1

The Representations: YYZ in the 80s Curatorial Statement storyline is a quick thematic overview of YYZ exhibitions in the 80s that deal with issues of representation. This storyline puts the various exhibitions in context and clarifies the curator's position.

2

Joanne Tod: Mao - Six Uncomissioned Portraits
30 March 1979
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Joanne Tod, Hong Kong Dress, 1978. Acrylic on canvas, 109.2 x 129.5 cm. Private collection.

3

Joanne Tod: Mao - Six Uncomissioned Portraits
30 March 1979
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Joanne Tod, People's Pink, 1979. Acrylic on canvas, 109.2 x129.5 cm. Estate of Carmen Lamana, Toronto, Ontario.

4

Joanne Tod: Mao - Six Uncomissioned Portraits
30 March 1979
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Joanne Tod, Reds on Green, 1979. Acrylic on canvas, 109.2 x 129.5 cm. Private collection.

5

The storyline begins with shows dealing with representation of politics and moves into politics of representation. We only have to look at the first two shows in the exhibit to see this trend. Joanne Tod's Mao: Six Uncomissioned Portraits consists of group portrait paintings of Mao Tse Tung meeting and shaking hands with various dignitaries. It is followed by Matt Harley's Cliché, which investigates with, what Janice Gurney calls in her review, representation versus representation.

6

Matt Hartley: Cliche
18 September 1979
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Matt Hartley, Cliche, exhibition invitation, 1979.

7

Namely, the stylized representation of modernist painting, which was still prevalent in late 70s and early 80s in Toronto (as Gordon Voisey's Women, Jets, and Industry shown at YYZ as well as Andy Patton's interview for the exhibit confirm) and Hartley's pre-style representations of non-existing subject matter. Gurney points out the example of Hartley representing dinosaurs as something that doesn't exist thus cannot be stylized. Hence, Cliché interrogates politics of representation by suggesting an alternative to the common realist vs. abstract representation discourse.

8

Gordon Voisey: Women, Jets and Industry
22 January 1980
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Credits:
Gordon Voisey, Women, Jets and Industry, exhibition invitation, 1980.

9

Gordon Voisey: Women, Jets and Industry
21 January 1980
YYZ Artists' Outlet, 567 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada