An Outline of My Life

1952: born Winnipeg, Manitoba: Father (Bill) is an Engineer; mother (Donna) a doctor.1954-1958: Family moves to Churchill, Saskatoon, Edmonton, then back to Winnipeg. 1955: Brother Matthew is born. He is now a composer of New Music. 1956: Youngest brother, Jay, is born. He became a bush pilot, flew in Northern Manitoba, NW Ontario and the Arctic. 1958: Mother vaccinates children as polio epidemic sweeps Winnipeg; young chicks kept in warming oven at home used to distract children as they receive their vaccination. She then returns to practicing medicine. 1960-1969: Studies Art on Saturday mornings, with Gissur Eliasson from 1960-1966, then Jack Lewis-Smith. Makes terrible “cubist” paintings. Befriends Donald Gislason, Philip Monk and Guy Gavriel Kay at Grant Park High School. Joins Free University. “A Whiter Shade of Pale” is released in 1967. Survives high school thanks to art school, Procul Harum and the Velvet Underground. Works summer 1968 in Bissett, trained to canoe, clear brush, run firehoses, wilderness survival. 1969-1972: Studies English Literature at University College, University of Manitoba, with poet George Amabile and Irish mystic, John Moriarty. Discovers Italian modernist poet, Eugenio Montale, learns how imagery can conceal, as well as reveal, meaning: a lasting influence. Deeply impressed by Raymond Williams’ Culture and Society and Eric Auerbach’s Mimesis. Works in student union Music Listening Library and billiard hall. Joins protest against nuclear testing on Amchitka Island in Aleutian Islands; blocks US border at Emerson. Drops acid. Becomes friends with Ron Charach. Spends a week without sight as subject in sensory deprivation experiment (later used in Irish prisons.) Travels twice to Toronto for Mariposa Folk Festival. Astonished by Kilby Snow, autoharpist and Tommy Jarrell, fiddler. Hears Martin Carthy, John Prine, Stan Rogers. Guitarist John Fahey becomes his example of what art should be. Sees Michael Snow’s astonishing Wavelength. 1973: Continues to write poetry and to work in Music Listening Library. Hitchhikes to Vancouver, sleeps on streets of Gastown, impressed by Digger House. Sitting on steps with George Amabile as radio announces Pinochet coup overthrowing Allende government. 1974: Hitchhikes to Vancouver with friend Rod Briggs. Passenger in head-on collision near Cache Creek, one death. Hospitalized at Royal Inland Hospital for two months, paralyzed from waist down. Intense pain. Dr. Gur Singh (1936-2015) operates to save his mobility. Moved to Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital for three more months where Ron Charach visits often during his medical training. Figures out how to play Reverend Gary Davis’ “Death don’t have no mercy.” Recovers most of movement over next two months, pain begins to diminish. Fitted with drop foot splint for remaining paralysis. On crutches: rents slum apartment with Rodney Briggs. Finds work at University of Manitoba Student Centre. Meets Janice Gurney at Four Humours Press party for Kenneth McRobbie’s book of poetry, What Is On Fire Is Happening, in early October. 1975: Moves into Furby St. apartment with Janice. Begins to walk without crutches. Book of poetry, Poems and Quotations, published by Four Humours Press. Returns to making art. Finds studio with Janice at the Bates Building on McDermott Avenue. Tends rats in Psychology Department. Returns to making art. 1976: Janice and Andy marry. Asked by Tim Guest to organize poetry readings at Albert Street Gallery to raise money for Leonard Pelletier’s legal defence; meets Doug Sigurdson and Suzanne Gillies, who run Albert Street Gallery. Experiments briefly with encaustic painting. Accidently sets painting on fire, tosses it out the window onto McDermot Avenue. 1977: Reviews Gordon Lebredt exhibition at Albert Street Gallery for Border Crossings. Moves to Toronto: Janice enters York University for MFA Program. Finds studio at Lansdowne Collective on Wade Avenue; meets Kim Adams, Judith Doyle, Sheila Ayearst, Carol Wainio and other artists. Finds work at Languages Department at Reference Library; first boss is Irmgard Zesny, survivor of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Meets Andrew Lee and Jennifer Rudder at Languages Department, they later marry. Meets Andre Jodoin through Janice. Janice drops out of York. 1978: Begins series of anonymous posters that are descriptions of their urban sites. Writes criticism in Artists Review, encouraged by Philip Monk. Meets Felix Partz through Tim Guest. Works briefly at Rumour Publications, proof reading Kathy goes to Haiti. 