Editors' Picks

  • Cocteau with Gun, 1926: Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics.Berenice Abbott: PhotographsArt Gallery of OntarioTo August 19, 2012Berenice Abbott: Photographs is the first retrospective of the American photographer Berenice Abbott to be presented in...
  • MontrealTom Wesselmann: Landscape No. 5, 1965: Oil on canvas, Liquitex and collage on canvas, 213.3 x 367 x 45.7 cm. New York, The Estate of Tom Wesselmann © Estate of Tom Wesselmann/SODRAC, Montreal/VAGA, New York (2012). Photo: Jeffrey Sturges.Tom...
  • OttawaBarbara Morgan: Martha Graham, Letter to the World, "Kick" (1940, printed c. 1945): Gelatin silver print, 38.6 x 48.2 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.Made in America 1900-1950. Photographs from the National Gallery of...
  • Jack Chambers: Lunch [Unfinished], 1969: Oil and synthetic paint in a natural resin varnish (possibly) on plywood. Purchase with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007. © Estate of Jack Chambers and Loch...
  • Flash Forward 2011 Book Launch and ExhibitionAirShip 37November 9 – 16, 2011Entering its seventh year, Flash Forward, the Magenta Foundation’s juried competition continues to track the best emerging photographers from Canada, the U.K. and the U.S....
  • Arthur Renwick: Monique (2006): Inkjet print. Collection National Gallery of Canada.Halifax, Nova ScotiaSteeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal ArtistsDalhousie Art GalleryTo November 27, 2011Bringing together work by some of Canada’s leading...
  • Douglas Coupland: Group Portrait 1957 (installation view, 2011): Purchase 2011, Permanent Collection of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa.By Elena PotterOn September 24, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG) in Oshawa unveiled a permanent...
  • Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness (1604-05): Oil on canvas, 172.7 x 132.1 cm. Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust. Photo: Jamison Miller.Ottawa Caravaggio and His Followers in...
  • Sarah Anne Johnson: Fireworks (2010): Unique chromogenic print hand-painted with photospotting and acrylic ink. © Sarah Anne Johnson. Courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto.Sarah Anne JohnsonStephen Bulger GalleryTo July 16"Arctic Wonderland", the...
  • Aleksandra Mir: The Seduction of Galileo Galilei (location photography, 2011): All images courtesy the artist and Mercer Union, Toronto.Interview by Romas Astrauskas This summer, Mercer Union has commissioned a new video work titled The Seduction of...
  • By Stella Kramer, Guest Panelist at FFFBoston It can’t be easy putting a photo festival together. You have to pull together interesting panels with interesting people, get work chosen and framed, decide on a theme, find a venue, and let the world...
  • Kent Monkman: Mary (2011): HD video. Courtesy Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto.Kent MonkmanLeonard & Bina Ellen Art GalleryTo April 16 Monkman’s installation of military tents transforms the gallery into a camp where the new “Canada” that emerges in...
  • TRAFFIC: Conceptual Art in Canada, 1965-1980: Installation view: Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto, Mississauga (2010).Navigating TRAFFIC Interview by Bill Clarke Mount St. Vincent University Art Gallery, HalifaxMarch18 to May 8, 2011Edmonton...
  • Erin Shirreff: Roden Crater, 2009: Single channel HD video (still). Courtesy the artist and Lisa Cooley Fine Art, New York.Refreshing Changes at the Power Plant By Elena Potter The Power Plant, Toronto's foremost public gallery for contemporary art...
  • Daniel Barrow: Mirror Bouquet (2010): Mixed media. Courtesy Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto.Daniel BarrowJessica Bradley Art + ProjectsTo Dec. 23, 2010 The latest winner of Canada’s prestigious Sobey Art Award, Montreal-based Daniel Barrow’s...
  • Kerry James Marshall: Our Town, 1995: Acrylic and printed paper collage on canvas. Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.Kerry James Marshall: Picturing Contemporary History By Tonik Wojtyra Kerry James Marshall was...
