A boy's paper crown 5.jpg


A Boy's Paper Crown, Ottawa, 1947, 1987-2015,
painted wood, photo, projector, audio
A boy's paper crown detail 8.jpg


detail of A Boy's Paper Crown, Ottawa, 1947, 1987-2015
combray.jpg


Combray, 2008, edition of 3,
paper, painted wood, silver locket. tea leaves, 23 x 66 x 84 cm
madeleine detail.jpg


detail of Combray, 2008
Prose and Poetry of England (1)


Prose and Poetry of England (1), 2013,
wood, paper, hardware, 87.5 x 223.5 x 150 cm
Prose and Poetry of England (2)


Prose and Poetry of England (2), 2013,
wood, paper, hardware, 91.5 x 158 x 193 cm
Prose and Poetry of England (3)


Prose and Poetry of England (3), 2013,
wood, paper, hardware, 89 x 212 x 178 cm
carr-harris_simple_present.jpg


Writing (language series): simple present, 2013,
oil on masonite, 45.5 x 63 x 2.5 cm
carr-harris_future_anterior.jpg


Writing (language series): future anterior, 2013,
oil on masonite, 45.5 x 63 x 2.5 cm
carr-harris_gebaude.jpg


Gebäude [shape], 2011,
wood, paper, paint, plastic, 192 x 162.5 x 122 cm
carr-harris_gebaude_detail.jpg


detail of Gebäude [shape], 2011,
wood, paper, paint, metal, each: 108 x 80 x 119.5 cm
carr-harris_raven_install.jpg


installation view of Raven, 2011,
wood, paper, paint, plastic, 192 x 162.5 x 122 cm
carr-harris_raven_version_1.jpg


Raven (version 1), 2011,
wood, paper, paint, plastic, 192 x 162.5 x 122 cm
carr-harris_raven_version_2.jpg


Raven (version 2), 2011,
wood, paper, paint, plastic, 192 x 162.5 x 122 cm
carr-harris_canada.jpg


“Canada”, by Lady Tweedsmuir from the series “The British Commonwealth and Empire.” Edited with an introduction by W.J. Turner. With 48 plates in colour and 173 illustrations in black and white. London, Collins, 1943.
2009, illuminated book, aluminum, 195 x 70 x 8 cm
carr-harris_figure_eglise_install_1.jpg


Paradigm Series: ‘église’ [figure], 2009, painted wood, wood, plexiglass, books, support tables, dimensions variable
carr-harris_america.jpg


America, 2007, illuminated book, aluminum, 194 x 67 x 7.5 cm
carr-harris_paradigm_series_tate_modern.jpg


Paradigm Series: ‘Tate Modern’ [Survey], 2005, wood, plexiglass, motor, light, books, paper, 201 x 175.5 x 99 cm
carr-harris_ten_verbs_covet.jpg


covet from Ten Verbs/Ten Commandments, 2005, edition of 3,
blackboard paint, white grease pencil, oil stick on masonite and wood,
30 x 41 x 2 cm
carr-harris_annabel_new.jpg


Annabel, 2002, edition of 3, paper, wood, plastic, 24 x 46.5 x 74 cm
carr-harris_molly.jpg


Molly, 2002, oil on chalkboard, lights, 122 x 473 x 10 cm

Ian Carr-Harris

Carr-Harris’ sculptures, installations and wall works explore knowledge and ordering systems, probing the intersections between memory and technology, image and text, and perception and description.

"My work situates itself in that space we reserve for our recognition that the histories and structures which we use to give definition to identity are themselves contingent and fluid, no less elusive than the identities we seek to secure. Through shifts of emphasis, the work seeks to disturb our field of knowledge while leaving it also apparently intact. ”

— Ian Carr-Harris

1941

Born in Victoria, British Columbia

1959-63

Bachelor of Arts (Honours, History), Queen’s University, Kingston

1963-64

Bachelor of Library Science, University of Toronto, Toronto

1969-71

A.O.C.A., Ontario College of Art, Toronto

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2021

Onomatopoeias, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto  
about the exhibition

2018

Theoris: a paradox, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto  
about the exhibition

2015

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto  
about the exhibition

2013

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2011

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2009

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2006

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Primers, Stride Gallery, Calgary

2005

Chelsea Space, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, England

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2002

The Power Plant, Toronto

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Josselyne Naef Art Contemporain, Montréal

2001

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

1999

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France

1998

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

1997

Galerie Gingko, Madrid, Spain

1996-98

Books for a Public Library, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge; Owens Art Gallery, Sackville; Oakville Galleries; London Regional Art and Historical Museum; Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal

1996

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

1995

proton ICA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

l’Aquarium, Valenciennes, France

1994

Optica, Montreal

Villa Arson, Nice, France

Galerie Carles Poy, Barcelona, Spain

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Centre d’art contemporain, Herblay, France

Ecole des Beaux Arts, Metz, France

1993

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Pages from History: Ian Carr-Harris, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

1991
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto
1989

Agnes Etherington Centre, Queen’s University, Kingston

1988

Ian Carr-Harris 1971-1977, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

1987

London Regional Art Gallery, London

1984-89

Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto (annually)

1983

49th Parallel, New York

1982

Recent Work: Ian Carr-Harris, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax

1981

Yajima/Galerie, Montreal

1973-81

Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto (biennially)

1972

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax

Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto

1970

A Space, Toronto

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022

MODELS: assembly of schematics, Christie Contemporary, Toronto

2019

Floe, Bonavista Biennale, Salt Fish Plant, Catalina

2016

Form Follows Fiction: Art and Artists in Toronto, Art Museum at the University of Toronto, Toronto

2014

You've Really Got a Hold on Me, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

2013

Other Worlds, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

Something More Than a Succession of Notes, Bétonsalon, Paris, France; Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Toronto

Continental Drift: Konzeptkunst in Kanada: Die 1960er und 70er Jahre, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany

2012

Traffic:Conceptual Art in Canada 1965 to 1980, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver

Champlain's Abitation and The Ideal House: A Project for the Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge

2011

Traffic:Conceptual Art in Canada 1965 to 1980, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton

2010

Marburg! The Early Bird!, Marburger Kunstverein, Marburg, Germany

Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-1980, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto

Site Exercises, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2009

Ex Libris, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie

Novel Ideas, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

2008

Projections, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina

Momentum, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2007

Me and Them, Kenderdine Art Gallery, Saskatoon

Remaking the Real, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Projections, University of Toronto Art Centre, Toronto

2006

We Can Do This Now, The Power Plant, Toronto

Telling Stories, Secret Lives, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston

2003

Revealing the Subject, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

2000

Canadian Stories, Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, Toronto

1999

Musique en Scène, musée art contemporain Lyon, France

1998

re:presentation, Freedman Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania

La Biennale de Montréal, CIAC, Montréal

Threshold, The Power Plant, Toronto

1995

Barbara Bloom, Ian Carr-Harris, John Massey, S.L. Simpson Gallery, Toronto

1994

W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1990

The 8th Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia

1989

Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

1987

Toronto: A Play of History, The Power Plant, Toronto

Documenta 8, Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany

1985

Aurora Borealis, Centre international d’art contemporain, Montreal

1984

XLI Bienniale di Venezia, Venice, Italy

Vestiges of Empire, Camden Art Centre, London, England

1982

Fiction, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (national tour)

1978

Kanadische Kunstler, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland

1977

Another Dimension, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

1975

9e Biennale de Paris, Musee d’art moderne, Paris, France

FrameWork 12/24

by Claire Greenshaw (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, December 2024

read (pdf)

Tracings: Writing Art 1975-2020

by Ian Carr-Harris, with introduction by Dan Adler
(anthology)

Montreal: Concordia University Press, 2024

FrameWork 12/21

by Connie Wilson (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, December 2021

read (pdf)

FrameWork 1/19

by Evelyn Feldman (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, January 2019

read (pdf)

Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971-1989

by Wanda Nanibush (exhibition catalogue)

Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 2018

Photogenesis: A Brief History of Light in Canada

by Adam Lauder (article)

Border Crossings, December 2016

Is Toronto Burning? Three Years in the Making (and Unmaking) of the Toronto Art Scene

by Philip Monk (book)

London: Black Dog Publishing, 2016

Something More Than a Succession of Notes

by Lina Ben Rejeb (exhibition brochure)

Toronto: Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, 2013

FrameWork 4/13

by Lee Henderson (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, April 2013

read the full essay (pdf)

The Donovan Collection

by Daniel Donovan (book)

Toronto: University of St. Michael’s College, 2010

Blessed be churches that confirm
our faith in art

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 4 April 2009

read (pdf)

Critics’ Picks

by Dan Adler (review)

Artforum.com, 2 April 2009

read (pdf)

Thinking outside the pew

by Murray Whyte (review)

The Toronto Star, 21 March 2009

read (pdf)

Dictionnaire international de la sculpture moderne et contemporaine

by Alain Monvoisin (book)

Paris: Editions du Regard, 2008

Not just another pile of laundry

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 24 July 2007

read (pdf)

