Liz Magor

{{Infobox artist

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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1948}}

| birth_place = Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

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| field = Sculptor, photographer

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| alma_mater = University of British Columbia

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Liz Magor (born 1948) is a Canadian visual artist based in Vancouver. She is well known for her sculptures that address themes of history, shelter and survival through objects that reference still life, domesticity and wildlife.{{Cite journal|last=Adler|first=Dan|title=Liz Magor, Susan Hobbs Gallery|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/200706/liz-magor-42685|journal=Artforum|volume=Summer 2007|pages=507}}{{Cite journal|last=Dayal|first=Mira|title=Liz Magor, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts|url=https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/201905/liz-magor-79613|journal=Artforum|volume=May 2019}} She often re-purposes domestic objects such as blankets and is known for using mold making techniques.

Biography

Magor was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1948. Magor studied at the University of British Columbia from 1966-1968, and Parsons School of Design in New York from 1968-1970. Subsequently, she completed her diploma at the Vancouver School of Art in 1971."Discover must-known artists from across Canada." Canadian Art. Accessed June 7, 2013. [http://www.canadianart.ca/artist/liz-magor/] She had a career as a respected educator at the Ontario College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver to continue her teaching at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design where she continued to be major influence on a younger generation of artists.{{Cite web|last=Turner|first=Michael|date=2016-04-01|title=Liz Magor|url=http://preview-art.com/oldsite/previews/04-2016/magor.html|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Preview}} Alongside Stan Douglas, Brian Jungen, and Jeff Wall, Magor's work and studio practice was featured in the Vancouver episode of season 8 of the PBS broadcast [https://art21.org Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century].{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor|url=https://art21.org/artist/liz-magor/|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Art21}}

Magor's internationally exhibited and produced work usually takes the form of sculpture, installation, or photography. Major solo exhibitions of her work have been presented internationally at The Renaissance Society, Chicago; Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge; The Modern and Contemporary Art Museum of Nice; Kunstverein in Hamburg; Migros Museum of Contemporary Art, Zurich, among other venues. In Canada she has exhibited widely at prominent institutions such as the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. Alongside Ian Carr-Harris, she represented Canada at the XLI Biennale of Venice, Italy, in 1984 in a show organized by Jessica Bradley,Bradley, Jessica. "Liz Magor". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Accessed June 7, 2013.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121005153959/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/liz-magor]{{Cite book|last=Bradley|first=Jessica|title=Ian Carr-Harris, Liz Magor: Canada XLI Biennale di Venezia, 1984|publisher=National Gallery of Canada|year=1984|isbn=9780888845153|location=Ottawa}} and she was invited to participate at documenta 8 in Kassel, in 1987.Monk, Philip. “Liz Magor.” documenta 8. Kassel: Weber and Weidemeyer, 1987, vol. 2, pp. 156

Magor has been recognized with civic, national, and international awards. In 2001, awarded the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.{{cite web|title=2001 Winners|url=http://ggavma.canadacouncil.ca/archive/2001/winners|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402091900/http://ggavma.canadacouncil.ca/archive/2001/winners|archivedate=2 April 2015|accessdate=25 March 2015|website=Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts}} In Vancouver, she was recognized with the sixth annual Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts in 2009."Vancouver artist Liz Magor wins B.C.’s Audain prize". CBC News. April 8, 2009. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/vancouver-artist-liz-magor-wins-b-c-s-audain-prize-1.792131] In 2014, she was the recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize, awarded by the Art Gallery of Ontario with a solo exhibition.{{cite web|title=Vancouver's Liz Magor wins the 2014 Gershon Iskowitz Prize|url=http://www.ago.net/vancouvers-liz-magor-wins-the-2014-gershon-iskowitz-prize|website=AGO|accessdate=29 October 2015}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor: Surrender|url=https://ago.ca/exhibitions/liz-magor-surrender|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Art Gallery of Ontario}} In 2019, she was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France.{{Cite web|date=2019-06-29|title=La Gazette du Canada, Partie I, volume 153, numéro 26|url=https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2019/2019-06-29/html/gh-rg-fra.html|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Gouvernement du Canada}}

