Into Focus: Cooper Cole

Your space is in Toronto. How would you describe the city's art scene?

I would best describe the art scene in Toronto as emerging. There is a growing interest in contemporary art in the city but it is still not nearly as established as cities such as London or New York.  For that reason our presence at international art fairs like Frieze is paramount to the growth of our gallery program. It's a real privilege to be the only Canadian gallery exhibiting at the fair.

Does your gallery have a specific focus or mission?

Since it's conception Cooper Cole has always has a focus on existing as part of the global art dialogue. I often describe my gallery as an art gallery in Canada rather than a Canadian art gallery.  I work to achieve this by inviting international artists to exhibit in Toronto as well as promote Canadian artists abroad through art fairs and partnerships with other galleries across the globe.

Tell us about your presentation for Focus

This year at Frieze London we are showing a group presentation featuring four emerging artists (3 Canadians and a New Zealander) who share a similar material language and who's practices are informed by measured time, geographical influences and spacial limitations. The booth installation takes form by sculptures done by Georgia Dickie and Kate Newby, photography by Andrea Pinheiro, and mixed media works by Ryan Foerster. Each of the artists has direct ties to landscape in both an urban and rural setting, and these relationships provide the conceptual basis for this presentation.

Which other galleries and artists you are excited to see at Frieze London?

Ruba Katrib and Fabian Schoeneich have organized a really strong group of galleries in the Focus section of Frieze London this year. Some of my favourites include Night Gallery from LA, Emalin from London, Misako & Rosen from Tokyo, and Proyectos Ultravioleta, from Guatemala City. Federico Vavassori from Milan has a very ambitious presentation of works by Rochelle Goldberg and Rosa Aiello. I really enjoyed The Harrison's survival works from the 1970's being shown at Various Small Fires. Hannah Black's video installation at Arcadia Missa is very special and not to be missed. A new discovery for me at the fair was Emma Hart's ceramic works at The Sunday Painter, I thought these pieces were incredible and a lot of fun.  I look forward to seeing more!