June 21 – August 19, 2007
The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is pleased to welcome the arrival of the Summer of Love and Hate with our spectacularly contentious blockbuster exhibition Love/Hate: New Crowned Glory in the G.T.A. The exhibition features over 30 of some of Toronto’s most loved and despised artistic icons, including those who we see and hear far too much from and others who deserve to be seen more often. This exhibition is full of contenders – and it’ll be up to audiences to decide who is who in that regard.
Traditionally it is the role of museums to sort through a particular theme, idea or art scene or movement and arrive at a proposition that will distill an idea down to a palatable, life-force sucking antiseptic theory that assumes an audience’s need for clean, easily definable and consumable product. But that approach is, like, sooooo last century and naturally compels MOCCA to peel off into the completely opposite direction. And, more importantly, the best thing about the current Toronto art scene is that it is anything but a neat, clean, easily definable, generic mass or school like the scenes in other Canadian cities that won’t be mentioned here. The Toronto scene is far too complex and far too interesting to be tagged by branding geniuses, marketing focus groups or pointy-headed academics. It’s a big, contentious, eclectic, messy and confusing scene filled with as many armchair curators and critics as there are Maple Leaf coaches and that’s what’s so great about it! And that’s what this sprawling exhibition celebrates – the unruly spirit, the gnarly soul, the dirt in the grooves, the talent, the eccentricity, the beauty and the unappealing splendour of it all!
And just to get a little extra blood and oxygen flowing to the brain to enhance the viewing experience – and to promote good health and active cultural engagement – exercise machines, a pool table and a foosball game will be available in the gallery for your recreation and relaxation. To live in Toronto and be able to stay abreast of the art scene here, you have to be in good shape.
Love it, hate it, hate to love it or love to hate it. It’s bold, it’s loud, it’s unwieldy, its flamboyant – and this exhibition is proud to state that it’s… TORONTO!
Bruno Billio/ Ulysses Castellanos/ DMT/ Gonad, RONS & Sight/ Jason Gringler/ Anitra Hamilton/ Mike Hansen/ Raffael A. Iglesias/ iMortified/ Istvan Kantor/ Harold Klunder/ Bruce LaBruce and The Scandelles/ Steven Laurie/ Los Cholos/ Dyan Marie/ The Movement Movement/ Mike Murphy/ Lisa Neighbour/ John Nobrega/ Susy Oliveira/ DJ OMBUDSMAN/ Nick and Sheila Pye/ Shelly Rahme/ Fiona Smyth/ Rashmi Varma/ RM Vaughan and Jared Mitchell/ Margaux Williamson
Curated by Camilla Singh and David Liss
Opening Reception
Thursday June 21, 7 – 10 pm
