
PAST EXHIBITION
UNION MADE
Group Show
16 December 1980 - 23 December 1980
Opening Reception 16 December 1980 12pm
Main Gallery: Union Made Small scale works by Mercer Union Board members: Michael Davey, Peter Hill, Michael Balfe, Colin Lochhead, Jaan Poldaas, Jamie Lyons, Peter Blendell, Judith Schwarz, Robert Wiens, Anna-Marie Cobbold, Ric Evans, Renee Van Halm, John McKinnon and Robert McNealy. As part of this non-profit gallery’s fundraising campaign all the works on view […]

PAST EXHIBITION
THOMAS LAWSON
Thomas Lawson
13 December 1980 - 23 December 1980
Opening Reception 13 December 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: In his recent paintings, Lawson places advertising images of a domestic variety, – babies, dogs and so forth, that we almost tend to ignore or passively accept as part our daily visual diet, into a painterly context, thus causing the viewer to reevaluate what the imagery denotes.

PAST EXHIBITION
BODY REGISTERS
Lee Paquette
29 November 1980 - 12 December 1980
Opening Reception 29 November 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Body Registers In a one-man show entitled Body Registers, Pacquette, a participant in Mercer Union’s Locations show held in the summer, will exhibit four forged steel works relating to the body.

PAST EXHIBITION
SLATE INSTALLATION
Michael Davey
26 November 1980 - 13 December 1980
Opening Reception 26 November 1980 12pm
Sculptural Installation

PAST EXHIBITION
MICHAEL AMAR
Michael Amar
15 November 1980 - 28 November 1980
Opening Reception 15 November 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Recent stone carvings and drawings by the Toronto artist.

PAST EXHIBITION
SIX FROM THE STYX: AN EXCHANGE WITH EYE LEVEL
Brad Brace, John Clark, Dennis Gill, John Greer, Colette Urban, Carol Wainio
4 November 1980 - 23 November 1980
Opening Reception 4 November 1980 12pm
Six artists affiliated with the Eye Level Gallery showing in Toronto in an exchange exhibition with Mercer Union. The six artists are: Brad Brace – installation John Clark – paintings Dennis Gill – floor pieces John Greer – wall pieces Colette Urban – installation Carol Wainio – paintings Offerings From Maritimes Suffer Strange Power Failure […]

PAST EXHIBITION
ANOTHER CORNER
Macy Awad
1 November 1980 - 14 November 1980
Opening Reception 1 November 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Another Corner This exhibition by the Toronto artist will consist of a large painted plywood construction incorporating one corner of the Front Gallery.

PAST EXHIBITION
ROGER PIOTROW
Roger Piotrow
18 October 1980 - 31 October 1980
Opening Reception 18 October 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Recent gouache works on paper by the Toronto artist.

PAST EXHIBITION
PICTURES OF THINGS
Lynn Hughes
14 October 1980 - 1 November 1980
Opening Reception 14 October 1980 12pm
Main Gallery: Pictures of Things “I am interested in a dense and ambiguous sense of ‘thing’ that hovers between the animate and the inanimate, prose and paradise, the classic and the mannerist…” A selection of the Montreal artist’s recent paintings entitled “Pictures of Things”. Nancy Carroll Vanguard, December 1980 “Pictures of Things” is the title […]

PAST EXHIBITION
ANONYMOUS MECHANISIM
Andy Patton
4 October 1980 - 17 October 1980
Opening Reception 4 October 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Anonymous Mechanisim The large scale photographs comprising this show are of a series of posters executed anonymously by the Toronto artist over a period extending from April 1978 to June 1979. Each poster was originally designed for a specific context. As Patton has explained, “Two are from a series of five which worked […]

PAST EXHIBITION
PAUL STRATIGOS & HASS MURPHY
Hass Murphy & Paul Stratigos
23 September 1980 - 11 October 1980
Opening Reception 23 September 1980 12pm
Main Gallery: New York Show Chosen by Hass Murphy Paul Stratigos Paintings Hess Murphy Sculpture

PAST EXHIBITION
CARL JACOBSON & LAWRENCE SILVER
Carl Jacobson & Lawrence Silver
20 September 1980 - 3 October 1980
Opening Reception 20 September 1980 12pm
Front Gallery: Two Artists from New York Carl Jacobson Paintings on Paper Lawrence Silver Drawings and Collages

