People love to find out about our world in a vertical order: Who’s richest, who’s the best and worst dressed, which is the greatest city to live in, and so on. Art is no exception. Art Review, for example, publishes its ‘Power 100’ list every November since 2002, to give us insight of whom we should be rubbing shoulders with at the next private view.
We all agree that art in its purest form can only be subjective, and therefore a hierarchical ordering will seem to some as misleading. But the politics and practicalities of art as commodity inevitably demand an objective value for artworks in the real world, creating tensions between what the market determines as valid and what art professionals acknowledge as credible. M_KOS actually find this tension healthy, and as opposed to over-protecting itself by isolation, art needs to come to terms with its own commodification, which is nowadays the condition for art to circulate and be seen. The later rings particularly true with Canadian art. Inversely, the total absence of artist accomplishment guidelines would probably allow more relativity than subjectivity, leaving us stranded in an unchartered constellation of self-proclaimed stars.
Many web resources already provide analytical information about art and its market, such as ArtTactic, ArtFacts and MuturalArt. These all host their own list of top contenders for different categories. Surprisingly, virtually no such list is present online for Canadian art. Is this because the Canadian market is totally out of league with what is happening globally? It seems so, according to Don Thompson, a Toronto based economist and the author of “The $12 million stuffed sharkâ€. Thompson tells us, in an interview with Leah Sandals of Canadian Art Magazine (Oct 2008):
[…]The book talks about London and New York and the major evening auctions and dealers. And there’s no parallel in Canada to that art market. The best comparison I can give you is that [Damien] Hirst brought in $200 million with his two-day September auction, and that is four or five years of Canadian sales, period.
New York and London are undoubtedly the two biggest art trading centres in the world, hard to beat by any standard. For example, at the time this article is published, New York is hosting Armoury Week (March 3–7), with over ten different art fairs held simultaneously in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In addition to the Armory Show itself, we find ADAA’s The Art Show, Volta, Scope, Pulse, Independent, Red Dot, Pool, Moving Image, Verge Art Brooklyn and Fountain. Whilst we wait for any one city in Canada to come out of the margins, M_KOS propose Armory Week as the perfect time to publish its Top 100 Canadian artist list. Hopefully it will spark debates, but also bring more attention visual arts form Canada, within, so-called, the Art Eco-system.
Simply, M-Kos have digged into ArtFacts.net’s existing worldwide database to extract a directory of 100 top Canadian living artists. ArtFacts houses the data of nearly 282,000 Modern and Contemporary artists worldwide and position them on point systems. Points are awarded for every artistic activity – exhibitions at commercial galleries, public institutions and museums, acquisitions in public collections, in which city an artist has been shown, and more. By no means arbitrary, ArtFact’s ranking system merely reflects the quantity of artistic activity rather than the quality of an artist’s work, which is impossible to ascertain without taking into account a vast variety of contexts. Enough said, lets see what results the list has to offer.
Please notice before you read on, that the list is formatted in a shorthand style, to facilitate reading in a glance. The details are listed in the following order:
Canadian Artist Rank (ArtFacts Rank) Artist Name / Place of Birth / Place of residence and work
1 (44) Rodney Graham / 1949 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
2 (69) Jeff Wall / 1946 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
3 (248) Stan Douglas / 1960 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
4 (305) Angela Bulloch / 1966 / Rainy River, ON / London, UK and Berlin, Germany
5 (417) Mark Lewis /1958 / Hamilton, ON / London, UK
6 (443) General Idea / Formed in 1969, by AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal / active until 1994
