Category: Art and Society
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The year I graduated from Art School, the art world was in one of its “painting is dead” moments in 1987. It had been three years since New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) had last held an exhibition of contemporary painting – MOMA having included my professor among the world’s 100 most promising painters.…
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Some good news that is a little embarrassing. It got little attention in Ottawa’s fall budget but will impact artists going forward. Canadian artists have been fighting for it for years. In the fall budget the Federal government has finally signalled that it will adopt Artist Resale Rights — visual artists (or their estates) will…
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When we first arrived at Glasgow’s Burrell Collection we got offered a tour before even taking stock of where we were. Given the somewhat disorientating layout of the building, it turned out to be a good idea, although I was somewhat distracted at the time by the medieval players off in one corner of the…
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Recently I found a copy of Kate Bryan’s new book “How To Art” while in Waterstone’s in Glasgow. It turns out, the signed copy also had an extra chapter on Banksy that was exclusive to the UK chain store. What surprised me about the book is both how accessible it was and the wide audience…
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What is kitsch? The word origins are German, but it is generally felt to describe art, objects or design that’s in bad taste because of excessive sentiment or garishness. Some Pop artists, like Jeff Koons, have deliberately played with the idea, such as his porcelain statue of Michael Jackson and his monkey Bubbles. If you…
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There appears to be a lot of hand wringing in the global art market after the first half numbers came in for 2025. Almost daily Artnet is reporting on another major private gallery closing its doors, and in turn, making it that much harder for emerging artists. These are the galleries that have made art…
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When you paint something, the image sticks with you. How do you look at and consider a subject for ten or fifteen hours or more and then forget it? You remember the details, what gave you difficulty, where the magic happened in the process. It’s hard to explain, but after a painting is complete, there…
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Quick: name a Canadian visual artist who is known for their portrayal of labour? Still thinking about it? Likely the worst thing to happen to art that celebrates working people was Soviet Realism, which was so over-the-top it likely made many Western artists run in the opposite direction, especially amid the growing awareness of the…
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Years ago I visited London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and stumbled upon the cast collection. In the 19th century it was popular to make plaster casts of well-known sculpture for educational purposes. Opened to the public in 1873, these life-size casts included work from around the world, initially starting with the most revered pieces from…
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As a visual artist its always been clear that mass culture has always had an uneasy relationship with fine art. We go to specialized schools that not only teach us our craft, but also the words we need to use to distinguish ourselves as professionals as opposed to weekend warriors. Yeah, we’re taught to be…
Rick Janson Art Studio 