Oct 2, 2024
Art to write home about
The AGO to feature David Blackwood, Yayoi Kusama, Jesse Mockrin and Joyce Wieland in 2025
David Blackwood, Night Passage, 1978. Etching and aquatint on paper, Overall: 61.5 x 80.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of David and Anita Blackwood, Port Hope, Ontario, 1999. © Estate of David Blackwood. 99/942
Two retrospectives, one debut and a return of a beloved artwork. 2025 is shaping up to be a big year at the AGO, with 15 original exhibitions by artists from Toronto and around the world planned. Here's a sneak peek of what's to come.
Joyce Wieland. The Arctic Belongs to Itself, 1973. lithograph on paper, Overall: 33.2 x 43.4 cm (13 1/16 x 17 1/16 in.). Art Gallery of Ontario. Purchase, 1987. © National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 86/285
Jesse Mockrin, Fracture, 2024. Oil on cotton, 91.4 x 142.2 cm (JCG17065) © Jesse Mockrin 2024. Courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York. Photo by Phoebe d'Heurle.
Yayoi Kusama, INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET'S SURVIVE FOREVER, 2017. Wood, metal, glass mirrors, LED lighting system, monofilament, stainless steel balls, and carpet, 312.4 x 624.8 x 622.9 cm. © YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy David Zwirner, New York; Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore/Shanghai; Victoria Miro, London/Venice. Photo AGO.
Purchased with funds from the David Yuile & Mary Elizabeth Hodgson Fund, Michelle Koerner & Kevin Doyle, Robert Dorrance & Gail Drummond, The Schulich Foundation, Soichiro & Junko Yamamoto, Diane Bald & Michael Budman, Don & Denyse Green, DH Gales Foundation, Maxine Granovsky Gluskin & Ira Gluskin, Barry Appleton & Magaly Bianchini, Emmanuelle Gattuso, Sheryle & David Saunders, Robin & David Young, Laura E. Baldini, Diana Billes, Edison Chai, Julian Chan & Yi Hyun Park, The Francis and Denise Connolly Family, Creeds, Eileen Farrow, Ivan Fecan & Sandra Faire, Hallisey Family, Victoria Jackman, Val Koziol, David Kozman & Kristin Blakely-Kozman, The Charles & Jane Kucey Foundation Fund, Jämes Lee & the Julie Institute, Chelsea Longaphy & Bernie Li, Martha LA McCain, Abby, Perry & Jordan Minuk, Carolyn D. Mullin, Samuel & Alice Peralta, In Memory of Pierrette & Abel Rancourt, Heather & Aaron Regent, Shevlen Family, Mary Sinclair, Jay Smith & Laura Rapp, J. Kenneth & Margaret Syer-Torrance, and the generosity of thousands of art lovers, 2018
David Blackwood, Night Passage, 1978. Etching and aquatint on paper, Overall: 61.5 x 80.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift of David and Anita Blackwood, Port Hope, Ontario, 1999. © Estate of David Blackwood. 99/942
Returning to view next April, Yayoi Kusama: INFINITY MIRRORED ROOM - LET’S SURVIVE FOREVER (2017), is an immersive room-sized installation by the acclaimed Japanese artist. Featuring mirrored spheres suspended from the ceiling and arranged on the floor, from inside the room visitors can peer into a seemingly infinite field of silver orbs. Accommodating four people every minute, the installation returns on view, following a successful tour to museums in the United States. It was acquired by the AGO in 2017 thanks to 4,700 #InfinityAGO donors who participated in the AGO's ambitious crowdfunding campaign and the David Yuile & Mary Elizabeth Hodgson Fund.
Opening June 21, 2025, Joyce Wieland: Heart On is an ambitious retrospective highlighting five decades of radical artmaking by the Toronto-born artist. Showcasing her playful artistry and activism through more than 100 artworks and recently restored films, the exhibition and its accompanying publication locates Wieland as a key figure in 20th-century art and film. Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition is curated by Georgiana Uhlyarik, Fredrik S. Eaton Curator of Canadian Art, AGO and Anne Grace, Curator of Modern Art, MMFA and will be on view through January 4, 2026.
Opening September 13, 2025, Jesse Mockrin marks the American painter’s first-ever museum solo exhibition. Inspired by Baroque paintings, sculptures and drawings held by the AGO, Mockrin radically re-envisions these works through a contemporary lens, creating poetic and subversive paintings and drawings. Curated by Adam Harris Levine, the AGO’s Associate Curator of European Art, these works will be installed alongside works from the AGO collection. Organized by the AGO, this exhibition will be on view through March of 2026.
Opening October 18, 2025, David Blackwood: Home is a career-spanning retrospective of one of Canada’s foremost printmakers. Born and raised on Bonavista Bay, David Blackwood (1941-2022) put onto paper an enduring vision of Newfoundland, drawn from childhood memories, dreams, superstitions, legends, and oral traditions. Tracing Blackwood’s career from his first days as an art student at the Ontario College of Art to his final drawing, this expansive retrospective brings together more than 80 drawings and prints, alongside proofs, copper plates and archival materials. Curated by Alexa Greist, Curator & R. Fraser Elliott Chair, Prints and Drawings, AGO, this exhibition aims to reveal the creative evolution of a beloved Canadian artist.
AGO exhibitions are always free for AGO Members, Annual Passholders and Ontarians under 25. For a complete list of exhibitions coming to the AGO in 2025, visit ago.ca/exhibitions#whatsnext.
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