  • Peaches Grillz (2010): cast replica of the performer’s teeth plated in one of three styles (gunmetal, silver or gold), with matching chain. Edition of 150 in custom box accompanied by signed and numbered certificate. Images courtesy the artist and...
  • Thom Andersen: Get Out Of The Car: still from a colour film, 2010.By Bil AntonioIt’s exciting for a film reviewer to take a look at the films programmed in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Wavelengths series. I consider myself a daring...
  • Douglas Gordon: 24 Hour Psycho To and Fro and Back and Forth, 2008.Toronto becomes the world’s film capital from September 9 to 19 as actors, directors and other movie folk descend on the city for the Toronto International Film Festival. If you’re...
  • Robyn Cumming: Sunrise Portrait 5:48 a.m., 2010. C-print, edition of 5. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Push, Montreal.Robyn Cumming: FrisetteGalerie Push September 16 to October 16, 2010Since 2002, Toronto-based photographer Robyn Cumming’s work...
  • Eva Hesse: Studioworks, 1966. Courtesy of University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive. Gift of Helen Hesse Charash, 1979. Photograph by Ben Blackwell, Alameda, CA.Working Women take over the AGOThis September, the Art...
  • Sarah Clifford-Rashotte: Stacey (2010). Print of photo-collage, editions of 10, 8 x 10 inches. Price: $175Sarah Clifford-Rashotte: Model mash-upsClifford-Rashotte is among a new generation of young female artists coming of age in a culture that,...
  • Courtesy of Katrina d’AutremontCourtesy of Kotama BouabaneIt’s no secret that the annual Flash Forward competition for emerging photographers from Canada, the UK and the US is adding a new biennial festival component, running from October 6-10. We...
  • Image courtesy North Star/AAMO.Okay, we know that this doesn’t pertain to visual art at all, but we expect that Canada’s art-scene-makers will be wearing it all summer. The editors here at Magenta, being children of the 1970s and 80s, got a bit...
  • Sam Taylor-Wood: 3-Minute Round (2008): Courtesy Jay Jopling/White Cube, London, and the Art Gallery of Calgary.Visiting Western Canada soon? This trio of exhibitions in Alberta, which are running through the summer months, encompass everything from...
  • Elizabeth McIntosh: Untitled (Black dots on swatches) (2009): Oil on canvas, 75 x 90 inches. Courtesy the artist & Diaz Contemporary, Toronto. Five Toronto exhibitions ask that we observe closely, but reward by delighting our eyes. ...
  • David LaChapelle: The Rape of Africa (2009): Courtesy the artist and Fred Torres Collaborations.As this issue goes live, Toronto is in the grips of photo fever. Each May, Toronto turns into the world’s photography capital during the CONTACT...
  • After almost two years of behind-the-scenes planning, the Flash Forward Festival is set to take over Toronto’s Liberty Village for five days in October. Though the autumn still feels so far away, two scheduled events are already getting a lot of...
  • By Bill Clarke Last Thursday, I, and several hundred other Torontonians, were served drinks by pandas, and were entertained by drag queens and musclemen. We drank our faces off (okay, well…I did) and puffed on cigars, and laughed, gossiped, debated...
  • On July 10, Mercer Union in Toronto opens the exhibition Wall Drawing #349 by the extremely influential American Conceptual and Minimalist artist, Sol Lewitt (1928-2007). In his innovative wall drawings, Lewitt attempted to break free of the...
  • A hit at film festivals across North America, ‘Herb & Dorothy’ tells the story of New Yorkers Herbert and Dorothy Vogel who, in the early 1960s, started building what would become one of the world’s most important collections of Minimalist and...
  • Roy Arden: Kevin Hatt #6, inkjet print (1981-1985): Courtesy the artist and Clark & Faria, Toronto.‘Restricted’ at Clark & Faria, Toronto and Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver (both to Feb. 13)Trust Clark & Faria and Monte Clark Gallery to...
  • Jon Sasaki: Ladder Stack, colour photograph (2009): Courtesy the artist and Jessica Bradley Art Projects, Toronto.Jon Sasaki: ‘Unabashed Enthusiasm’ at Jessica Bradley Art Projects (to Feb. 6) and ‘Good Intentions’ at the Doris McCarthy Gallery,...
