Staff memo. I was happy to participate in this project.
As some of you may have noticed, there is currently artwork being installed in our four City Hall ground floor meeting rooms (A, B, C and D). This installation is a continuation of our partnership with the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. As part of the agreement with the City, the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre provides artworks from its collection for hanging in public spaces within City Hall, and so this spring and summer we are adding artworks to the four meeting rooms.
All four rooms will feature work by Guelph artist Greg Denton. anyone lived… (2000) is a series of 400 portraits on canvas commissioned by the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre that explores the relationship between individuality and community. Denton made a total of 400 portraits, painted from life, each in a single session, under the same lighting conditions, and with the same compositional format. The portraits are arranged chronologically, in grid formation, spanning the course of one year. No painting was retouched or revised after a session was completed, nor were any paintings discarded from the sequence.
I understand that each of the individuals featured in the portraits is from Guelph, and so you may well recognize some of them. I encourage you to check them out when you have a moment or if you’re hosting a meeting in one of those rooms.