Murray Favro

Murray Favro is a Canadian artist who is best known for his experimental sculpture. His work has been shown widely in galleries across Ontario as well as other major Canadian cities including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Musée des Beaux-Arts (Montréal) and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton). Favro’s work is held in a number of significant Canadian collections, including the National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bell Canada, and Transport Canada. He has been a recipient of the Gershon Iskowitz Prize and the Governor General’s Award. In Toronto, Favro is represented by Christopher Cutts Gallery.  

 

Murray Favro began his artistic career as a painter.  However, in the mid-1990’s he switched his emphasis towards more experimental work. Since then, his practice has focused on instruments, machinery, and inventions. He has also explored the use of image and projection in relation to sculpture. His work plays on the boundaries between artistic production and functionality, stating that “disregard for accuracy or practicality makes the art different than science or engineering.” 

Murray Favro (b. 1940, Canada)

 

Select Solo Exhibitions

2022 Today and Yesterday, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2014 Nihilist Spasm Band, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2014 Two Decades, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2010 Lathe, Lawn-mower, Tools, Tracks & Vice, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2005 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2002 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA

2000 SD 40 Diesel, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto CA
1999 Catalogue Launch, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto CA

1998 Murray Favro, McIntosh Gallery & London Regional Art and Historical Museum, London, CA
1998 New Work, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA

1996 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA

1994 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA

1991 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1988 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1984 Murray Favro: A Retrospective, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CA

1984 Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Canada; London regional Art Gallery, London, CA
1984 Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, CA

1983 Murray Favro: a Retrospective, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, CA

1983 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

198218 Preparation Drawings to Construct a 55% Scaled Sabre-Jet, Whitewater Gallery, North Bay, CA

1983 Sabre-Jet Under Construction, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1980 Sabre-Jet Under Construction, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1978 Murray Favro at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1977 Air Show — The Flying Flea 1976-77, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1976 Inventions 1975-76, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1975 Invention Exhibition, Forest City Gallery, London, CA

1974 London Survey — Murray Favro, London Public Library and Art Museum, London, CA

1973 Synthetic Lake 1972-73, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1973 Murray Favro, Forest City Gallery, London, CA

1972 Country Road 1971-72, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1971 Sculptural Projections 1970, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1968 Art Invention, 20/20 Gallery, London, CA

1968 Half-Scale Sabre Jet 1964-68, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

 

Select Group Exhibitions

2006 Sculpture Group Show,  Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA
2002 15 Year Anniversary, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, CA

2001 Oakville Galleries, Construction Compulsion Reconfiguring the Permanent Collection. Oakville, CA

1998 London Regional Art and Historical Museum, Bealart: 80 Years of Experiment 1912-1992, London, CA

1998 Kerr Gallery, Track Records: Trains and Contemporary Photography, Calgary, CA

1997 Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Track Records, Ottawa, CA

1997 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Works on Paper, Toronto, CA

1996 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Inaugural Exhibition at 21 Morrow Avenue, Toronto, CA

1995 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Chinese New Year Show, Toronto, CA

1994 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Christmas Show, Toronto, CA

1993 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Christmas Show, Toronto, CA

1990 L’art Bouge: un Regard sur les ‘Seventies’, Maison de la Culture Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal, CA

1990 Memory Works: Postmodern Impulses in Canadian Art, London Regional Art Gallery, London, CA

1989 Scrutiny, YYZ, Toronto, CA

1989 The Curators Choose, Art Rental, Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, CA

1989 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1988 Thunder and Lightning, London Regional Art Gallery, London, CA

1988 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1988 Galeria Latinoamericana, La Habana, CU

1987 Premier’s Office, Queen’s Park, Toronto, CA

1986 The Flying Show, 49th Parallel Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York, US

1986 How We See — What We Say, Art Gallery of Harbourfront, Toronto, CA

1986 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1986 Focus — Canadian Art !960-1985, Art Cologne, Cologne, West Germany, DE

1985 The Gallery, Stratford, CA

1985 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1984 Quebec: 1534-1984, Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Quebec City, Canada.

