Leah, I hope you will take a stand and boycott the RBC painting competition because of RBC being one of the largest funders of the Alberta Tar Sands.
It sucks to have to boycott art competitions but what they are doing in disgusting and supporting this painting competition is endorsing those practices.
April 17, 2010 at 10:55 PM
Philip Monk said...
It's a bit of a contradiction to complain about repeat nominees for the Sobey Award and then to complain about the absence of Shary Boyle on the current list, a previous two-time nominee. As the Ontario juror, I made a decision not to include anyone who had been nominated before in order to open up the field, otherwise Shary Boyle might very well have been on my list.
April 18, 2010 at 4:58 PM
Anonymous said...
I think your observation that the Canadian art scene is static (via the repeat nominations for Sobey) only reveals how stagnant your view of canadian art is. Look outside the box girl and outside of the in-crowd, and you will find a lot of amazing art here in Canada, outsiders who seem never to be on your radar. Personally I think Ontario's list is stellar and your criticism not so much.
Anonymous 1, I appreciate your political commitment. But what exactly do you mean in terms of a boycott? It's hard for media to boycott covering an event, which is my primary engagement with these and other prizes. Is there is a boycott taking place on the part of artists and jurors? Please post more details if possible.
Philip, I'm glad you took action to open up the nominees list for the Sobey. I don't have a huge problem with certain artists being "missing" from the Ontario nominees. I was just trying to reflect on the fact that the process of nominee selection is somewhat opaque to onlookers. when these kinds of lists come out, Many people do wonder, Why is x there but not y? The fact that many take this list as an (I'll admit needed) indication of the major Canadian artists of the day of course ups the stakes around these decisions even further. Would you suggest that the nominee list be "non-repeats" every year? That would certainly generate a quite Different picture of what's happening.
Anonymous 2, I'll happily admit I ain't the most with it gal in the world. And as I've pointed out on this blog in the past, being in Toronto does generate a very rehrettable and unfair kind of media myopia. Yet I do think I mentioned artists in this post who are not Ontario based. Is there a particular oversight you'd like to bring to my attention and that of readers?
A note: I'm posting comments this AM from my phone... so there's probably a few more typos in there than usual!
April 19, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Philip Monk said...
Leah, I make up rules for myself not for others, so I would not advocate for non-repeats only in the Sobey award--and I myself would act differently another time.
Thanks for clarifying. I was just wondering because demanding "non-repeats" each year would certainly generate a different picture for all the folks out there, and perhaps push curators to reach further. At the same time, I would say that there's not enough artistic production in Canada (not enough population, period) to get a totally new longlist of 25 each year. (Even globally, Cream only picks 100 every 2 or 3 years, right?)
Anyway, I also appreciate you clarifying your strategy for this year's Ontario nominees, because, like I said, I bet other people were wondering why some familiar and still prominent names didn't show up there.
As a point of curiosity, why wouldn't you do the same thing again? Have you had any other strange responses?
An obvious reason for repeats is the age cut-off for the award, time is running out for some artists. (They'll be over 40 and of no use to anyone soon.) Personally, I think Daniel Barrow, BGL and Shary Boyle should be nominated until they get the damn thing.
West Coast and Yukon Mark Soo Kevin Schmidt Isabelle Pauwels Jeremy Shaw Brendan Lee Satish Tang
Praries and the North Daniel Barrow Wally Dion Heather Benning The Cedar Tavern Singers Robyn Moody
Ontario Diane Borsato Aleesa Cohene Brendan Fernandes Will Munro Jon Sasaki
Québec Pascal Grandmaison Patrick Bernatchez BGL Adad Hannah Karen Tam
Atlantic Lucie Chan Graeme Patterson Mario Doucette Vanessa Paschakarnis Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby
The shortlist will be announced June 15, with the final winner announced November 18 in Montreal.
I think one thing that comes up about the Sobey, now that it's a few years old, is how many times we see nominee names repeated on this annual longlist. Daniel Barrow, Graham Patterson, Mark Soo, Kevin Schmidt, BGL, Adad Hannah, Mario Doucette, and others are repeat nominees. And for me that begs the question, a bit, of how static the Canadian art scene is. Alternatively, repeat appearances as a nominee would seem to indicate consistently high production -- but perhaps also, frustration?
