Phil Lind as an art collector
There is a separate exhibition space now on the second floor of the AGO showcasing the art that the late Phil Lind left to the gallery in his will. Lind was one of the key Rogers executives and a rare art connoisseur among Canada’s corporate elite. Unlike a lot of collectors of his calibre, he actually lived surrounded by the art that he purchased; the excellent monograph accompanying the exhibition contains photographs of some of this art in its domestic habitat, the Lind family’s midtown Toronto home and the converted mill on the Rocky Saugeen River, south of Owen Sound.
Lind started collecting in the 1980s, later developing close ties with a number of art advisors, curators and galleries in BC and here. He was a big devotee of the Vancouver School of photography and followed the work of Rodney Graham, Jeff Wall and Stan Douglas all of his life. In later years, he looked abroad, met gallerists and artists, and acquired works by Antony Gormley, William Kentridge and Philip Guston, among others. He was a regular at German art fairs.
American painter Philip Guston was the most unusual encounter for me in that room: I just couldn’t move away from the set of childish-looking drawings in charcoal, ink and acrylic. The ‘hoods’, recurring characters in his work from this period, initially had a straightforward link to the thugs the KKK and the lower impulses as well as the masking of the lower impulses - but the hoods, and the disembodied heads in general, eventually came to represent the artist himself and his inner states.
Light Years: The Phil Lind Gift will be in one place until November, after which the works will be merged with the existing Canadian, American and individual artist collections within the AGO. It absolutely should be experienced in one place, as a record of a sophisticated and witty taste, and perhaps an unexpected psychological portrait of a powerful business executive. I giggled when I spotted the John McCracken blue plank leaning against the wall. (McCracken does these super-polished minimalist obelisks in clean geometrical shapes that few people get.) Can you imagine the questions from the house guests?
There is a degree of vulnerability too here on display, and that is what art is for, to help us understand who we are and who other people who are not us are. This is also quite a bro-ish collection, but I mean this as praise. When was the last time you met a sophisticated straight male art collector with a keen interest in (it just so happens) male artists, Canadian or otherwise? It’s usually the wives of wealthy men who do these things: collect, cultivate friendships in the art world, have lunches, donate, sponsor things. Lind was a straight guy who adored his favourite artists the way a lot of men adore their sports teams or the golf course. (The amount of golf the men of his generation and income play…) I loved that he found the artists that he connects with, and followed their work. Visual arts too might see ‘male flight’, the phenomenon kinda happening in fiction publishing in the anglo-world and even in tertiary education. Men, stay put. There is a lot for you to enjoy (and potentially fund!) in the art world. Put aside the XBox / darts / golf club / paddle / steering wheel / cycling gloves for a minute. For Phil Lind, visual arts were an essential component of the good life. And if it’s only some male artists that speak to you, that is perfectly fine. Enjoy those.
The book on Light Years by Adam Welch, btw, which can be grabbed from the AGO shop on the way out, is well worth the purchase. Its pages also show more items from the Phil Lind Estate than are on display in this particular gallery space, works which may resurface in later exhibitions at the AGO.
Coda: After I tweeted about the exhibit, playwright Michael Healey asked if that’s the same Phil Lind of the Rogers Empire etc. and in the course of our exchange it transpired that he is working on a play about the Rogers family and “Canadian competition regulations”. Am I hopelessly nerdy for looking forward to this? I hope Phil features as a character.
One more thing on the topic of men
I wrote here before about the art forms which allow men to finally start talking about their embodied life; some of you will remember these Dionysus vs Apollo musings from the Evan Penny exhibit a couple of months ago. Not sure if Lind knew of Penny, but I can see how his work would not be to his taste. Too Real? Looking a little too closely?
But I get a kick out of hearing or reading men speaking honestly about their embodiment (exactly the opposite of presuming you are the default human being capable of transcending the body). I found myself laughing out loud on my own while listening to this conversation between Martin Sheen and Richard Herring of the RHLSTP comedy podcast. I think you’ll know which segment is particularly hysterical if you give it a listen.
And elsewhere on Substack, an extraordinary read on the physicality (you could say, if so inclined, the phenomenology) of working in building construction.