Anne Collier

Praised by Artforum for her "multilayered swirl of reality, fiction and perception" and by The New York Times for her "savvy and elegant" images, Anne Collier makes coolly analytic photographs that dare to ask how photography influences our perception. Tackling issues of gender, celebrity, perception and appropriation, Anne Collier marks the American artist's first major solo exhibition: bringing together 39 large-scale prints and 2 projections, including works from her signature "Woman with a Camera" series, the exhibition invites visitors to reconsider how we see images. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA), the exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) on September 23, 2015; running through January 10, 2016, the exhibition makes its only Canadian stop in Toronto.

Additions to this exhibition include two recent acquisitions to the AGO's growing contemporary photography collection: Clouds (2012) was purchased by the AGO with funds from The New Group, with assistance from The Contemporary Circle Fund; Collier's iconic Negative (California) (2013), meanwhile, is a promised gift to the Gallery from donors Robin & Malcolm Anthony and Donna & Robert Poile.

Born in California, Collier (b. 1970) has produced a body of work notable for its conceptual ambition. Using a manual 4-by-5-inch camera, she still embraces traditional forms of image production, using chemical processing and printing, even as she invites viewers to reconsider their use. Building upon the legacies of such artists as Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince, Collier recontextualizes images sourced from popular culture—including album sleeves, magazines, coffee-table books, Hollywood film stills and pictorial calendars—and reshoots these artifacts. Her nuanced photographs draw attention to the assumptions embedded in these objects, to the clichés and conventions of commercial photography and the lingering effects of sexism.

Anne Collier is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

Lead supporters: Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation

Generously supported by:

Liza Mauer and Andrew Sheiner The Schulich Foundation