Combining the senses of sight and sound in an extraordinary display of Canadian talent, the Juno Awards
and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) have collaborated to create The Juno Tour of Canadian Art. The
exhibition features various Canadian artworks selected by some of the award show’s acclaimed Canadian
musicians.
It’s all a part of the celebrations for the Junos’ 40th anniversary, which saw the Canadian
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) plan various celebratory initiatives throughout the city of
Toronto — the award show’s origin city as well as this year’s host city.
“The Junos approached us because they were going around to some of the cultural institutions. They had
various ideas [of what they wanted to do],” says Gillian McIntyre, adult program co-ordinator at the AGO. “I
said, ‘We have great Canadian art, you have great Canadian music. Why don’t we put the two together?’” To
pair the visual art with music, the gallery has incorporated eight Juno Award winners and nominees. “I was
looking right away for diversity, of all sorts,” she recalls about creating her wish list of
participants.
The musicians who have taken part in the exhibition cover a wide array of Canadian music. From opera and jazz
to rock and hip-hop, and just about everywhere in between, bringing together music and visual art has helped
The Juno Tour of Canadian Art showcase artistic masterpieces.
To create the exhibition, McIntyre provided each musician with a private tour, often during the AGO’s
after-hours to avoid being “besieged” by the gallery’s visitors. She says she would walk through the gallery
with them, to provide encouragement and insight into the gallery’s various exquisite Canadian artworks. The
musicians would each select a piece of art they felt a personal connection to. They would explain their
connection to the piece in a personal response in an audio-recorded or video-recorded format. Each response
is complemented by a song from the musician that illustrates his or her interpretation of the art.
“It was very interesting to me because it worked very smoothly. With most of them, it was a very quick and
easy thing for them to find something, once they figured out that I didn’t want anything that was
over-thought or too clever,” she says.
The exhibition includes interactive displays beside the artwork that include two listening stations for
visitors to watch and/or listen to each musician’s personal response to the art, as well as his or her song
choice.
“The commentary that resulted is amazing!” says Jill Primeau, senior manager of business development with
CARAS. “It’s a rare perspective from artists whom you normally only hear from on a stage. It’s almost like a
snippet into how their brains work… All of their responses are so different and eloquent. It’s fantastic. You
really feel like you get to know the person, not just the artist.”
For some of the musicians, such as jazz musician Jane Bunnett, her selection went hand-in-hand with her style
of music. She selected Jean-Paul Riopelle’s “Chevreuse II,” an abstract piece of art with an assortment of
colourful brushstrokes on the canvas. “It speaks jazz, life and history [with] vibrant, beautiful colours —
bright, dark,” she says in her video response. “It’s truly remarkable. On first looking at it, it looks very,
very abstract. But on viewing, if you continue to look deeper and deeper, and really meditate on certain
sections… you will start to see various images, as if presented through a kaleidoscope.” This is reflected in
her song choice, also titled by the same name, which features abrupt chord changes and complex rhythms.
Feeling an emotional connection to the art can be quite common. However, for Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat
singer’s personal response led her to an impromptu performance in the gallery. Her performance provides
viewers with a dramatic display of her superior vocal skills.
In addition to providing the only unspoken response to the art, Tagaq was also an exception in her art
selection. In the only non-Canadian selection in the Juno exhibition, the singer chose to respond to pieces
from the AGO’s Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, which houses more than 900 sculptures and works on paper by the
English artist. “She wouldn’t be deterred, this was her choice,” McIntyre recalls. “I think she felt very
strongly drawn to these pieces.”
However, Tagaq is not the only musician who had a unique selection. Gord Downie, lead singer of The
Tragically Hip, changed his art choice at the last minute, according to McIntyre.
“He originally picked a piece of First Nations art. As we were walking out, I said, well since you picked
that, you might be interested in something that I am quite proud that we did. From Louis Riel, the Métis
activist, what we have is a case dedicated to erasion — the erasing of First Nations in culture in this
land,” she recalls. The piece known as “Quotation” features English and French translation of Riel’s famous
words, “My people will sleep for 100 years, but when they awaken, it will be the artists who give them their
spirits back.” The piece is displayed in an empty glass case with the words printed on a white, rectangular
piece of cardboard. Downie chose to only use audio in his recorded response, which marked another unique
exception for the exhibition.
