CANADA COUNCIL ART BANK

The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada's national, arm's-length arts funding agency. Its main areas of activity are:

Grants: provide funding to individual professional artists and arts organizations through a peer assessment process.

Endowments and Prizes: award annual fellowships and prizes to some 200 artists and scholars.

Research, communications and other activities further its mandate to support, promote and celebrate the arts. 

 The Canada Council Art Bank, the Killam Program, the  Public Lending Right Commission and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO are all administered through the Canada Council.

The Canada Council Art Bank

With some 18,000 paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures by over 2500 artists, The Canada Council Art Bank is home to the largest collection of contemporary Canadian art. All are available for rent by corporations, institutions, government departments and agencies.

As a self-sufficient organization, it supports Canadian artists by purchasing work from its earned revenues through a system of peer assessment.

From its inception, the Art Bank was created to supplement the income of artists whose works are purchased and to bring large numbers of Canadians in direct contact with contemporary Canadian art. It is also intended to provide stimulus to commercial galleries.

As one of three Art Consultants at the Art Bank, I serve eastern Canada: the National Capital Region, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

SOUNDSCAPES

An open source music initiative curated by Claudio Marzano and Scott Clyke for the 2009 Montreal Biennale. 

The goal of this 3 step project is to generate an indefinite number of musical compositions from common source material.

Step 1. Canadian pianist, composer and arranger David Ryshpan created a soundtrack for Rick Leong's painting entitled Dancing Serpent in Dawn's Quiet (2006), a recent addition to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' Permanent Collection.

Step 2. Musicians, DJs and producers across Canada and the world are invited to remix/reinterpret the original score.

Step 3. The remixes are showcased online and as part of an exhibition taking place at the Bourget building from May 1 to 31, 2009.

A selection of the collected remixes are featured on a limited-edition CD and performed live at The Goods at Sala Rossa on May 23, 2009.

To download the source material and share your own interpretation, visit biennalemontreal.org/soundscapes.

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Rick Leong, Dancing Serpent in Dawn's Quiet, oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm, 2006

www.biennalemontreal.org/soundscapes/

limited-edition CD

Rick Leong, The Hidden Din, oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm, 2009 (painted in response to the music)

Rick Leong, A Still Melody, oil on canvas, 183 x 244 cm, 2009 (painted in response to the music)

DROOG EVENT 2: URBAN PLAY

Droog Event 2: Urban Play, presented at the 2008 Experimenta Design Biennale in Amsterdam, curated by Scott Burnham and produced by Droog, is an exhibition that features some of the latest and most creative forms of urban intervention produced outside of the formal channels of institutions, commissions and urban planning in cities around the world.

Having worked on the project as assistant curator, I had a great time building the exhibition and putting together the catalogue with such an innovative group of international artists and designers.

FEATURED ARTISTS: Arno Piroud, CutUp Collective, Designo Patagonia, Gilberto Esparza, Graffiti Research Lab, Gunjan Gupta, Jan Konings, Jason Eppink, Ji Lee, Joshua Allen Harris, Kwangho Lee, NL Architects, Nothing Design Group, Mark Jenkins, Marti Guixé, Martín Ruiz Azúa, Leon Reid IV, OSA, Posterchild, Rebar, Roadsworth, Sagmeister Inc., SpY, TheGreenEyl, TruthTag, WindowZoo, You Are Beautiful

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Joshua Allen Harris, Air Bear, 2008

STREET ART AT TATE MODERN / NISSAN QASHQAI CHALLENGE

In the first commission to use the building's iconic river façade, and the first major public museum display of street art in London, Tate Modern presented the work of six internationally acclaimed artists whose work is intricately linked to the urban environment: Blu from Bologna, Italy; the artist collective Faile from New York, USA; JR from Paris, France; Nunca and Os Gêmeos, both from São Paulo, Brazil and Sixeart from Barcelona, Spain.

Various events took place during the exhibition, including an interactive evening with experimental New York artists Graffiti Research Lab, refacing Tate Modern with graffiti light projections, and the finals of the Nissan Qashqai Challenge, an international moutainbike freeriding competition, which sponsored the event and through which I became involved in the project as a consultant in the selection of featured artists.

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Street Art at Tate Modern / Nissan Qashqai Challenge, 2008

MOIS DE LA PHOTO 2007

The 2007 edition of Montreal's Mois de la Photo, curated by Marie Fraser, featured the works of over 30 international artists, many of whom I got to help out throughout the exhibition design and building process as the technical advisor of multimedia installations.

