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OCAD University

MA of Contemporary Art, Design and New Medias Art History

CRCP 6B05 Issues in Criticism and Curatorial Studies

Professor: Michael Prokopow, Ph.D

Student: Roberta Schultz Santos

November 13th, 2012

The renowned 2012 Sobey Art Award is considered to present the pinnacle of

contemporary art in Canada. Their annual exhibition with the years top 5 young artists in the

nation contains a rich sample of what contemporary art is about. Contradictorily, the 2012

edition seems to talk of nothing but the past. But to no extent this means that the issues raised

in this particular exhibition organized by curator Sarah Fillmore are not contemporary. As a

matter of fact, they are the epitome of what is contemporary: gazing at the past.

Memory is the conductive line of the ensemble of artworks of the 2012 Sobey Art

Awards exhibition. The expressiveness of the cluster of memorabilia gathered by the

practicing artists represents the inconclusive lifestyle of todays youth. The practicing artists

filled the exhibition space with objects of sentimental values, including but not limited to their

own personal treasures. By putting together pieces of memories, the artists attempted to

reconstruct the experiences that were once lived. These collections are about journeys,

voyages of significance. A premeditated mishmash of objects in which their original function is

overthrown by their new acquired meanings as part of a greater assemblage.

The first vestiges of memory are seen in Gareth Moores Collaboration with a future

individual at the present time. This artwork could be divided into two parts: past and future.

The past composed of an open old-fashioned suitcase filled with tools, papers, images and a

myriad of trinkets symbolize the lived experience of the artist. Meanwhile by the side of the

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vintage bag, the closed package of white paper along with the plain stamp counterbalance the

symbolism of the artists personal baggage working as a metaphor for what is to come.

Another remarkable artwork from the representative of the West Coast and Yukon, Moores

Work cart (gotter Frucht) fromA place near the buried canal, which was part of his installation

at the dOCUMENTA (13), overwhelms the viewer with the complexity of the composition and

the variety of its contents. As a physical record of his journey, the gathering aspect of the art

practiced by Moore reaches its peak with this particular artwork.

Likewise, the artist Derek Sulivan from Ontario impresses with his installation of a peg

rail from which nylon cords sustain 52 artists books as well as a 2kg boat anchor , while a

Gerrit Rietveld Zig Zag chair replica and a printed fabric are also suspended in the hangers.

The artworkPeg Rail #5 (Albatross Omnibus) gazes at the previous states of books and printed

media, reflecting our cultural past as a society, invoking the memory of the written word.

Cunning and poetic, the collection of artists books in this installation plays with words and

images, making the bookA Portalone of mypersonal favorite. Close by, Sullivans assortment

of pictures of coloured pencil on paper overlay an entire wall of the gallery. These artworks

ranging from 2006 to 2012 are made with fine lines forming geometric figures and drawings

evidencing the simple trait of their making.

Record Stack, by the Atlantic representative Eleanor King, comprises a pile of

approximately 1300 vinyl LPs that embody the history of music itself. Jointly with Endless

Practice, an equally high stack of drums that resonate around the room, these two artwork

astound the viewer with their totemic appearance telling the story of repetition derived from

societys consumer culture. Kings artworks heap meaning over meaning in a colourful fashion

disguising the true message similarly to mass media. In her other work, Typewriter Ribbon,

the viewer must face himself in the mirror in order to be able to look at the projected video.

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This forced exercise of self-consciousness initiates the weighing of ones journey, sparking

lived memories.

Representing the Prairies and the North, Jason de Haans practice regards scientific

knowledge as a font of inspiration. De Haans 2011 Cannon Ballis a sphere of melted coins of

every circulating currency in the World. Such a fusion of places, cultures and memories

intertwined into the artwork epitomize a latent destruction inherent to the human race as the

pieces names cleverly suggests. The series of busts with mineral beards derived of the

accumulation of salt on their chins, Salt Beard (sin) and Salt Beard (Mercury) too reference

science and culture. In an ironic statement, the beard present on Isaac Newtons bust is a

horizontal one; parallel to the ground the salt beard defies gravity. As if the horizontal beard

was not mockery enough, de Haan placed the bust on top of a pillar facing a picture of a full

moon. The artworkMoon, however, is not one of an ordinary moon. It consists on a cyanotype

print of a coin placed on the treated paper, which was exposed to the partial lunar eclipse of

the full moon on the day ofHaans birthday. This intricate play culminates on the tide

influencing the direction of Newtons beard. De Haans work challenges the obviousness of the

things we assume obvious, questioning the way we process the world.

Raphalle de Groot from Quebec presents a collection that, as Gareth Moores artwork,

deals with the contents of a journey. Her work, nonetheless, is composed of memories. In

1273 petites choses qui ne servent plus and 70 objets emports avec moi the objects that once

belonged to her or to someone close to her are catalogued and organized in a satirical fashion.

De Groot touches the issues of presence and materiality. In her installation Le manteau, a

female body lies on the ground, formed by several bits and pieces of an ordinary live. De Groot

exteriorizes everything that is inside us, setting memories free.

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Overall, this exhibit invites us to take a look into our inner selves with artworks that

induce the appropriation and reinterpretation of mundane objects. Loyal to its guiding

principles, the 2012 Sobey Art Award reveals the true meaning of contemporary art as an

auto-critique of society. Comprising the cogitations of contemporary practice this award

uplifts the pertinent contemporary thinking.