7 (508) Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller / JC: 1957, GBM:1960 / JC: Brussels, ON, GBM: Vegreville, AB / Grindrod, BC and Berlin, Germany
8 (535) Michael Snow / 1929 / Toronto, ON / Toronto, ON
9 (566) Edward Burtynsky / 1955 / St.Catherines, ON / Toronto, ON
10 (624) Jana Sterbak / 1955 / Prague, Czech Rep. / Montreal, QC
11 (669) Terence Koh / 1977 / Beijing, China; raised in Mississuga, BC / New York, USA
12 (715) Marcel Dzama / 1974 / Winnipeg, MB / New York, USA
13 (727) Ken Lum / 1956 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
14 (1031) Brian Jungen / 1970 / Fort St.John, BC / Vancouver, BC
15 (1374) Steven Shearer / 1968 / New Westminster, BC / Vancouver, BC
16 (1382) Roy Arden / 1957 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
17 (1487) David Rabinowitch / 1943 / Toronto, ON / New York, USA
18 (1568) Tim Lee / 1975 / Seoul, S.Korea / Vancouver, BC
19 (1578) David Altmejd / 1974 / Montréal, QC / New York, USA
20 (1603) Ian Wallace / 1943 / Shoreham, UK/ Vancouver, BC
21 (1687) Callum Morton / 1965 / Montréal, QC / Melbourne, Australia
22 (1858) Rebecca Belmore / 1960 / Upsala, ON / Vancouver, BC
23 (1989) Geoffrey Farmer / 1967 / Eagle Island, BC / Vancouver, BC
24 (2049) Lisa Milroy / 1959 / Vancouver, BC / London, UK
25 (2249) Luis Jacob / 1971 / Lima, Peru / Toronto, ON
26 (2272) Germaine Koh / 1967 / Georgetown, Malaysia / Toronto, ON
27 (2298) Janice Kerbel / 1969 / Don Mills, ON / London, UK
28 (2306) Scott McFarland / 1975 / Hamilton, ON / Vancouver, BC
29 (2397) Terence Gower / 1965 / BC / New York, USA; Mexico City, Mexico
30 (2491) Ron Terada / 1969 / Vancouver, BC / Vancouver, BC
31 (2577) Althea Thauberger / 1970 / Saskatoon, SK / Vancouver, BC; Berlin, Germany
32 (2611) Micah Lexier / 1960 / Winnipeg, MB / Toronto, ON
33 (2645) AA Bronson / 1946 / Vancouver, BC / New York, USA
34 (2655) Dorothea Rockburne / 1932 / Montréal, QC / New York, USA
35 (2677) Jon Pylypchuk / 1972 / Winnipeg, MB / LA, USA
36 (2689) Geneviève Cadieux / 1955 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
37 (2730) Angela Grauerholz / 1952 / Hamburg, Germany / Montréal, QC
38 (2735) Liz Magor / 1948 / Winnipeg, MB / Vancouver, BC
39 (2744) Graham Gillmore / 1963 / Vancouver, BC / Winlaw, BC ; New York, USA
40 (2774) Kelly Mark / 1967 / Welland, ON / Toronto, ON
41 (2796) Laura Letinsky / 1962 / Winnipeg, MB / Chicago, USA
42 (2887) Miles Coolidge / 1963 / Montréal, QC / LA, USA
43 (2903) Pascal Grandmaison / 1975 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
44 (2988) Karin Davie / 1965 / Toronto,ON / New York, USA
45 (3061) Susan Turcot / 1966 / Montréal, QC / London, UK: Berlin, Germany
46 (3199) Alex Morrison / 1971 / Redruth, UK / Vancouver, BC
47 (3387) Bruce LaBruce / 1964 / Southampton, ON / Toronto, ON
48 (3390) David Rokeby / 1960 / Tillsonburg, ON / Toronto, ON
49 (3395) Ed Pien / 1958 / Taipei, Taiwan / Toronto, ON
50 (3448) Conrad Bakker / 1970 / Urbana ON / Chicago, USA
51 (3481) Stephen Andrews / 1956 / Sarnia, ON / Toronto, ON
52 (3614) Robert Polidori / 1951 / Montréal, QC / New York, USA
53 (3615) Miriam Schapiro / 1923 / Toronto, ON / USA
54 (3778) Francesca Gabbiani / 1965 / Montréal, QC / LA, USA
55 (3804) Françoise Sullivan / 1925 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
56 (3830) Jayce Salloum / 1958 / Kelowna, BC / Vancouver, BC
57 (3957) Robert Adrian / 1935 / Toronto, ON / Vienna, Austria
58 (4087) Michel de Broin / 1970 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC; Europe
59 (4195) Jean-Pierre Gauthier / 1965 / Matane, QC / Montréal, QC
60 (4258) Deborah Grant / 1968 / Toronto, ON / New York, USA
61 (4279) Damian Moppett / 1969 / Calgary, AB / Vancouver, BC
62 (4281) Nancy Davenport / 1965 / Vancouver, BC / New York, USA
63 (4296) George Legrady / 1950 / Budapest, Hungary (Raised in Montréal) / Santa Barbara, USA
64 (4311) Suzy Lake / 1947 / Detroit, USA / Toronto, ON
65 (4317) Atom Egoyan / 1960 / Cairo, Egypt / Toronto, ON
66 (4428) Roland Poulin / 1940 / St.Thomas, ON / Sainte-Angèle-de-Monnoir, QC
67 (4449) Nicolas Baier / 1967 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
68 (4569) Brendan Fernandes / 1979 / Nairobi, Kenya / Toronto, ON
69 (4674) Julie Moos / 1965 / Ottawa, ON / Toronto, ON
70 (4682) Kim Adams / 1951 / Edmonton, AB / Toronto, ON
