FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MOCCA Launches 2014 with a MONUMENTAL exhibition!
TORONTO, Ontario, January 23, 2014 – The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is pleased to launch our Winter 2014 program with Misled by Nature: Contemporary Art and the Baroque, our largest exhibition to date featuring major works by Canadian and international artists David Altmejd, Mark Bradford, Lee Bul, Bharti Kher, Tricia Middleton and Yinka Shonibare, MBE, opening to the public on Saturday February 8th, from 2pm to 5pm.
Misled by Nature: Contemporary Art and the Baroque, a special presentation of the acclaimed NGC@MOCCA program, showcases a selection of works by contemporary artists that draw upon aspects of the historical Baroque: material excess, accumulation, bravado, theatricality and the construction of immersive, emotive environments. This presence of what could be called the ‘neo-baroque’ has, in recent time, been a recurring facet of contemporary art in Canada and around the world.
The exhibition is curated by Art Gallery of Alberta Executive Director and Chief Curator Catherine Crowston, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada, and NGC Associate CuratorJonathan Shaughnessy. Misled by Nature is accompanied by a fully-illustrated publication in English and in French, and will also feature a special series of public talks supported by the Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation.
Also opening in our Media/Retail Space is Keita Morimoto: The Nightwatchers, presented in associated with The Other Painting Competition, an art competition for emerging artists that featured life-painting contests designed by established artists, organized by Winnipeg Art Gallery Curator of Contemporary ArtPaul Butler for Nuit Blanche 2011 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Morimoto won the 12-hour painting challenge, receiving as his prize a solo exhibition in our Media/Retail Space.
Through The Nightwatchers, Morimoto explores multiple realities that exist in today’s escapist youth culture, in which fantasies and digital variations of the self become realer than what can be expressed in reality. Inspired by Rembrandt’s highly convincing recreation of reality on the two-dimensional plane, Morimoto seeks to mirror and respond to his own experiences of emotional investment in the metaphysical world that exists behind a small screen. The paintings become an actualization of those glorified characters that wait behind a canvas for the day that they can begin to breathe and live out of the fictional world.
Join us opening weekend for free public talks by Misled by Naturecurator Josée Drouin-Brisebois and exhibiting artist Tricia Middleton, Saturday February 8 at 1pm, and an afternoon opening reception to follow at MOCCA.
MISLED BY NATURE EVENTS & PROGRAMMING
Public Talks
Saturday, February 8 at 1pm
Misled by Nature curator Josée Drouin-Brisebois and artist Tricia Middleton
Presented at Edward Day Gallery (access through the MOCCA courtyard)
Public Reception
Saturday, February 8 at 2pm
FREE Public Lecture Series:
Misleading Questions
Discussions on contemporary culture, thought and phenomena in an era of excess
Presented through the generous support of the Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation
Keynote Talk, presented in partnership with OCAD University
Friday, February 28 at 7pm
Peter Schjeldahl, Chief Art Critic, New Yorker Magazine
Presented at OCADU Auditorium, Room 190, 100 McCaul Street
Saturday, March 1 at 1pm
Rachel Anne Farquharson, writer and curator
Michael Atkinson, Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, U of T; author of Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art
Presented at MOCCA
Saturday, March 8 at 1pm
Erik Anderson, Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Drew University; essayist Sailing the Seas of Cheese
Kevin Melchionne, artist and researcher
Presented at MOCCA
About MOCCA
The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art was born on the cusp of the millennium and has exploded onto the Toronto and Canadian art scene with ambitious local-to-global programming. Showcasing the work of 1,000 Canadian and international artists since re-locating to Queen Street West in 2005, MOCCA functions as a hub for cultural production and creative exchange. With a pioneering approach to partnership, MOCCA actively collaborates with like-minded organizations, including the Toronto International Film Festival and the National Gallery of Canada.
All programs and activities of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art are supported by Toronto Culture, the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, BMO Financial Group, individual memberships and private donations.
FREE ADMISSION at MOCCA is generously supported by the RBC Foundation.
About the National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (NGC@MOCCA)
The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is a collaborative program of exclusive exhibitions in MOCCA’s Project Space, drawn from the NGC’s exceptional Contemporary Art collection.
The National Gallery of Canada at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art is generously supported by THE ART DEPT., AXA Art Canada, and The Ouellette Family Foundation.
Press Contact:
Rachel Solomon, Executive Assistant, Office of the Artistic Director and Curator
rsolomon@mocca.ca
416-395-7430