Remaking the Real

by Claire Christie (exhibition brochure)

Toronto: Susan Hobbs Gallery, 2007

read (pdf)

Ian Carr-Harris: In the beginning was the word…

by Christopher Willard (review)

The Calgary Herald, 4 March 2006

Les 20 ans du CIAC

by Claude Gosselin et al (book)

Montréal: Centre internartional d’art contemporain de Montréal, 2004

Who’s Afraid of Ian Carr-Harris?

by Amish Morrell (article)

www.samplesize.ca, 31 July 2003

Ian Carr-Harris: Out of the Ordinary

by Marcus Miller (article)

Contemporary, October 2002

Affirming art’s power to illuminate

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 28 September 2002

Conceptualism gets a workout

by Peter Goddard (review)

The Globe and Mail, 28 September 2002

Ian Carr-Harris: The Transit of the Grammarian

by Gary Michael Dault (article)

Canadian Art, Fall 2002

Ian Carr-Harris: Works 1992-2002

by Philip Monk and Antonio Guzman
(exhibition catalogue)

Toronto: The Power Plant, 2002

Moments of truth, traces of fiction

by Blake Gopnik (review)

The Globe and Mail, 21 November 2000

Canadian Art: From its Beginnings to 2000

by Anne Newlands (book)

Toronto: Firefly Books, 2000

Ian Carr-Harris, Dürer et le rhinoceros

by Damien Sausset (review)

L’Oeil, March 1999

Musiques en Scène

by James Giroudon and Thierry Raspail
(exhibition catalogue)

Lyon: Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, 1999

Truth and Desire: The Illuminated Bookworks of Ian Carr-Harris

by Walter Klepac (exhibition brochure)

Lethbridge, Alberta: Southern Alberta Art Gallery, 1996

Ian Carr-Harris: Susan Hobbs Gallery

by Christina Ritchie (review)

Canadian Art, Spring 1995

Report from Toronto: Canada’s Art Capital: The Public Sector

by Roni Feinstein (article)

Art in America, July 1994

Indices

by Louis Cummins, Clara Renau and Martine Needam
(exhibition catalogue)

Herblay, France: Les Cahiers des Regards, Centre d’art contemporain, 1994

Ian Carr-Harris, Optica

by Mona Hakim (review)

Le Devoir, 5-6 February 1994

Visual Evidence

by Ingrid Jenkner (exhibition catalogue)

Regina: Dunlop Art Gallery, 1993

Encyclopedic Examinations

by Kate Taylor (review)

The Globe and Mail, 2 April 1993

Pages from History: Ian Carr-Harris, Early Works

by Carolyn Bell Farrell (exhibition catalogue)

Oakville: Oakville Galleries, 1993

Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art

by Diana Nemiroff (exhibition catalogue)

Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1990

Democratiser

by Richard Rhodes (article)

C Magazine, Spring 1989

Reckonings: Ian Carr-Harris

by Russell Keziere (article)

Vanguard, December/January 1987-88

Toronto: A Play of History (Jeu d’histoire)

by Louise Dompierre (exhibition catalogue)

Toronto: The Power Plant, 1987

Ian Carr-Harris

by Christopher Youngs (exhibition catalogue)

Kassel, Germany: Documenta 8, 1987

Aurora Borealis

by Rene Blouin and Norman Theriault
(exhibition catalogue)

Montréal: CIAC, 1985

Ian Carr-Harris / Liz Magor: Canada XLI Bienniale di Venezia

by Jessica Bradley (exhibition catalogue)

Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1984

Staging Language and Representing History: Ian Carr-Harris

by Philip Monk (article)

Vanguard, November 1983

Fiction: An Exhibition of Recent Work by Ian Carr-Harris, General Idea, Mary Janitch, Shirley Wiitasalo

by Elke Town (exhibition catalogue)

Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982

Ian Carr-Harris: Recent Work

by Linda Milrod (exhibition catalogue)

Halifax: Dalhousie University Art Gallery, 1982

Ian Carr-Harris, A Demonstration: Yajima Gallery

by Diana Nemiroff (review)

Parachute, Winter 1981

Confrontations

by Ann Pollock (exhibition catalogue)

Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 1979

Kanadische Künstler

by Jean-Christophe Ammann
(exhibition catalogue)

Basel, Switzerland: Kunsthalle Basel, 1978

Another Dimension

by Mayo Graham (exhibition catalogue)

Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1977

Ian Carr-Harris: Carmen Lamanna Gallery

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

Artscanada, Winter 1975-76

Toronto

by Roald Nasgaard (article)

Artscanada, December/January 1973-74