Canada

They see ‘dead people’: billboard works removed from Vancouver photography festival after locals complain

The images of sleeping people were too creepy for many residents, in a city where property values are a major concern

Donald R. Sobey, one of Canada’s greatest cultural philanthropists, has died, aged 86

The son of the Sobey’s grocery chain founder was a huge supporter of artists, and helped establish the country’s main art prize

World's biggest Inuit art collection revealed at Winnipeg's new museum within a museum

Qaumajuq centre aims to reframe Winnipeg Art Gallery’s colonial past with displays of more than 10,000 rarely seen Inuit works

Prizesnews

Sobey Art Awards open to Canadian artists of all ages for the first time

The country’s biggest art prize gets bigger, expanding its pool of candidates and increasing its total cash offerings

Designreview

A tribute to Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, the landscape architect who shaped Vancouver’s greenspaces

A joint retrospective organised by the West Vancouver Art Museum and Art Gallery of Alberta beautifully expresses the designer’s passion for nature and understanding of community needs

Vancouver’s street artists respond to columnist’s graffiti gripes with painted ‘letter to the editor’

A writer’s complaints about downtown tagging were met with accusations of classism—and a new mural

New Art Gallery of Nova Scotia building is inspired by indigenous Mi’kmaq culture

The winning design is meant to be both a centrepiece of Halifax’s burgeoning waterfront arts district and an earnest symbol of reconciliation, the project leads say

Never before seen Emily Carr works go from family fireplace to Canadian museum

British Columbia brothers donate paintings their grandmothers acquired to Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Will a ‘Shakespearean tragedy’ find a happy ending in Canada?

After years of research, the only portrait of the playwright possibly painted during his lifetime still hangs in limbo—but perhaps not for long

Chair of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts steps down as former director sues over unfair dismissal

Michel de la Chenelière is not seeking term renewal as controversy over Nathalie Bondil's departure rumbles on

Canadanews

Mural memorialises Vancouver’s lost historic Black neighbourhood

Hogan’s Alley was once a thriving hub of Black Canadian culture, before it was demolished like so many communities in the name of urban renewal

Chinese Canadian Museum opens in Vancouver with pop-up show centred on food

The institution is looking for a permanent home in the city’s historic Chinatown

Haida artist Bill Reid honoured on Canadian $2 coin

The new “toonie” features an image of Reid’s striking Xhuwaji/Haida Grizzly Bear

Canadanews

Museums halt Jon Rafman shows after allegations are made online

Several women have accused the artist of misconduct, but Rafman disagrees with how their interactions have been represented

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts placed on 'concerned status' over sacking of director

Canada Council for the Arts will monitor the crisis following Nathalie Bondil’s dismissal, which could put the museum's public funding at risk

Colville’s Dog and Bridge has its day at Heffel’s live sale in Toronto

But fewer than ten buyers physically attended the auction, with most bidding done over the phone and in the “digital salesroom”

Musée d'Orsay cuts ties with Montreal Museum of Fine Arts over sacking of director Nathalie Bondil

International museum leaders speak out against the treatment of "the best, most dynamic, and most innovative art museum director in North America"

Canadanews

Art Gallery of Ontario reopens with other Canadian museums to follow this month

Institutions across the country are cautiously welcoming back visitors

Kent Monkman issues apology for painting that depicts the 'sexual assault' of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

After outcries against the work on social media, the Cree artist says that the image "failed" in its message to address the victimisation of Indigenous women

Canadanews

Vancouver street artists provide coronavirus advice to Canada’s most vulnerable communities

City council is collaborating with mural makers to paint storefronts that have closed due to Covid-19 in a neighbourhood already suffering from the opioid crisis

Market for Inuit art faces financial deep freeze after Arctic cruises put on hold

As coronavirus brings recreational tourism to a halt, artists in Canada's Nunavut territory say the economic fallout has the power to "crash the community"

Prizesnews

Citing Covid-19, Canada's Sobey Art Award increases prize to almost $500,000 and shares it among 25 longlisted artists

The Canadian "Turner Prize" made the one-off decision to reflect the "profound impact" that the pandemic is having on artists' livelihoods

Canadian Modernist painter Gordon Smith has died, aged 100

The Vancouver-based artist, one of the last of a generation that shaped the city’s mid-century cultural scene, was known for his monumental abstract canvases inspired by nature

Stan Douglas to represent Canada at 2021 Venice Biennale

The multimedia artist’s sci-fi epic Doppelgänger from the last international exhibition is due to be shown in New York and London this month

Prizesnews

Stephanie Comilang claims Canada’s Sobey Art Award

The Toronto- and Berlin-based artist expressed relief after winning C$100,000 contemporary art prize: "I don’t have to worry financially now"

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts offers ‘a contemporary gaze’ at ancient objects in a new wing

Museum will juxtapose archaeological finds with recent pieces in an “Art of One World” gallery

‘Extraordinary’ Rubens show opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto

The blockbuster exhibition gathers early works by the Flemish master from museums in North America and Europe

Prizesnews

Canada’s largest art prize, the Sobey Art Award, heads west

An exhibition of the shortlisted artists is now on view at Edmonton’s Art Gallery of Alberta

The first Toronto Biennial takes a long view of human relations

Among the highlights of the city-wide exhibition is a “panoramic pantomime” of Cook’s Pacific expeditions by the New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana

Vancouver street photographer Fred Herzog has died, age 88

The German-born Canadian captured a view of the city that has since been lost, but he did not receive major recognition until late in life