FEATURED ARTISTS: Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Gustavo Artigas, Éric Baudelaire, Rebecca Belmore, Candice Breitz, David Claerbout, Stan Douglas, Patrice Duhamel, Adad Hannah, Bettina Hoffmann, Mike Hoolboom, Teresa Hubbard & Alexander Birchler, Douglas Gordon, Jesper Just, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry, Thomas Kneubühler, Emmanuelle Léonard, Christelle Lheureux, Norton Maza, Valérie Mréjen, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Josée Pedneault, Paulette Phillips, Marisa Portolese, Kelly Richardson, Elina Saloranta, Carlos & Jason Sanchez, Zineb Sedira, Trine Søndergaard & Nicolai Howalt, Eve Sussman & The Rufus Corporation, Ron Terada, Althea Thauberger, Salla Tykkä, Eve K. Tremblay, Chih-Chien Wang, Myriam Yates, Shao Yinong & Muchen

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The Sanchez Brothers, Between Life and Death, 2006

BIENNALE MONTREAL 2007

As assistant curator / technical director for the 2007 Montreal Biennale, I had the privilege of working with a remarkable group of contemporary artists from around the world, brought together by the CIAC and guest curator Wayne Baerwaldt.

FEATURED ARTISTS: 2Boys.tv, Scoli Acosta, David Altmejd, Stephen Andrews, Michael Awad & Evan Penny, BGL, Eleanor Bond, Dana Claxton, Lynne Cohen, Chris Cran, Daft Punk, Christine Davis, Beth Derbyshire, Julie Doucet, Geoffrey Farmer, Jeff Funnell, Noam Gonick & Luis Jacob, David Hoffos, Ignacio Iturria, Sarah Anne Johnson, Brian Jungen, Jesper Just, Janice Kerbel, Will Kwan, Lesbians on Ecstasy, Virgil Marti, Les Georges Leningrad, Luanne Martineau, Scott McFarland, Kent Monkman, My Barbarian, Numa, Paper Rad, Graeme Patterson, Paul P., Peaches, Pil & Gallia Kollectiv, Annie Pootoogook, Carole Pope, Iran do Espirito Santo, Theo Sims, Ryan Sluggett, Bill Smith, Scott Treleaven, Susan Turcot, Paulo Whitaker

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Daft Punk, Electroma, 2006

FAIR USE - art copyrights in the digital age

The individuals and corporations that hold the copyrights to some of the most lucrative cultural icons from this and the previous century are using their political influence to have the rules bent in their favour.  In 1998, after some persuasive lobbying and well-targeted campaign contributions, US Congress passed the Copyright Term Extension Act, which prolonged existing copyright controls by twenty more years.  This was the eleventh time that Congress had extended ‘fixed’ copyright terms.  These and other recent amendments to copyright law have redefined the notion of a public domain to the advantage of copyright owners.  

As we begin to realize the immense potential of digital networks for the preservation and free exchange of global culture, it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the private interests of the few will not take precedence over the educational and expressive rights of the many, as is currently occurring with the “calcification” of the public domain.  

Fair use allows for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material for purposes such as criticism, comment, parody, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, and research.  Similar provisions exist in most European and Commonwealth nations, though their name and specific clauses may vary.  In the UK, the comparable defence is known as ‘fair dealing’, though parodies are not included in its list of potential applications.  Because of its unpredictability, the high cost of defending it in court, and the crushing liability that may result if one guesses wrong, it is becoming exceptionally difficult to build a reliable fair use defence. 

The fair use provision can be invoked for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the copyrighted work;

3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

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EXHIBITING COUNTERCULTURES - the paradox of legitimate street art

Street art is the broad label given to the contemporary practice of creating art specifically for display in public spaces.  Even though its roots can be traced back to the style of graffiti that became a prominent fixture of major urban centres starting with New York City in the 1970s, the particular brand of street art that will be examined in this essay is in no way related to gang territoriality or malicious vandalism.  However, the fact that – for the most part – these works are executed directly onto, or installed in and around, public walls/grounds/fixtures still calls for them to be classified as illegal; although practitioners will usually justify their actions as a re-appropriation of communal spaces, which have become overrun by ever more invasive, yet entirely lawful, advertising campaigns. 

