The Power Plant celebrates its 20th anniversary

Le tout Toronto came out to the Power Plant last night to celebrate their 20th anniversary with a glamorous dinner by Michael Stadtlander and art auction hosted by Maarten Ten Holder from Sotheby’s. The champagne flowed as past presidents of the gallery rubbed elbows with collectors, artists, socialites and CEO's.


General Idea, Untitled (Trintron), 1986. Courtesy of AA Bronson/Estate of General Idea

There were some good deals to be had at the auction, since many works failed to meet their low estimates. Mr. Ten Holder, a quick, sardonic Brit, seemed slightly exasperated with the tooth-pulling required to attain higher prices – two hundred here, five there. “It’s for a good cause!” he urged whenever bidding slowed. He harnessed the crowd’s energy – at one point he said “shhhh” and the entire champagne-fueled room fell silent.

There was a strong selection of Canadian and international work on offer – buyers got some great deals.

Highlights were Glenn Ligon's Negro Sunshine #2 (2007) and Ken Lum’s piece, Tire, (2007) which the Drake Hotel’s Jeff Stober narrowly lost out on. Artist AA Bronson, resplendent in red glasses and turquoise jacket to offset his ample grey beard, sat up front. Even his gorgeous piece, Untitled (Trinitron), from 1986 and perhaps the star of the show, sold for considerably less than its presale estimate, at $50,000.


Artist AA Bronson of General Idea. Image: canadacouncil.ca


Glenn Ligon, Negro Sunshine #2, 2007. Courtesy the artist and Regen Projects, Los Angeles

The auction began with a small drawing by Annie Pootoogook, Father and Child at Kitchen Table (2005-06), which soared above its estimate of $1,200 - $2,000. VoCA thinks Ms. Pootoogook (represented by Feheley Fine Arts) might be the new Marcel Dzama. Watch this space.

Liam Gillick’s piece, Weather everything resignation diagram wall layout, a unique inkjet print from 1998, sold to a lucky bidder for $3,800, well under its estimate of $5 – 7,000. This was surprising, considering what a major international name he is, having been shortlisted for Britian’s Turner Prize in 2002 and with recent shows at the AGYU in Toronto.

Directly in front of us was the photoconceptual artist Scott McFarland from Vancouver, whose companion bid up his two works early on to reach a respectable $7,500 and 13,000 respectively – the latter to an absentee bidder. Not bad prices for work by a young photographer recently featured in the MoMA’s New Photography exhibition this year.


Scott McFarland, Tree Study & Magnolia, Stelliata, Prunus, Cerasifera, 1999

Next to him sat Luis Jacob and Kelly Mark, both from Toronto. Jacob – arguably Canada’s artist-of-the-moment, thanks to his presence at last summer’s prestigious Documenta in Kassel, Germany, saw his photograph, Mottled Form, go to Mr. Stober for $6,500. Look for it at the Drake. One of the room's power players, art consultant Robin Anthony - who must have had at least several clients bidding on her recommendations - sat discreetly to one side.


Luis Jacob, Mottled Form, 2007. Image: birchlibralato.com

There was work by two early Vancouver photoconceptualists, Ian Wallace and Iain Baxter&. The former sold for $15,000, against its $20 – 25,000 estimate, while the latter, though an edition of ten, was the stronger image and sold for $21,000 against its $20 – 30,000 estimate.


Ian Baxter&, Overpass, Fraser Valley, British Columbia, 1968. Courtesy of the artist

There were few Vezzoli fans in the crowd - despite his recent exhibiton at the Power Plant - as the poster Anni & Marlene in Hollywood – Blonde Bauhaus (2006) stalled, fetching only $35,000 against its 70 – 100, 000 estimate.

The sleeper hit of the show, however, was the Jonathan Monk piece, Balancing Act, a lovely watercolour of a hand balancing 2 Canadian, 1 French and 1 American coin between its fingers. It was won by Mr. Jim Fleck for $9,500, just above its presale estimate and is a real gem of a work. Congratulations.