71 (4689) Laura Kikauka / 1963 / Hamilton, ON / Meaford, ON; Berlin, Germany
72 (4733) Philip Pocock / 1954 / Ottawa, ON / Karlsruhe, Germany
73 (4817) John Massey / 1950 / Toronto, ON / Toronto, ON
74 (4906) Tony Scherman / 1950 / Toronto, ON / Toronto, ON
75 (4918) Claude Tousignant / 1932 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
76 (4964) Sarah Anne Johnson / 1976 / Winnipeg, MB / Winnipeg, MB
77 (5122) Dianna Frid / 1960 / Mexico City, Mexico; raised in Canada / Chicago, USA
78 (5144) Kent Monkman / 1965 / St.Mary’s, ON / Toronto, ON
79 (5162) Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay / 1973 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC; Berlin, Germany
80 (5205) Pierre Dorion / 1959 / Ottawa, ON / Montréal, QC
81 (5209) Larry Towell /1953 / Chatham, ON / Lambton County, ON
82 (5275) Jackie Winsor / 1941 / St.Johns, NL / New York, USA
83 (5390) Annie Pootoogook / 1969 / Baffin Island, NU / Ottawa, ON
84 (5402) Rober Racine / 1952 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
85 (5618) Shary Boyle / 1972 / Scarborough, ON / Toronto, ON
86 (5618) Luc Courchesne / 1952 / St. Léonard d’Aston, QC / Montréal, QC
87 (5685) Arnaud Maggs / 1926 / Montréal, QC / Toronto, ON
88 (5699) Isabelle Hayeur / 1969 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
89 (5730) Shannon Bool /1972 / Comox, BC / Berlin, Germany
90 (5765) BGL / Formed in 1996 / live and work in Quebec City, QC
91 (5776) Royden Rabinowitch / 1943 / Toronto, ON / Ghent, Belgium
92 (5787) Evan Penny / 1953 / South Africa / Toronto, ON
93 (5850) Monique Van Genderen / 1965 / Vancouver, BC / LA, USA
94 (5872) Geoffrey James / 1942 / Wales, UK / Toronto, ON
95 (5884) Adad Hannah / 1971 / New York, USA / Montréal, QC
96 (6251) Aurel Schmidt / 1982 / Kamloops, BC / New York, USA
97 (6311) Melvin Charney / 1935 / Montréal, QC / Montréal, QC
98 (6325) Kevin Schmidt / 1972 / Ottawa, ON / Vancouver, BC
99 (6384) Bozidar Brazda / 1972 / Cambridge, ON / New York, USA
100 (6407) Scott Treleaven / 1972 / Toronto, ON / Paris, France
(The ranking positions as of March 2nd 2011 on ArtFacts.net)
Congratulations to everyone who made it to the top100 positions, we hope you enjoyed the read, and have plenty to say about it, please don’t hesitate to use the comment box below. As mentioned before, M-KOS never intended to remove all the discrepancies found in ArtFacts, which can take up to four months to update its records. (They usually update every Saturday but some information takes from one to four months). For example, Jon Pylypchuk, one of the original members of The Royal Art Lodge, his solo exhibition at Le Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal in Oct. 2010, is not yet listed on his profile.
Other artists actually have little kinship to Canadian art, such as Lisa Milroy, considered by most as a British artist. A lot of similar data is questionable on ArtFacts, and it is difficult to know whether this is due to the web resource’s updating capabilities or the lack of communication from commercial galleries, art institutions or even artists themselves. However the sheer volume of information on ArtFacts still makes it an authoritative resource, an objective-enough reference and most importantly, a good read. In terms of demography, one third of the above-listed artists now live and work abroad, mainly New York and London, the two main stages of the global art market. Berlin comes closely after, as it is recognized as a hub for Continental European art production. Unsurprisingly though, men outnumber women on our list to the proportion of 65%, a figure that could be interesting to compare with other countries.
The good news is that Canada seems to be pushing forward to make herself more visible. Out of the 282,400 entries, we could have done worst than to find 100 Canadians within the top 6,500 international contenders. Photoconceptualist artists, otherwise known as the “Vancouver School’’ (Rodney Graham, Jeff Wall et al.) are notably leading the pack with the strongest presence on the list. They in fact are attracting most of the international critical acclaim and are most represented by renowned galleries outside of Canada. These artists have acted as catalysts for the marketability of Canadian art and inspired a younger generation of entrepreneurial artists, from Marcel Dzama to David Altmejd, to follow suit.
