#144, Printed Ephemera and Aquilegia canadensis (inverted)


#144, Printed Ephemera and Aquilegia canadensis (inverted), 2018,
coloured pencil on paper, 133 x 102 cm
#141, Paper Architecture Press Approval


#141, Paper Architecture Press Approval, 2018,
coloured pencil on paper, 133 x 102 cm
#112.jpg


#112, vigipirate + team sports, 2016,
coloured pencil on paper, 133 x 102 cm
#114.jpg


#114, some treatments and arrangements, 2016,
coloured pencil and flashe on paper, 133 x 102 cm
detail #114.jpg


detail of #112, vigipirate + team sports, 2016,
coloured pencil on paper, 133 x 102 cm
poster105_2015_JBowles_LR.jpg


#105, Continuity in Space, 2015,
coloured pencil on paper, 127 x 98 cm
FNB_2013_a_THafk_LR.jpg


Four Notable Booksellers, 2013, wood, paint, hardware, paper, 10.7 m
FNB_2013_detail_Thafk_4_LR.jpg


detail of Four Notable Booksellers, 2013
FNB_2013_detail_Thafk_2_LR.jpg


detail of Four Notable Booksellers, 2013
poster95_2013_THafk_LR.jpg


#95, A Man for All Seasons, 2013,
coloured pencil and collage on paper, 127 x 98 cm
Problems_2013_THafk_LR.jpg


Problems that arise from continually confusing left and right, 2013
vitreous enamel on metal
poster88_2012_THafk_LR.jpg


#88 Like the kids do, Between here and there, 2012,
coloured pencil and collage on paper, 127 x 98 cm
peg rail5_2011_2012_LR.jpg


Peg Rail #5 (Albatross Omnibus), 2011-12,
edition of 2, Rietveld ZigZag chair, painted pine peg rail, printed fabric, nylon cord, 52 artist books, aluminum anchor
AlbatrossOmnibus_2011_THafk_3_LR.jpg


Albatross Omnibus, 2011,
installation view
AlbatrossOmnibus_2011_THafk_1_LR.jpg


Albatross Omnibus, 2011,
installation view
AlbatrossOmnibus_2011_THafk_2_LR.jpg


Albatross Omnibus, 2011
installation view
poster74_2011_Cthom_LR.jpg


#74, Zin says ..., 2011,
coloured pencil on paper, 127 x 98 cm
poster52_2009_Cthom_LR.jpg


#52, myers briggs, between you and me and it,
Carmen Lamanna
, 2009,
coloured pencil and collage on paper, 127 x 98 cm
poster13_2006_Cthom_LR.jpg


#13, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, an errant ess, country rock, Jenifer Papararo, 2006,
coloured pencil on paper, 127 x 98 cm
Endless Kiosk_LR.jpg


Endless Kiosk, 2005-,
MDF, gatorfoam, paint, printed material, glue, tape,
7m high, endlessly expanding girth

Derek Sullivan

Multifaceted in scope, Sullivan’s practice employs drawing, sculpture, book works, and installation to engage with the legacy of modernist art and design. While often recombining and synthesizing visual language from art history, literature, and popular culture, the formal references exercised in his work are contrasted with the ephemeralness of his production. A central concern is that books—through the act of reading, translation, and interpretation—are malleable framing devices which allow one to float or consider a set of ideas to momentarily freeze a subject in flux.
 
1976

born in Toronto

1998

BFA, York University, Toronto

2002

MFA, University of Guelph, Guelph
 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024

Field Works, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2021

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2019

Derek Sullivan: Bookworks, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie

But I Thought You’d Said “Maple Leaves”, Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran, Montreal

2018

¶ * † ‡, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2017

Booklover, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina

Several Things Happening At The Same Time, Galerie Antoine Ertaskarin, Montreal

2016

On Filling In, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2015

Derek Sullivan: The Missing Novella, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Four Notable Booksellers, Modern Fuel, Kingston

2014

Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

2013

Four Notable Booksellers, Jessica Bradley Gallery, Toronto

2012

Right, Write, Wright, Rite, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

Wright, Rite, Write, Right, Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

2011

Walking and chewing the fat at the same time, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Albatross Omnibus, The Power Plant, Toronto

Young Americans, KIOSK, Ghent, Belgium

2010

It is more difficult to hit a moving target, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener

2009

Waiting Game, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

2008

Le poeme de l’angle droit, Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

Bulletin Board, White Columns, New York Librairie Florence Loewy, Paris

We May Be Standing on The Shoulders of Giants But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge

