Garry Neill Kennedy, (6 November 1935 – 8 August 2021) was a Canadian

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called instal ...

ist and educator from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. In the mid-1970s, he created works that investigated the processes and materials of painting. In the first decade of the 2000s, he expanded his work to investigate art and its social, institutional, and political framework.

Life

Kennedy was born in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontar ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He studied at the

Ontario College of Art Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

(1960) and then earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

. He completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Ohio in 1965. Kennedy went on to teach in, and head, the fine art department of Northland College in

Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, all ...

. In 1967, at the age of 32, he was appointed president of the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design or NSCAD, is a public art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution that offers bachelor's and master's degrees. The uni ...

, the youngest ever to serve in that position. He was president of the college for 23 years, till 2000. Kennedy died in Vancouver, BC on August 8, 2021, after years of battling dementia.

Work

Kennedy has been called a "near-legendary figure in the Canadian conceptual art scene" for his contributions to this area in both his art practice and as head of NSCAD. His main artistic practice in the 2000s was based on the criticism of institutional power, ranging from office politics to corporate greed and government authority. His solo exhibitions include such venues as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the

Art Gallery of Nova Scotia The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS) is a public provincial art museum based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The art museum's primary building complex is located in downtown Halifax and takes up approximately of space. The museum complex compr ...

, the National Gallery of Canada, the 49th Parallel Gallery (New York), the Tasmanian School of Art Gallery (Hobart, Australia), Galeri II (Reykjavik, Iceland), Portikus (Frankfurt) and numerous others. In 2000, a major show ''Garry Neill Kennedy: Work of Four Decades'', was organized and circulated by the

in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada. In 2017, the

MacKenzie Art Gallery The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; french: Musee d’art MacKenzie) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds ...

in Regina held ''Garry Neill Kennedy: Ya ummi Ya ummi'' curated by Timothy Long. In 2018, his exhibition ''Remembering Names'' was held at the CSA Space, Vancouver. It was a project conceived in the early 1970s, and repeated several times in the following decades, in which he attempted to recall and record the names of people he has met since childhood. In 2020, ''Garry Neill Kennedy: The Big Five'', in which he reassigned the colour schemes of the corporate logos of the five biggest banks in Canada, was exhibited at the Victoria Arts Council Gallery in Victoria, B.C. (it had been previously shown at the Emerson Gallery in Berlin). He has been included in over twenty group exhibitions at such galleries and museums as The

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...

, New York; the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

, Ottawa; the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

, Toronto; Art Cologne; and the Art Gallery of Contemporary Art, Vancouver. Public collections which hold his work include the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fran ...

, the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

, and the Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, NB.

Awards

Kennedy was awarded the Portia White Prize by the Arts Council of Nova Scotia in 2000. In 2004, Kennedy received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. His jury citation called him "one of the most distinguished figures in Canadian art. Not only has he produced a body of conceptual painting that is recognized internationally, he was also instrumental in establishing an international reputation for the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, of which he was the innovative head for 23 years." In 2004, Kennedy was invested as a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with ...

by Governor General

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson (; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist who served from 1999 to 2005 as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 19 ...

for his contributions as an administrator, educator and artist, enriching Canada's cultural legacy. In 2011, he received a Doctor of Fine Arts (honoris causa) degree from NASCAD. In 2012, he received the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Garry 1935 births 2021 deaths NSCAD University faculty Canadian conceptual artists Canadian contemporary artists Members of the Order of Canada University at Buffalo alumni Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners Canadian art educators Artists from St. Catharines Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts