a newsletter about the canadian art world

Oct 29, 2020

Welcome to Canadian Art Forecast, a newsletter that follows, predicts, and discusses the Canadian art world with a focus on emerging and mid-career artists.

At the beginning of the pandemic I wrote an essay on what I penned “an artist first approach to art,” where I wrote:

While I care about the art hanging in my apartment, I care more about the artists who made it—the ones who taught me to see. I look frequently at the work on my walls, especially now in self-isolation, and I’m taken by the various levels they work on: aesthetically, the saturated colours, confident lines and playful compositions are beautiful to look at; the genesis stories of the work’s creation connects me with the artists; the technical skill amazes me. I can feel a level of care the artist put into the work, and feel that care tenfold. Artists give so much, and ask for so little in return.
How can the art world become a two way street, one where we replicate the care shown by art and give it back to the artist? In an artist-first model, work isn’t bought to be flipped in a couple years as an investment or to fill a gap in a collection. This way of collecting, while I’m sure exhilarating, divorces the art from the artist. Instead, I wonder how, as an artist community, we can cultivate greater relationships between art as a physical object and the artist who creates it.

This newsletter is an ongoing attempt to answer that desire for an art community that is driven by meaningful relationships with artists and the work they produce. I also hope that it gives you the confidence to talk-shop at openings and your next dinner party (whenever that might be). There will be artist interviews, reviews, thoughts on the art market, tips for collecting, and more.