Stan Douglas, (photo © Evaan Kheraj Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner Courtoisie de l’artiste, Victoria Miro et David Zwirner)
Stan Douglas, Canada's official representative at the Venice Biennale, is drawing critical attention internationally, with praise from Britain's Art Newspaper and the New York Times.
The Art Newspaper listed the Canadian pavilion, where Douglas is showing 2011 ≠ 1848, as one of seven "must-see" national exhibitions, along with the American, Belgian, Korean, French, Romanian and Nordic pavilions.
"Douglas’s photographs are a technological masterclass," the newspaper's panel of critics writes. "He has turned chaotic scenes into dramatic tableaus of impossible detail. They are paeans, in sound and light, to what is increasingly a truism: art at its best is an act of resistance."
The New York Times, meanwhile, says in its subhead that Douglas "packs a punch" at the biennale, with critic Jason Farago noting Canada is one of only two national pavilions, along with Poland, which features Roma artist Malgorzata Mirga-Tas, that has "fully risen to the occasion."
Farago calls Douglas a "towering intellect of photography and video art," for his look at the intersecting uprisings of 2011, including riots in London, Occupy Wall Street, and the Arab Spring, in an exhibition split between the Canadian pavilion and an old salt depot.
Douglas also reflects on his installation with Artforum editor David Velasco, mentioning that he is using some of the same techniques to recreate history as he did for a recent series about New York City's Penn Station. "It’s all very constructed, like a period drama," Douglas tells Velasco. "But after COVID, isn’t everything a period drama?"
Meanwhile, Guardian critic Adrian Searle, singles out the Canadian artist, saying: "This is the best work by Douglas I have seen."
Searle's review includes an image of Counterblaste, by Métis artist Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, who participated in curator Cecilia Alemani’s international exhibition, The Milk of Dreams, primarily featuring women, trans and non-binary artists.
Artnet mentions Inuk artist Shuvinai Ashoona, also included in The Milk of Dreams, and Hill, whose solo project was recently on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, describing her as "a rising star."
