After the insanely close municipal election that just happened and all the noise that’s surrounding #gomeshigate, it seems a bit too late in the day and not all that interesting to point out that Toronto also had two art fairs running over the weekend and there was, according to some, a rivalry between the two. The bigger problem, if you ask me, was that both were scheduled against the opening of La Biennale de Montréal, which must have left some gallerists running tight travel and shipping itineraries last week. As for the commerce that went down, I have always done my best to remain oblivious to dollar values associated with the art I critiqued. After a decade of writing on the subject, I still can’t explain those numbers in a way that convinces me, let alone a sceptical reader. With that blissful ignorance my ticket out of the realm of red dots and temporary walls, I found solace, as I always do, in empty galleries where I could assess the art in peace. 
Scott Lyall (photo: Toni Hafkenscheid)
Liam Gillick is an artist I would probably think is bullshit was it not for the masterful and, dare I say, artistic way he discusses his own work. His spoken words and writing about the pavilions and architectural incursions he’s peppered throughout the globe’s most esteemed contemporary galleries are really his art object. I make a similar sort of justification regarding Scott Lyall’s difficult to get to know exhibitions, installations, and objects. Like the British braniac’s creations, they also come freighted with arcane backstories that allude to a prodigious and far reaching intellect but hint along their distant horizons at a deadpan mischievousness. How else to make sense of the seemingly solid black paintings that line the lower floor of Susan Hobbs Gallery? Particularly when you learn that they are in fact prints on glass of information translated from computer code and originating in some unidentified source. You are left staring into an opaque surface, straining to see not what is represented – that is lost in translation – but what is materially present to your eyes. In the end, their inscrutable lineage leads one to regard them as pure abstractions, all surface with only the blank wall visible faintly in the background. The dynamic is inverted upstairs with four predominantly white works that reveal hue only from the corner of your eye. The time it takes to see them is akin to James Turrell’s faint light sculptures that require a gradual adjusting of the eye away from the blinding stimulus of sunlight. Were it not for the intrigue elicited by the artist’s heavy involvement with computer code and printing processes pushed to their limits, I might not give them the time of day. As it is, Lyall has got my attention. 
Blue Republic
Art duo Blue Republic are a walk in the park compared to Lyall. Their gallery-filling exhibition a couple doors down at Georgia Scherman Projects is an anthropologist’s overload of wall drawings, found objects, collages, constructions, and works on video that cram together war, horizons, currency, stamps, water, and the signs and symbols we use to shorthand our ideas about all of the above. The front room is covered from floor to ceiling with black-lined diagrammatic illustrations decorated with graphically arranged objects like badges, coins, and bent wire. The artists’ desire to communicate is evident in the more obvious work – such as a phallic assemblage of a missile and two army helmets – as well as the simple drawings they are seen painting in water on rocks in recordings taken from cottage country. While I always enjoy working my way through the many clever details in a Blue Republic installation (the collaged electrical tape palm trees are a standout here), I’m never left wanting more. The tanks, guns, and military gear anchor this in a narrative that I’d rather be freed from. Sometimes you can show too much.
Susan Hobbs Gallery: http://www.susanhobbs.com/
Scott Lyall continues until November 22.
Georgia Scherman Projects: http://www.georgiascherman.com/
Blue Republic: Lick But Don’t Swallow continues until November 22.
Terence Dick is a freelance writer living in Toronto. His art criticism has appeared in Canadian Art, BorderCrossings, Prefix Photo, Camera Austria, Fuse, Mix, C Magazine, Azure, and The Globe and Mail. He is the editor of Akimblog. You can follow his quickie reviews and art news announcements on Twitter @TerenceDick.
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Scott Lyall at Susan Hobbs Gallery | Blue Republic at Georgia Scherman Projects
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