Art Toronto 2004

Toronto International Art Fair 2004 Special Projects: Exhibitions & Installations

A jewel of the international art scene, the Toronto International Art Fair has made its mark with innovative programming for both beginning collectors and seasoned professionals. Special exhibits this year include: The News at Five: a series of daily shows curated by Canadian Art Editor Richard Rhodes; Berlin Constructions, an installation that addresses the emergent practices in the work of Berlin-based contemporary German and International artists since the fall of the Berlin Wall; Solo Spaces a series of installations by some of Canada’s leading contemporary artists; an exhibition of Ferdinand Botero’s bronze sculptures; and In The City, on-site exhibitions by Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA).

The News at Five is a series of daily rotating exhibitions curated by Canadian Art Editor Richard Rhodes and presented by Canadian Art and the Toronto International Art Fair. This year The News at Five is comprised of three exhibitions.

Painting! features a selection of paintings from 1958 to 1965 by some of the best known names in Canadian painting, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jack Bush, Kazuo Nakamura, William Ronald, Richard Gorman, Les Levine and Marcel Barbeau, when the artists were still in search of their signature styles. Painting! can be seen on Thursday, September 30.

Painting? explores the boundaries of format and the limits of meaning as painting continually reinvents its relevance for audiences schooled to accept the death of painting in contemporary art, with recent works by artists Angela Leach, Christian Eckart, Eric Cameron and Allyson Mitchell, on Friday, October 1.

Sculpture. is the third exhibition in the series, focusing on the growing turn among younger artists to the stable, more measurable dimensions of sculpture whose experience beats a thorny path back towards the real and offers a counterweight to virtuality. Saturday, October 2 through Monday, October 4, Sculpture artists include Nep Sidhu, Scott Eunson, Derek Sullivan, Lucy Pullen and Christian Giroux and Daniel Young.

Solo Spaces, a new addition to the Fair’s programming, features special booths dedicated exclusively to project works of represented artists from participating galleries. Examples of the outstanding work that is being created specifically to premiere at the Toronto International Art Fair are Phase III of Scenes From The House Dream, a feat of neo-baroque cinematic illusionism by David Hoffos (TrépanierBaer), and an interactive, electronic, sensory installation, The Presence Meter by Daniel Borins and Jennifer Marman (Pari Nadimi Gallery). Exhibiting artists also include Scott McFarland (Monte Clark Gallery), Myfanwy MacLeod (Catriona Jeffries Gallery).

Galeria El Museo, based in Madrid and Colombia, will present an overview of Ferdinand Botero bronze sculptures. Often imitated and instantly recognizable, Botero’s distinctive, avant-garde style of smooth inflated shapes and surprising, sometimes comic sense proportion are evident in smaller and colossal works such as Ballerina and Reclining woman, which will be shipped to Canada and installed by crane in time for TIAF 2004.

Berlin Constructions, a special exhibition curated by Rhonda Corvese, addresses the emergent practices and new art forms that have developed in the work of Berlin-based contemporary artists since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The diversity of work is emblematic of a post-industrial and globalized society no longer confined to singular movements of artistic expression. The works exhibited in Berlin Constructions are examples of the current contemporary cultural production in Berlin, encompassing numerous mediums and works that explore spatial articulations, constructive and material aesthetics, personal and public space, situational and transitional processes, perspective interpretations, displacement and dislocation, urban space and development, constructed environments, and socio-political perceptions.

Participating Berlin galleries are Koch und Kesslau, Galerie Jette Rudolph, ABEL Neue Kunst and Loop raum fur aktuelle kunst. Participating artists include Tine Benz (installation), Alekos Hofstetter (works on paper), Sofia Hultén (sculpture), Petra Karadimas (photography), Andreas Schimanski (video) and Lea Asja Pagenkemper (painting).

Art Toronto 2004 encourages a city-wide dialogue and is pleased to highlight the on-site participation of Toronto’s contemporary visual arts institutions including the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), in a special initiative called In The City.

The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery has invited Danish activist artists, Rasmus Nielsen, Jakob Fenger and Bjørnstjerne Christiansen of the SUPERFLEX collective to bring together art, design, and commerce to test and explore transnational borders and boundaries through a project that focuses on global trade.

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) will present artworks, photo-documentation and performances by artists that have been part of the MOCCA’s ambitious projects and programs. A highlight will be God’s Sister, a giant inflatable sculpture by Toronto artist Fiona Smyth that was exhibited at outdoor festivals in Venice/Lido, Italy and Taichung, Taiwan.

The Toronto International Art Fair, Canada’s premier fair for international art, celebrates its fifth anniversary with Art Toronto 2004, September 30 to October 4, 2004 at the Metro Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, Toronto, Canada. 83 galleries from 13 countries will show and sell a vibrant mix of leading edge modern and contemporary works by established artists and rising stars.

5th Toronto International Art Fair - Art Toronto 2004

Special Projects: Exhibitions & Installations
mit Jean-Paul Riopelle, Jack Hamilton Bush, Kazuo Nakamura, William Ronald, Richard Gorman, Les Levine, Marcel Barbeau, Angela Leach, Christian Eckart, Eric Cameron, Allyson Mitchell, Nep Sidhu, Scott Eunson, Derek Sullivan, Lucy Pullen & Christian Giroux, Daniel Young, David Hoffos , Daniel Borins, Jennifer Marman, Scott McFarland, Myfanwy MacLeod, Tine Benz, Alekos Hofstetter, Sofia Hulten, Petra Karadimas, Andreas Schimanski, Lea Asja Pagenkemper, Superflex , Fiona Smyth ...