PAST EXHIBITION
RECENT PLANTS
Garry Neil Kennedy
6 September 1980 - 19 September 1980
Opening Reception 6 September 1980 12pm
Installation: Mercer Union Gallery would like to borrow for two weeks a potted plant from your gallery. The plant will be carefully transported to and from the gallery, and while it is at Mercer Union it will be well cared for and placed in a room which has a natural light source. It will form […]

PAST EXHIBITION
BURN
John McEwen
2 September 1980 - 20 September 1980
Opening Reception 2 September 1980 12pm
Understanding Caliban McEwen’s Work Speaks For Itself, But What’s It Saying? John Bentley Mays Globe and Mail, September 1980 I do not understand John McEwen’s installation at Mercer Union, 29 Mercer, which is on view until Sept. 20. But this is what’s there: clamped on the west wall, three large iron slabs. Near the top […]

PAST EXHIBITION
TIME
Dan Reid
23 August 1980 - 5 September 1980
Opening Reception 23 August 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Installation

PAST EXHIBITION
SITE CONSTRUCTION
Robert Wiens
12 August 1980 - 30 August 1980
Opening Reception 12 August 1980 8pm
Installation: Robert Wiens, a Toronto artist, will have his first major solo-exhibition at MERCER UNION August 12 to 30th. The constructions done specifically for the gallery will be large scale requiring a week’s on-site labour previous to the opening date. The installation consists of six parts: two truncated pyramid structures extending floor to ceiling based […]

PAST EXHIBITION
GRID II
F.M. Hogan
26 July 1980 - 8 August 1980
Opening Reception 26 July 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Grid II “Drawing in Space” Installation: arrangements of nylon cord referring to the interior space of the Front Gallery which also allude to exterior natural phenomena.

PAST EXHIBITION
ANNA-MARIE COBBOLD
Anna-Marie Cobbold
15 July 1980 - 2 August 1980
Opening Reception 15 July 1980 8pm
Main Gallery: A series of postcards and two large paintings of equivalent dimensions asserting a simultaneous experience of transition from the city of Montreal to the city of Toronto. Anna-Marie Cobbold is a painter currently working in Toronto.

PAST EXHIBITION
BARBARA REID
Barbara Reid
12 July 1980 - 25 July 1980
Opening Reception 12 July 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Watercolour paintings The New Image as metaphysical landscape.

PAST EXHIBITION
PAPER QUILTS
Nancy Smith
28 June 1980 - 25 July 1980
Opening Reception 28 June 1980 12am
Front Gallery: Paper Quilts Hand-colored paper constructions improvised from traditional Amish designs.

PAST EXHIBITION
SELF EMPLOYED MACHINE (FOR H.B.)
Bernie Miller
14 June 1980 - 28 June 1980
Opening Reception 14 June 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Self Employed Machine (For H.B.)

PAST EXHIBITION
CANADIAN WORD-CHASER SERIES
Richard Nonas
3 June 1980 - 12 July 1980
Opening Reception 3 June 1980 8pm
Installation

PAST EXHIBITION
DRAWINGS OF A CERTAIN NATURE
Elizabeth MacKenzie
31 May 1980 - 13 June 1980
Opening Reception 31 May 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Drawings of a Certain Nature

PAST EXHIBITION
BLUEPRINTS: THE SACRED CIRCUIT
Richard Purdy
27 May 1980 - 31 May 1980
Opening Reception 27 May 1980 8pm
Installation and performance

PAST EXHIBITION
STEVE ARMSTRONG
Steve Armstrong
17 May 1980 - 30 May 1980
Opening Reception 17 May 1980 8pm
Front Gallery.

PAST EXHIBITION
LOCATIONS II
Michael Amar, Peter Blendell, Robert Bowers, Paul Campbell, Stan Denniston, Peter Dykhuis, Brian Groombridge, Colin Lochhead, Hans Peter Marti, Robert McNealy, Lee Pacquette, Andy Patton, Robin Peck, Dan Reid, Caroline Simmons, James Taciuk.
15 May 1980 - 30 June 1980
Opening Reception 15 May 1980 8pm
LOCATIONS OUTDOOR WORKS BY TORONTO ARTISTS Catalogue published by Mercer Union, 1980 Introduction by Peter Hill, Michael Balfe: In past years there has been an increasing awareness of the fact that there are many limiting and neutralising factors inherent in the gallery space which alter the original context of most artists’ work. This perception has […]