1984 Canadian Paintings and Sculptures, 49th Parallel Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York, US

1983 London Artist’s of the 1960’s, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, CA

1982 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1981 Murray Favro, Mary Janitch, David Rabinowitch, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1980-81 10 Canadian Artists in the 1970’s, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, CA; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, DK; Stadtische Kunsthalle, Recklinghaussen, West Germany; Musee de l’Etat, Grand Duche de Luxembourg, LU; Museum Hedenaagse Kunst, Ghent, BE.

1980 Murray Favro, General Idea, Joseph Kosuth, Vincent Tangredi, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1980 Paterson Ewen, Murray Favro, Ron Martin, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1979 Carmen Lamanna Gallery at Galerie Marielle Mailhot, Galerie Marielle Mailhot, Montreal, CA

1979 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1979 Creative Flight, The Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, CA

1978 3rd Dalhousie Drawing Exhibition, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Canada.

1978 Another Dimension II, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta; Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, CA

1978 Murray Favro, Ian Carr-Harris, Robin Collyer, Carmen Lamanna Art Gallery, Toronto, CA

1977 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, CA

1977 Another Dimension, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CA

 

Art Fairs

2001 Art Forum Berlin, October 2 – 8, 2001

2000 Toronto International Art Fair, November 17 ñ 20, 2000

1999 Art Forum Berlin, September 29 – October 4, 1999

1998 Art Forum Berlin, October 1 – 4, 1998

 

Bibliography

Apercu insolite de l’art des dernieres annees Luxemburger Wort, 11 June 1981.

Audry, Rick, “Musee de l’etat: dix Canadiens de l’art moderne”

Tageblatt (Luxemburg), 10 June 1981

Baker, Kenneth, “Toronto — Murray Favro at Carmen Lamanna” Art in America, March/April 1981

Bodolai, Joe, “Murray Favro – Inventions” artscanada, April/May 1976

Borgeaud, Bernard, “Canada: Trajectories 73” Pariscop (Paris), 21 June 1973

Campbell, James, “A Full Context for Self” C Magazine, Winter 1995

Canada Trajectories 73. Paris: Musee d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1973.

Carmen Lamanna Gallery at Owens Art Gallery. Sackville, New Brunswick:

Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, 1975

Dault, Gary Michael, “Review/ Toronto Letter” Studio International, April 1974

Dault, Gary Michael, Murray Favro, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, November”, artscanada, February 1969

Dault, Gary Micheal, “Reverie Track”, BorderCrossings, Summer 1996

Dewdney, Keewatin, “Form-Image Replicas” artscanada, August/September 1971

Engelstoft, Bertel, “Lidt Modernisme” Politiken (Denmark), 11 December 1980

Feinstein, Roni, “Opening Doors” Art in America, November 1994

Forum ’76. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1976

Friedrichs, Y., “Kunstler Aus Kanada Der 70er Jehre” Das Kunstwerk, vol.34 (1981)

Fulford, Robert, “Art on the Edge of Empire” Artnews, September 1974

Graham, Mayo. Another Dimension. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1977

Graham, Mayo, New Landscape (Multigraph). Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1974

Halasz, Piri, “Art at Rutgers, ‘A Response to Environment’” The New York Times, 23 March 1975

Harris, Marjorie, “You Should See It When It’s Working, It’s Really Great” artscanada, June 1968

Heart of London Art & Artists, January 1971

Hume, Christopher, “Favro tracks the feel of the real”, Toronto Star, March 14, 1996

James, Geoffrey, “The Heart of London” Vie des Arts, winter 1968-69

Jespersen, Gunnar, “Louisiana Viser Ti Canadiske Kunstnere” Berlingske

Tidende (Denmark), 2 December 1980

Klepac, Walter, “Sculpture Today in Toronto” Vie des arts, Spring 1977

Kluyver-Cluysenaer, Margaret. Realism: emulsion and omission.

Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre. 1972

Kunst Bleibt Kunst. West Germany: Kunsthalle Koln, 1974

Lamy, L. “L’Art au Canada” Il Domus (Italy), November 1974

Lassen, Hellen, “Nuditskunst Fra Canada” Information (Denmark), 23 December 1980

Levesque, Jean-Jacques, “L’Art Irlandais et Canadien: les premices

d’un art futur, international” Les Nouvelles Litteraire, Winter 1973

Ludewig, Joachim, “Hier Fast Undekannte Kunst” Westdeutsche

Allgemeinen Zeitung (Germany), 1 February 1981

Martin, Ron, “Murray Favro at 20/20 Gallery” 20 Cents Magazine, Febuary 1968

Michel, Jacques, “Une culture enquete d’elle-meme — la trajectoire

canadienne aujourd’hui” Le Monde (Paris), 6 July 1973

Motion as Another Sculptural Dimension Vanguard, December 1977/January 19978

Murray, Joan, “10 Canadian Artists in the 1970s at the Art Gallery of

Ontario” Artmagazine November/December 1980

Murray Favro. London, Ontario: London Regional Art & Historical

Museums; McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario. 1999

Nasgaard, Roald. 10 Canadian Artists in the 1970s. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1980

Nasgaard, Roald and Wilkin, Karen. Changing Visions: The Canadian

Landscape. Toronto and Edmonton: Art Gallery of Ontario and Edmonton Art Gallery

Nasgaard, Roald, “Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto, London 1973” artscanada October 1973

Nasgaard, Roald, “Toronto” artscanada, December 1973/January 1974

Neumann-Baumert, Elley, “Kanadische Kunstler In Staatsmuseum” Lux-Post (Luxemburg), 17 June 1981

Rans, Goldie, “Murray Favro” Vanguard, September 1982

Roque, G., “Une autre dimension” Parachute (Montreal), Winter 1977-78

Rozon, Rene, “Le Canada au musee d’art moderne” Vie des arts, summer 1973

Selected Sculpture London. London: London Regional Art Gallery, 1976

Smith, Brydon and Theberge, Pierre. Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto,

London. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1973

26th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition. London: London Public Library and Art Museum, 1966

27th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition. London: London Public Library and Art Museum, 1967

3rd Dalhousie Drawing Exhibition. Halifax: Dalhousie University, 1978

Warnod, Jeanine, “Experiences candiennes” Figaro (Paris), 26 June 1973

Wechsler, Jeffrey. A Response to the Environment. New Jersey: Rutgers University, 1975

Wilkin, Karen, “Ten Canadian Artists — And How A Controversy Grew” Artnews, February 1981

Woodman, Ross, “London (Ont.): A New Regionalism” artscanada, August/September 1967

 

Collections

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

London Regional Art and Historical Museum, London

McIntosh Art Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London

Oakville Art Gallery, Oakville

Owens Art Gallery, Halifax

Transport Canada

Bell Canada

Carleton University Art Gallery

Winnipeg Art Gallery

Art Gallery of Windsor

Featured Artwork

Murray Favro

Cane

2014
33
 x 6.25
 x 1.25
 in
 (84
 x 16
 x 3
 cm)

Murray Favro

Lathe

2010
53
 x 53.5
 x 37.5
 in
 (134.5
 x 136
 x 95.5
 cm)

Murray Favro

Reflexion

2022
11
 x 15
 in
 (27.9
 x 38.1
 cm)

Murray Favro

Technical Object No. 1

c. 1990
2
 x 7
 x 8
 in
 (5.1
 x 17.8
 x 20.3
 cm)

Murray Favro

Technical Object No. 2

1991
6
 x 2.25
 x 11.75
 in
 (15.2
 x 5.7
 x 29.8
 cm)

Murray Favro

Technical Object No. 3

c. 1990
1.25
 x 1
 x 8.5
 in
 (3.2
 x 2.5
 x 21.6
 cm)

Murray Favro

Technical Object No. 3A

c. 1990
1.5
 x 1.75
 x 9.5
 in
 (3.8
 x 4.4
 x 24.1
 cm)

Murray Favro

Tracks

2001
8.6
 x 36
 x 65
 in
 (22
 x 91.5
 x 165
 cm)

Past Exhibitions

Murray Favro – Today and Yesterday
2022 Nov 26 - Jan 07
Murray Favro – Two Decades
2014 Apr 05 - 26
Murray Favro – Lathe, Lawn Mower, Tools, Tracks, & Vice
2010 Nov 13 - Dec 11
Sculpture Group Show
2006 Apr 06 - May 06
Michael Snow and Murray Favro
2005 Apr 02 - May 07

Publications

Murray Favro

Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto, London

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