This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: What “Showroom” Gets Wrong about Toronto’s Art Scene
Gabrielle Moser
Review. Canadian Art. February 29, 2016.
[Excerpt] Last month, the University of Toronto Art Centre and the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery launched a new identity as the federated Art Museum at the University of Toronto with the opening of “Showroom,” a survey exhibition of work by 48 Toronto artists that “considers the dramatic changes brought about by a decade of rapid urban development” in the city. Curated by Sarah Robayo Sheridan, now the Art Museum’s curator (to Barbara Fischer’s new title as executive director and chief curator), “Showroom” immediately garnered local attention, with a packed reception (“It’s like Nuit Blanche in here,” a friend texted from the opening) and an at-capacity panel discussion about “Art and Artists in Toronto.” This public interest is not unexpected. After all, it’s been nearly a decade since one of the city’s major institutions mounted an overview of Toronto art. While the Art Gallery of Ontario has been increasingly showcasing the work of Toronto-based artists in solo and group exhibitions (thanks to the work of modern and contemporary art curator Kitty Scott), the Power Plant’s “We Can Do This Now” exhibition in 2006 was the last time a pair of institutional curators attempted to narrate the story of Toronto art now.
Full text available at Canadian Art Magazine.