Part 1. Contemporary Art in Toronto - Finding The Right Mix. (en) - a podcast by CastYourArt.com

Contemporary Art in Toronto - Finding The Right Mix.

There has been much debate over whether a national style, philosophical outlook, or unified and cohesive culture exists or ever has existed within Canada. The country is large geographically, with many distinct regions, and its population is diverse and made up of varying national and ethnic backgrounds. Like every other cultural activity taking place in the country, Contemporary art is influenced and shaped by the vast distances and different identities that separate Halifax from Vancouver and Montreal from Toronto. In Europe, museums and art galleries are relatively close to each other, thus giving a chance to private collectors, curators and art critics to travel to visit exhibitions in other countries, write about foreign artists or buy their artworks. Canadian artists can’t really count on collectors or gallerists from other national urban centres, let alone international buyers, to come and look at their work in the city where they exhibit. Since there are very few important collecting families in the country and the collecting practice itself is fairly young, the most renown Canadian artists, such as Jeff Wall, Michael Snow or Stan Douglas, have to exhibit in New-York or in Europe to sell their work. And the lesser-known artists have to rely almost exclusively on local buyers to survive.

Creative isolation, lack of exposure, difficulties to export their works of art beyond their region’s borders; many artists of the Great White North struggle to make ends meet. But in that sense, they are no different than most artists in any other country, especially those living outside of the big Contemporary art markets. And if the differences in the national cultural identities might be seen as barriers when it comes to establish a solid and organized art community across a territory as vast as Canada, it can also be a proof of the uniqueness of the artists and the richness of their work, no matter where they live. Nevertheless, many artists choose to leave their hometowns and move to urban centres to pursue their careers. And the number one destination in Canada is Toronto.

Toronto has been the financial centre of Canada for decades. But in the past years, it has also become the cultural centre, taking the title away from Montreal. Some would argue that it has to do with the 1980 Referendum on the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada, when many Anglophone artists and writers are believed to have fled the city in fear of losing their cultural identity. Some would beg to differ. But in any case, Toronto is where the money is. Not only there are more museums and galleries but there is also a larger number of collectors interested in acquiring Contemporary works of art than anywhere else in the country. Aside from the public funding from the Federal government, there are other public projects that can help artists selling their artworks. For example, there is a city programme that requires of the developers to invest 1% of their budget to finance projects of public art that will be exhibited in their buildings. Although Toronto is one of the biggest and most exciting art centres in North America, the cosmopolitan city has not yet been able to find its own identity and its place in the international Contemporary art scene.

We asked curators Ben Portis at the Art Gallery of Ontario and David Liss at the Museum of Canadian Contemporary, gallerists Jessica Bradley and Olga Korper, both working with local and international artists, and private and public art consultant Fela Grunwald, to talk about the development of Toronto’s contemporary art scene and the challenges the art community faces. (jfl)

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