EUAN MACDONALD at the Toronto Sculpture Garden (115 King East) until September 15. Rating: NNNN
OUTDOOR SCULPTURE TOUR at York University (4700 Keele), meet outside Vari Hall, Wednesdays at noon until October 27. 416-736-5169.
Rating: NNNN
So much outdoor art, so little interest in it. No wonder – the city’s still scarred by the moose infestation of 2000. Just last week art-guerillas abducted one of the 200 or so fibreglass cows similarly deployed in Stockholm.
In a video sent to the media, they threatened to sacrifice the cow if it wasn’t declared non-art.
There is such a thing as valid outdoor art. Look at Euan Macdonald ‘s work at the Toronto Sculpture Garden , for example, or take a walk at York University .
York has an extensive collection of work, best seen on the free sculpture tour put on by the Art Gallery of York U . Just show up outside Vari Hall at noon on a Wednesday.
One favourite on the walk is Mark Di Suvero ‘s Sticky Wicket, a large mass of orange steel I-beams and cables. The installation must have been a bit of a performance as he insisted on operating the cranes and doing the welding himself.
There is also Liz Magor ‘s site-specific work Keep, in the courtyard of York’s Central Square. The bronze casting of an actual willow tree has a hardened silicon sleeping bag stuffed in the end, offering a snug refuge amidst all the concrete.
If York U is too far for you, check out Macdonald’s The Tower downtown, one of the city’s most remarkable outdoor sculptures.
An exact replica of the top 25 feet of the CN Tower complete with whisker-like antennae on the top, it not only puts the viewer in close proximity to a familiar sight that’s out of reach, but also suggests a distant future when the tower itself will be almost totally buried.
We can also hope that one day the only remnants of the fibreglass moose will be a couple of antlers sticking out the ground.