Some of the musicians felt a personal connection to the art in regards to family life. Singer-songwriter Dan
Hill selected a portion of Norval Morrisseau’s series of five paintings titled “Man Changing into
Thunderbird.” The piece he selected was the third (middle) piece of the art, which he connected to his
father.
“His father was the [Ontario] ombudsman, spent a lot of time working with First Nations people and taking Dan
to reserves,” says McIntyre. “It was interesting for me listening to Dan because he did it very seriously and
put a lot of himself into it… To me, that was just amazing. He’s looking at the painting and completely
projecting his own history and his own stories.” In Hill’s 2009 autobiography I Am My Father’s Son: A
Memoir of Love and Forgiveness, Hill recounts his challenging relationship with his father. The
paintings, which McIntyre describes as “quite complex” with “soul and spirit with definitely some angst,”
show an evolution of one man’s journey in which Hill relates to his father. He chose the song “I Am My
Father’s Son” to coincide with his response to the piece.
Singer-songwriter Hawksley Workman selected “Autumn Landscape,” a painting by Tom Thomson, through which he
connected to his childhood and to his brother. The singer, who grew up in Huntsville, Ont., recalls he and
his brother’s “interesting and peaceful life before television and video games had the youth in their grip.”
To the art he dedicates his song “Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off,” a song that he describes as “very
whimsical and child-like.”
Alpha Yaya Diallo, guitarist and music composer, selected J.E.H. MacDonald’s “Falls, Montreal River.”
Originally from West Africa and now based in Vancouver, Diallo gains inspiration from the painting. He is
drawn to the landscape depicted in the painting, connecting it to his childhood in Africa. The painting has
captured something that he says no longer exists for him — since the landscape in Africa looks very different
from how it once was. Diallo pairs his song “Immé” to the art, a song about the environment and climate.
Other musicians took the opportunity to look deep into the art for a new perspective on relationships.
Richard Terfry (who also goes by the name Buck 65) is a radio host on CBC Radio 2 and also an alternative
hip-hop musician. He selected “The Tiff,” a painting by Florence Carlyle that depicts a young couple sitting
at a table. The man has his head turned away from the woman — and away from the viewer — as she sits looking
down, the viewer only able to see a side profile of her face. Terfry provides an interesting description of
the art, providing his own insight into what he believes started “the tiff” in the painting.
“I see two very different moods in these two young people,” he says in his video response. “They are at some
kind of party — possibly a wedding reception. She danced with an old friend… This has torn him up with
jealousy. He’s young, he’s immature, he’s insecure in this relationship… he’s disgusted with her, he can’t
even look at her.” For his response Terfry chose his song “Out of Focus,” in which the “heavy, brutal and a
bit clumsy drums” represent the man in the painting and the “beautiful textures and sweeping atmospherics…
add beauty and serenity to the situation” to represent the woman.
Operatic soprano Measha Brueggergosman selected “The Yellow Scarf” by Kenneth Keith Forbes to represent her
connection to the independent woman. The painting depicts the mirror image of a woman tying her yellow scarf
as a man is seen leaving through a door. Instead of deciphering the story behind the painting, Brueggergosman
looks towards the overall message and tone of the art.
“There is a look of contentment. There is a sort of satisfaction,” she says in her video response. The opera
singer selects her version of Francis Poulenc’s “C’est ainsi que tu es,” which she describes as a song about
a man’s observation of a woman. “He says, ‘What I would like you to know is that I knew you, is that I saw
you, is that you were seen and known’… The man in this photo is not seen, we don’t know him, but we do know
the woman,” she says. “From my perspective, singing as a man about a woman who is being broken up with, I
like to look at this woman because she looks like she’s going to be just fine.”
Although this is the first pairing of the Juno Awards with the AGO, McIntyre says it is something she is open
to exploring further in the future.
“The interesting thing is that now looking at all of this art, I don’t see it the same way anymore. That, to
me, is a gift… If you can give somebody a personal insight, you have given a gift,” she says. “I think the
arts belong together. We separate them very artificially… You are sort of giving people permission or
inspiring people to have their own responses to art. We are always thinking of ways to make it relevant.”
By pairing visual and audio art in a new and innovative way, the exhibition gives viewers a chance to
experience art in a whole new light. •
The Juno Tour of Canadian Art is open until Aug. 31, 2011 at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in Toronto. For
more information, visit ago.net.
Photos courtesy AGO (above)
