AGO Debuts New Acquisitions by Toronto Artist Brian Groombridge in Solo Exhibition Opening September 12

New Models for Measurement highlights work in letterpress, silkscreen, lithography and painted aluminum sculpture, 1989-2021

Don’t miss Toronto artists Yam Lau, Robert Fones, and Marla Hlady, in conversation about the work of Brian Groombridge, Saturday, November 21 at 2 p.m. 

Born in Sarnia, Ontario, Groombridge has applied a poetic, philosophical approach to human knowledge systems since he started his artistic practice in the 1970s. Inspired by cosmology, geography and art history, he often references tools from graphic design, carpentry, and surveying in his prints, sculptures and installation works. Featuring 12 works made between 1989-2021, New Models for Measurement is Groombridge’s first-ever solo exhibition at the AGO. The works gathered here highlight the artist’s enduring belief in the mutability of knowledge and perception: how phenomena we assume to be static are in fact fluid and transient.

On view in Galleries 140 and 141 on Level 1, New Models for Measurement is a concise survey of Groombridge’s career. “His reductive aesthetic is at once playful and conceptually rich. Always keeping the viewer in mind, Groombridge reveals poetry through detail and precision,” says Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator of Canadian Art. “As an artist who works fluidly across various media, from painted aluminum sculptures to delicate letterpress prints, Groombridge contributes to our understanding of how conceptualism and minimalism come alive in Canada today. He reflects on moments of history in a way that is both beautiful and profound, turning his attention to the unseen, the peripheral, and the potential that lies in liminal spaces. We are so pleased to celebrate the addition of six new works by this remarkable Toronto artist to the collection.”

One of the newly acquired works is, dd/mm/yyyy (2015), an elongated sculpture made of painted industrial aluminum. Installed in a corner, the piece sutures two gallery walls together, as though it might simultaneously hold the gallery space together and stretch it further. In essence, dd/mm/yyyy is a three-dimensional rendering of a surveyor’s line, a tool used to indicate a fixed length; it is mounted flush to the wall and stretches more than four meters in length. It is marked every 18 ¾ inches, a non-standard measurement, precisely observed and measured.

Another recent acquisition, the silkscreen, Two Views of a Past (1992), juxtaposes a print of Albrecht Dürer’s Renaissance Adam and Eve (a work in the AGO Collection) with the stark geometry of Mies van der Rohe’s Lake Shore Drive apartments in Chicago. This pairing of images carries an unusual synergy and the graph paper in the background references such systems of knowledge as mathematics and geometry.

The earliest work in the show is Comets Tell of Great Distances Travelled (1989), also a new acquisition to the AGO’s collection, is a suite of five prints that marks when Halley’s Comet most recently appeared. As a phenomenon, Halley’s Comet takes place independent of human events but intersects with history through association with events such as wars and disasters. Here, characteristically, Groombridge challenges our understanding of continuous time, symbolic associations, historic references, and ultimately, knowledge systems that hold our ideas and beliefs.

On view through April 4, 2027, admission to Brian Groombridge: New Models for Measurement is always free for Ontarians under 25, Indigenous Peoples, AGO Members, and Annual Passholders. For more information on how to become a Member or Annual Passholder, visit ago.ca/membership/become-a-member.

Programming Highlights:

On Saturday, November 21, at 2 p.m., Renée van der Avoird, Associate Curator, Canadian Art, AGO, will host a panel discussion featuring Toronto artists Yam Lau, Robert Fones, and Marla Hlady, on the work of Brian Groombridge, on the occasion of his solo exhibition New Models for Measurement. For tickets and more details, visit ago.ca/events/new-models-measurement-conversation-art-brian-groombridge .

ABOUT BRIAN GROOMBRIDGE
Brian Groombridge is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist working in sculpture, installation, and printmaking. Born in 1953 in Sarnia, Ontario, Groombridge attended Sheridan College in 1972, and the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University) from 1974 to 1978. His work has been presented across Canada and abroad at venues including Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven; Cold City Gallery, Toronto; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Plug In ICA, Winnipeg; and The Power Plant, Toronto. His work has been collected by various public institutions including Art Gallery of Hamilton; Art Gallery of Nova Scotia; Museum London; Vancouver Art Gallery; and numerous private collections. He is represented by the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto.

Brian Groombridge: New Models for Measurementis organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario.

@AGOToronto | #SeeAGO 

Contemporary programming at the AGO is supported by
Canada Council for the Arts

ABOUT THE AGO
An architectural landmark, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) is one of the largest art museums in North America. The AGO Collection of more than 120,000 works of art ranges from cutting-edge contemporary art to significant works by Indigenous and Canadian artists and European masterpieces. The AGO presents wide-ranging exhibitions and programs, including solo exhibitions and acquisitions by diverse and underrepresented artists from around the world. When it opens in 2027, the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will present modern and contemporary art from Toronto and the world. With its groundbreaking Annual Pass program, the AGO is one of the most affordable and accessible attractions in the GTA. Visit ago.ca to learn more.

The AGO is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts, and generous contributions from AGO Members, donors, and private-sector partners.