1979: Makes anonymous election poster for Toronto mayor’s election. 1980: First solo exhibition: anonymous mechanism, (photo document of posters) at Mercer Union. Exhibits edited and altered comix, Whoever was here, now wasn't at The Funnel, Toronto. 1981: Comix are published by A Space in 1981 as The Real Glasses I Wear in A Book, Working. Begins painting again in secret. Light boxes exhibited in Philip Monk’s Language and Representation at A Space. Impressed by Ron Benner’s Anthro-Apologies, Peru, at YYZ, Toronto. Youngest brother, Jay, a bush pilot, dies in crash while on medical rescue mission. Life falls apart. 1982: Begins six years of psychoanalysis with Dr. Fern E. Small. Invited to join board of YYZ. 1983: First solo exhibition of paintings, at YYZ. 1984: Meets Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner. Visits London to see Jamelie’s survey exhibition; writes review for Parachute with Janice. Janice teaches fall term at Simon Fraser in Vancouver; Andy and Janice live in the Buchan Hotel, find studio on East Hastings. Exhibits at Artists Space, NYC, as part of their International Series. Represents Canada at Fifth Biennale of Sydney. Included in Late Capitalism exhibition (curated by Tim Guest) and Toronto Painting 84 at Art Gallery of Ontario. Joanne Tod, Stan Denniston and Andy visit Tim Jocelyn in hospital who is dying of AIDS. Joanne brings Tim a bright piece of silk, though he is losing his sight. Guy Kay publishes his fantasy novel, The Summer Tree; it launches his career. The Smiths release their first LP, The Smiths. Philip Monk publishes his controversial “Axes of Difference” article in Vanguard. 1985: Included in group exhibitions: The Allegorical Image in Recent Canadian Painting (Kingston) Double/Doppelganger/Cover (Amsterdam) and Fire and Ice (Zurich).  Publishes “Buchloh's History,” in C magazine, critical of Benjamin Buchloh’s presentation of art history. 1986: Exhibits in Songs of Experience at The National Gallery of Canada, Co-curates The Interpretation of Architecture, with Alan Tregebov and Janice Gurney, for YYZ. Exhibition includes artists, young architects and four completed buildings by major firms. Meets Andre Alexis, who is working at Book City. 1987: Begins series of paintings all with the same image: the weave of canvas enormously magnified, eventually shown in 1990. Ron Charach’s first book of poems, The Big Life Painting is published by Quarry Press. Painting included in Morality Tales: History Painting in the 80's which tours US university galleries over next three years. 1988: Artists in Residence with Janice for the Embassy Cultural House in London (Ont.) Meets Greg Curnoe, become friends. Curates Information Systems for YYZ, Toronto. YYZ Books begins, publishing Philip Monk’s Struggles with the Image: Essays in Art Criticism. Paul Taylor Dance Company premieres Speaking in Tongues in Philadelphia with music by Matthew Patton. 1989: Receives travel grant. Visits the Prado in Madrid to see Las Meninas, Ravenna to see early Christian mosaics, Padua to study Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel. Visits sites of several of Montale’s poems. Visits Guy and Laura Kay in Aix; Guy takes notes for A Song For Arbonne. First trip to Rome. 1990: Sorrow at the End of the Canal at Stride Gallery, Calgary; too fine for this human mesh at S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto. Kim Maltman’s Technologies/Installations poems published by Brick Books. Begins to write poetry collaboratively with poets Roo Borson and Kim Maltman as Pain Not Bread, collaboration continues for ten years. Visits Pierre Dorion in Rome. Felix acquires small painting, “A Light that Never Goes Out,” redecorates his bedroom with fishnets and starfish to feature it. 1991: Begins to practice Zen meditation at Toronto Zen Centre. Deeply impressed by chanting Prajna Paramitra from the Heart Sutra in Kapleau’s translation. Continues for seven years. 1992-2006: Makes large-scale architectural paintings in galleries, abandoned sites: silos, industrial buildings, ruined offices and houses. Believes he is nourishing discarded architectures. 1992: Greg Curnoe killed while cycling. Andy dedicates wall painting, Day after Day, at Winnipeg Art Gallery, to Greg, 1993: Kim Adams and Barbara Fischer help Andy find abandoned silo: Grand Valley Silo. Rob Flack dies of AIDS. Andy completes Two Cells for Fra Angelico at St. Norbert Arts and Cultural Centre, just outside Winnipeg. 1994: Begins teaching at University of Western Ontario. Meets Mark Cheetham, beginning an important friendship. Felix Partz dies from AIDS. Mother remarries to Dr. William Friesen. Andy suddenly has sisters, Ida-Marie and Betty. 1995: Yam Lau phones to introduce himself, a younger artist from Edmonton and Hong Kong, who becomes close friend. Writes “A Blue-Grey Compromised Light” about Pierre Dorion’s self-portraits for C magazine 1996: Completes MFA at University of Western Ontario. Janice buys him a book of masterworks of Chinese calligraphic art: image of Su Shi’s Rain on the Festival of Cold Food calligraphy, a revelation that will change the trajectory of his work. Teaches Art Now: Julian Haladyn enrolls, becomes a close friend years later. 1997: Agonizing spinal pain returns, stays for many years. Survives thanks to Oxycontin and Celebrex under the supervision of his doctor. After several years, pain begins to diminish. 1998: Tim Guest dies from cancer; Andy writes in Pain Not Bread, “Half my friends are ghosts.” Writes elegy for Tim in Mix magazine. 1999: Exhibits in Spilled Edge/Soft Corner, The Blackwood Gallery. Sees the Tragically Hip at Maple Leaf Gardens. Looks up to see Johnny Bowers’ banner above him in rafters. 2000: Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei by Pain Not Bread published by Brick Books. Jury for Governor General's Award for English-language poetry instructed not to consider Pain Not Bread. 2001: With Robert Fones, organizes symposium Life and Stuff: We Are Not Greg Curnoe, at Art Gallery of Ontario. 2003: Begins teaching at OCADU. Also teaches at Western and Toronto School of Art. 2003/4: Works on Chemist’s House at Gibraltar Point on Toronto Islands: wall painting defines an imaginary storey hovering between the ground floor and the second floor. 2004: Pain finally begins to diminish. Meets June Pak on bus while commuting to Western to teach. Writes “On the Destruction of an Artwork,” about the destruction of Ron Benner’s garden for Fuse magazine. 2005: Teaches winter term at Emily Carr College of Art and Design, Vancouver. Sublets Donald Gislason’s apartment while Donald, who knows everyone, house sits for Gore Vidal in Amalfi. Curates Dimensionality exhibition at YYZ, Toronto. First text paintings made from Pain Not Bread poems reworked and repurposed; texts are arranged vertically like Chinese calligraphy. Finishes teaching at Western. Roo Borson wins Griffin Poetry Prize for Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida. 2006: Teaches graduate seminar on Art Writing in University of Toronto Visual Arts program. Cambridge publishes Mark Cheetham’s Abstract Art Against Autonomy. 2007: Father dies of massive coronary. 2008: Visits Princeton to study Huang Tingjian’s astonishing calligraphy, Scroll for Zhang Datong. Janice and Andy visit David Reed in NYC, travel to Rome for the first time. They return many times. 2009: First solo exhibition of calligraphic paintings at Birch Libralato: Prelude to Crossing the Magpie Bridge. Enters PhD program at Western, focused on the study of Northern Song dynasty calligraphy and its aesthetic. Joins Mark Cheetham’s remarkable seminar on Jack Chambers at U of Toronto, where he meets Christina Martinez. 2010: Returns to Rome with Janice, Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner. Through Mark Cheetham, meets Zhou Yan, immensely helpful in planning his trip to China. Visits Shanghai, Hangzhou and Xi’an to study calligraphic works and Ch’an Buddhist temples. In Hangzhou visits Lingyin and Jingci Temples where Su Shi practiced and Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism may have begun. Visits Shaanxi Institute for Historical Research in Calligraphy. Visits Daoist monastery where, according to legend, Laozi wrote the Dao De Jing; head monk discusses painting with him. Spends several days at the Forest of Stele in Xi’an: studies Yan Zhenqing’s calligraphy in the Yan Family Stele. Julian Haladyn publishes Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés. Guy Kay’s Under Heaven is published; it treats an almost T’ang dynasty China. 2010-13: Exhibits in Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada c. 1965 to 1980. 2011: With Janice, takes part in Occupy Toronto March. Gordon Lebredt dies of cancer. 