VoCA recommends...FUSION NOW! at Rokeby Gallery, London UK

Andrew Rucklidge, beam-beam, 2007. Image: andrewrucklidge.com


Toronto artist Andrew Rucklidge is featured in FUSION NOW! MORE LIGHT, MORE POWER, MORE PEOPLE

November 21 - 20 December, 2007

At Rokeby Gallery, London UK.

Curated by artist, writer and editor - and VoCA friend - JJ Charlesworth, the exhibition takes as its starting point the rapidly developing science of nuclear fusion.


Andrew Rucklidge, Topset, 2007. Image: andrewrucklidge.com


Liam Gillick, Installation view of show at Esther Chipper, Berlin, November 2006. Image: estherchipper.com

Energy is now a key issue of political debate. At a time when we are told that our excessive use of fossil fuels threatens the environment itself, environmentalism advocates that the only solution is restraint and reduction.

FUSION NOW! asks what art and society might be like if we thought positively about a world based on more energy, not less.


Sam Basu, HIVE Arrangement of Cells, 2007. Image: artnews.info

Artists include Sam Basu, Laura Oldfield Ford, JJ Charlesworth, Alasdair Duncan, Freee, Liam Gillick, Roger Hiorns, John Latham, Andrew Rucklidge, John Russell, Mark Titchner and WITH (withyou.co.uk)


Rogers Hiorns, Untitled, 2007. Engine, aluminium, hardware, copper sulphate.
Image: corvi-mora.com


John Latham, Cluster No.11, 1992. Image: soton.ac.uk


Mark Titchner, We want answers to the questions of tomorrow, 2003. Image: kettlesyard.co.uk


Andrew Rucklidge, Iron, Stucco, Glass, Asphalt, 2006. Image: andrewrucklidge.com

Painter Andrew Rucklidge is represented by Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto. For the gallery website, please click HERE.

VoCA recommends…2 in Montreal, one in Toronto

1. London Art Scene talk in Montreal


Iwan Wirth and Detmar Blow discussing not only the London art market but the need to raise the intellectual discourse of the London art scene. Image: blowdelabarra.com

Iwona Blazwick, Director of London’s Whitechapel Gallery, will give a talk at Societe des Arts Technologiques in Montreal on Saturday, November 24th at 3 pm.

The FREE talk, entitled The Acquired Inability to Escape (The Life and Times of the London Art Scene) is presented by DHC/ART Foundation.

For more information, please click HERE.


2. John Latour at Pierre-Francois Ouellette Art Contemporain, Montreal

John Latour: Chimérique

November 10 - December 22, 2007


John Latour, Young woman in sweater and skirt smiling modestly, 2007. Image: pfoac.com

This exhibition of sculpture, text-based art and photography highlights three distinct but related bodies of work that reflect upon our tenuous links to the past.


John Latour, Sometimes I wish, 2007. Image: pfoac.com

The gallery will present concurrently Locus Horribilis, a collaborative artists' project coordinated by Felicity Tayler and John Latour which is part of the Petite enveloppe urbaine series.

For more information, please click HERE


3. It’s Good Enough Here at Le Gallery, Toronto

Vid Ingelevics, Lisa Klapstock, Jimmy Limit, Lisa Stinner, and Michael Taglieri.


Vid Ingelevics, Woodpile #2A. Image: le-gallery.ca

November 9 – December 2, 2007

For more info, please click HERE

Five Canadian photo-based artists embrace and explore the contemporary landscape. From parking lots to wood piles, industrial and residential gardens, the images presented serve as a record of the current stature of
nature in industrialized areas.


Jimmy Limit, Sarah Smoke. Image: le-gallery.ca

TIAF results, Van Gogh fails to sell

Greg Girard, Zhabei House, #1, 2002. Image: presentationhousegall.com


This year's Toronto International Art Fair was apparently an enormous success, with over 18,000 visitors and sales estimated at over 20 million dollars with a final piece selling for half a million dollars just seconds before the close of the Fair.