2007

Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Art Gallery of York University, Toronto

Cold Open, Optica, Montréal

2005

Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto

Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

2003

Mercer Union, Toronto

2002

MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph

2001

Passengers & Tour Guides (with Kevin Rodgers), Artspeak, Vancouver

2000

Olympic Village, Platform Project, Mercer Union, Toronto
 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018

Drawings, Clint Roenisch Gallery, Toronto

2016

Showroom, Art Museum, University of Toronto, Toronto

2015

Incertain Sens éditions - Cabinet du livre d'artiste, Centre national des arts plastiques, Rennes

Out of Line, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Still Life, Still Living, Jessica Bradley Gallery, Toronto

accadra domain, Museo Marino Marini, Florence

Ideas and Things, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops

Villa Toronto, Union Station, Toronto

2014

PRIVATE COLLECTION SELECTED BY #2/DEREK SULLIVAN,Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wein, Vienna

Contemporary Drawings from The National Gallery of Canada, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon

2013

Barbarie, La Générale en Manufacture, Sèvres, Frances

Brigadoon, La Tôlerie, Clermont-Ferrand, France

More Young Americans, L’Enclos des Bernadins, Paris

PATHFINDER Everything goes, not anything, Moins un, Paris

Magiciens, Galerie Emmanuel Hervé, Paris

Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

2012

Sobey Art Award 10th Anniversary, MOCCA, Toronto

Leiber & Sullivan, National Gallery of Canada Library & Archives, Ottawa

During the night the exhibition continues: La Servante, Galerie Emmanuel Herve, Paris

2011

The Sobey Art Award: Ontario Long-List, Oakville Galleries, Oakville

Out of Print, Mercer Union, Toronto

La Tentation du hasard, Biennale de Montreal 2011, Montreal

Books on Books, The Swiss Institute, New York

Power to the People: Contemporary Conceptualism and the Object in Art, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne

Change of Address, Galerie Tatjana Pieters, Ghent, Belgium

The Object of Observation (Changes by Being Observed), Galerie Johnen, Berlin

2010

The Copy That Dreams: Mimesis of Forms and Typologies in Artists’s Publications, Printed Matter, New York

Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Drawings, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

2009

Art Read, Glenn Horowitz, East Hampton, New York

la collection, enrichissements 2008 - 2009, CDLA, Saint-Yriex-la-Perche, France

Architecture of Survival, Komplot, Brussels

Sobey Art Award Ontario Shortlist, Cambridge Galleries, Cambridge, Ontario

2008

Art Metropole: The Top 100, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto

The Black Market Type & Print Shop, articule, Montréal

David Kramer, David Armstrong Six, Jennifer Murphy, Raymond Pettibon and Derek Sullivan, Moti Hassan Gallery, New York

P2P, Casino Luxembourg Forum d’art Contemporain, Luxembourg

2007

Gasoline Rainbows, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver

On being an exhibition, Artists Space, New York

2006

We Can Do This Now, The Power Plant, Toronto

Art Metropole: The Top 100, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Habitat, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Art on Paper 2006, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, USA

Du coté de Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Galerie René Blouin, Montreal

Storefront, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

2005

The Gift, Julia Friedman Gallery, New York

Other Worlds, Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto

Dedicated to you, but you weren't listening, The Power Plant, Toronto

2004

Downtown Art Space, Adelaide, Australia

2003

James Carl/Jennifer Murphy & Chris Rogers/Derek Sullivan, Mercer Union @ art forum Berlin, Berlin

Psychotopes, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto

Bauhauswerk, weewerk, Toronto

Lucid Clutter, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto

2002

Selling Out & Buying In, Biz Art, Shanghai

RISK, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver

2001

Trophy, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto

FrameWork 5/24

by Blair Swann (poem)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, May 2024

read (pdf)

FrameWork 9/21

by Cason Sharpe (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, September 2021

read (pdf)

Evidence of the Avant Garde (Ex-Library)

by Derek Sullivan (book)

Umbrella Projects in collaboration with Art Metropole, 2021

FrameWork 7/20

by Zach Seely (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, July 2020

read (pdf)

What I was seeing

by Jen Hutton (essay)

MacLaren Art Centre, July 2019

read (pdf)

FrameWork 11/18

by Shannon Garden-Smith (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, November 2018

read (pdf)

Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran : Derek Sullivan et Dominique Pétrin dans un parallélisme du papier

by Jean-Michel Quirion (review)