2012: Rome. Co-curator, with Mark Cheetham and Christine Sprengler: Conspiracies of Illusion: Projections of Time & Space, McMaster Museum of Art. Exhibition includes Nestor Kruger, Yam Lau, David Reed, Blinky Palermo and Janice Gurney. Returns to Rome: studies the wall paintings in Augustus’ studio. 2013: Rome. Solo exhibition at Birch Libralato, Records of a Non-Historian. Completes PhD in Art and Visual Culture at University of Western Ontario. Dissertation is titled, “A Painter’s Brush That Also Makes Poems: Contemporary Painting After Northern Song Calligraphy.” Awarded Governor General’s Medal for Academic Excellence. Teaches Fall term in Florence in OCAD’s Florence Program. Peter Porcal, OCAD’s legendary art historian, is in and out of hospital. Jamelie Hassan, Ron Benner and Julian Haladyn visit and lecture to students. Janice takes part in archeological dig on Monte Testaccio in Rome. 2014: Rome. Returns to China. Exhibits in Zhou Yan’s Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art at Xi’an Art Museum, Shaanxi. Lectures on his work; returns to the Forest of Stele. Peter Porcal dies in Firenze. 2015: Rome. Transformation exhibition travels to Beijing. 2016: Rome. Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art publishes “Borrowed Light”, reworking of his essay for Xi’an exhibition to explain what value China’s historic calligraphy would have for a contemporary Western painter. Exhibits Mistaken in Michael Davidson’s The Soul in September at 26 in Toronto. 2017: “The puzzle is pulling apart": Gord Downie dies. David Ayearst, Purveyor of Fine Used Cars to the Toronto Art Scene, dies. The In-Vain Coloured Oriole, solo exhibition at Birch Contemporary, Toronto: Michael Snow wants to know how his paintings are made, nice discussion, very happy. Joins Heterodox Academy. The Malahat Review publishes his translation of Pasolini’s poem, “The Ashes of Gramsci” together with John Barton’s interview on translating Pasolini. Little Testament published by Blue Medium Press, bringing together his lecture in Xi’an and essay on China’s calligraphic tradition and contemporary Western painting. Matt releases The Infected Mass as Those Who Walk Away. Janice and Andy visit Rome in spring and fall. 2018: Publishes “The Manner of Their Dying” about the last days of Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal in Momus: A Return to Art Criticism. Janice and Andy again visit Rome in spring and fall. Embarks on study of Michelangelo’s Campidoglio with Julian Haladyn. Interviewed by online Italian cultural magazine, Pangea, about translating Pasolini. Struggles to make texts for paintings based on Ovid and Virgil. Immensely moved by the Great Altar of Peace in Rome. 2019: Spring and fall trips to Rome and Naples, before Janice is diagnosed with breast cancer. Stops teaching after Janice’s diagnosis. Publishes “Notes on a Crisis in Beauty” in Momus: A Return to Art Criticism. Stephen Horne writes article on the calligraphic paintings for Border Crossings. 2020: Covid lockdown. Reviews Ken Lum’s Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, for Momus. Agrees to become brother to Cristina Martinez. Organizes Hotels, Posadas, Pensioni for the Embassy Cultural House website. Tools ‘n’ Shit (Round Three) at Goldwater. 2021: Mother ends her life at 100 years with Medical Assistance in Dying: strangely beautiful. Grief delayed; arrives later. Takes part in exhibition, To Dissent, Embassy Cultural House, London, Ontario: finally has opportunity to show with his friend, Yam Lau; artists from Hong Kong exhibit anonymously. 2022: Spring and fall visits to Rome again. Janice organizes A Roman Anthology at Birch Contemporary: exhibits In Time of War, loosely based on Virgil’s Georgics. 2023: Rome and Naples with Janice. With Janice, Walker Cultural Leaders Series, at Brock University, St.Catherines, Ontario. Dissent gifted to Museum London in honour of Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner. 2024: Rome: Andy and Janice attend the Accademia dei Lincei to hear lectures in honour of botanist Giulia Caneva. Reviews Yam Lau’s exhibition at Christie Contemporary, “if there is / if not,” for Border Crossings and Carmela Circelli’s novel, Love and Rain, for Accenti: The Magazine with an Italian Accent. The Embassy Cultural House publishes Art and Activism: An Alternative Cultural History of London, Ontario—Andy and Janice contribute text recalling their time as Artists in Residence for ECH, London.