Art practice

File:Vancouver Folly coal harbour.jpg

Liz Magor works in sculpture, installation, public art and photography. Her sculptural work investigates the ontology of ordinary or familiar objects, which she remakes and presents in new contexts.Emily Carr University of Art + Design. "Liz Magor – Faculty Bio". Accessed June 7, 2013. [https://www.ecuad.ca/people/profile/14472] For example, Magor has created facsimiles of food items and their containers, as well as other objects such as driftwood, logs, tree stumps, and clothing.[http://catrionajeffries.com/wp-content/uploads/press/magor_brown_2009.pdf Brown, Nicholas. “Liz Magor”. Hunter & Cook 04, 2009] A studio- and object-oriented artist, Magor’s work emphasizes process and materiality, and highlights the difference between the real and the simulated.{{Cite web|last=Edmonson|first=Tess|date=2020-11-24|title=Life of Objects|url=https://canadianart.ca/interviews/life-of-objects/|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Canadian Art}}

In previous work, Magor used mold-making and casting techniques to make replicas of coats, trays and cutlery (which she calls "serviceable objects") as receptacles for other materials (such as candies or cigarettes).Woodley, E.C. "Real Dead Ringers: The Art of Liz Magor". Border Crossings, Issue 117, March 2011. [http://bordercrossingsmag.com/article/real-dead-ringers-the-art-of-liz-magor] These works reference the accumulation of discarded goods and vices that appeal to our common impulses. They also raise questions about the social and emotional life of objects. Magor’s more recent work involves the repurposing of used clothing and old wool blankets (other types of "serviceable objects").Milroy, Sarah. "Liz Magor’s artistic salvage operation". The Globe and Mail. November 30, 2012 [http://m.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/liz-magors-artistic-salvage-operation/article5838328/?service=mobile]

In her article entitled Magor's Timeless Transitions, Robin Laurence writes, "Art, Liz Magor says, is the place where our perceptions are opened and examined for prolonged periods of time. Much longer, she suggests, than in our day-to-day encounters with the visual world, where we tend to interpret given signs in fixed ways, and where our first impressions are usually consolidated by our second [impressions]. Magor's art refutes such consolidation: irresolution prevails and closure eludes us. Her sculptures consistently play reality against unreality, meaning against alternative meaning, initial appearance against later revelation."Robin Laurence. "[https://www.straight.com/arts/magors-timeless-transitions Magor’s Timeless Transitions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620214814/http://www.straight.com/arts/magors-timeless-transitions |date=2013-06-20 }}". Georgia Straight, December 16, 2004

Magor's permanent or temporary public works have been installed in Vancouver {{Cite web|title=Liz Magor|url=https://covapp.vancouver.ca/PublicArtRegistry/ArtistDetail.aspx?FromArtistIndex=False&ArtistId=95|access-date=2021-03-10|website=City of Vancouver Public Art Registry}} and the Greater Vancouver Regional District,{{Cite web|title=Marks|url=https://www.surrey.ca/arts-culture/surrey-public-art/public-art-collection/marks|access-date=2021-03-10|website=City of Surrey Public Art Collection}} and Toronto and the Toronto area.{{Cite book|last=Magor|first=Liz|title=Liz Magor: Messenger|publisher=Toronto Sculpture Garden|year=1996|location=Toronto}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Keep, 2000|url=https://www.yorku.ca/agyu/exhibitions/sculpture_magor.html|access-date=2021-03-10|website=Art Gallery of York University}}

Magor is represented by [http://www.susanhobbs.com Susan Hobbs Gallery] and [https://catrionajeffries.com Catriona Jeffries] in Canada, [http://www.andrewkreps.com Andrew Kreps Gallery] in the United States, and [http://marcellealix.com Marcelle Alix] in France. In her early career, she was represented by Ydessa Hendeles's The Ydessa Gallery in Toronto.

