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Bio
Steven Matijcio is the curator of the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg,
Canada, and an instructor at the University of Manitoba. He is a graduate of the
Center for Curatorial Studies and has held positions at the Art Gallery of Ontario,
the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. Matijcio
has curated exhibitions featuring the work of Shaan Syed, Sarah Anne Johnson, Robert
Mapplethorpe, and Anna von Gwinner, and contributed essays on the work of Dominique
Rey, Micah Lexier, Shaun Gladwell, and Diana Thorneycroft. Larger thematic exhibitions
include an international exploration of transmitted behaviours (conditioned by spectacle)
in Unlearn, a survey of the post-prairie paradigm shaping contemporary
Winnipeg art, and future projects investigating the legacy of the manifesto and
the possibility of “honest” mistakes in art. He has curated film & video programs
and media-based installations, and has written for journals including Canadian Art,
Border Crossings, and Canadian Architect. Matijcio continues to
pursue projects that interweave his critical and curatorial interests.
Sarah Anne Johnson
By Steven Matijcio
In recent years the city of Winnipeg has produced a number of exceptional, young
visual artists whose talent and uniqueness have propelled them into national recognition
and international notice. Amidst a celebrated group that includes Tim Gardner, Jon
Pylypchuk, Daniel Barrow, Karel Funk, and Marcel Dzama, artist Sarah Anne Johnson
is poised to enter elite company as she embarks on what is sure to be a long and
significant career.
In a remarkably short period of time, Sarah has translated skill, optimism, and
a special Prairie sensibility into a place among the most respected art institutions
in the world. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 2002 at the University
of Manitoba, where she graduated with an Honours Degree and an award for Academic
Excellence. At this early stage her artwork was quickly maturing, garnering attention
from some of the top graduate programs in North America. She was soon courted by
Yale University, a school highly regarded for its photography department, formalist
fundamentals, and international alumni. Sarah excelled in this environment, distilling
the many (often conflicting) opinions she received to produce a pivotal body of
work based upon her experience tree planting in Northern Manitoba. Seeking utopia
and community through manual labour and a “return to nature,” this work combined
documentary-style photography with small theatrical sets made of everyday craft
materials (like Sculpey, cotton, and construction paper). In her words, “Through
the medium of photography I explore the benefits of physical labour and personal
struggle to find a balance between community and the landscape. Adventure, spiritual
fulfilment and giving back to nature are key elements of my work.” The ensuing work
married reality with imagination, and photography with theatre – using the aforementioned
sets to stage photos she didn’t take, wanted to take, messed up, or simply imagined.
In the process, Tree Planting became a piece of Prairie experience as subject,
dream, and self-portrait.
Tree Planting also grabbed the attention of art dealers and curators who
had traveled to Yale to view the MFA exhibition, attracting praise for the sincerity
of its ideals, the depth of its concept, and warmth of its media. Amongst this group,
Sarah connected with respected gallerist Julie Saul, who used her extensive background
in photography to start a private gallery that specializes in the representation
of photography-based artists. This partnership led to the presentation of Tree Planting
in Saul’s Chelsea gallery in 2005, and an almost instantaneous wave of critical
praise from some of New York City’s finest and most knowledgeable critics. Roberta
Smith of the New York Times commended the show as a “soulful solo debut”
and “an outstanding start,” while Vince Aletti of the Village Voice celebrated
Tree Planting as “the season’s most engaging and appealing photographic
debut.” This mass of critical momentum would then go on to reach a new peak when
the globally renowned Guggenheim Museum acquired Johnson’s Tree Planting
for its permanent collection. This level of accomplishment is virtually unheard
of for an artist under thirty years of age (Sarah was 29 at the time), and its realization
elevated her work into an international arena that has become an enduring source
of pride for Winnipeggers and Canadians alike.
Sarah would soon share this achievement with her native city, bringing the series
back to Winnipeg for an exhibition at Platform Gallery in 2006. This exhibition
attracted a sizeable local audience, and had viewers of all ages and interests lined
up to hear her speak at Cinematheque (in what became one of the few artist talks
in Winnipeg to run completely out of standing room). This professional acclaim led
to her graduate program at Yale offering Sarah a lecture position as professor of
photography – returning to the institution that had been formative in her artistic
development. The appointment also led to funding that allowed Sarah to begin her
second major body of work: venturing to the Galapagos Islands to test the thesis
that had motivated Tree Planting. When it was completed in 2006, the Galapagos
Project demonstrated another move forward in an already promising career – mining
complex socio-cultural territory and expanding her technical scope into painting,
sculpture, and drawing. This body of work was premiered to even larger audiences
in the show I organized for Plug In ICA in 2006: Either Side of Eden. And
while it ventured into new territory, the critical response was equally positive.
As Jerry Saltz – one of New York’s leading critics and a nominee for the Pulitzer
Prize – saw the cross-disciplinary show as the beginning of a “quadruple-threat
artist that I think she has every possibility of becoming.”
Since then, Sarah’s recent participation in the 2007 Montreal Biennale, acquisition
into the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography
(the sister institution of the National Gallery of Canada), and exhibitions in New
York, Hartford, and Chicago, confirm her importance and ambition. The Grange Prize
would be a fitting way to commemorate these accomplishments, and lay the foundation
for future achievement. As seen in Tree Planting and the Galapagos Project,
her intuitive response to places that live as much in legend as in reality produce
consistently inspiring results. China is just such a place, and as Sarah explores
the bridges between mythology and toil that animate this country, Canadians can
be assured that her findings will bring poetry, beauty, and meaning.
Links
www.plugin.org
www.bulgergallery.com
www.saulgallery.com
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