Art Toronto 2009 Preview

I’ve attended the Toronto International Art Fair in some capacity or another ever since my return to Canada in 2007, though most frequently at the behest of MAP Magazine back in Scotland. And while I’m grateful that the magazine isn’t participating in this year’s fair, the affiliation still allowed me the dubious privilege of grabbing an early morning GO train to attend this morning’s Media Preview for the tenth instalment of what is now dubbed Art Toronto.

Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto. Booth 1110.

The pay-off of this press-friendly gesture, strangely the first of its kind for Canada’s only international art fair, was the opportunity to view the art and galleries on display in advance of tonight’s Collector’s Preview - in advance, even, of the the completion of installation for a number of the booths. There was a peculiar calm to be had from perusing an art fair without the ubiquitous crowds, but the daunting quality of viewing one-hundred-plus galleries in a single cavernous space remained, perhaps properly, insurmountable. Especially when the carpet is still being straightened out under one’s feet.

A work from Heartland awaiting installation.

The prevalence of Canadian - and indeed, Toronto-based - galleries in this purportedly international art fair is a possible cause for the name change, and does signal a more honest embrace of a home-grown perspective. A new development at this year’s Art Toronto is Heartland, a flagship exhibition mounted at the entry-point of the art fair that pulls together Canadian works from across the spectrum of represented galleries to present an ‘inferential and poetic’ survey of our nation’s art. Curated by Jeffrey Spalding, the array of work celebrates varying degrees of intuition and romanticism while aiming to present the Canadian perspective as that of a global citizen engaged in a sweeping cultural conversation. The success of that broad statement remains untested, as much of the work was still being installed during this morning’s preview, but what I’ve seen thus far has been a promising work in progress.

Dave Hind @ Liss Gallery, Toronto. Booth 112.

As in previous years, there’s a tangible spectrum running across the convention centre floor from relatively staid modernist galleries to the west that gradually give way to increasingly contemporary work moving eastward. A select few exceptions make a thorough circuit worthwhile - I was surprised to find a couple of Dave Hind’s recycled aluminum works at Liss Gallery in the extreme south-east corner (Booth 112), tucked in next to what looked like an intriguing display of oddities at AGA•T from Nagoya-shi.

Paul Butler @ MKG 127, Toronto. Booth 1112.

The otherwise prevalent currents of artistic taste culminate in nineteen exhibitors designated as NEXT galleries - seemingly an evolution of previous years’ Fresh Avant Garde label. The terminology, as usual, does little to clarify the status of these spaces, some of which hardly seem to be ‘emerging’ and others that I swear I’ve seen represented in the main body of previous versions of TIAF, but on the whole they’re thankfully strong enough to resist categorization. MKG 127 is exhibiting a variety of independently strong works that provide a miniature tour of recent exhibitions, while galleries such as Clint Roenisch emphasize a cohesive sense of opulence for the occasion.

Shuvinai Ashoona @ Feheley Fine Arts, Toronto. Booth 404.

Another new albeit understated development at Art Toronto is the designation of eight solo space projects. While providing valuable opportunities to contextualize an artist’s work in what can otherwise be truly random circumstances, the presentations are largely undistinguished from the larger bodies of their exhibiting galleries and therefore are difficult to appreciate as the stand-alone statements they could have been.

Kevin Yates (top) and Ian Carr-Harris (bottom) @ Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto. Booth 724.

As with the NEXT section, however, the use of a label doesn’t detract from the strength of the work itself. Kevin Yates’ installation of houses on the exterior walls of Susan Hobbs’ booth are wonderfully creepy objects that resonate well with much of the work by other gallery artists. Paintings by Scott Lyall and Sandra Maigs bounce chaotic diagonal architectures back at each other, and Ian Carr-Harris’ illuminated books are equal parts charming and unsettling. For conceptual rigour densely packed in appealing forms, Susan Hobbs is a tough act to beat at this fair.

Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal. Booth 420.

A few familiar art fair tropes speed along the viewing process - I hardly consider myself an art fair veteran but the recurrence of the map-collaged dogs and concrete-cast plush animals do become less engaging with every appearance, as do the countless doe-eyed-girls-on-canvas. I was also surprised at the amount of art historical pastiche, most explicit in Adad Hannah’s Raft of the Medusa (100 Mile House) at Pierre-Francois Ouellette Art Contemporain, whose video components of blinking, breathing tableaux vivants models briefly overcame my prejudice against re-enactments of canon masterworks: an unfortunate inheritance of having taught art to teenagers. I was far less willing to forgive a vapid oil painting of the Three Graces as cloying contemporary teenage girls, which hit far too close to the school-aged cliche for my taste. I’ve been accused of not seeing the irony in works like this before, but that doesn’t help the fact that I may have thrown up in my mouth a little at this one.

Aganetha Dyck @ The Other Gallery, Winnipeg. Booth 1100.

After that, it’s a shame that my favourite work on this first walk-through proved impossible to photograph through the bloody glass, but Aganetha Dyck’s print at The Other Gallery is too outstanding to not mention. Two of her sculptural pieces are included in Heartland and also feature the honeycomb traces of her trademark bee-collaboration, but the technique manages to take on an even more alien quality on this print work. Although produced as an edition at Winnipeg’s Martha Street Studios, the hive’s interventions make each work unique. If I were one of the big-spending art collectors coming out for tonight’s preview and not just one of the underpaid writers, this is the piece I’d be buying in a heartbeat.

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