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Patrick Mahon

 

Patrick Mahon, Full Professor (Visual Arts Studio)
Past Director of the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts and Humanities
M.F.A., University of British Columbia, 1991
B.F.A., University of Manitoba School of Arts, 1983
Education Certificate, (Art Major), University of Manitoba, 1979

Research

Interests

Patrick Mahon is an artist, a writer/curator, and a Professor of Visual Arts at Western University, in London, ON, Canada. Currently, he is Director of the School for Advanced Studies in the Arts & Humanities at Western. Mahon’s artwork has been exhibited widely: in Canada at The Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Museum London, The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto; internationally in exhibitions in China, France, Norway, and Switzerland; and in numerous print biennales since the early 1990’s. Patrick’s collaborative project, Immersion Emergencies and Possible Worlds, resulted in a ten-artist group exhibition, The Source: Rethinking Water through Contemporary Art, presented at Rodman Hall, Brock University, Canada, in 2014, with a second iteration, The Living River Project, at the Art Gallery of Windsor in 2019. Other recent Canadian solo exhibitions have included McMaster Museum of Art (2013); Wilfred Laurier University (2013); and Gallery 1C03, University of Winnipeg (2014).

Current and forthcoming solo and group exhibitions include: “Patrick Mahon: Messagers’ Forum,” Thames Art Gallery Chatham, On (2020-21); “Written on the Earth,” McIntosh Gallery, London, ON, curated by Helen Gregory, (forthcoming group exhibition, 2021); and “GardenShip and State,” Museum London, London, ON, co-curated by Patrick Mahon and Jeff Thomas, (forthcoming group exhibition, 2021, and ongoing community projects, beginning 2020). Patrick’s work is included in the exhibition, “In Place: Reflections from Manitoba,” Winnipeg Art Gallery, curated by Riva Symko (2020-2021).

Among his curatorial projects are the exhibitions, “Lines Painted in Early Spring: Ferguson, Reeves, Ruschiensky, Savard,” (2003-04, Southern Alberta Art Gallery and circulating); “Gu Xiong and Xu Bing: Here is what I mean,” (2004, Museum London and Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto); “Hinterlands: Fastwurms, Glabush, Thornycroft, Urban,” (2008-09, McIntosh Gallery, Western, and Harbourfront Centre, Toronto); and “Barroco Nova,” (2012, Museum London, McIntosh Gallery, and ArtLab, Western).

Awards

2018 Distinguished University Professor, Western University

2018 Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, Academy of Arts and Humanities

2015 Mayor of London ON’s Annual Honorees List – “Arts”

2008 Hellmuth Prize, The University of Western Ontario’s Top Research Prize (one of two recipients)

2005-2007 Faculty Scholar, Representing Faculty of Arts and Humanities, (1 of 3 Representatives; includes Research Award).

Selected Publications

RECENT ESSAYS PUBLISHED:

Patrick Mahon & Stuart Reid, “Various Tributaries,” to accompany The Living River Project, (Art Gallery
of Windsor,Windsor, ON, 2019) www.agw.ca

ARTICLES/REVIEWS PUBLISHED:

Patrick Mahon “Kim Neudorf – DNA Artspace”, Review (Border Crossings Magazine,Winter
2017,Issue 144)

“Still, the Wind: What are Artists Doing about the Weather?” Feature Article (Border Crossings Magazine,Winter 2016,Issue 137) p. 54-61

PORTFOLIOS PUBLISHED:

2017 in The Vaccine Picture, Timothy Caulfield with Brennan, Caulfield, Mahon etc. (Penguin
Random House,Toronto, 2017)

2016 Towers, Shipwrecks, and Neo-Baroque Allegories in Neo-Baroques: From Latin
America to the Hollywoood Blockbuster, (Brill: Ndalianis, Krieger, Moser, eds.,2016)

Selected Exhibitions

RECENT COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION PROJECTS:

2021 Written on the Earth: Claus, Mahon, Moffat, Ong, Siivonen, Trueman, An interdisciplinary art
project; Western Engineering/Northern Tornadoes Project, collaborators. Exhibition: McIntosh
Gallery, Western – Helen Gregory,Curator. (Catalogue forthcoming)

