AGO’s multi-decade love affair with Michael Snow continues with awarding of $40,000 Gershon Iskowitz Prize
On Monday, the AGO announced that Michael Snow, the multitalented Toronto-born artist, has won the 2011 Gershon Iskowitz prize for his contribution to the visual arts in Canada. He’s the first artist to win the prize since its booty was bulked up by $15,000 to a hefty $40,000 in early 2011.
Snow’s victory will hardly come as a shocker to anyone who’s seen the 82 works already housed at the AGO, such as his iconic metallic silhouettes in the second-floor atrium. It seems the gallery kind of has a thing for Snow. In 1994 the AGO showed a number of installations as part of a major retrospective called The Michael Snow Project. The same year, they published a grand total of four books about his work.
Besides his AGO appearances, Snow has spent his eight-decade career decorating Hogtown with loads of notable pieces, from the jeering golden fans leaning out of the top of the Rogers Centre to Flight Stop, those oft-overlooked wooden geese that soar above oblivious Eaton Centre shoppers.
The AGO-Snow love affair will continue, as the prize now includes (yet) another exhibit, coming to a gallery near you some time next year. We’ll be there.
