Greg Curnoe
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox artist Greg Curnoe (19 November 1936 – 14 November 1992) was a Canadian painter known for his role in the Canadian art movement labeled London Regionalism, <ref name = "Jack Chambers">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="AGO Curnoe Exhibit 2001"> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }} </ref> which, beginning in the 1960s, made London, Ontario, an important centre for artistic production in Canada. While his oeuvre chronicled his daily experience in a variety of media, it was grounded in twentieth-century art movements, especially Dada, with its emphasis on nihilism and anarchism, Canadian politics, and popular culture. He is remembered for brightly coloured works that often incorporate text to support his strong Canadian patriotism, sometimes expressed as anti-Americanism, as well as his activism in support of Canadian artists.
Early lifeEdit
Gregory Richard Curnoe was born on 19 November 1936, at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario.<ref name="Rodger 2016"> Template:Cite book</ref> He grew up with his parents, Nellie Olive (née Porter) and Gordon Charles Curnoe; his brother, Glen (born 1939); and his sister, Lynda (born 1943), in a house built for the family by his grandfather. For most of his life, Curnoe lived within five kilometres of this home in Southwestern Ontario, a peninsula surrounded by water and the United States.<ref name="Rodger 2016"/> Curnoe attended H. B. Beal Secondary School (1954–56) and the Doon School of Art (1956) before attending the Ontario College of Art (1957–60), where he failed his final year.
CareerEdit
Returning to London, Ontario, Curnoe began to work in the studio. He found meaning in popular culture and his own cultural roots that addressed the disillusion he felt with established culture after leaving art school.<ref name ="Reid 1973"> Template:Cite book </ref> He founded Region magazine in 1961 and Region Gallery in 1962. He co-founded the Canadian noise band the Nihilist Spasm Band in 1965.<ref name = "Star Obit"> Template:Cite news</ref> In 1968, Jack Chambers with the aid of Kim Ondaatje, Tony Urquhart, Curnoe and John Boyle, founded Canadian Artists' Representation to serve as a union for artists in Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name ="CBC-TV 1975"> Template:Cite news</ref> Curnoe co-founded the Forest City Gallery, an artist-run centre, in 1973.<ref name="Curnoe on Roncesvalles"> Template:Cite news </ref> He represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1976 and was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 1981, which subsequently toured across Canada.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
DeathEdit
While out on a Saturday club ride with the London Centennial Wheelers, Curnoe was killed by a distracted driver in a pickup truck that plowed into the group of seven cyclists on Highway 2, just outside Delaware, Ontario on 14 November 1992.<ref name = "Crash"> Template:Cite news</ref> He was killed and six others were seriously injured and taken to hospital.<ref name = "Crash"/> The driver was charged with four-counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, and one-count of dangerous driving causing death.<ref name="Update on charges">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name = "Driver Charged in Death"> Template:Cite news</ref> In provincial court, the driver was eventually acquitted of all charges on 13 January 1994.<ref name="Driver acquitted"> Template:Cite news </ref>