Just what exactly is an ‘art book’ anyway?
Opening The Toronto Art Book Fair: The first TABF makes for an awkward anagram (no roll-off-the-tongue TIFF here) but that aside, the only other point of contention might be what took it so long to arrive.
Toronto has been a hotbed of artist-initiated publishing for decades, starting with the establishment of Art Metropole in 1974 by local art heroes General Idea, and the medium has been a foundational presence in the city’s creative consciousness and artistic identity ever since. So what’s an artist’s book, anyway? There’s no easy answer, so you’ll have to show up and see. The best of them, printed multiply in limited runs, are artworks in their own right. Thursday to Sunday at Artscape Young place, complete with talks, readings, signings and curated exhibitions. Opening party 6 p.m. June16. For more information see torontoartbookfair.com.
Past PRESENT Future: Lois Andison, Karen Azoulay, Lorna Bauer, Lauren Hall, Leah James, Faith Larocque and Kathryn Warner make a formidable roster for this, the second of three group exhibitions (“Past” is past, this is “PRESENT” and “Future” — well, you get the idea) at Erin Stump Projects.
United by little more than a cheeky conceptual bent (Andison is known for wryly cool pathos, for example, while Hall impishly subverts everyday objects), the confluence of heady playfulness here is filled with promise. Opening Friday, 6 — 9 p.m., at ESP, 1558 Dupont St. See erinstumpprojects.com for more information.
Ongoing Lynne Cohen, Missing in Action: The chilly interiors of the late Lynne Cohen, one of the country’s preeminent photographic artists, evoke a disquieting sense of dread: Entirely unpeopled and often too sterile to appear to ever have been otherwise, Cohen’s works seem almost like setpiece dioramas for a museum of a far-flung future for distant genera- tions to marvel at the inhumane spaces that modernity spat out for we 20th (and 21st) century humans to deal with. As captivating as they are chilling, Cohen’s images cause us to look longer at the built forms that technology made easy to create, and ask ourselves if we should have at all.
At Olga Korper Gallery, 17 Morrow Ave., until July14. For more information see olgakorpergallery.com.
Kristine Moran: The Boss, The Queen, The Secretary and the Henchman: A narratively suggestive title — is it me, or does it sound like the title to a lost Peter Greenaway film? — might seem a little odd for a nominally abstract painter, but Moran has always been happy to cross borders, and keep one foot on the side of each.
The current show displays her painterly trademarks — curving, textural swoops of colour, ordering space and prioritizing surface in that expressively abstract way — but look even a little closely and you’ll see, well, things: Brightly coloured female silhouettes in profile or thick fronds in moody purples, burgundies and blues. They say rules are made to be broken, but it helps if you’re good at it, and with gorgeous works like these, Moran merits whatever licence can be given. At Daniel Faria Gallery, 188 St. Helens Ave., to July 23. For more information see danielfariagallery.com.