David Blackwood

Newfoundland has always been a mysterious place, in my mind. I imagine rocky shores, speckled with a few brightly painted houses but mostly openness and grass overlooking the cold ocean. It is a place in Canada that I have always wanted to visit.

Recently, a friend and I decided to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) on a regular basis – that is about once or twice a month. We discovered that, though most people line up in the cold on Wednesday free-admission evenings (6-8:30PM), that you could arrive a little early (about 5:45), have a tea, check out the gift shop, and essentially you’re already inside! I have to admit that it’s a little nicer to visit during the day, because it’s less busy, but unless you’re hanging around the first floor, most of the other floors seem to have pretty average traffic. Also, later in the evening it clears up.

This time we took a stroll up the lengthy amount of stairs, with magnificent views of the city as you huff and puff, grateful that you’re not in the CN tower and have the option of taking an elevator if worst came to worst. Since it was renovated, as part of Tranformation AGO, in 2004, by Toronto-born Frank Gehry, the architecture of the place is really magnificent, especially from the inside looking out. In one part, it is as though you are in the hull of an unfinished ship that has been filled in with windows instead of planks of wood. Seems appropriate for what we went to see.

Currently, in the Contemporary Art portion of the museum they are displaying the Canadian artist David Blackwood. These are very dark yet intricately detailed prints and etchings, each telling a story about struggles and highlights of the history and tales of Newfoundlanders. And, as I’ve said before, I have a particular fondness for paintings of boats.
February 5th to June 12th


Check it out: http://www.ago.net/black-ice-david-blackwoods-prints-of-newfoundland

Pictures of David Blackwood's art from the AGO website
Picture of AGO from Wikipedia