 Hi, art lovers! | | |  | (National Gallery of Canada) | | | It won’t be long before the 2024 Sobey Art Award is announced — this year’s gala happens tonight in Ottawa. But who will take home the $100,000 prize, Canada’s top honour in contemporary art?
Before you start sending me your predictions, let me introduce the finalists. In the running are six artists from regions across the country: Judy Chartrand (Pacific), Taqralik Partridge (Circumpolar), Rhayne Vermette (Prairies), June Clark (Ontario), Nico Williams (Quebec) and Mathieu Léger (Atlantic). And last week, CBC Arts got better acquainted with them all. Over email, your favourite medium and mine, each artist answered the same questionnaire. Still, I think you’ll discover each conversation is insightful in its own way. Read the complete collection here, and for more on this year’s shortlisters, the National Gallery of Canada has video profiles on YouTube.
| | | | | Because we promised you eye candy ... | | | | |  | Ryan Van Der Hout | | A Quiet Break by Ryan Van Der Hout is one of the works appearing in Mending Shards, a solo exhibition at United Contemporary. The show opens Thursday in Toronto, and the title should give you a hint about Ryan’s process. The artist prints photos on glass, then breaks the images and reassembles the pieces. | | | | |  | Eva Kolcze | | Here’s a photo from the Haptics of Optics, a group show at Namara Projects in Toronto. The write-up on the gallery website says the featured artists engage in “unravelling perception and time through material,” and I’d say Eva Kolcze nailed it. That texture — wow! You’re looking at a pair of her textile works: Image in the Stone — Descending and Image in the Stone — Curve. | | | | |  | Eunice Luk | | At YYZ Artists’ Outlet in Toronto, Eunice Luk has created a bizarre and beautiful ecosystem for her solo show, Sympoiesis. This is just one of the “critters” you’ll find at the gallery. | | | | |  | Caroline Mauxion | | And finally, a glimpse of the Paris Photo fair. Montreal artist Caroline Mauxion has this new work at the Zalucky Contemporary booth. | | | | |  | National Gallery of Canada | | | | | June Clark’s creative work spans five decades, and over her long career, she’s shown at Canada’s top galleries. Now 83 and up for a Sobey, June hasn’t always thought of herself as an artist. Find out when that changed. | | | | |  | Mathieu Léger | | | | | The Sobey-nominated artist takes us inside his practice and discusses the body of work he’s currently showing at the National Gallery of Canada. Its centrepiece? A drum kit. | | | | |  | National Gallery of Canada | | | | | | | Once upon a time, the Vancouver-based ceramicist was ready to give up on her artistic dream. Today, she’s a Sobey finalist. | | |  | Nico Williams | | VHS tapes, scratch tickets … and this incredible Ikea bag. Nico Williams is renowned for his beaded replicas of everyday items, and the Anishinaabe artist from Aamjiwnaang First Nation is the Sobey finalist repping for Quebec. His CBC Arts questionnaire is a delightful read, and if you want to learn more about his practice (and the exhibition he recently opened on Manitoulin Island), CBC News has an interview too. | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | | | | Got questions? Typo catches? Story ideas? | | | We're just an email away. Send us a note, and we'll do our best to get back to you.
If someone forwarded you this message and you like what you've read, here's where to subscribe for more.
I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
