Liz Magor: The Rise and The Fall

5 Mar-10 Jun 2023

Overview

Focal Point Gallery is pleased to announce the first major solo exhibition in an English institution by Canadian artist Liz Magor.

Organised in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, the exhibition will subsequently tour to The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art, Dublin (14 July to 24 September 2023) and Fondazione Giuliani, Rome (23 October 2023 to January 2024).

Magor is well known internationally for work that explores a subjective relationship to the material world. Working with ubiquitous, manufactured objects that often go unnoticed, she transforms them using inventive sculptural techniques that locate them on a spectrum between still life and the uncanny. Things such as blankets, containers, clothing and toys are found in relationships that generate a sense of care and meaning beyond their original use or need.

The exhibition at Focal Point Gallery offers a focused selection of work from the last five years that considers Magor’s understanding of the presence of ‘agency’ within inanimate, material objects and her enquiry as to the source of their intrigue and emotional resonance. The way in which Magor’s work draws attention to discarded and apparently mundane objects, seems particularly relevant to current discussions about the economy of things and the role of material in our social, political and psychological lives.

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About Liz Magor

Liz Magor (born 1948 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Magor studied at the Vancouver School of Art and at Parsons School of Design in New York City

In 2021, France awarded Liz Magor as a recipient of the Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize, and in 2001, she was recipient of the Governor General’s award. In 1987, she exhibited at documenta 8 in Kassel, Germany, and in 1984, she represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.

She has presented numerous solo exhibitions at the Carpenter Center for the Arts, Cambridge; the Renaissance Society, Chicago; the David Ireland House, San Francisco (2019); The Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Nice, France; Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Switzerland (2017); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2016); Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2015, 1986); Peep-Hole, Milan (2015); Triangle France, Marseille (2013); Henry Art Gallery, Seattle (2009); Simon Fraser University Gallery, Vancouver (2008); The Power Plant, Toronto (2003); Vancouver Art Gallery (2002, 1980); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2000); Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon; Winnipeg Art Gallery; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (1987); and The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1977).

Her work has been included in group exhibitions including Le Crédac, Ivry sur Sein, France (2020); Musée d’art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2019); Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2017); Glasgow Sculpture Studios (2016); Marcelle Alix, Paris (2015); Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana; Musée d’art contemporain de Montreal (2012); Seattle Art Museum; Wattis Institute, San Francisco; Vancouver Art Gallery; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2003); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2001); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1995); Museum of Modern Art, New York (1992); Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff (1989); and Biennale of Sydney (1982).

Artists