  • Christian Giroux & Daniel Young: 50 Light Fixtures from Home Depot (2010): Still from a colour video. Courtesy Mercer Union, Toronto; Diaz Contemporary, Toronto; and the artists.Christian Giroux and Daniel Young:50 Light Fixtures from Home...
  • Luanne Martineau: Aidan’s Fiddle (2009): Industrial felt, needle-felted wool, yarn and thread; 223.5 x 223.5 x 25.4 cm. Private collection. Courtesy Aidan Larock, Ottawa, the artist, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Montreal.Museum of...
  • Micah Lexier: I Am the Coin (installation view detail, 2009): Courtesy the artist and the Bank of Montreal. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid.Micah Lexier: I Am the CoinBMO project roomUntil November 30, 2010Is Micah Lexier gunning for the title of busiest...
  • Nicholas Di Genova: Polar Region (2010): Ink on paper. Courtesy Fredericks & Freiser, New York; LE Gallery, Toronto; and the artist.In the coming months, a handful of young Canadian artists are storming American galleries with solo shows. First...
  • Gary Hill (American, b. 1951): Inasmuch As It Is Always Already Taking Place (1990): Analog audio/video, closed-loop installation for 16 black-and-white TV tubes of varying sizes, edition 2 of 2 + AP. Courtesy: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.Two...
  • The U.K.-based publisher Afterall continues its excellent ‘One Work’ series of critical, yet accessible, book-length essays on significant artworks with this examination of Canadian artist Michael Snow’s experimental film, Wavelength. Since its...
  •  Adam David BrownHunter and Cook No. 5 (special edition)Edition of 50 $200 2009 was an impressive year for Toronto-based artist Adam David Brown, with an extremely well-received exhibition at his gallery, MKG127, and  rather heated...
  • Published by Paul and Wendy Projects120-page hardcover book, including a colour print by the artist 7" x 7" Ed. of 25, numbered and signed by the artist$150The cover art of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is as iconic and...
  • StereoBy Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber, 2009Published by Casey House14 x 22 inchesEd. of 90, signed and numbered by the artists$150Three years ago, as part of its annual fundraising art auction, Art with Heart, the HIV/AIDS hospice Casey House...
  • Artist Statement:Artist Portfolio: Eduardo Gil Title: Landscapes/Paisajes Home Country: Argentina Website: www.eduardogil.comIn Landscapes/Paisajes, I deepen a self-deconstructing process, which is a critical reformulation of my past production....
  • Different strains of Minimalist and Conceptual art inform three Toronto exhibitions currently on view.#47 The Whole WorldDerek Sullivan, 2009. Coloured pencil on paper, 135 x 105 cm (53 x 41-_ inches). Courtesy Jessica Bradley Art + Projects,...
  • Curator’s Note, by Sara KnelmanWelcome to the 2009 edition of The Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward. This fifth-anniversary collection showcases the most exciting work from emerging photographers in Canada, the UK and the US. The project continues...
  • Four of the most highly anticipated exhibitions in Toronto this autumn are solos by four of the city’s most buzz-worthy artists, who just happen to be women.It's Just One God Damn Thing After AnotherKelly Mark, 2009powder coated aluminum47" diameter...
  • Jonathan MonkMeeting #56, 2009Edition of 90 ($40), with 30 signed and numbered copies ($140)Produced by Mercer Union, TorontoThe British artist, Jonathan Monk, works in a wide range of media, but multiples have always been a key element of his...
  • Michael SnowCondimental Shifts (2007)Ltd. edition porcelain plate$800Michael Snow is arguably one of the most influential experimental filmmakers in the world. Even if Wavelength (1965) were the only film that Snow had ever made, it's still likely...
  • Habitat Machines by David TrautrimasPublished by photo-eye Editions, 2009Edition of 50Tiered pricing structure ($1,500 US for editions 20-30 at time of writing)To describe Toronto-based artist David Trautrimas photo-constructions as imaginative is...