Engaged with a variety of literary and cultural sources, Joel Herman's new work includes drawing, collage, sculpture and video. Throughout the past five decades, Garry Neill Kennedy's ambitious painting and drawing practice has explored conceptual, material and linguistic tendencies.
Joel Herman
First, one or two things about two or three things: there can be no simile, because
between the two there is a massive and indifferent difference. That difference might
suggest the consistency of a third, a hand, but ought not to be mistaken for the
mustering of a master. The role of the ruler as he blunders precisely: his focus to
lapse, that they might move enough from their squeamish periphery to appear before
you also. Those most exactingly over-looked.
And there you are! You see them there!? Are they as you remember them?
They are a little pressed-upon, by their time, and your time, by the transition to
you, by the indifference of their difference, so be easy with your eyes and your
wants, that they might not find cause to cease to be what they are not.
- Beth Stuart, 2014
Diaz Contemporary is pleased to present Joel Herman’s third exhibition with the
gallery. Engaged with a variety of literary and cultural sources, Herman’s new
work includes drawing, collage, sculpture and video, and extends into a direct
conversation with the architecture of the space.
Currently based in Hamilton, Ontario, Joel Herman received his MFA from the
University of Guelph and also holds a BFA from the University of Victoria. He has
recently exhibited at 3433 in Chicago, the Power Plant in Toronto and Plug-In ICA in
Winnipeg. His work is featured in numerous private and corporate collections.
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Garry Neill Kennedy
About Forty Years Ago
Diaz Contemporary is pleased to present a curated collection of works from the 1970s
by Garry Neill Kennedy. A number of the exhibited works were recently featured in
Artissima’s 2013 Back to the Future presentation in Turin, Italy.
Throughout the past five decades, Kennedy’s ambitious painting and drawing
practice has explored the conceptual, material and linguistic tendencies of art
making and art viewing. Kennedy’s Untitled, a graphic drawing on stretched canvas
from 1975, utilizes the materiality of the raw canvas as its subject matter.
Similarly, the Imperfections series, also from 1975, comments on the flaws and
inconsistencies of the cardboard panels upon which Kennedy draws.
Garry Neill Kennedy is one of Canada’s most prominent and senior contemporary
artists. In addition to an extensive international exhibition history, Kennedy has
also held the position of president of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for
twenty-three years (1967-1990), establishing NSCAD as a forerunner in art education.
Recently, MIT Press invited Kennedy to author a book, The Last Art College, NSCAD
(1968-1978) that chronicles the first ten years of his presidency. In 2003, Kennedy
was a recipient of the Order of Canada and in 2004, was presented with the Governor
General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.
Kennedy has had solo exhibitions at Printed Matter (New York City), Museum of
Contemporary Canadian Art (Toronto), Pickled Art Centre (Beijing), Portikus
(Frankfurt am Main) and the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. His work is featured in many
notable collections including: the Museum of Modern Art (New York City), Art Gallery
of Ontario (Toronto), the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada
(Ottawa).
Opening Thursday 20 February from 6 to 8
Diaz Contemporary
100 Niagara Street (at Tecumseth) Toronto
Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11-6 pm, or by appointment
Admission free