Ron Benner (born 1949)[1] is an internationally recognized Canadian artist whose longstanding practice investigates the history and political economics of food cultures. He is also a gardener and writer who currently lives and works in London, Ontario.[2]
Early life and career
Ron Benner studied agricultural engineering for one year at the University of Guelph (1969–70). Finding himself ethically opposed to bioengineering, he began to travel and research the politics of food, and work as an artist in London, Ontario.
From 1975 through 1981, Ron was a member of the Forest City Artists' Association, and was manager of the
Forest City Gallery in 1980–81. In 1983 he co-founded the Embassy Cultural House and served on the board until 1990. Co-organized the Mérida/London exchange (1980/81), as well as the Havana/London exchange (1988). In 1989 he was an artist/observer of the 3rd
Havana Biennial.
In 2010 he was appointed Adjunct Research Professor in the Visual Arts Department,
Western University.[3][2]
Ron's photographic garden installations have been installed in locations across Canada and in Salamanca and Sevilla, Spain. Involved with long-term and immersive research and physical investigation, these photos and species trace back the colonial history, militarization of food, and map plants' economic and aesthetic values.
2019 Trans/mission: Barley – Corn – Maize, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Bowmanville, ON, a year-long site-specific installation responding to the architecture and history of the former barley mill, curator Sandy Saad[5]
2017- Trans/mission: Native to the Americas, permanent photographic/garden installation, sunken garden of the Wilfrid Laurier Library, organized by the Robert Langen Art Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON[6]
2017 Transend: Meeting Room, Robert Langen Art Gallery,
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, curator Suzanne Luke[6]
2016/17 Trans/mission: 101, photographic/garden installation,
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, ON, curator Crystal Mowry presented in concert with CAFKA 16 (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener Area)[7]
2015 Ron Benner: 3 Questions, McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON, curator Julian Haladyn[8]
2015 All That Has Value, 3 guerrilla garden installations, in collaboration with CUPE, London, ON
2013 Insubstantial Equivalence, photographic/garden installation, curator Peter Dykhuis, on the university campus in partnership with the agricultural faculty and the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS[10]
2012-15 Cuitlacoche – Your Disease Our Delicacy, photographic/garden installation, curator Su Ying Lee, Hart House and Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON[11]
2010 /10, photographic/garden installation, curator Vicky Chainey Gagnon, site project on campus,
Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Québec[12]
2005- As the Crow Flies, photographic/water garden installation,
Museum London, London, ON[14]
2005-09 Trans/mission: Still Life, photographic/garden installations, co-ordinated through McIntosh Gallery, Western University, Grosvenor Lodge, London, ON
2005 Trans/mission: Pineapple Vectors,Telegraph House, Port Stanley, ON
1997/01 The Commodification of Life, public project, Ontario New Democratic Party Convention,
Hamilton Convention Centre, Hamilton, Ontario.
1997 In Digestion - Recent Acquisitions, London Regional Art & Historical Museums, London, Ontario.
1996/95 All That Has Value, national touring exhibition: McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario and Covent Garden Market, London, Ontario; Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan. Curated by Peter White.[17][18]
2016 Toronto: Tributes and Tributaries, 1971-1989, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, curator
Wanda Nanibush[24]
2016 A Line Has Two Sides, Faculty and Staff Exhibition, Art Lab, Western University, London, ON, curator Susan Edelstein
2015 The Second Silk Road International Festival, Xi'an, China
2015 The Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art: The Inside and Outside of Being,Today Art Museum, Beijing, China[25]
2014 The World is a Garden while the Walls are the State, Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner, A Space Gallery, Toronto, curator Vicky Moufawad-Paul[26]
2014 The Transformation of Landscape Art in Canada: The Inside and Outside of Being, curators Zhou Yan and Yang Chao, off-site project, Great Tang All Day Mall, Xi'an Art Museum, Xi'an, China[27]
2014 Futurity & Photography, Westland Art Gallery, London, ON, curator Troy Ouellette
2014 Resistance, Manif d'art 7, Quebec City Biennial, off-site project in bus shelters in two locations in Quebec City, curator, Vicky Chainey Gagnon
2013 Sample, Faculty and Staff Exhibition, curator Susan Edelstein, Art Lab, University of Western, London, ON
2013 The World is a Garden, 2 person exhibition with Jamelie Hassan, Biblioteca Andrés Henestrosa, Oaxaca, Mexico, curator Freddy Aguilar
2012 Bread & Butter, Jackman Humanities Institute/Hart House, University of Toronto, ON, curator Sandy Saad in collaboration with Barbara Fischer[28]
2012 Place Markers:Mapping Locations and Probing group exhibition,
Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS, curator Peter Dykhuis
2011 Windsor Biennial, curator Ian Baxter, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON
2011 Where will you be in eternity? Thielsen Gallery, London, ON
2010 Nuit Blanche Retrospective, Bank of Nova Scotia Building, Toronto, ON
2010 Growing Histories,Foreman Art Gallery, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Québec, curator Genevieve Chevalier and Vicky Chainey Gagnon
2010 Natural.Disaster, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, curator Jessica Wyman
2006 – 08 Orientalism & Ephemera, curator Jamelie Hassan, Art Metropole, Toronto, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor; Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa; Centre A Gallery, Vancouver, BC.; Art Gallery of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask.
2007 Bordercases: The Wall, The Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON
1998 Foodculture (Transmission: Corn Vectors), ArtLab project, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. Curated by Barbara Fischer.[34]
1997 Southwest Biennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Curated by Robin Metcalfe
1997 Track Records: Trains and Contemporary Photography, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario in collaboration with Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa. Curated by Marnie Fleming.[35]
1995 AGW Southwest Biennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Guest juror: Jessica Bradley.
1995 Artists' Gardens, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.[36]
1994 Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
1994 Artists' Gardens, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.[36]
Ron Benner (born 1949)[1] is an internationally recognized Canadian artist whose longstanding practice investigates the history and political economics of food cultures. He is also a gardener and writer who currently lives and works in London, Ontario.[2]
Early life and career
Ron Benner studied agricultural engineering for one year at the University of Guelph (1969–70). Finding himself ethically opposed to bioengineering, he began to travel and research the politics of food, and work as an artist in London, Ontario.
From 1975 through 1981, Ron was a member of the Forest City Artists' Association, and was manager of the
Forest City Gallery in 1980–81. In 1983 he co-founded the Embassy Cultural House and served on the board until 1990. Co-organized the Mérida/London exchange (1980/81), as well as the Havana/London exchange (1988). In 1989 he was an artist/observer of the 3rd
Havana Biennial.
In 2010 he was appointed Adjunct Research Professor in the Visual Arts Department,
Western University.[3][2]
Ron's photographic garden installations have been installed in locations across Canada and in Salamanca and Sevilla, Spain. Involved with long-term and immersive research and physical investigation, these photos and species trace back the colonial history, militarization of food, and map plants' economic and aesthetic values.
2019 Trans/mission: Barley – Corn – Maize, Visual Arts Centre of Clarington, Bowmanville, ON, a year-long site-specific installation responding to the architecture and history of the former barley mill, curator Sandy Saad[5]
2017- Trans/mission: Native to the Americas, permanent photographic/garden installation, sunken garden of the Wilfrid Laurier Library, organized by the Robert Langen Art Gallery, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON[6]
2017 Transend: Meeting Room, Robert Langen Art Gallery,
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, curator Suzanne Luke[6]
2016/17 Trans/mission: 101, photographic/garden installation,
Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, ON, curator Crystal Mowry presented in concert with CAFKA 16 (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener Area)[7]
2015 Ron Benner: 3 Questions, McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London, ON, curator Julian Haladyn[8]
2015 All That Has Value, 3 guerrilla garden installations, in collaboration with CUPE, London, ON
2013 Insubstantial Equivalence, photographic/garden installation, curator Peter Dykhuis, on the university campus in partnership with the agricultural faculty and the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS[10]
2012-15 Cuitlacoche – Your Disease Our Delicacy, photographic/garden installation, curator Su Ying Lee, Hart House and Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON[11]
2010 /10, photographic/garden installation, curator Vicky Chainey Gagnon, site project on campus,
Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Québec[12]
2005- As the Crow Flies, photographic/water garden installation,
Museum London, London, ON[14]
2005-09 Trans/mission: Still Life, photographic/garden installations, co-ordinated through McIntosh Gallery, Western University, Grosvenor Lodge, London, ON
2005 Trans/mission: Pineapple Vectors,Telegraph House, Port Stanley, ON
1997/01 The Commodification of Life, public project, Ontario New Democratic Party Convention,
Hamilton Convention Centre, Hamilton, Ontario.
