Shirinian as part of The National Ballet of Canada’s virtual Spotlight Series, now on view. This immersive ballet inspired by the art of Lawren Harris, one of Canada’s preeminent modernist painters and a Group of Seven member, made its debut at the AGO in August 2016.
Wondering where the title The Dreamers Ever Leave You comes from? None other than Lawren Harris himself, in a poem written in 1922 titled Little Houses:
The dreamers ever leave you – They hear a vague, far cry, Perhaps the call of some vacant, high place, So often only the wailing of a beckoning pain, But the dreamers ever leave you.
Join us in reliving The Dreamers Ever Leave You and tune into The National Ballet of Canada’s Spotlight Series for more exciting digital premieres and reimaginings of existing works.
World-renowned curator Adrienne Edwards is set to give a keynote address on Black Abstraction at the next AGO Study Days
Photo of Adrienne Edwards by Bryan Derballa
“Blackness in abstraction…shifts analysis away from the Black artist as subject and instead emphasizes blackness as material, method and mode, insisting on blackness as a multiplicity.” – Adrienne Edwards
When spoken about, analyzed or depicted, the Black experience has often been homogenized. However, in this time of heightened social responsibility, more people are becoming aware of the complex and diverse individual realities of people of African descent. Black artists who work in abstraction possess an important tool in this respect, creating art that forces viewers to acknowledge uniqueness—both in form and concept.
Exploring the importance of Black Abstraction by analyzing the groundbreaking work of Trinidadian-Canadian artist Denyse Thomasos (1964-2012) will be a feature during the upcoming AGO Study Days, typically held for a small group of curators, researchers, art scholars and students. The program will feature various presenters, and special for this session, a keynote address by Adrienne Edwards, whose presentation will be available for public viewing Wednesday, February 24 at 7pm. Making her first appearance at the AGO (virtually), the world-renowned Whitney Museum Curator of Performance will share insights about abstraction in Black art, which is her focus.
Recently acquired, Denyse Thomasos. Dismantle #2, 1998. Acrylic on canvas, Overall: 160 × 183 × 4.1 cm. Gift of Richard and Donna Ivey, 2019. Courtesy of the Denyse Thomasos Estate and Olga Korper Gallery. 2019/2432
While Adrienne Edwards’s keynote is a public talk, the rest of the Study Days sessions are invite-only. A recording of all sessions will be made available in the coming weeks. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to access the recording. Works by Denyse Thomasos, Julie Mehretu and other Black artists practicing abstraction will be on view at the AGO upon reopening.
This post is excerpted from AGOinsider. View the full article, here.
RBC’s new video series From Within profiles five emerging Canadian artists, giving a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their practice and personal inspiration.
Darcie Bernhardt. Image courtesy of RBC.
Since 2017, RBC has been an AGO Signature Partner, and for many more years, has been committed to elevating the art community, most notably, emerging talent. The RBC Emerging Artists Project supports the arts and the role they play in building vibrant communities and strong economies. By partnering with top organizations in the areas of dance, music, visual arts, theatre and literature, the project has built numerous initiatives geared towards providing opportunities for up-and-coming creatives. Most recently, RBC has developed an exciting new video series entitled From Within, which profiles five of Canada’s notable emerging visual artists, giving viewers an intimate account of the inspiration that guides their practice.
Jagdeep Raina
Jagdeep Raina has an interdisciplinary practice in Guelph, Ontario, that spans drawing, textiles, writing, as well as video animation, photography and ceramics. Raina’s artistic approach hinges on in-depth research, with a goal of dismantling homogenous ideas of history/historical memory. In his From Within segment he discusses his unique work with Phulkari, a traditional Punjabi style of embroidery. Take a visit inside Jagdeep’s studio, here.
Anique Jordan
Anique Jordan is an award-winning Toronto-based artist, writer and curator who looks to answer the question of possibility in everything she creates. For From Within, Jordan shares her perspective on the sacredness of her cultural influences, the importance of documenting/archiving, and the concept behind her new piece memorializing a Black Canadian hero. Take a visit inside Anique’s studio, here.
Marigold Santos
Marigold Santos pursues an interdisciplinary art practice in Calgary, Alberta, involving drawn, painted, and printed works, sculpture, animation and sound. Through her work, Santos seeks to explore her Filipino ancestry by depicting characters from narrative folklore with her own abstract and surreal flare. Take a visit inside Marigold’s studio, here.
Darcie Bernhardt
Darcie “Ouiyaghasiak” Bernhardt is an Inuvialuk/Gwich’in artist from Tuktuyaaqtuuq, Northwest Territories. Her painting practice has primarily focused on the narrative of domestic life in the North stemming from memories of home. For From Within, Bernhardt speaks about her grandmother’s important influence on her life and the intergenerational principles of her art. Take a visit insider Darcie’s studio, here.
Caroline Monnet
Caroline Monnet is a multidisciplinary artist from Outaouais, Quebec, working primarily in visual art and film. In her practice, Monet explores the grey zones and border spaces between worlds. In recent years, she has been using various construction materials in her work as a way to comment on the isolation faced by Northern Indigenous communities in Canada. Take a visit inside Caroline’s studio, here.
The perspectives and insights highlighted in From Within showcase the important and varied voices of emerging Canadian artists, and reiterate RBC’s commitment to elevating the art community which enriches and inspires us all.
In the single
month of January, virtual school programs essentially filled Scotiabank Arena
nearly 7 times – meaning we shared our collection with the equivalent of 7
Toronto Raptors games! To date we have hosted approximately 318,717 learners.
Boom! Thank you for joining us with your children and continuing to spread the
word.
This past
Monday, the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario,
held a session with Black leaders in the museum sector discussing their
experiences and visioning in new ways for museums to be inclusive and address
institutional barriers. You can view the session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUMQMZysxY.
I encourage
everyone to take the time to review these resources. Our learning continues.
Next week, the
AGO Board of Trustees has a retreat to discuss our two-year plan (we will
emerge from COVID from a position of strength); a look back at the last five
years including collection growth; and a high level conversation about upcoming
opportunities. We have an outstanding board and our trustees always have a lot
to contribute. I will report back.
We’re happy to share an initiative led by Volunteer Council members Barbara Glaser & Veronica Ha. Read on! – Holly
The AGO Recipe Exchange group is excited to reveal its virtual collection!
This group started back in the spring, as an initiative for AGO volunteers with a passion for food to stay connected virtually outside of the Gallery, and it has taken off with a life of its own. This first recipe collection is formidable, filled with tons of ideas, inspiration, and stories contributed by fellow AGO volunteers.
The first phase of our project is complete and has already been launched with our founding group. If you would like a copy of the AGO Volunteers Recipe Exchange Collection, please email project co-lead Veronica Ha at [email protected]
Now in phase two, we want to expand opportunities to participate and be a part of this group. We plan on connecting online in between get togethers as well and having more fun!
Pinterest is specifically geared for us foodies. A social media platform where we will exchange recipes, various food content and connect via a private AGO Volunteers group set up specially for you in mind. All AGO volunteers are welcomed to connect. If you’d like to join us, contact co-lead Barbara at [email protected] who will lead you through the sign-up.
Note: this collection is a project of the AGO’s Volunteer Council and volunteers for educational purposes only. Use of this Collection is exclusively for AGO volunteers and may not be sold, reproduced, or distributed beyond this intended group and is meant for personal, non-commercial use.
We look forward to hearing from you! Thank you again and bon appetit!