PAST EXHIBITION
ROLAND POULIN
Roland Poulin
6 May 1980 - 24 May 1980
Opening Reception 6 May 1980 8pm
Sculpture

PAST EXHIBITION
DAVID CLARKSON
David Clarkson
3 May 1980 - 16 May 1980
Opening Reception 28 May 2023 12am
Front Gallery: Sculpture

PAST EXHIBITION
DAVID BROWN
David Brown
19 April 1980 - 2 May 1980
Opening Reception 19 April 1980 8pm
Main Gallery: Paintings

PAST EXHIBITION
INTERIOR PROJECTION
Renee Van Halm
15 April 1980 - 3 May 1980
Opening Reception 15 April 1980 8pm
Interior Projection Installation

PAST EXHIBITION
DIVINAE PROPORTINAE
David MacWilliam
15 April 1980 - 3 May 1980
Opening Reception 15 April 1980 8pm
Sculpture

PAST EXHIBITION
TRANSLATIONS
Shannon Griffiths
5 April 1980 - 18 April 1980
Opening Reception 5 April 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Translation “The mausoleum of Galla Placidia is dominated by a remarkable colored atmosphere of gray light. This effect is produced by bathing the blue mosaic walls of the interior in an orange light, filtered through narrow windows of orange-tinted alabaster. Orange and blue are complimentary colors, the mixing of which yields gray. As […]

PAST EXHIBITION
PETER HILL
Peter Hill
25 March 1980 - 12 April 1980
Opening Reception 25 March 1980 8pm
Peter Hill Comes Up With Some Surprises By John Bentley Mays GLOBE AND MAIL, March 25 1980 If the most recent Peter Hill paintings you’ve seen were the ones in his 1975 A Space show, you may be surprised by what goes on view tonight at Mercer Union (29 Mercer St.) Each work at A […]

PAST EXHIBITION
PUDDLE PLAZA
Henk Jacobs
8 March 1980 - 21 March 1980
Opening Reception 8 March 1980 8pm
Front Gallery: Puddle Plazaˆ Opening March 8 and continuing until the 21st in the front gallery of Mercer Union will be an installation work by Toronto artist, Henk Jacobs. Entitled Puddle Plaza, the piece is made of lard and water and is installed in a manner which directly relates to the room in which in […]

PAST EXHIBITION
GEORGE TRAKAS
George Trakas
4 March 1980 - 22 March 1980
Opening Reception 4 March 1980 8pm
George Trakas Destined To Be One Of The Great Sculptors John Bentley Mays Globe and Mail, March 1980 The first major breakthrough for George Trakas in his home country was the inclusion of two sculptures in the 1978 landmark exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario entitled Structures for Behaviour. At that time, the Quebec […]

PAST EXHIBITION
ROBERT BOWERS
Robert Bowers
23 February 1980 - 7 March 1980
Opening Reception 23 February 1980 8pm
Sculpture

PAST EXHIBITION
AVENGING ANGELS
Milt Jewell
12 February 1980 - 25 February 1980
Opening Reception 12 February 1980 8pm
Rick Rhodes Vanguard, April 1980 What’s most likeable about Milt Jewell’s two-part painting, called Avenging Angels, is the gritty, ersatz surface. The underpainting of acrylic covered by iron filings has a tactile density that favours concrete properties over pictorial ones. It’s substantial and it also indicates a stance, rooted to Robert Ryman’s work and Richard […]

PAST EXHIBITION
SMALL WORK/ SMALL GALLERY
Jamie Lyons
9 February 1980 - 22 February 1980
Opening Reception 9 February 1980 8pm
Paintings

PAST EXHIBITION
FOUR ASPECTS, EIGHT ARTISTS
Sorel Cohen, Paul Hess, Stephen Horne, André Jodoin, Douglas Kirton, Ian Murray, Tom Sherman, Theodore Wan
8 January 1980 - 1 March 1980
Opening Reception 1 January 1980 8pm
This exhibition will include the works of two photographers, Theodore Wan and Sorel Cohen; two sculptors, Andre Jodoin and Dan Reid; two painters, Paul Hess and Doug Kirton and two artists working with installations, Richard Purdie and Tobie Maclennan. This exhibition will draw attention to the four major aspects of contemporary artmaking activites. Within the […]