Phyllida Barlow, untitled: pinkspree, 2018.Genevieve Hanson/Courtesy the artist
Five must-see exhibitions this season, from Pussy Riot to the long-disputed sketches of J.E.H. MacDonald.
Marisol: A Retrospective
In the 1960s, the work of the Venezuelan-American sculptor Marisol seemed to exemplify the more interesting manifestations of Pop art; her totemic wooden figures were both accessible and mysterious with a welcome feminist slant while her glamorous personality ensured media attention. Her increasingly serious and more overtly political work fell from favour in later decades, however, and her celebrity evaporated. At her death in 2016 she left her artistic estate to the Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., (now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum). That institution is touring a very belated North American tribute, Marisol: A Retrospective, which launches at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts next month. (It will wind up back in Buffalo in summer 2024.) Oct. 7 to Jan. 21. mbam.qc.ca/en/exhibitions/marisol/
Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia
Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain is waiting out its current renovations in the Place Ville Marie where it welcomes Velvet Terrorism: Pussy Riot’s Russia, the first survey exhibition devoted to the protest performance group. The exhibition documents how Pussy Riot, formed in 2011, has exposed the injustices and violence of the authoritarian state with courage and humour – and the punishments Russia has meted out in return. It was originally presented at the Kling & Bang Gallery in Reykjavik and curated by the Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson (with Ingibjörg Sigurjonsdottir and Dorothee Maria Kirch) after an encounter with Pussy Riot founder Maria “Masha” Alyokhina that led to this project. Oct. 25 to March 10. macm.org/en/exhibitions/velvet-terrorism-pussy-riot/
Phyllida Barlow's new show at MOCA unveils Sept. 7.Genevieve Hanson/Courtesy the artist
Eleven Columns (Phyllida Barlow)
At the time of her death last March, the British sculptor Phyllida Barlow was working on plans for a site-specific installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, inspired by the heavy concrete columns that punctuate MOCA’s ground floor. The museum’s industrial architecture seemed ideally suited to an artist who created large but anti-monumental constructions from everyday materials such as cardboard, plywood, fabric and cement. Sadly, that vision will not be realized but MOCA is now honouring it instead, installing a 2011 piece untitled: eleven columns; standing, fallen, broken in the gallery and offering a selection of the artist’s works on paper. Sept. 7 to Feb. 4. moca.ca/exhibitions/phyllida-barlow-2023/
Care and Wear: Bodies Crafted for Harm and Healing, curated by Brendan Griebel and Jude Griebel, opens September 23 at the Esker Foundation in Calgary.Blaine Campbell/Supplied
Care and Wear: Bodies Crafted for Harm and Healing/Like everything alive that we try to hold forever
The Esker Foundation in Calgary considers the human body – and its relationship with objects – this fall with a pair of intriguing shows.
Care and Wear: Bodies Crafted for Harm and Healing is an exhibition drawn from the collection of the Museum of Fear and Wonder, the private project of anthropologist Brendan Griebel and artist Jude Griebel dedicated to “historical craftworks that possess uneasy emotional or psychological resonance.” In this case, that means anatomical and anthropomorphic objects such as dolls, prosthetics and medical models. It’s a welcome metropolitan opportunity to view the sometimes creepy collection; usually it can only be visited in the summer by appointment in a private residence near the small community of Bergen, north of Calgary.
Meanwhile, Like everything alive that we try to hold forever, takes an artistic look at similar themes, featuring the work of seven artists who address the relationship between our bodies and non-human objects. It features Stephanie Dinkins’s Conversations with Bina48 about her friendship with a humanoid robot; Gems and Minerals and Artifacts in My Mouth in which artist Diane Borsato questions museology by means of physical interventions in museum galleries, and masks by Miya Turnbull exploring her mixed Japanese and Canadian identity. The show also includes work by Larry Achiampong and David Blandy, as well as Bridget Moser and Sondra Perry. Sept. 23 to Dec. 17. eskerfoundation.com/exhibition-calendar/current/
J.E.H. MacDonald: A Tangled Garden
After eight years, will the Vancouver Art Gallery finally disclose the results of testing on 10 disputed sketches attributed to Group of Seven artist J.E.H. MacDonald? In 2015, the gallery unveiled the newly discovered sketches, apparently preparatory work for some of his best-known paintings, with some fanfare, but other experts quickly began to question their authenticity. The gallery then commissioned a report on the sketches from the Canadian Conservation Institute but declined to release it. J.E.H. MacDonald: A Tangled Garden promises to reveal whether the sketches can be attributed to MacDonald and explain how that conclusion was reached. Dec. 16 to May 12 vanartgallery.bc.ca/exhibitions/jeh-macdonald-tangled-garden