PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris @ the AGO

The AGO’s latest summer blockbuster, “PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris,” absolutely lives up to the hype.  The eagerly awaited exhibition takes on the colossal task of mapping out the prolific career of painter and sculptor, Pablo Picasso. In so doing this AGO retrospective exemplifies Pablo Picasso’s extraordinary imagination as the show not only tracks the evolution of the artist’s legion of styles, but also, the motifs that encapsulated each period of Picasso’s 70 year career.

La Celestina (1904)

Right off the bat, I was struck by “PICASSO Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris” as the gallery’s lead-in corridor is not at all typical. The entryway is painted bright red, adorned with pictures of various stages of the artist’s life (some of the most notable photographs are of Picasso in his famous Montrouge studio) and beautifully complimented by a loop of flamenco music bursting through the gallery speakers. The exhibition’s main space is then broken up into 8 large rooms, each representing a unique approach within Picasso’s creative pursuits. These individual rooms are organized chronologically and cover every seminal phase of the modern master’s diverse career.  The sub-headings of these rooms include: the artist’s initial move to Paris, his fixation with African art, the advent of Cubism, Classicism and Surrealism, the artist’s involvement in politically activated painting, and finally, his last years of life.

Opening: Sovereign Acts at Justin M. Barnicke

2012 Curatorial Studies Thesis Exhibition: Sovereign Acts

Curated by Wanda Nanibush.

The history of Indigenous Peoples performing cultural dances and practices for international and colonial audiences is an important part of Indigenous art generally, and performance art specifically. The Indigenous performers known as ‘Indians’ faced the conundrum of maintaining traditional cultural practices by performing them on stage while also having that performance fulfill the desires of a colonial imaginary. In Sovereign Acts, the artists Rebecca Belmore, Lori Blondeau, Robert Houle, Terrance Houle, Shelley Niro, Adrian Stimson, and Jeff Thomas, contend with the legacy of colonial representations. Drawing on the depiction of the imaginary Indian – the ahistorical, pre-contact ‘primitivism’ in popular and mass culture – they recover and construct new ways of performing the complexity of Indigenous cultures for a contemporary art audience. Their work returns to the multi-levelled history of ‘Performing Indian’ to recuperate the erased and objectified performer as an ancestor, an artist, and an Indigenous subject.

This exhibition is produced as part of the requirements for the MVS degree in Curatorial Studies at the University of Toronto.

The show runs at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery from April 18 – May 27, 2012.

There will be an opening reception on Wednesday April 18, from 7:00-9:00 PM.

Opening: PEEPSHOW: U of T Visual Studies Thesis Exhibition.

“PEEPSHOW: U of T Visual Studies Thesis Exhibition” opens this weekend.

Featuring twenty artists, the show encapsulates many media and themes. Staff Advisors John Massey and Joanne Tod explain that, “PEEPSHOW, the 2012 University of Toronto thesis exhibition, represents the culmination of four years of effort by twenty students working in a range of media. During the fall semester of the thesis course, the students began to develop and refine their proposals. By spring they had created the fully realized projects presented in this exhibition. The students have orchestrated every aspect of the show, including fundraising, publicity, and catalogue production. In addition, each has produced an essay articulating the concepts embodied in their work.”

Gallery Openings for the Week of March 12.

Arnaud Maggs at Susan Hobbs

Here is a list of some of the new shows on display in Toronto this week.

A Space Gallery is currently hosting the works of video artistDipna Horra and painter Mary Kainer. From March 8-31

Bezpala Brown Gallery is showing the paintings of Rubens Korubin until March 22.

Birch Libralato has two shows running. One by multimedia artist Sylvie Bélanger and the other by Richard Storms. Both shows run until April 14.

Opening: The Book Lab at the EEL Gallery.

The opening reception for The Book Lab will take place this Wednesday, March 7, from 6-8 PM at the EEL Gallery in 1 Spadina crescent. The exhibition will present a selection of artist’s book works and zines, alongside an installation by Shannon Garden-Smith.

Curated by Andrew Rutherdale and Ellyn Walker, The Book Lab will provide an overview of work made by artists who are interested in printed media. The opening is an excellent opportunity to connect with people who are part of the University of Toronto’s art community. Snacks and light refreshments will be provided.

Gallery Openings for the Week of March 5.

Matt Behan, "In the Quiet of the Dark"

Here is a list of some of the new shows on display in Toronto this week.

The Le Gallery is showing some new paintings by Matt Bahen of barren landscapes, destroyed interiors and roving dogs. The show runs from March 2-31.

Loop Gallery is hosting the works of Yael Brotman and Tara Cooper. From March 3-25.

Olga Korper is currently showing the sculptures of Marianne Lovink until March 28.

Matthew Purvis at EEL Gallery.

“The Hysterical Male” is the first solo exhibition by Matthew Purvis. Featuring photographs and sculptural pieces, the works explore issues of masculinity and but also seek to re-evaluate some of the aesthetic prejudices of modern art. Composed of fourteen distinct stations and more than forty elements, these aspects interact and play off each other in conflicting ways. Couched in styles that bridge classicism with folk art, the show smudges the distinctions between images and objects using the naked male body as a starting point.

“The Hysterical Male” runs at the EEL Gallery, locate at 1 Spadina Crescent from February 1-17. Opening reception will be on February 1 from 5-7 PM.

Review: Eyeball 2011.

The University of Toronto’s undergraduate art and architecture department’s annual Eyeball exhibition took place last Thursday, December 8. The members of the Fine Arts Students Union (FASU), alongside Visual Studies staff and students put on a well organized show that took over 1 Spadina Crescent.

The Eyeball 2011.

Here are just a few completely random photos taken during December 8’s show featuring the work of UofT’s undergraduate art and architecture students.

Eyeball is on December 8.

Remember: The annual University of Toronto undergraduate art and architecture show, EYEBALL is on Thursday, December 8, from 6 until 9 PM.

Drop by 1 Spadina Crescent to celebrate the end of the semester with art, food, cash bar and music.