Some absences are also notable. Shary Boyle, favoured by many for last year, is not on the longlist, nor is Luanne Martineau, who was on last year's shortlist and does produce very good work, I think.
In any case, if you have favourites for this year's Sobey, feel free to post. I'm interested in Barrow (a longtime crowd favourite), but also Borsato, Tang and (other longtime favouriets) BGL.
"Prize-a-mania: Brian Jungen & Sobey Longlist"
8 Comments -
Leah, I hope you will take a stand and boycott the RBC painting competition because of RBC being one of the largest funders of the Alberta Tar Sands.
It sucks to have to boycott art competitions but what they are doing in disgusting and supporting this painting competition is endorsing those practices.
April 17, 2010 at 10:55 PM
It's a bit of a contradiction to complain about repeat nominees for the Sobey Award and then to complain about the absence of Shary Boyle on the current list, a previous two-time nominee. As the Ontario juror, I made a decision not to include anyone who had been nominated before in order to open up the field, otherwise Shary Boyle might very well have been on my list.
April 18, 2010 at 4:58 PM
I think your observation that the Canadian art scene is static (via the repeat nominations for Sobey) only reveals how stagnant your view of canadian art is. Look outside the box girl and outside of the in-crowd, and you will find a lot of amazing art here in Canada, outsiders who seem never to be on your radar. Personally I think Ontario's list is stellar and your criticism not so much.
April 18, 2010 at 5:15 PM
Hi all,
Thanks for your comments.
Anonymous 1, I appreciate your political
commitment. But what exactly do you mean
in terms of a boycott? It's hard for media
to boycott covering an event, which is
my primary engagement with these and other
prizes. Is there is a boycott taking place
on the part of artists and jurors? Please
post more details if possible.
Philip, I'm glad you took action to open
up the nominees list for the Sobey. I don't
have a huge problem with certain artists
being "missing" from the Ontario
nominees. I was just trying to reflect
on the fact that the process of nominee
selection is somewhat opaque to onlookers.
when these kinds of lists come out,
Many people do wonder, Why is x there
but not y? The fact that many take this list
as an (I'll admit needed) indication of the
major Canadian artists of the day of course
ups the stakes around these decisions even
further. Would you suggest that the
nominee list be "non-repeats" every year?
That would certainly generate a quite
Different picture of what's happening.
Anonymous 2, I'll happily admit I ain't the
most with it gal in the world. And as I've pointed
out on this blog in the past, being
in Toronto does generate a very rehrettable
and unfair kind of media myopia. Yet I
do think I mentioned artists in this post
who are not Ontario based. Is there a
particular oversight you'd like to bring to my
attention and that of readers?
April 19, 2010 at 8:05 AM
A note: I'm posting comments this AM
from my phone... so there's probably a
few more typos in there than usual!
April 19, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Leah, I make up rules for myself not for others, so I would not advocate for non-repeats only in the Sobey award--and I myself would act differently another time.
April 20, 2010 at 7:24 PM
Hi Philip,
Thanks for clarifying. I was just wondering because demanding "non-repeats" each year would certainly generate a different picture for all the folks out there, and perhaps push curators to reach further. At the same time, I would say that there's not enough artistic production in Canada (not enough population, period) to get a totally new longlist of 25 each year. (Even globally, Cream only picks 100 every 2 or 3 years, right?)
Anyway, I also appreciate you clarifying your strategy for this year's Ontario nominees, because, like I said, I bet other people were wondering why some familiar and still prominent names didn't show up there.
As a point of curiosity, why wouldn't you do the same thing again? Have you had any other strange responses?
April 20, 2010 at 11:07 PM
An obvious reason for repeats is the age cut-off for the award, time is running out for some artists. (They'll be over 40 and of no use to anyone soon.) Personally, I think Daniel Barrow, BGL and Shary Boyle should be nominated until they get the damn thing.
April 26, 2010 at 3:44 PM