Revue Ex_situ, 28 April 2017

visit (revueexsitu.com)

Derek Sullivan: Booklover

by Alex King (review)

Galleries West, 12 March 2017

visit (www.gallerieswest.ca)

Derek Sullivan, On Filling In

by Alex Bowron (review)

esse arts + opinions, January 2017

visit (esse.ca)

FrameWork 10/16

by Jacquelyn Ross (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, October 2016

read (pdf)

Derek Sullivan: The Missing Novella

by Jon Davies (essay)

Oakville Galleries, 2015

read (pdf)

Derek Sullivan at Jessica Bradley Gallery

by Matthew Ryan-Smith (review)

Canadian Art, Spring 2014

read (pdf)

Lynn Valley 8: Derek Sullivan

(book)

Bywater Bros. and Presentation House Gallery, 2013

By the Book: Derek Sullivan at Jessica Bradley Projects

by Murray Whyte (review)

The Toronto Star, 12 November 2013

Garden of Forking Paths: A Conversation with Derek Sullivan

by Saelen Twerdy (interview)

C Magazine, Spring 2012

read (pdf)

Builders: Canadian Biennial 2012

by Jonathan Shaughnessy (catalogue)

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2012

Albatross Omnibus

by Bill Clarke (review)

Canadian Art, Winter 2011

Above the ground, down to earth

by Murray Whyte (review)

The Toronto Star, 5 October 2011

read (pdf)

Canadians in Europe

by Jen Hutton (interview)

Magenta, 2011

read (pdf)

Biennale de Montréal: The Gamblers

by Bryne McLaughlin (review)

Canadian Art, Summer 2011

The Sobey Art Prize: Ontario Nominees

by Murray Whyte (article)

The Toronto Star, 11 July 2011

Albatross Omnibus

by Gregory Burke, ed. (catalogue)

The Power Plant, Toronto, 2011

Echoes of Familiarity

by Robert Enright (review)

C Magazine, Winter 2009

We may be standing on the shoulders of giants but some of us are looking at the stars

by Pamela Meredith (catalogue)

Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, 2009

A Meeting of Art, Power and the City

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 10 January 2007

Comfort on the Street Scene

by Peter Godard (review)

The Toronto Star, 5 January 2006

Nouveau Territoires

by Nicolas Mavrikakis (review)

Voir, 1 March 2006

Law and Ordering: On Evaluating Recent Canadian Neoconceptualism

by Earl Miller (article)

C Magazine, Fall 2006

Art Metropole: The Top 100

by Kitty Scott, Jonathan Shaughnessy, Peggy Gale and AA Bronson
(catalogue)

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2006

Eye Candy: Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening

by David Balzer (review)

Eye Weekly, 24 March 2005

Eye Candy: Derek Sullivan

by David Balzer (review)

Eye Weekly, 29 September 2005

A poster child for street life

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 12 November 2005

A Dose of Conceptual Art

by Peter Godard (review)

The Toronto Star, 14 April 2005

Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening

by Betty Ann Jordan (review)

Toronto Life, April 2005

At the galleries

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 25 March 2005

Exploring collaboration

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 5 April 2005

Drawn Together

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 22 July 2005

High-quality quartet

by Thomas Hirschman (review)

NOW Magazine, 1 January 2004

News at Five

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 1 October 2004

Deconstructing Ikea

by Catherine Osborne (review)

National Post, 14 February 2004

Various Canadian Artists

by James Strickland (article)

db Magazine, 28 January 2004

Gallery Going

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 14 August 2003

Messy Success, Lucid Clutter

by Thomas Hirschman (review)

NOW Magazine, 15 January 2003

Selling Out & Buying In

by Natalie De Vito (catalogue essay)

Biz Art, Shanghai, 2002

Wreck Room

by Si Si Penaloza (review)

NOW Magazine, 24 January 2002

Artistic Continuity

by Lisa Whittington-Hill (review)

The Shanghai Star, 12 December 2002

Passengers & Tour Guides

by Lisa Whittington-Hill (review)

THIS Magazine, November/December 2001

Inaugural Ball

by Sally McKay (review)

Lola, issue 7, Summer 2000

Modelumental

by Jenifer Papararo (brochure)

The Red Head Showcase, 2000

Gallery Going

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 7 August 1999

Suburban Landscape

by Catherine Osborne (review)

Lola, Issue 5, Winter 1999

Remembering the suburbs fondly

by Si Si Penaloza (review)

NOW Magazine, 29 July 1999