Works purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario from the fair included Annie Pootoogook’s Composition from Feheley Fine Arts, Greg Girard’s House on Zixia lu from Monte Clark Gallery and Metropolis from Olga Korper Gallery artist Denyse Thomasos.


Annie Pootoogook, Composition (Family in Summer Tent), Cape Dorset, 2003/04. Image: ciac.ca

Despite this positive outlook from the fair’s PR department, there were grumblings from some dealers, particularly about perceived lack of media coverage. How can TIAF attract new audiences?

VoCA – we worked the fair with Vancouver's Equinox Gallery – felt that the vibe was better this year than last, though we would suggest more curatorial thought in the alternative programming, which this year was the Open Spaces area. The most outstanding piece in Open Spaces was certainly Max Dean’s Robotic Chair, courtesy of Metivier Gallery.


Delyse Thomasos, Urban Jewels, 1995. Image: x-traonline.org

Another highlight were the Power Talks, which included a fantastically funny and intelligent lecture by New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz.

The 9th annual Toronto International Art Fair – Art Toronto 2008 will take place from October 2nd – October 6th 2008.


2. Van Gogh fails to sell at Sotheby's


Vincent Van Gogh, Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889. Image: expasy.org

A lackluster Sotheby's auction that failed to sell a Vincent van Gogh landscape saw shares in the company plunge on Thursday, but some experts said inflated estimates were more to blame than worries about the economy.

The Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art auction took in just under $270 million on Wednesday night -- falling short of a pre-sale estimate of $355 million -- and was unable to move a quarter of the paintings, including van Gogh's "Wheat Fields."

Read the full article HERE

Report from London

London Report

VoCA went to the Tate Modern today – saw the Louise Bourgeois retrospective.


The artist Louise Bourgeois. Image: ocaiw.com

What is there to say, really? For us, her work is almost perfect. Her use of material loaded with meaning - from threadbare tapestry (her parents were tapestry restorers in France) to models of her childhood home - is part of a deep, lifelong self investigation that Freud would doubtlessly be in awe of.

Our favorites were her "cells" - large-scale caged installations that she creates to signifiy particular parts of her past, particular memories.


Louise Bourgeois, Cell (Eyes and Mirrors) 1989-93. Image: tate.org.uk

End of Softness, 1967, a polished bronze sculpture, was admiringly simple and loaded with meaning. Give or Take (How Do You Feel This Morning?) 1990 is a bronze sculpture of a two-ended arm, one hand open the other half closed.


End of Softness, 1967 © Louise Bourgeois. Photo: Christopher Burke

One of our favorite of the small sculptures was Heart, 2004. A small metal stand held several large spools of thread. Each thread was strung to a needle, which were stuck savagely into a red wax model of a human heart, also hanging on the metal stand.

Bourgeois’ mother was a seamstress.


Give or Take, 2002 © Louise Bourgeois. Photo: Christopher Burke

Maman, 1999 is a giant bronze spider sculpture that holds a sac of marble eggs beneath her abdomen, and is perhaps the work for which Bourgeois is best known. One of the spiders occupies the courtyard immediately outside Canada's National Gallery in Ottawa.


Maman, 1999 outside the National Gallery of Canada. Image: mocoloco.com


From the catalogue:

"The motif of the spider has haunted Bourgeois's oeuvre since the 1940s, but it was not until the 1990s that it took the form of spectacular bronze installations. She has explained the symbolic importance of the spider, which she associates with the figure of her mother...the spider is therefore a positive and reassuring symbol. But the sheer scale of Maman makes it an equivocal creature tht quickly comes to seem menacing."



Doris Salcedo, Shibboleth 2007. Image: ledevoir.com

VoCA didn't think that much of Doris Salcedo's installation Shibboleth, in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. The way it had been described, we had envisioned a large crack in the floor, but it was only small. The effect was kind of neat, but for full effect it should have been cavernous. Perhaps that would have been impossible.