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ArtsceneThe Sobey Art Prize: Ontario nominees at Oakville GalleriesBy Murray Whytethough its hard not to have yourThis practice has its roots in theTORONTO STARfocus drawn to Young and Giroux.cheekiness of early conceptualThe provinces official nomineesminimal arts, which used con-To most of us, Sobey is an the shortlist was chopped to fivesumer objects as raw material. Of unambiguous moniker, identifyingnational finalists, one per region,course the root of it all is thethe burgeoning grocery giant thatin May the pair has a playfullyDuchampian gesture of the ready-seemed to shoulder into home-austere sculptural practice thatmade, most famously R. Muttsgrown Loblaws Southern Ontariodismantles unremarkable consum-urinal. But the gesture is also anturf almost overnight, taking aer objects and recasts them inearnest, thoroughly modern prac-healthy chunk of its market sharecounterintuitive roles.tice of rooting out the essence of with it. Ikea furniture is one of theiran object in its material composi-To the Canadian art world,favourite playthings, and its easytion and form. Sobey is a corporate white knight.to see why. For Young and Giroux,The tension that results isSince 2002, the Sobey family hasmodernitys enduring gift orengagingly irreconcilable, and abeen doling out $70,000 annuallycurse has been a manufacturedlaugh at that. Ill just say it: I liketo Canadian artists under 40, andworld that makes populist notionsthese guys. Their heady coolness isdoing it with style: splashy galasof design readily accessible to theso playfully against the grain thatand a degree of pomp and ceremo-masses. The consumer version, of they never fail to endearingly con-ny the Canadian art world hascheap mass-production, producesfuse (me, at least), and I mean thatrarely known. quantity, though rarely quality.in the best possible way.Donald Sobey, scion of theAs a consumer phenomenon,They encapsulate our obses-Halifax family, says he wants thesuch things go generally unques-sions with owning, making andSobey Art Prize to be to thetioned; Young and Giroux approachhaving more things with intellec-Canadian art world what the Gillerthat critical void as an interroga-tual glee, and self-implicate in thehas been to Canadian books: ation.process: Part of their game is theflamboyantly celebratory launch-In Oakville, one of their pieces issubversion of value, whatever thating pad for the best of the countryscalled The Terrorizers (whethermeans. Transforming the eminent-cultural offerings, and its reason-for the monolithic influence of dis-ly disposable into art sets them notable to suggest hes at least partposable Swedish furniture, asas critics of the product-promotionway there.Douglas Coupland once wrote, orgame, but fully part of the machine.A trans-national affair, thetheir intervention into it, Im notThere is much more of valueSobey prize nominates dozens of sure). They carefully cross-section ahere Derek Sullivan, for one. Hisartists each year in the lead-up tocheap-veneered nightstand, expos-poster series follows some of Youngits annual derby, taking place thising the flakey fibreboard within. and Girouxs lines, at least in spirit.DAN HO / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVERyear in Sobeys hometown Halifax.The clinical dissection readsYoull be hearing more from himThe run-up to the winners galaalmost as a weird form of contem-soon; Sullivan received of a bigART EXPLAINED: Christian Giroux, selected for the Sobey Art Award makes the Sobey a year-roundporary archaeology. Their inter-commission from the Power Plantshort list, speaks about his art projects during the Sobey Art Award: 2011 affair, as short-listed artists fromventions also strip the furniture of art gallery earlier this year. HisOntario Long List opening at Centennial Square last month.each of the five regions offer a tasteits ostensible functions: Anotherworks here embrace the vernacu-of whats to come.Christian Giroux is on display atdens, sunshine and a clarifyingpiece, Mao, insets an Ikea Lacklar, throwaway notion of postering,This years Ontario shortlist of the ever-lovely Oakville Galleries, aview to artistic production thatsend table, its absolute cheapestand how design, in the case graph-five artists Aleesa Cohene, Joshquick jaunt down the QEW. Itshappening right under your nose.piece, in a glossy black cube ic, can carry the freight of mean-Thorpe, Gareth Long, Derekhard to imagine a better-spentThe Ontario five show in both of forcing you to consider instead itsing. See Sobey page 26Sullivan, and Daniel Young andsummer afternoon: lakeside gar-the galleries two venues here,material and form.www.insideHALTON.com OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 22, 2011 24