OCAD University

British conceptual artist Ryan Gander delivered an unconventional public talk at OCAD U on February 23. Bridging comedy and philosophy, the informal presentation titled LAX (Loose Associations X) was sprinkled with critiques of contemporary architecture, consumerist society and other seemingly unrelated topics.  

Gander is on campus for a week as part of OCAD U’s Nomadic Residents program working on a collaborative project with students that explores the idea of enforcing a methodology to create art. The resulting exhibition, Auto-Abstraction and Happenstance in Art Making, opens with a reception on Thursday, February 25, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Ada Slaight Gallery, Level 2, 100 McCaul St., Toronto.

Gander’s residency at OCAD U runs concurrently with a solo exhibition at Scrap Metal Gallery, Creative Play May Entail Some Risk Taking, through May 17.

Nomadic Residents is made possible by the generous support of the Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation. Other partners include the Impact Collective, Scrap Metal Gallery and the Musée d'art contemporain.

Gander is interviewed in CanadianArt.ca.

(Toronto—February 8, 2012) OCAD University's Faculty of Art welcomes critically acclaimed international artists Ghada Amer (Egyptian) and Reza Farkhondeh (Iranian) as this year's Nomadic Residents. On campus from March 19 to 23, 2012, the artists will give a free public talk on Thursday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. During their residency, Amer and Farkhondeh will conduct studio critiques, engage in dialogue with faculty and lead a collaborative student project.

"We're delighted to bring Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh to Toronto as our 2012 Nomadic Residents, a program that enriches learning opportunities for our students and showcases diversity and innovation in contemporary art practice, " Dr. Vladimir Spicanovic, Dean of the Faculty of Art at OCAD University. "Amer and Farkhondeh's intricate investigations of representation and pictorial space, and their collaborative working relationship, present our students with a window into how they might engage in creative collaboration in their future careers."

Launched in 2006 with the generous support of Partners in Art, Nomadic Residents aims to inspire and influence the OCAD University community and the public by featuring artists and thinkers from around the world whose work questions issues such as travel, mobility, displacement, dislocation and homelessness, as well as the speed or instability of modern life. Nomadic Residents has hosted pre-eminent contemporary practitioners and theorists including Rirkrit Tiravanija (2006), Ann Hamilton (2007), ORLAN (2008), Hal Foster (2009) and Adel Abdessemed (2010). The series continues with the generous support of the Jack Weinbaum Family Foundation.

About the artists
Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh met in 1988 while both were studying at Villa Arson in Nice, France. Their work spans and reveals layers of cultural references to their home countries of Egypt and Iran, to their time in France and now the United States. Both artists have strong individual signatures: Amer is renowned for her erotic women embroidered onto canvas and partially concealed by colorful drip-like threads; Farkhondeh uses nature, trees, flowers and leaves, often as direct motifs, drawn, interpreted and painted with layers of transparencies.

Amer and Farkondeh's collaborative practice has evolved into a unique pictorial language, bringing together two of the most common historical subjects of art: nudes and landscapes. Amer and Farkhondeh have shared studios since their graduation in the early 1990s with MFAs at National School of Fine Arts at the Villa Arson. Later, they studied at the Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques in Paris. They now work out of shared studios in Harlem, New York.

While both artists continue to develop their individual practice, it was only in early 2000 that they began to collaborate on canvas, on paper and in video performance. Amer and Farkhondeh have exhibited their collaborations in numerous venues internationally including the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, the Galeria Filomena Soares (Lisbon, Portugal), the Goodman Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa), the Kukje Gallery (Seoul, Korea) and Tina Kim Gallery (New York).

Nomadic Residents: Ghada Amer and Reza Farkhondeh
Residency: March 19 to 22, 2012
Free public talk: Thursday, March 22, 6:30 p.m.
Register for Tickets (Free)

OCAD University - 135 Years of Imagination
Auditorium, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
416-977-6000  |  http://www.ocadu.ca/

OCAD University (OCAD U): 135 Years of Imagination
OCAD University (www.ocadu.ca) is Canada’s “University of the Imagination.” The university, founded in 1876, is dedicated to art and design education, practice and research and to knowledge and invention across a wide range of disciplines. OCAD University is building on its traditional, studio-based strengths, adding new approaches to learning that champion cross-disciplinary practice, collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies. In the Age of Imagination, OCAD University community members will be uniquely qualified to act as catalysts for the next advances in culture, technology and quality of life for all Canadians.

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For more information contact:

Sarah Mulholland, Media & Communications Officer
416-977-6000 Ext. 327 (mobile Ext. 1327)