Artists unite to examine the Black Canadian ID
Ongoing Tau Lewis and Curtis Santiago, Through the People We Are Looking at Ourselves A title that sounds more like an album than an exhibition is only fitting for a pair of Toronto-based artists who are nipping suddenly at rockstar status, and that’s exactly what Lewis and Santiago are. Lewis, a sculptor of big ungainly works cobbled from fragments of scavenged junk, and Santiago, a.k.a. Talwst, best known as a maker of intensely fine palm-sized installations in jewel boxes of such things as the strangulation death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York City police, would seem to have little in common. But they unite in their deep concern over Black Canadian identity (both are of Caribbean heritage) and how easily subsumed it is in the broader national narrative. As a bonus, those accustomed to Talwst’s tiny worlds are in for a surprise.
At Cooper Cole Gallery, 1134 Dupont St, until Aug. 26. Again and Again Ten years is an eternity in the Toronto gallery scene — particularly with the closures of eminent galleries likely Diaz Contemporary and Jessica Bradley Projects in recent years — so MKG127 gets points for stick-toit-tiveness this month as it marks its first decade. Something old — gallery artists like Joy Walker, Roula Partheniou and Dave Dyment, there since the near-beginning — combines with something new — recent additions Jaime Angelopoulos and Micah Adams — to trace the arc of a space that’s getting better with age.
Again and Again runs at MKG127, 1445 Dundas St. W., until Aug. 12. Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitsiulak: Drawing Life “My inspiration to be an artist comes from my aunt, Kenojuak Ashevak,” Tim Pitsiulak once said, “because she is the oldest and the best.” That’s a tall order in a Cape Dorset community overflowing with gifted artists — Shuvinai Ashoona, Kananginak Pootoogook, the late Annie Pootoogook, to name a few — and with Pitsiulak himself chief among them.
When he died, suddenly, of pneumonia late last year, the tiny northern community was in shock and the larger Canadian art world along with it. What he left behind was a view of the world full of wonder, from the magic of nature to the plain-spoken everyday. In this show, you can see where he got it from: Ashevak, an elder in the community, became best known for her totemic images of northern wildlife and her elegant graphic style. Pitsiulak, adopting a more contemporary frame, echoes her view, making the unremarkable a point of wonder. At the Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W., Hamilton, until Jan. 14, 2018.