February 1985 $3.00 aD NCUA 4 VIAN aWA Volume 14, Number 1 anti tr Srociurgtons (peaieanues Ovnvee Eater ‘each ceve Manvea, Ouabae 2x 380 Cusbec TansiationEtor POrBoxees Postal Salons Tort Ontario, 41.0 (ate 352020 Eastom PraesEtor Stataoon Sasktenewan S7N OE8 (506 2 a8 vancuaro Pubished by he Society or eta! rts Pubeaons i varus io rasan rea hase a he Soony fo Crocn ‘cet Crayne nt puro Serb ct veo nan tarts 3618 Vanguard regond Ease sprit agra om he Caras Case IneSeatance ln Dparmat&Canmancaars ‘Sing cao ech ty soos ‘conResPoNDENce Liters and uectetosmaruserpts should be deected othe Er, ‘Yorgi PO, Bx 540 Staton X.Varoouer, Canada, VSC2N3 “a B04 6656082 Unecloted manucrps ans aotosapha mt Se aecompana by soot etm pone, (ANGE oF ADDRESS Strato ota adeases and sw fe weeks for change (naan dstbaon by he Canaan Pees Pushers ‘stosavon, 4 ley Soot Tororo, Or, MST IAS Monta! Gvreuson by Dtusen Peraielelne 81 Omar Ea, Monte ‘Soee, 2 ‘suascrlrrion RATES (Conosa nas) (Gre ooo ieses S21; 190 years: 1ieues, S38. te yar:27 ‘Se 57 (ater cous) ‘Gros esos 825 wo yeas 18ates, 46: hoe years 27 rs 00-526 13 6 20 24 ee UA MUSEUMS AND THEIR BUILDINGS (OUR NATIONAL GALLERIES ‘Stephanie White February 1985 ‘BOOKS IN THE SERVICE OF ART Marybeth Laviolette RODOLPHE DE REPENTIGNY PEINTURE EXISTENTIALISTE. Marie Carani JACK SHADBOLT ‘THE ACT OF PAINTING ‘Scott Watson vinEo 84 Bruce Ferguson ‘CANADIAN ART OR CANADIAN ARTISTS Robert Kleyn REVIEWS sJoe Fatard/Joan Borsa Dessin/installation/Daniallo Léger Ex Academe/IMark Harris Tony Scherman and Arlene Stamp/Marshall Webb Felicity Redgrave/Susan Gibson Doug Bentham/Keith Bel! Jean-Luc Vilmouth/Jean Tourangeau Ladistay Guderna/Ed Varney Contents Under Pressure/eidre Hannah Sylvia Tait/Robin Laurence Luc Bergeron et Michel Labbé/Marie Delagrave Going Public/Dot Tuer Gordon Ferguson] Vince Varga ‘Charlemagne Palestine] Pascale Beaudet Randy Burton/Richard Gorenko Pam Hall/Robert Pitt Hommage a Guido Molinari/Jerry McGrath Backgrounds Carol Fraser Alan Storey/Merike Taive Six Artists from Edmonton/ Christine Conley Roy KiyookajLinda Spalging Chery! Sourkes Christos Dikeakos Dennis GilJohn Greer Barbara Kruger/Chery! Simon cover Jack Shacbot, Wd Grass Suite, Pane! 9 (1575 ere onwatroou bow, 12 pares ‘20h cok fet Investment Coreratian, Teena, Cover pt dm Soman Vanguard Fey 265 7Canadian Artor Canadian Artists? leyn Canaan arts stop bei rere ithe "Canada" tn Canadian in New York and aking a randé scene, Robert Kleyns intentionally discursive ‘questions once again. Robert Key Aiternatly. in Romeand New Yor Peer Schuy Son of Cool 184), sey nnn, 17. 12m, eouey: Pat Hearn Gatley. Now York Robert Canadian? When he or she leaves in surveying recen exhibitions of Canadian art faces in New York's East Village philosophical essay asks these important isa Vanco Born ars, filmmaker and crit, who lives, {related previous contribution to Vanguard shi smninal ‘ritque, "Protective Mimicry"(March, 1984) n sampling of new Canadi fe counts? Moret ‘You don’ et drunk from the label onthe bottle. Paul Valery ‘The way problems are posed may reveal more about the questioner than the subject; I could easily claim itt be impossible to describe some- thing in which one is not immersed without plungingino the absurdness of impressions. This ‘iiuly is wiled ima language tat surfaces as 2 screen, Words explode toward the player as the ‘meaning implodes away from him. The task: 10 ‘eiect the being ofthe subject without destroying The question of Canadian identity and culture is beloved of administrators of sociological over ‘ew. Empirically speaking. however, what is C radian art except that which s produced by Cana- Gian artist? Ts this merely a question of site? Is ‘any painting done in Canada tobe labeled Cana- ‘dan? Are stylistic parameters implied, ori there {hidden appeal to an outdated nationalism? If Canadian artist in Rome is forever Canadian, ‘why isan American artist in Halifax no longer an American? Who decides this, and why’ “These considerations are particularly acute with regard tothe role of New Yorkin the world of ‘modern art. Just as the city attracts the financial fesourees of the capitalist world, it also com ‘mands the presence of artists and related pur- ‘eyors of culture from allover the world, making it the principal international information ex- ‘change Capitals mostefficient fee to disregard all edges; but ina formation society the site of the exchange is enclosed by a protective skin that synthesies the energy ereated through exchange. In the reactor core, information is provoked 10 tical massin a barely containable environment. The arst-reactor communicates, mediated by a sophisticated network with atoll at every switch. ‘The resulting flux, actually a slate of continual collapse and revival like a man-made Darwinian nature, draws the fascinated global gaze, par- ticularly from the third world wath ts photoiropic attraction tothe lashiness of Amerikan gel. But ‘they ar spared the superflityand alienation of Such culture by the impact of poverty, distance tnd language. Canada — afluent, perched right ‘on the soure, eating identical cereals — has no ‘Such advantages. Tn 1978, Enc Fisch left Halifax to return to New York, During his four years in Canada, Fischl taught atthe Nova Scotia Collegeof Artand Design, was immediately regarded a8 a leading Vanguar Februar 185 27