Canadian Art in the 1960s and 1970s through the lens of Coach House Press

EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

Toronto’s art scene of the 1960s and 1970s is being relived through an AGO exhibition centred around Coach House Press. Featuring art, video, photography, posters, film, and ephemera from the AGO’s collection and Coach House archives, the installation explores the era’s approaches to creating and disseminating art – in effect, precursors to today’s MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.

AGO curators Dennis Reid and Georgiana Uhlyarik, collaborated very closely with Stan Bevington and David Bolduc, Robert Fones, Michael Hayden, Av Isaacs, and Marion Lewis to develop five distinct installations to reflect the times, the ideas, the people and the culture of the1960s and 1970s in Canada. At the centre of the installation are walls covered with Coach House printed matter: posters, books, gallery invitations, postcards and art from the period, including Rick/Simon’s CN Tower Fallzone. Video screens display images of the time and interviews with artists. A striking feature of the exhibition is a large aerial photo of Toronto’s downtown core taken circa 1967, which marks the interconnectedness of the Isaacs Gallery, A Space, Coach House Press and the Pilot Tavern – all hubs of the action at the time.