Susan Hobbs

The publication of a book marks the beginning of a network of changing landscapes. As each book moves through a sequence of places: bookshops, libraries, desks, backpacks, coffee tables and beach chairs, a network of interconnected copies is in continual motion, moving as if on a map, from reader to reader. For this exhibition of new drawings, a single copy of the catalogue “Evidence of the Avant Garde since 1957” published by Art Metropole in 1984 found its way into Sullivan’s possession. The book documents and critically reflects on the first ten years of Art Metropole's activities as an institution that supports the indexing and cataloguing of artist-made publications and distributive practices. This copy spent many years housed in the Ontario College of Art and Design University library before being discarded in 2017 and acquired shortly afterwards by Sullivan.

Sullivan's on-going drawing series utilizes the motif of the printed press sheet, depicting an early stage in book production called a signature where groups of pages are printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper. These six drawings propose a complete reprint of Art Metropole's publication. Signifiers collide and spread on the surface of the works, interrupting pages with a secondary distribution. Rainbows scatter across as if from a prism in a nearby window, ragweed makes repeating textile patterns, indiscriminate pollen induces hay fever and pocketfuls of metro tickets insidiously accumulate on the surface. The drawings are situated in an uncertain timeframe, both retrospective and in a state of becoming. The exhibition echoes a nod to both the past and future life of a publication, shifting the trajectory across a landscape yet to be revealed.

Derek Sullivan was born in Toronto in 1976. He earned his BFA from York University in 1998 and his MFA from the University of Guelph in 2002. Recent solo exhibitions include Oakville Galleries, Oakville; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina; Modern Fuel, Kingston; The Power Plant, Toronto; KIOSK, Ghent, Belgium; University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener; Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge; and Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto. His work is held in several public collections including National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Art Gallery of York University, Toronto; Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; CDLA, Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, France; Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Bibliothèque de France, Paris; MACBA Study Centre, MACBA, Barcelona; Getty Museum Archives and Library, Los Angeles; Guelph Art Gallery, Guelph; Perimeter Institute, Waterloo; and University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo as well as private and corporate collections in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Oakville, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Brussels, Paris. He was a 2016 recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Paris Studio residency at La Cité Internationale des Arts.

Susan Hobbs Gallery is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment. The gallery is located at 137 Tecumseth Street, Toronto.

For more information about this exhibition or the Susan Hobbs Gallery, please give us a call at (416) 504.3699 or visit www.susanhobbs.com.