The south-west corner of Toronto’s Dundas and McCaul Streets will soon be a public canvas to a large scale Brian Jungen project, commissioned by The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
“Brian Jungen is one of the most important artists working today,” says Stephan Jost, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO. ”He has created innovative and culturally relevant works of art for more than 30 years, and his exhibition at the AGO this summer has been exciting and successful. I am confident this new work will be fully embraced by our community.”
Scheduled to be unveiled in the fall of 2020, this will be the first public artwork commissioned by the AGO in its history, and will take the former place of Henry Moore’s Large Two Forms sculpture, which occupied the street corner for 43 years.
This major commission is made possible in part through a contribution from the New Chapter program of the Canada Council for the Arts.
An artist of Indigenous and European heritage, Jungen is internationally renowned for his sculptures and installations made from repurposed consumer goods.
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Using a multidisciplinary art-making approach, his extensive body of work engages equally with Indigenous materials and traditions, as with pop culture and Western art history.
The artist’s new sculpture for this vibrant outdoor space will be the only public artwork of its scale in the city by an Indigenous artist, according to The AGO.
“I am excited and honoured to be invited to make a new sculpture for such an iconic site in the heart of Toronto,” says Brian Jungen.
Jungen’s work is currently on view at the AGO in the exhibition Brian Jungen Friendship Centre, transforming the Sam and Ayala Zacks Pavilion into an Indigenous meeting place that highlights different aspects of Jungen’s personal experiences. The exhibition closes on Aug. 25, 2019.