Governor General's Award winners in visual arts announced

And they are: 

Jana Sterbak, she of the infamous meat dress (way, way back in 1987; nothing else Lady Gaga does is original, how could this be any different?); Toronto recipients are photographer Geoffrey James, whose images of parks and cityscapes in Paris and his hometown, among others, have won him widespread acclaim, and abstract painter Ron Martin; Vancouver performance artist Margaret Dragu; Halifax video artist Jan Peacock; and Waterloo sculptor Royden Rabionowitch. Diana Nemiroff, the former National Gallery curator who organized Sterbak’s 1991 show “States of Being” won the “outstanding contribution award, while the Saidye Bronfman Award for crafts was won by Calgary goldsmith Charles Lewton-Brain. 

Congrats to all. 

 

Comments

[Sally]

I was in a coffee shop the other day and a lady picked up the newspaper and said "Look, a lady wearing a dress made of meat!" And I was like, whuh? again? And then a young guy leaned over her shoulder to look at the picture and said, "Yum! That looks delicious." I had never heard that particular response before. It's kind of great how well this work has withstood the test of time (not the literal object, of course, but the idea of it and the documentation). Still getting a big reaction out of people.

[Murray Whyte]

Totally! I just hope the reactions have become more diverse than the embarrassingly parochial outrage that accompanied the Sterbak show way back when, in 1991. Hey Canada, every heard of conceptualism? No? Oh, and while you're at it, my kid could do that "Voice of Fire" junk any day! Bad old days indeed. Sheesh.