1997 In Digestion - Recent Acquisitions, London Regional Art & Historical Museums, London, Ontario.
1996/95 All That Has Value, national touring exhibition: McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario and Covent Garden Market, London, Ontario; Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan. Curated by Peter White.[17][18]
2016 Toronto: Tributes and Tributaries, 1971-1989, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, curator
Wanda Nanibush[24]
2016 A Line Has Two Sides, Faculty and Staff Exhibition, Art Lab, Western University, London, ON, curator Susan Edelstein
2015 The Second Silk Road International Festival, Xi'an, China
2015 The Transformation of Canadian Landscape Art: The Inside and Outside of Being,Today Art Museum, Beijing, China[25]
2014 The World is a Garden while the Walls are the State, Jamelie Hassan and Ron Benner, A Space Gallery, Toronto, curator Vicky Moufawad-Paul[26]
2014 The Transformation of Landscape Art in Canada: The Inside and Outside of Being, curators Zhou Yan and Yang Chao, off-site project, Great Tang All Day Mall, Xi'an Art Museum, Xi'an, China[27]
2014 Futurity & Photography, Westland Art Gallery, London, ON, curator Troy Ouellette
2014 Resistance, Manif d'art 7, Quebec City Biennial, off-site project in bus shelters in two locations in Quebec City, curator, Vicky Chainey Gagnon
2013 Sample, Faculty and Staff Exhibition, curator Susan Edelstein, Art Lab, University of Western, London, ON
2013 The World is a Garden, 2 person exhibition with Jamelie Hassan, Biblioteca Andrés Henestrosa, Oaxaca, Mexico, curator Freddy Aguilar
2012 Bread & Butter, Jackman Humanities Institute/Hart House, University of Toronto, ON, curator Sandy Saad in collaboration with Barbara Fischer[28]
2012 Place Markers:Mapping Locations and Probing group exhibition,
Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, NS, curator Peter Dykhuis
2011 Windsor Biennial, curator Ian Baxter, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON
2011 Where will you be in eternity? Thielsen Gallery, London, ON
2010 Nuit Blanche Retrospective, Bank of Nova Scotia Building, Toronto, ON
2010 Growing Histories,Foreman Art Gallery, Bishop's University, Sherbrooke, Québec, curator Genevieve Chevalier and Vicky Chainey Gagnon
2010 Natural.Disaster, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, curator Jessica Wyman
2006 – 08 Orientalism & Ephemera, curator Jamelie Hassan, Art Metropole, Toronto, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor; Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa; Centre A Gallery, Vancouver, BC.; Art Gallery of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Sask.
2007 Bordercases: The Wall, The Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON
1998 Foodculture (Transmission: Corn Vectors), ArtLab project, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario. Curated by Barbara Fischer.[34]
1997 Southwest Biennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Curated by Robin Metcalfe
1997 Track Records: Trains and Contemporary Photography, Oakville Galleries, Oakville, Ontario in collaboration with Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa. Curated by Marnie Fleming.[35]
1995 AGW Southwest Biennial, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. Guest juror: Jessica Bradley.
1995 Artists' Gardens, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.[36]
1994 Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
1994 Artists' