The compiling of things, Toronto Star edition
Howdy!
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The Toronto Star has the best visual arts coverage of any daily newspaper in this country (OK, I haven't quite gotten around to reading the Edmonton Journal on a regular basis, but I digress). Yes, an awful lot of it is about art in Toronto, so I read it and don't comment. But every now and again, I come across something rather wonderful that I think should be duly noted. Over the past three weeks or so, these are the ones that have struck my fancy.
June 30 - More thought than shock. Peter Goddard on Glenn Ligon. B. Some nice lines ("With Glenn Ligon, funk is spelled with "ph," as in PhD." And "'But when I showed my paintings alongside the kids' drawings that my paintings were based on, the kids' drawings were much better than my paintings.'") An attempt at a quick historical overview, which for the most part works. A small sentence on the inner workings of the Power Plant. Basically standard issue solid stuff from Star's senior Art Critic. It ain't exactly gonna get me down to Toronto to see the show, but I'm happy I read it.
July 2 - Airport art no more. Murray Whyte on the Sissons/Morrow collection. A. Now this actually might get my butt down to Toronto (or at least procuring a copy of the catalogue). In a nutshell (but Mr. Whyte, tells it much much better) a collection of Inuit art that was commissioned and collected by judges who wanted sculptures dealing with court cases. My only complaints (and the reasons for the missing "+" are that Mr. Whyte doesn't bring up the point that these are pieces of Inuit Art, named after two white men. And that he couldn't get a decent quote from the curator (but that might not be his fault, she just might not give good quote). And the headline is extremely misleading - again not his fault.
July 23 - The ghost in the gallery. Peter Goddard on the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. B-. Well, the Beaverbrook wanted headlines, and it got 'em. I personally think that this particular article should have been written by the Star's law reporter rather than the art critic. But if Mr. Goddard wants a trip to Fredericton, I'm not going to fault him for it. The article goes into more details about the dispute than I have ever read before (here and here for that). But doesn't go into too much detail about the actual show. I gotta toss out props for scoring an interview with the current Lord beaverbrook (who sounds like a whiny kid, to me). But overall still a solid article.
July 23 - Every breath you take, she'll be watching you. Peter Goddard on Janet Cardiff. C+. I'll leave it at that, as I have already written too much about Ms. Cardiff, and am probably too biased to give a true grade to Mr. Goddard.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The Toronto Star has the best visual arts coverage of any daily newspaper in this country (OK, I haven't quite gotten around to reading the Edmonton Journal on a regular basis, but I digress). Yes, an awful lot of it is about art in Toronto, so I read it and don't comment. But every now and again, I come across something rather wonderful that I think should be duly noted. Over the past three weeks or so, these are the ones that have struck my fancy.
June 30 - More thought than shock. Peter Goddard on Glenn Ligon. B. Some nice lines ("With Glenn Ligon, funk is spelled with "ph," as in PhD." And "'But when I showed my paintings alongside the kids' drawings that my paintings were based on, the kids' drawings were much better than my paintings.'") An attempt at a quick historical overview, which for the most part works. A small sentence on the inner workings of the Power Plant. Basically standard issue solid stuff from Star's senior Art Critic. It ain't exactly gonna get me down to Toronto to see the show, but I'm happy I read it.
July 2 - Airport art no more. Murray Whyte on the Sissons/Morrow collection. A. Now this actually might get my butt down to Toronto (or at least procuring a copy of the catalogue). In a nutshell (but Mr. Whyte, tells it much much better) a collection of Inuit art that was commissioned and collected by judges who wanted sculptures dealing with court cases. My only complaints (and the reasons for the missing "+" are that Mr. Whyte doesn't bring up the point that these are pieces of Inuit Art, named after two white men. And that he couldn't get a decent quote from the curator (but that might not be his fault, she just might not give good quote). And the headline is extremely misleading - again not his fault.
July 23 - The ghost in the gallery. Peter Goddard on the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. B-. Well, the Beaverbrook wanted headlines, and it got 'em. I personally think that this particular article should have been written by the Star's law reporter rather than the art critic. But if Mr. Goddard wants a trip to Fredericton, I'm not going to fault him for it. The article goes into more details about the dispute than I have ever read before (here and here for that). But doesn't go into too much detail about the actual show. I gotta toss out props for scoring an interview with the current Lord beaverbrook (who sounds like a whiny kid, to me). But overall still a solid article.
July 23 - Every breath you take, she'll be watching you. Peter Goddard on Janet Cardiff. C+. I'll leave it at that, as I have already written too much about Ms. Cardiff, and am probably too biased to give a true grade to Mr. Goddard.
posted by Zeke's, the Montreal Art Gallery on 23.7.05
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