2019-20 Speculative Energy Futures: Prototypes for Possible Worlds – Beer, Baier, Caulfield,
Esfahani, Fisher, Igharas, Makokis, Moore, Simpson, etc. Co- curated by Natalie Loveless &
Sheena Wilson, FAB Gallery, U of AB, Department of Art & Design, (Brochure)

2018-19 The Living River Project: Art, Water and Possible Worlds – Mahon + Bou, Miner,
Garoo, Rodney, Smallboy,Ouellette, Bariteau, Esfahani, Chitty, Willet, Coates,
Gardner. Co-Curated with Stuart Reid, Art Gallery of Windsor (Online Catalogue)

2017 <Immune Nations> - The Vaccine Project – Curated by Natalie Loveless (Caulfied,
Fischer,Humphrey, Viader-Knowles with Hoffman, Hou et al) – Galerie KiT, Trondheim
Academy of Fine Arts,Trondheim, Norway; UNAIDS Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland.
(catalogue + journal) International

2016 Mountains and Rivers Without End - Gautam Garoo, Patrick Mahon, Gu Xiong,
Esteban Ayala (Hidalgo), Jenny Jaramillo, Ulises Unda – Municipal Museum Modern
Art, Cuenca, Equador; CAC, Quito,Ecuador; ArtLab Gallery, Western University, London,
ON (catalogue) International

COLLABORATIVE SITED PROJECTS:

2019 C3+ Engineering Building: Wind Tunnel Garden Sculpture – Kelly Jazvac, Patrick
Mahon, Tegan Moore. Permanent Outdoor Installation (Installed Spring 2019)


IN-PROGRESS COLLABORATIVE EXHIBITION PROJECTS

2019-21 GardenShip of State: Art, Environment, and the Future of the Global Commons. Patrick Mahon, PI. A multi-year research project that will yield an exhibition at Museum London (Jan. 2021), and a publication. Co-Curator: Jeff Thomas (exhibition: Museum London, Sept. 2021)

2018-21 Speculative Energy Futures: Natalie Loveless & Sheena Wison, PIs. A multi-year,
interdisciplinary art project. The University of Alberta, and other sites, including The Banff
Centre (June 2019).

RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2020 Hiding in Plain Sight, Curated by Ron Benner, Embassy Cultural House Online, embassyculturalhouse.ca (catalogue)

2020 In Place: Reflections from Manitoba, Curated by Riva Symko, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB

2020 Realisms, Curated by Andrew Kear, Museum London, London, ON.

2018 Through the Memory Atlas: 40 Years of Collecting, Curated by J. Budney, S. Edelstein
et al, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, B.C.

2017 150 Years of Artmaking in London, Curated by B. Meehan and C. Getty, Museum
London, ON

2016 À la recherche (in search of practice-based research), Curated by Barbara Balfour,
Open Studio Gallery,Toronto, ON

RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS (INTERNATIONAL):

2018-19 Line & Verse – A Taiwan/Canada Project involving Artists & Poets, Organized and
curated by Carlina Chen,Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON; Chiayi Culture Meeting Place, Chiayi County, Taiwan.

2017 International Print Exhibition – Japan-Canada, 2016, Curated by Liz Ingram and April
Dean, Kyoto Museum of Art, Japan; U of AB Museums (Enterprise Square), Edmonton,
AB; Art Gallery of Regina, Regina,Sask.

Grants

2020 Realisms, Curated by Andrew Kear, Museum London, London, ON.

2020-23 SSHRC Insight Grant, “GardenShip & State: Art and the Environment as a Commons”, with Jeff Thomas, Co-Curator Sean Caulfied, Joan Greer.

2019 Faculty Research Development Fund, “GardenShip of State: Art, Environment and the Future of…”

2016 SSHRC Connections Grant, “Mountains and Rivers Without End,” with A. Villar and U. Unda

2015 Ontario Arts Council Exhibitions Assistance

2014 Faculty Research Development Fund, “The Nonsuch and the Garden: Casting the Replica Ship…”

2011 Ontario Arts Council Exhibitions Assistance

2011-14 SSHRC Research/Creation Grant, “Immersion Emergencies and Possible Worlds”, with Gu Xiong and S.Esfahani

2009-10 Canada Council for the Arts, Publications Assistance (with A&CC/YYZ Publishing)

2004-07 SSHRC Research/Creation Grant, “Art and Cold Cash”, with R. Arngna’naaq; J. Butler; S. Butler; W. NoahSelected Publications

 

Teaching