Curator and Catalogue Author

Amazing news, we have managed a major coup - Denis Longchamps PhD has agreed to be the exhibition curator and catalogue author. The Montreal-based educator/curator brings his expertise in historic ceramics along with his knowledge of the genre known as "still-life" to this project. The installation at upART (Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada) will be presented by Frances Thomas Art Projects but Denis has agreed to work with Frances and I to curate the collection and has written an insightful essay that places my work in context both historically as well as aesthetically.

Here is a sample of the copy: "Guilty pleasures are those little moments, or things, in life that one engages with or finds pleasurable, and at the same time can be layered with guilt. When it is an action, one tends to keep it secret—like eating ice cream while claiming to be on a diet—and when it involves an object, one hides it from view. What some may regard as kitsch might well be another person’s treasure, and therefore underlines questions of taste, and thus aesthetics. Timothy Laurin collects made-in-Japan kitsch ceramics from the 1950s and 1960s. He is cautiously fascinated by these figurines, whether it is a poodle or a little lamb, to which the manufacturer has added oversized human-like eyes trimmed by long eyelashes."

Want to read more....... then come to the exhibition (Oct 27 to Oct 30) and pick up your copy of the catalogue - It's amazing!

Denis received his PhD in art history from Concordia University in 2009 and was a research fellow at the Yale Center for British Art in 2010. An independent writer and curator, he has contributed essays, articles and reviews to magazines and journals. He is the publisher and managing editor of Cahiers métiers d’art : Craft Journal.