Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff

The Greg Curnoe show at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff), which ran from March until June 2001, was a wonderful chance to see the work of an artist committed to finding out everything about everything. Curnoe continues to be an inspiration to Canadian artists—literary, visual and otherwise. After an hour or so lingering among his works at the AGO, I began to notice the exit signs, which read EXIT in a noble sans serif, and the box on the wall with FIRE HOSE printed on it in the same font, and then a rather mysterious EXIT ONLY in transfer letters rather crookedly applied to the edge of a wall. Everything seemed to partake of Curnoe’s vision; then I went into the washroom, where someone had outlined one of the tiles in the wall with a black felt pen. Just one tile, about five feet from the floor, delicately picked out in black ink. Curnoe might have done it himself.