YYZXXX at YYZ (401 Richmond West, #140), to June 13. 416-598-4546. Rating: NNN
Do artists run gallery spaces differently – or better – than museum CEOs or commercial dealers? Has this changed over time? Where might it go next? And should anyone who’s not an artist give a damn?
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As artist-run centre YYZ celebrates its 30th anniversary, such questions come to the fore. Now the gallery is hosting a few related exhibitions under the YYZXXX umbrella.
The first of these, and perhaps the most enjoyable, is of Roula Partheniou’s paintings, which mimic book jackets with double-take-worthy accuracy. What seem to be art historical tomes on Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt are actually canvases. Besides a fun trompe d’oeil, they offer a topical riff on the interactions between artists and their recorded histories.
A selection of video works by Tess Payne and Jan Peacock makes up the second exhibit, Take 20. These are presented in the context of YYZTV, a now-defunct foray the gallery once made into television. Payne and Peacock’s critiques of news media may look dated, but their Möbius-strip-like cleverness resonates.
The third exhibit is Time Warp, a display of artworks for a fundraising auction intermingled with old exhibition cards, pics and posters. Carol Condé and Karl Beveridge’s Cultural Relations: Art is apropos, with a panorama that takes in art school parties, torturous performance art and dealer negotiations alike.
Interwoven throughout are testimonials from artists about YYZ. Many of the warm fuzzies are deserved. Even though artist-run galleries are more museum-like these days, they can still offer important spaces for artists to experiment – and for the public to see that. They’re also often first off the bat in bringing promising international artists here, like Pipilotti Rist and Sadie Benning.
Still, there are plenty of gripes about these orgs, from burnout to boredom. Someday, those more difficult issues will need an airing, too.
art@nowtoronto.com
