This year’s Gershon Iskowitz Prize has been awarded to US-Canadian artist Tim Whiten, granting him C$75,000 and a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). The award is presented annually to recognise artists who have made significant contributions to the Canadian arts scene.
Born in Michigan in 1941, Tim Whiten’s artistic career has spanned more than five decades, employing gestural drawings, sculptures, performances and installations. Drawing on spiritual cultures from around the world, his works often contemplate a world beyond our conscious recognition. ‘I do not refer to myself as an Artist; I think of myself as an image maker who also creates cultural objects,’ Whiten told MOCA Toronto in 2018. ‘In close to forty years creating works, I have sought to navigate the territory of the human condition and its transformative potential.’
The selection was made by a board of jurors, including artist and recipient of the 2005 Gershon Iskowitz Prize, Max Dean; Michelle Jacques, Head of Collections/Exhibitions & Chief Curator, Remai Modern; Catherine Crowston, Director of the Art Gallery of Alberta (Iskowitz Foundation Director); Gerald McMaster, artist and Director of Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge at OCADU (Iskowitz Foundation Director); and Stephan Jost, Michael and Sonja Koerner Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario (Iskowitz Foundation Director).
Max Dean spoke to both Whiten’s long-term commitment and outstanding involvement: ‘One is at first taken in by the material, but the content of the work transcends’.
The Gershon Iskowitz Foundation is a private charitable foundation established in 1986 by the Polish painter. The Foundation is in collaborative partnership with the Art Gallery of Ontario, where the archive of Gershon Iskowitz is hosted.
