Gerald Ferguson
Encyclopedia
Gerald Ferguson was a conceptual artist and painter who lived and taught in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born in Cincinnati he was both a Canadian and US citizen.
His work is represented in numerous public and private collections in Canada, the US and Europe. Ferguson has had solo exhibitions at Dalhousie Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario
, Vancouver Art Gallery
, Winnipeg Art Gallery
and the National Gallery of Canada
.
Ferguson has work in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Museum of Modern Art
in New York and the Museum Sztuki, in Lodz
, Poland. In 1972-73 he was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts
. His work has been regularly reviewed in national and international art journals and news media. In 1996, he was the recipient of 1995 Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize
. Ferguson retired from teaching in 2006. He is represented by Wynick/Tuck Gallery
in Toronto and Gallery Page & Strange in Halifax.
Background
After receiving his MFA from Ohio University Ferguson taught at two institutions before coming to Canada in 1968, invited to teach at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) in Halifax. He continued to teach at NSCAD until his retirement in 2006.Work
During his time at NSCAD he developed his conceptual approach to painting, what the Dalhousie Art Gallery curator Susan Gibson Garvey refers to as “literal, task-oriented paintings." With NSCAD president Garry Neill Kennedy, Ferguson helped establish NSCAD as an important centre for conceptual art, noted for his role in the idea of "the dematerialization of the art object" in Lucy Lippard's influential history of conceptualism Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972. Critic Gary Michael Dault describes Ferguson's teaching at NSCAD as a "37-year trajectory...wherein he stubbornly, persuasively tilled the fields of the kind of conceptual art for which the college became primarily known."His work is represented in numerous public and private collections in Canada, the US and Europe. Ferguson has had solo exhibitions at Dalhousie Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
, Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver Art Gallery
The Vancouver Art Gallery is the fifth-largest art gallery in Canada and the largest in Western Canada. It is located at 750 Hornby Street in Vancouver, British Columbia...
, Winnipeg Art Gallery
Winnipeg Art Gallery
The Winnipeg Art Gallery is a public art gallery that was founded in 1912. It is Western Canada's oldest civic gallery and the 6th largest in the country...
and the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
.
Ferguson has work in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
in New York and the Museum Sztuki, in Lodz
Lódz
Łódź is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of 742,387 in December 2009. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is approximately south-west of Warsaw...
, Poland. In 1972-73 he was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
. His work has been regularly reviewed in national and international art journals and news media. In 1996, he was the recipient of 1995 Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize
Molson Prize
The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by The Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and humanities...
. Ferguson retired from teaching in 2006. He is represented by Wynick/Tuck Gallery
Wynick/Tuck Gallery
Wynick/Tuck Gallery is a privately owned Contemporary Art Gallery based in Toronto, Ontario Canada. The gallery has an active exhibition program for contemporary art in Canada...
in Toronto and Gallery Page & Strange in Halifax.
Further reading
- Ferguson, Gerald and Susan Gibson Garvey. Gerald Ferguson: Frottage Works 1994-2006 & Ash Can Paintings 2006. Halifax: Dalhousie Art Gallery, 2007. ISBN 978-0-7703-274-9-1
- Jenkner, Ingrid. Gerald Ferguson: 1,000,000 Grapes. Halifax: Art Gallery Mount Saint Vincent University, 1999. ISBN 1895215846
- Mahon, Patrick. Lines Painted in Early Spring: Gerald Ferguson, Ben Reeves, Carmen Ruschiensky, Francine Savard. Lethbridge: Southern Alberta Art Gallery, 2003. ISBN 189469922X
- Patten, James and Diana Nemiroff. Gerald Ferguson: Recent Paintings. Winnipeg: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2002. ISBN 0889152128
- Spalding, Jeffrey. Aspects of Canadian Painting of the 70s. Calgary: Glenbow Museum, 1980.
- Young, Dennis. Gerald Ferguson, Paintings. Halifax and Toronto: Dalhousie Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Ontario, 1977.