Collections

Liz Magor's work is found in public and private collections in Canada and internationally, such as the Vancouver Art Gallery,{{Cite web|title=75 Years of Collecting|url=http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/exhibitions/4/1/artist/63/99.19a-b|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911224951/http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/exhibitions/4/1/artist/63/99.19a-b|archive-date=2015-09-11|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Vancouver Art Gallery}}{{Cite web|title=75 Years of Collecting|url=http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/exhibitions/3/1/artist/50/99.18a-h|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911013829/http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/publications/75years/exhibitions/3/1/artist/50/99.18a-h|archive-date=2015-09-11|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Vancouver Art Gallery}} the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor|url=https://belkin.pastperfectonline.com/creator/02750B0A-4130-4118-B92C-491475688069|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery}} at The University of British Columbia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Untitled from the series Military Through the Ages, 1991–1994|url=https://wag.ca/art/collections/artwork/g-98-348-a-k-untitled-liz-magor/?from=art-search|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Winnipeg Art Gallery}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Breast Nest Pressers for the Perching Birds of Canada, 1976|url=https://wag.ca/art/collections/artwork/g-76-952-breast-nest-pressers-for-the-perching-birds-of-canada-liz-magor/?from=art-search|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Winnipeg Art Gallery}} the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Violator, 2015|url=https://macm.org/en/collections/oeuvre/violator/|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Carton II, 2006|url=https://macm.org/en/collections/oeuvre/carton-ii/|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal}} and the National Gallery of Canada,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor|url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/liz-magor|access-date=2021-03-09|website=National Gallery of Canada}} in Canada; the Henry Art Gallery,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, White Wonders, 2002|url=https://collections.henryart.org/detail.php?term=liz+magor&module=objects&type=keyword&sortby=maker&sortdir=asc&t=objects&kv=29607&record=0&module=objects|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Henry Art Gallery}} in the United States; as well as the collections of Centre national des arts plastiques,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Prone, 2015|url=https://www.cnap.fr/collection-en-ligneartwork/140000001295067?filters=authors%3AMAGOR%20Liz%E2%86%B9MAGOR%20Liz&page=1&layout=grid&sort=by_author|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Centre national des arts plastiques}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Karl's Kastle, 2003|url=https://www.cnap.fr/collection-en-ligneartwork/140000001295063?filters=authors%3AMAGOR%20Liz%E2%86%B9MAGOR%20Liz&page=1&layout=grid&sort=by_author|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Centre national des arts plastiques}}{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Fresh Pack, 2015|url=https://www.cnap.fr/collection-en-ligneartwork/140000001295052?filters=authors%3AMAGOR%20Liz%E2%86%B9MAGOR%20Liz&page=1&layout=grid&sort=by_author|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Centre national des arts plastiques}} Frac Corse,{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Ladies Jacket Smoking, 2015|url=http://www.lescollectionsdesfrac.fr/rechercher-et-voir-les-oeuvres-des-collections-des-fracartwork/570000000001181?filters=query%3Aliz%20magor&page=1&layout=grid&sort=by_author|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Les collections des Fracs}} and Frac Île-de-France{{Cite web|title=Liz Magor, Buckle, 2016|url=http://www.lescollectionsdesfrac.fr/rechercher-et-voir-les-oeuvres-des-collections-des-fracartwork/390000000022102?filters=query%3Aliz%20magor&page=1&layout=grid&sort=by_author|access-date=2021-03-09|website=Les collections des Fracs}} in France.

Bibliography

Monographs and exhibition catalogues:

Byers, Dan; Øvstebo, Solveig; Heti, Sheila; Speed, Mitch (2019). BLOWOUT. Cambridge, MA; Chicago, IL: Carpenter Center for the Arts and The Renaissance Society. {{ISBN|978-0-941548-78-6}}.
Adler, Dan; Johnstone, Lesley; Magor, Liz; Munder, Heike; Steinbrügge, Bettina (2016). Habitude. Montreal, QC; Zürich; Hamburg: Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, and Kunstverein in Hamburg. {{ISBN|978-2-551-25829-1}}.
{{Cite book| publisher = Mousse Publishing and Triangle France| isbn = 978-88-6749-170-4| last1 = Magor| first1 = Liz| last2 = Kopp| first2 = Céline| last3 = Robertson| first3 = Lisa| last4 = Verwoert| first4 = Jan| title = Liz Magor: the blue one comes in black| date = 2015|location=Milan; Marseille}}
{{Cite book|title=The Mouth and other storage facilities: Liz Magor|last=Krajewski|first=Sara|last2=Jeffries, Bill|last3=|date=|publisher=Henry Art Gallery Association ; Simon Fraser University Gallery|isbn=978-0935558470|location=Seattle, WA; Burnaby, BC|oclc = 318166711|language=English|year=2008}}
Arnold, Grant; and Monk, Philip; et al. Liz Magor. Toronto/Vancouver: The Power Plant/Vancouver Art Gallery, 2002
{{cite book | last=Hogg | first=Lucy | last2=Magor | first2=Liz | last3=Tousley | first3=Nancy | last4=Shier | first4=Reid | title=Liz Magor | publisher=Art Gallery of York University | publication-place=Toronto | date=2000 | isbn=0-920751-77-6 | oclc=43884696 }}

Liz Magor

Biography

Art practice

Collections

Bibliography

References

Further reading