Influenced by prevailing forms of youth counterculture, the most unifying trait shared by this new generation of artists is a strong affinity for the ʻdo-it-yourselfʼ ethos, coupled with a remarkable range of multi-disciplinary aptitudes.  Contrary to their graffiti-writing predecessors whose tools were usually limited to cans of spray-paint and industrial markers, todayʼs street artists are incorporating traditional brush-based painting methods, photography, collage; as well as graphic-design techniques such as screen-printing and wheat-pasting; while some are even pushing the genreʼs technical boundaries by including still and moving image projections, music and other digital media.        

The double connotation implied by the use of the word legitimate in this essayʼs title, is not only meant to introduce the ambiguous nature of the debate over “post-graffiti as fine art”, but it also points towards a much broader question regarding the actual role of art galleries and museums as so-called “tastemakers”.  One of the primary definitions of the term legitimate, when employed as an adjective, indicates that something complies with the law – which all forms of graffiti, by their very nature, do not.  A second fundamental meaning, this time in the form of the verb to legitimate, entails the consecration of an artistic manifestation (physical or intellectual) to the realm of ʻseriousʼ or ʻhighʼ art – that is, in stpopular expression.

This essay explores the methods through which contemporary forms of street art have managed to claim their own particular brand of art world legitimacy.  The first section draws on the examples of two recent, large-scale, graffiti exhibitions – Ill Communications II (Urbis, Manchester) and Beautiful Losers (national tour, United States) – as a way of introducing some of the enduring presumptions that affect the publicʼs perception of this specific genre.  The second section looks at the inherent incongruity of pursuing public recognition via an art form that is founded on principles of anonymity.  In the third and final section, we examine the commoditization of street art by way of online visibility and corporate associations. 

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Banksy at the Brooklyn Museum, 2005

BROUGHT TO YOU BY - corporate sponsorship and the branding of art

While striving to provide a safe haven for fine art, museums and galleries must also deal with the inherent difficulties of appealing to the very elusive notion of a ʻgeneral publicʼ.  Regardless of how much praise they receive for cultural merit, on account of collecting and preserving works for a discerning crowd, museums are more often than not criticized for promoting a sense of social exclusiveness.  Despite shortages in financial and, consequentially, human resources, the added responsibility of educating the masses have put standards of quality at risk.  With reformers insisting on both democratization and professionalization, countless art institutions are now turning to the private sector not only for additional funding, but also for some inspiration on how to attract as great a number and variety of visitors as possible.  

It seems as if the reconfiguration of museums in terms of experiential consumption has encouraged viewers to approach them as they would other sites of contemporary entertainment.  It follows, nonetheless, that the contents and collections of a great many institutions have been subordinated to what has come to be known as ʻimage architectureʼ.  In an article entitled “Museum or Amusement Park?” featured in the lifestyle magazine Travel and Leisure, Alice Rawsthorn addresses the trend of the museum as adult theme park by asking whether visitors are more interested in the venueʼs architecture and overall brand identity, or in the actual artwork it is meant to contain.  By mentioning the “attraction value” (in the tour-guide sense of the word) of Daniel Libeskindʼs Jewish Museum in Berlin, she emphasizes the success of its structure, despite publicized indecisions regarding its content. 

Maintaining their role both as instruments of historical representation and powerful social metaphors, museums and galleries continue to be significant barometers of social change; most recently embodying the essence of postmodernity by feeding the “anything goes” market eclecticism of late global capitalism.  As a matter of fact, the mechanisms of commercial globalization have been driven to the forefront of the managerial agendas of most mid- to large-scale arts institutions, with serious thought now being given to the development of worldwide franchises (referred to as satellite museums), travelling exhibitions, and the standardization of administrative practice in the hopes of facilitating international exchange.   

In this essay, we apply the theories and empirical findings of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, to the question of how contemporary artists, the museums or galleries that promote them, and the general public each rely on or respond to corporate sponsorship.  In the process, we will examine some of the marketing methods employed to secure popular interest, maximise attendance and ensure economic sustainability/growth, whilst competing with other forms of cultural entertainment.

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Beck’s beer bottles with labels by Tim Head, Damien Hirst and Rebecca Horn, 1992 - 1995

THE BLEND (2006)

The Blend. 1., 30 min (2006)

The Blend. 2., 30 min (2006) 

THE HERD (2003)

 

The Herd / Side A, 38 min (2003)

The Herd / Side B, 39 min (2003)

MIXED MEDIA ILLUSTRATION

BOOKS

PAPER

WOOD