Life After 100 Of course we could carry on counting more Canadian artist positions and enjoy every moment of it, but 100 is a good number to have some closure. Still, here’s a teaser of the 15 artists following our magic number, as well as another 15 of fast risers, maybe we should expect to see some of them make the list next year ? :
Artists making the 101-115 positions: Stephen Waddell, Karel Funk, Christine Davis, Fernand Leduc, Christian Eckart, Derek Sullivan, Gareth Moore, Neil Farber, Nathalie Melikian, Rita Letendre, Daniel Domig, Nestor Krüger, Evan Lee, Kristan Horton, Moyra Davey.
Next 15 artists that are quickly up and coming: Dana Claxton, Erin Shirreff, James Carl, Michele Di Menna, Wanda Koop, Gwenaël Bélanger, Steve Bishop, Patrick Bernatchez, Kim Rugg, Rodney La Tourelle. Melanie Gilligan, Marianne Nicolson, Elizabeth McIntosh, Emanuel Licha, Michelle Teran
M-KOS sincerely hope the list will be useful and enlightening to the Canadian and international art community, perhaps even as soon as during its first days of publication, coinciding with Armory Week. The Art Dealers association of Canada (ADAC) is strongly supporting Canadian artists and organizations participating in the Armory Show (with the assistance of provincial and federal grants) so lets wish them all the best. The ADAC is similarly supporting other events like Art Chicago (29Apr.–2May). During the Armory, the ADAC organizes a range of upcoming touring exhibitions, public lectures and art related events entitled “A Quiet Revolution: Canadian Art Now†to further disseminate Canadian Art. Furthermore, AGAC (Contemporary Art Gallery Association) have set up the exhibition “Extreme Gestures†curated by Denise Markonish (MASS MoCA) showcasing contemporary art from Montreal, a sequel of “Extreme Painting†held last summer in Montreal (see the review in Frieze). This article ends with another list, this time a comprehensive inventory of all the Canadian galleries participating in Armory Week, the New York art fair extravaganza. Thanks for reading !
ARMORY:
Christopher Cutts Gallery (Toronto, ON); ADAC (Toronto,ON); Clark & Faria (Toronto, ON); Corkin Gallery (Toronto, ON)
VOLTA:
Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain (Montreal, QC); Parisian Laundry (Montreal, QC); Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects (Toronto, ON)
PULSE:
Art Mür (Montreal,QC); Galerie SAS (Montreal, QC); Angell Gallery (Toronto, ON);
SCOPE:
Galerie D’Este (Montreal, QC)
by Miwa Kojima, Oli Sorenson
Howdy!
Thanks for doing the number crunching, but using Artfacrts rankings for Canadian artists is like using Aunt Jemima Syrup at a Cabane à Sucre. It just doesn’t work. Artfacts is heavily skewed to English speaking galleries, museums and auctions.
That’s a blown article trying to justify itself and a ranked list on a very subjective topic. Is it based on the quality of work or just on the turnover the artists generate? And it’s not even your list that you have generate based on your own analytics and observations. You just copied the results from somewhere else. At least you had the decency to refer to your source. If ever, such a (copied) list would make much more sense if it would generate a result from more than one source.
As Zeke pointed out, Artfacts ranking system is in no way reliable. Even within their own set of criteria and bias, they are incredibly inconsistent with the information they decide to include on each artist, the same data with which is used to ‘score’ them. Unless thorough and consistent, their ranking system is a pointless exercise and in no way representative of the success of an artists practice, Canadian or otherwise.
I’m surprised to see no mention of Katie Ohe on this list. I’m not surprised to see most of the artists cited live within a fairly tight geographic radius. As an artist in Alberta I was surprised to see that based on this list I am living in a cultural vacuum. I could have sworn I’d just seen several incredible Alberta based shows by nationally acclaimed artists, however I must have simply been hallucinating. I will seek medical help immediately.
This list is highly flawed, first of all being extracted from a list produced by non-Canadians… like someone from the States choosing the best ski hills in Canada based on a couple of visits.
Good to see Germaine Koh and Kevin Schmidt on there, both of whom we will be showing at ART LABOR in Shanghai in October this year, though strangely missing is Douglas Coupland, who as far as Canadian art goes, has been making a ton of public works for years and is highly visible and well liked, though obviously known more for his books. but when as an artist he is chosen to redo the Terry Fox Memorial, how does that happen when he isn’t even on a top 100 list of artists in the country??
Anyhow given the lack of governmental support for shows abroad, it is no surprise that our artists are not “known” for being Canadian, so blame it on the Canada Council, who are happy to hand out grants to artists to sit around IN Canada and make their things, however lame they might be, but then are lacking vision when it comes to promoting art, especially to Asia and CHINA, where sits a potentially huge market of collectors and museums, if someone would bother to try to attract them.
Martin Kemble (Canadian!)
ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai
will someone come over and buy some of my artwork so that I may support my artist friends and community and self
The money will be used as wisely as the works will be appreciated
My work is valid