Auction features diverse range of artworks from Canadian artists including Wanda Koop, Hugh Scott Douglas, John Massey and Bruce LaBruce

As one of Canada’s premier auction houses that continues to develop its focus towards all periods, schools, movements and aspects of Canadian art, Consignor Canadian Fine Art is pleased to announce its first auction of Canadian contemporary art.  Consignor partnered with renowned Toronto-based artist Jay Isaac to consult and advise on the overall mandate and vision of the sale, to further its commitment to creating a market for contemporary, living artists beyond the gallery realm and presiding institutions.

Consignor’s first-ever Contemporary Canadian Art Auction will be open for bidding from September 19 – 26, online at consignor.ca. Live previews take place beginning September 17 at the Consignor Canadian Fine Art gallery (326 Dundas Street West – across from the Art Gallery of Ontario).

Jay Isaac was pivotal in curating and securing works from private collections for the sale.  As someone who has been active in the Canadian art community for over 20 years, his knowledge and involvement in many aspects of the contemporary Canadian art world has allowed him to bring together a concise and deliberate offering of works from some of Canada’s most important and widely collected artists.

“My interest in organizing and participating in alternative systems of dissemination for Canadian contemporary art is based on need,” said Isaac. “The need for the diverse and multi-faceted contemporary art of Canada to be engaged with critically, socially and commercially by wider audiences.”

The carefully curated auction will consist of 41 individual works of art ranging from paintings and drawings to photography and sculptural wall works, including pieces by Wanda Koop, Hugh Scott-Douglas, John Massey, Bruce LaBruce, Stephen Andrews, Aurel Schmidt, and Jessica Eaton.

“Consignor has enjoyed tremendous growth over the past five years with our auctions of Historical and Post-War Canadian Art that have garnered international attention and record-breaking sales,” says Rob Cowley, President of Consignor. “We are pleased to build upon the tradition and diversify our services to feature the important work of contemporary Canadian artists; furthering our desire, as well as the interests of our growing clientele, to provide a comprehensive representation of Canadian art at auction.”

Consignor is happy to debut an annual award as part of the Contemporary Auction schedule. The award recognizes the work of a contemporary Canadian artist whose artwork, career and efforts within the artistic community continue to be viewed as important and consistent by their peers. The award is also intended to acknowledge methods of working that may be outside of current trends but are viewed to be crucial to the development of ideas and potentially influential to other artists.

The award recipient was chosen by a jury of three artists whose work is included in the Contemporary Art Auction – Heather Goodchild, Morley Shayuk and Jennifer Murphy. The jury decided upon a pair of recipients to share the first annual award and we are delighted to congratulate Eli Langer and Lisa DiQuinzio as the co-recipients.

Consignor Canadian Fine Art would like to acknowledge the generous support of Superframe on this project and their contribution to donating framing for several of the works.

Since its inception in 2013, Consignor’s live and online auctions have included headline-grabbing works such as a rare 100-year-old Tom Thomson portrait (Daydreaming, sold for $172,500), an undiscovered William Kurelek (Ukrainian Proverb, sold for $41,400), and Jack Bush’s Summer Lake broke online auction records in May 2014 for the most expensive painting by a Canadian artist to be sold at an online auction ($310,500). Consignor’s inaugural live auction event in May 2016 set the record for the highest-selling Algoma sketch by Lawren Harris, fetching $977,500, tripling the previous auction record; and most recently, its Spring 2018 live auction featured the sale of William Kurelek’s Hot Day in Kensington Market, the celebrated masterpiece more than doubling pre-sale expectation, fetching a near-record $472,000.