Robert Wiens

Robert Wiens (b. 1953, Leamington, ON) attended the New School of Art, Toronto (1973-74). Since 1978, his work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant (Toronto), the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge), Oakville Galleries, the Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina), the Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston) and the Art Gallery of York University (Toronto). His work has also been presented internationally in Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Bologna and New York. Permanent collections include the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University, Kingston, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Canada Council Art Bank, Bank of Montreal and TD Bank.

Since 1997 Wiens has been concerned primarily with environmental issues; native trees being the principal subject of this work.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
2021
2018
2016
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2014
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2011
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2008
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2006
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2003
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2002
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
2000
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
  • Verdure, (with Ernest Lindner, 1897-1988), Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina
  • Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound
1998
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
1996
  • Desert, Jet, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
  • White Pine, Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
1994
  • Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
1993
  • Robert Wiens: Recent Sculpture, Oakville Galleries, Oakville
  • Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke
  • Le Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette
  • Musée régionale de Rimouski, Rimouski
  • Université de Moncton, Moncton
  • Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax
1991
  • Giving Voice, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor
1990
  • Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto
  • Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay
1989
  • The Rip and the Little Boy, Or Gallery, Vancouver
1986
  • All the Work that’s to be done, Artcite, Windsor
  • Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge
  • Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto
1984
  • Sculpture, Glendon Gallery, York University, Toronto
1983
  • The Tables, YYZ, Toronto
1980
  • Passage Zone, Eye Level Gallery, Halifax
  • Site Construction, Mercer Union, Toronto
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
2020
2018
2012
  • Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco
2010
  • New Canadiana, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
  • Speak for the Trees, Friesen Gallery, Seattle
2009
  • Speak for the Trees, Friesen Gallery, Sun Valley, Idaho
  • Projections, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina
2008
  • Projections, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
2007
  • Projections, Hart House, University of Toronto, Toronto
2006
  • Micro/Macro, Gallery Stratford, Stratford
  • Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto, Scarborough
2002
  • Regarding Landscape, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto
2001
  • Paul Morris Gallery New York
  • Great Lakes, York Quay Gallery, Toronto
  • Sensing the Forest, Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery, Bronx
1999
  • The Hand, The Power Plant, Toronto
1998
  • Sustentation, Plein Sud, Longueuil, Québec
1997
  • Survey Results Show, Oakville Galleries, Oakville
  • Nickle Arts Museum Calgary
  • Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg
1994
  • Art Gallery of North York, North York
1991
  • Anni Novanta, Galleria d’Art Moderne, Bologna, Italy
  • Place/Practice, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
1990
  • Memory Works: Postmodern Impulses in Canadian Art, London Regional Art Gallery, London
  • Mississauga Civic Centre, Mississauga
  • Glenbow Museum, Calgary
1987
  • Toronto: A Play of History (Jeu d’histoire), The Power Plant, Toronto
  • Paradise Then and Now, Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto
  • Songs of Experience, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
1985
  • Subjects and Objects, MacDonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph
  • Perspective 85, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
  • Anxiety, Alienation, Aphasia, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge
1984
  • On Earth and in Heaven, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff
  • 80/1/2/3/4/Toronto: Content/Context, Mercer Union, Toronto
  • Open Space Gallery, Victoria
  • Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver
  • The New City of Sculpture, Gallery 76, Grunwald Gallery, Mercer Union, and YYZ, Toronto
  • Amsterdam—Toronto, Fodor Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Vestiges of Empire, Camden Arts Centre, London, England
1983
  • Chromaliving, The Colonnade, Toronto
1982
  • Directions: Four Artists, SL Simpson Gallery, Toronto
  • Monumenta, Joint exhibition at A Space, ChromaZone, Gallery 76, and YYZ, Toronto
1981
  • Books in Manuscript Form, Mercer Union,Toronto
1979
  • Toronto—L.A. Exchange, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Bibliography
Books:
  • The Donovan Collection, Daniel Donovan. U of T, St. Michael’s College, 2010
  • Speak for the Trees, by Andrea Friesen. Seattle: Marquand Books, 2009
  • Postmodernism in Recent Canadian Art: Ironies of Memory, Mark Cheetham. Double Talking; Toronto: ECW Press, 1992
  • Remembering Postmodernism: Trends in Recent Canadian Art, Mark Cheetham and Linda Hutcheon. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1991
Articles / Essays:
  • FrameWork 3/14, Ella Dawn McGeough . Susan Hobbs Gallery, 2014
  • White Pine Red Pine, Richard Rhodes. Canadian Art, Fall 2000
  • Carving new meanings from an old standby, Betty Ann Jordan. The Globe and Mail, 15 August, 1998
  • Free at Last or Why There’s Nothing Left to Imitate: The Almost Free Spirit in Toronto Painting and Sculpture, Donald Kuspit. C Magazine, Winter 1985
Exhibition Catalogues:
  • Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought, Dara Solomon. San Francisco: Contemporary Jewish Museum, 2012
  • New Canadiana, Jan Allen. Kingston, Ontario: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 2010
  • Sensing the Forest, Jennifer McGregor , Bronx: Wave Hill Glyndor Gallery, 2001
  • Sustentation, Brenda Wallace. Longueuil, Québec: Plein Sud, 1999
  • Robert Wiens: Desert, Jet, Jan Allen. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1996
  • Robert Wiens: Recent Sculpture, Carolyn Bell Farrell and Barbara Fischer. Oakville: Oakville Galleries, 1993
  • Robert Wiens: Giving Voice, Matthew Teitelbaum, Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor, 1992
  • Anni Novanta: The Nineties, Renato Barilli. Bologna, Italy: Galeria d’Arte Moderna, 1991
  • Toronto: A Play of History/Jeu d’Histoire, Louise Dompierre. Toronto: The Power Plant, 1987
  • Continuum: Robert Wiens, Lorne Falk. Lethbridge, Alberta: Southern Alberta Art Gallery, 1986
  • Songs of Experience, Jessica Bradley + Diana Nemiroff . Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1986
  • Perspective ’85, David Burnett. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1985
Reviews:
  • Trees to See, Leah Sandals. National Post, 5 April 2008
  • Robert Wiens: Susan Hobbs Gallery, Peter Blendell. Canadian Art, Fall 2006
  • Exhibit A: Awesome Arboreal, Gary Michael Dault. The Globe and Mail, 12 May 2006
  • Robert Wiens, Peter Blendell. Wildflower, Autumn 2002
  • Art grows in a forest, Sarah Milroy. The Globe and Mail, 6 September 2002
  • Reassembling nature’s building blocks, Gary Michael Dault. The Globe and Mail, 6 April 2002
  • A Walk in the Woods, Daniel Rothbart. NY Arts Magazine, September 2001
  • Robert Wiens at Susan Hobbs Gallery, Gary Michael Dault. The Globe and Mail, 22 Jan. 2000
  • Eclectic, electric and eccentric, Blake Gopnik. The Globe and Mail, 24 July 1999
  • Robert Wiens at Susan Hobbs Gallery, John Armstrong. C Magazine, Sept-Nov 1998
  • Robert Wiens at Susan Hobbs, Gillian MacKay. The Globe and Mail, 28 February 1998
  • Art that will make you think, Lee Parpart. The Kingston Whig-Standard, 24 February 1996
  • Robert Wiens, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Gary Michael Dault. Canadian Art, Spring 1987
  • Toronto, Robert Wiens, Richard Rhodes. Artforum, March 1987
  • Allegorical Margins, Christopher Hume. The Toronto Star, 10 May 1985
  • The New City of Sculpture, Ian Carr-Harris. Parachute, Winter 1984-85
  • A Journey around the New City of Sculpture, Marshall Webb. Canadian Art, Winter 1984
  • The New City of Sculpture, Bruce Grenville . C Magazine, Winter 1984
  • The Irony of Power, William Wood. C Magazine, Summer 1984
  • The flowering of a creative discontent, John Bentley Mays. The Globe and Mail, 17 March 1984
  • Robert Wiens, YYZ, Jeanne Randolph. Vanguard, April 1983
  • Robert Wiens, Mercer Union, Martha Fleming. Vanguard, October 1980
Collections
  • National Gallery of Canada
  • Art Gallery of Ontario
  • Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, ON
  • Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
  • University of Lethbridge Art Gallery
  • Art Gallery of Guelph
  • The Donovan Collection, University of Toronto
  • Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto
  • The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
  • Canada Council Art Bank
  • Four Seasons Hotels
  • Yabu Pushelberg, Toronto
  • TD Bank, Toronto
  • BMO Bank of Montreal