Oscar Wilde once quipped, "When bankers get together for dinner, they discuss art. When artists get together for dinner, they discuss money." Such were the thoughts that came up for me when I talked to RBC art curator Robin Anthony last week about the RBC Canadian Painting Competition, whose finalists and winners are currently on tour.
Our condensed chat was published in today's Post along with pictures of the winning paintings (first place received $25,000, each of two runners-up $15,000). Here's an excerpt:
Q: Many banks sponsor art awards and maintain corporate art collections. Why?
A: I’m not sure about other banks, but the RBC collection started in the late 1800s — primarily as historical and landscape prints from Halifax and Montreal. As RBC expanded, so did the art collection. Over the years, depending on who’s been chair of the board and what buildings have been built, the collection has grown. Today, there are over 4,000 works spread in reception areas and meeting rooms across the country. The winning paintings in this competition will also become part of the collection: Alexis Lavoie’s first-place painting will hang in our Montreal office, while runners-up Mark Stebbins’ and Jon Reed’s works will probably go in this new RBC centre at Simcoe and Wellington in Toronto.
Q: Don’t Canadian businesses also get tax write-offs for buying Canadian art?
A: That’s not our reason for collecting. RBC collects to support artists and give exposure to artists in our facilities — and then, obviously, to enhance our spaces. RBC Wealth Management is a sponsor of the Toronto International Art Fair this weekend and will be giving exposure at its fair booth to past winners and jury members. So we continue to follow through.
Q: You mentioned wealth management. What advice do you give to investors who hope to make money in the art market?
A: I say that art is an asset that you get to enjoy looking at and living with, and that no one can guarantee whether the investment value will increase. It’s the same thing as the stock market — there are no guarantees. If you do your research, there are artists who have a potential for their work to go up in value. But the main reason for acquiring art should be to live with it, to enjoy it, and to look at it.
Later, Anthony speculates on how the market crash might have been good for art—a POV that's common in the art-crit realm, but less so, I might imagine, in the banking world. You can read on here.
Image of Alexis Lavoie's winning painting for RBC 2010, Restants, from the National Post
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Of Art & Money: Q&A on RBC Painting Prize out in today's Post
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Election Over, Lots to Learn
From the looks of things on Twitter and Facebook, it seems like many, many (many!) people in Toronto are trying to figure out how the Toronto election results ended up being what they were last night.
As I proved in my own Twitter stream last night, I'm no political expert. Far from it. I know I have lots to learn in this field. That said, as a total political layperson, the thing that struck me most about the results--and reaction to it--was how divided Toronto seemed to be. I was also struck by how much anger there was--whether it was anger directed at the "gravy train" concept or anger directed at "those who are angered by the "gravy train" concept." From an emotional (and again, totally *not* politically savvy) standpoint, it was this divisiveness that I found most disconcerting. Also, the 50% voter turnout, which I'm told is high for a municipal election. Glad it improved from 30-40%, but still a sad statistic overall.
So today, I'm trying to learn from the following:
ArtsVote's assessment's of the arts-friendly councillors who were elected.
David Meslin's presentation on how we live in a world that actively discourages civic engagement (thanks to Torontoist for the link):
Naheed Nenshi's presentation on how Calgary got to the verge of becoming a different kind of divided city:
Gerald Hannon's Toronto Life profile (October 2010 issue) on Rob Ford and his appeal and Shawn Micallef's report for Eye Weekly on his visit to a Ford Fest
So that's where I'm starting. If there's any links you've found helpful while dealing with the election results or Toronto political situation, feel free to post.
(Image of Toronto wards from the CBC)
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Out today: Reviews of Three Distillery-District Shows
In today's National Post, I review three shows in the Distillery District: Bill Vorn at Le Labo (which closes today), Scott McFarland at Clark & Faria and Iain Baxter& at Jane Corkin. An excerpt:
Iain Baxter& at Jane Corkin
55 Mill St., Bldg. 61., to Nov. 7
This exhibition seems especially appropriate for back to school, as two large installations evoke education and its systems. Fahrenheit 450 (Homage to Bradbury and Orwell) is a large figure eight made out of shoe-wearing books; The Lecture is a stripped-down classroom where each stacking chair is nestled into boots or shoes. This use of footwear (which ranges from office-ready pumps to rubber galoshes) is playful but unclear, feeling glib sometimes. Nonetheless, the brogues and ballet flats lend individuality to identical objects. Similarly, the books reflect a range of interests, from neurology to entertaining -- though again Baxter& forces that diversity into a big uniform structure. As a result, it feels like the renowned professor has grown weary of the forced march of our educational institutions-- or is at least willing to question their merits. That figure eight, for instance, could be the infinite cycle of lifelong learning or an inward-looking, tuition-fee-grabbing parade. Likewise, his podium notes list that a lecture can be both "instruction" and "reprimand" -- the opening of doors and the closing of them, too. An older Baxter& photo showing a painted mountain backdrop in front of real mountains echoes these concerns: What stands between us and the real world? Does it introduce us to the latter's grandeur or offer only a pale copy? Interestingly, these questions are as relevant to art as they are to education.
Read on here for the other two reviews.
(Image of the Distillery District from Toronto Tours)
Friday, October 22, 2010
Realization: Reactive
I had an interesting time--in a good way!--talking at Sheridan the other day. There's a a few reasons for that.
First is that I can never get over what a great building Sheridan College has for its visual arts program--the Annie Smith Centre may seem cramped to some, but it's also got a very strong cottagey, cozy, studio-centric feel. Relaxed but active, you know? I don't know if people who actually inhabit it feel quite the same way, but just visiting is nice. Then again, I studied art in the rabbit warren that is NSCAD's Granville Street campus, so there could be a strong nostalgia factor at work.
Second was that my exchanges with attendees underlined for me that my practice/job is a very reactive one at this point in time. I kind of knew that already, but the point was sharpened for me as one person asked about whether I ever write just kind of free form to figure something nebulous out, or to gather a kind of range of experience into a collected, cohesive form. I said no, though I think it would be a good idea for me to try and do more of that in future. At this point, I'm basically always reacting to deadlines, to artworks, to texts, etc. I'm grateful to be busy, especially in this economy, but it does generate a certain state of mind.
Another person asked about whether the increasingly popular Q&A format reflected a more communal or collaborative approach to art criticism or making meaning from art. I hadn't really thought about that; being someone who works in media, offered the perspective some writers have: that Q&As are proliferating in part because they often take less time to do than a feature article on the same topic. It's a reaction to budgets--both of money and of time--is the way I was viewing it.
Anybody else want to react here with their comments on creativity vs. reactivity in criticism? (It's still an okay thing to do, I promise!)
(And oh, yes, that's right, I *am* pulling out the Far Side for this one, people. Cartoon via The Lowy Interpreter)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Pae White Q&A: Textile-Topia
Her newest works might be massive cloth tapestries, but California artist Pae White is a hard one to pin down. Over the past decade, White has turned the Venice Arsenale into a giant birdcage, transformed small pieces of paper into sprawling museum installations and elevated junk-drawer detritus into opera-house décor. This month, an exhibition of some recent works opened at the Power Plant in Toronto. I was fortunate she took some time to chat with me; the condensed chat is out in today's National Post. Here's an excerpt:
Q: You’ve said your smoke tapestries [displayed at this year's Whitney Biennial] are about “cotton’s dream of becoming something else.” Is all art about this desire for transformation?
A: I don’t think so. I’ve thought about this because it’s come up a lot in my work. And is it an aggressive thing? Is it a challenge? Is there a setup for failure? Maybe there’s material failing at its struggle to be another — or not. Or maybe the inanimate object is being brought to life somehow. Anthropomorphizing the material is what somebody accused me of, and I think that’s true. To me, materials or colours have an inherent personality, a fluctuating
hierarchy.
Q: Speaking of hierarchy, you use a lot of “crafty” materials, such as cloth and paper. Some might also see your work as more design than art. How do you deal with these value assumptions?
A: I don’t see any lesser value to paper in serious artmaking. I remember a friend who did very, very meticulous drawings. They took him forever. He also was involved in paintings — they were process and would take half an hour. That these drawings were never taken as seriously as these paintings — I always found that absurd. And for myself, I’ve never seen “craft as craft” or “design as design.” As far as I’m concerned, I’m always making art. Maybe it uses the language of design or the language of craft, but it’s always making art.
Later on, we talk about the difference between weaving an image and printing it as a photograph on paper, as well as White's upcoming installation in the London Underground.
(Image of Pae White's Oslo Opera House curtain from Musicweb)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Happening this Thursday: Talk at Sheridan College
I'm giving a talk at Sheridan College this Thursday. Feel free to drop by if you're in the Oakville zone! Here's the info:
Sheridan Art and Art History presents
Leah Sandals
Thursday 21 October 2010
12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Sheridan B124
1430 Trafalgar Road, Oakville
Good times!
Also, I'll probably be posting more about this in future, but here's a heads-up: on November 19 I'm moderating a panel on "Exhibiting and Disseminating Canadian Art" at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. It's part of a symposium related to "It Is What It Is," the National Gallery's biennial of recent acquisitions of contemporary Canadian art. (I'll be interested to see how that show has turned out; haven't seen much in terms of an "acquisitions biennial" before.) There are in-person and webcast prices for the symposium; early bird registration for the webcast ends October 26. You can register here.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
To & From Life: Q&A with Eric Fischl in today's National Post
Art Fag City's subtitle/tagline "As relevant as Eric Fischl" has always made me chuckle. Indeed, Fischl is a much-revered icon, but it takes a quick wit like Paddy Johnson's to use it with such blogular effect.
So I kind of had to ask Fischl about the tagline when I got a chance to talk with him on the phone last week about new watercolours (yes, watercolours) he's showing at Barbara Edwards Contemporary in Toronto. Mostly we talked about the paintings themselves, which was also interesting, and touched on the fact that he paints in his opinion not "from life," but "back to life."
Here's an excerpt from our condensed Q&A out in today's National Post:
Q You’ve famously said, “I paint to tell myself about myself.” What did these paintings tell you?
A Well, what I’ve learned about myself is in the paintings. It’s not something that easily gets translated back into words. The things I make are the best way I could articulate the things I’m thinking and feeling about.
Q That’s fair. Watercolours are usually associated with genteel landscapes, not the kind of muscular, sexy paintings you’re known for. Why use watercolour this time out?
A I love how direct and fragile and ephemeral and liquid and sort of challenging it is. I mean, you make a mistake in watercolour and that kills the watercolour. It’s not like an [oil] painting, which you can keep going back into and fixing. In watercolour, you do that and it just keeps getting worse. It’s got this fabulous discipline, and I love it for that.
...
Q You’re an art icon, so much so that critic Paddy Johnson’s blog is subtitled, “As relevant as Eric Fischl.” How does your status present challenges?
A I didn’t know about that blog. So maybe I have a self-protective mechanism — one that keeps me sane, I guess. How do you deal with stuff like that, you know? I don’t go around thinking of myself as an icon; it wouldn’t be very productive in the studio.
Read the rest of the interview at the Ampersand, the Post's arts hub.
(Image of Eric Fischl's Untitled 2010 (five feet wide in situ) from Barbara Edwards Contemporary)
