In recent years, independent galleries have become an increasingly (although by no means overwhelmingly) common sight on the Toronto art scene. Still, when two young artists founded the Whippersnapper Gallery in 2005, it was a highly innovative project filling a significant void in Toronto’s artist community.
As young art students at the time, Luke Correia-Damude and Patrick Struys understood the difficulties of breaking into the commercial gallery circuit. According to Correia-Damude, they saw many of their friends become discouraged by the highly selective nature of commercial venues. “We realized that there was a need for independent galleries for young artists,” he says.
Supported by friends and art lovers, the duo were able to establish the Whippersnapper Gallery. Currently located at 587A College Street, it provides emerging artists with an affordable space to display their work. The non-profit organization is run entirely by volunteer artists, and the gallery’s rental fees cover only the operational costs of exhibits. As a stark contrast to commercial galleries, which profit from steep commissions, Whippersnapper does not charge any commission on work sold from its displays. The gallery has also striven to nurture emerging talents. It grants artists extensive control over the exhibition of their work, allowing those just entering the gallery circuit to gain experience in a professional setting.
Given the gallery’s success, it comes as a surprise that the Whippersnapper staff intend to relocate to a smaller venue when the lease of the current location terminates in May. According to Correia-Damude, the move is part of a plan to restructure the gallery so that it can better meet the needs of young artists. “People are still emerging artists after the first exhibit,” he says, “[and we realized that] there wasn’t a lot of support for them.”
In order to provide emerging artists with more substantial support, the Whippersnapper staff is working to obtain “artist-run-centre status” from the provincial government. If formally recognized as such, the gallery will receive grants enabling the Whippersnapper to pay artists for their work. Government subsidies will also allow the gallery staff to concentrate on curatorial and artistic programming rather than administrative issues. They plan to narrow the focus of their exhibits and work more intensely with artists through in-house curating—a program that they believe is better suited to a smaller venue.
Whippersnapper’s relocation means that the gallery will no longer function as a rental space for the type of large-scale events that it has hosted in the past. Correia-Damude believes, however, that the gallery’s new program will prove to be of greater benefit to the artist community than the current one. “We’re not abandoning the community,” he says, “but we understand the need for subsidized programming […] we’re going from being more of a facility to being a critical support for artists.”
Whippersnapper’s latest show, the Emergence Exhibition Series, illustrates the type of elevated programming the staff intends to implement in the future. Curated entirely by the Whippersnapper collective, the series showcases the work of seven Canadian artists, all under the age of 30. “The Emergence Exhibits are a perfect example of the direction we would be going in,” says Correia-Damude. “[Their] focus is smaller, more intense.”
The second instalment of the series, scheduled to run today through Jan. 22, is thematically centred on the historical and contemporary implications of violence. It will display the work of two young artists, Amanda Nedham and Jannick Deslauriers. Nedham, an OCAD graduate whose work has been displayed in Toronto, New York, and Florence, will present the sculptural installation “Generals Always Die in Bed.” It features a custom-built torture device designed to hold an army general in place as he lies dying, forcing him to reflect on his career. Deslauriers, who teaches visual arts at Montreal’s Marie-Victorin College, will present the installation “Champs de Povot,” a large-scale war machine surrounded by a field of poppies.
In addition to the Emergence exhibits, Whippersnapper will host a final group exhibition in February, for which submissions are being accepted until Jan. 25. The gallery will continue to be available for rent until its doors close in May and the staff begin to fully pursue their plans for Whippersnapper’s new direction.
Series 2 of the Emergence Exhibition opens tonight from 7 to 11 p.m. Regular viewing hours are 1-6 p.m., Wednesday to Sunday. For more information, visit whippersnapper.ca.
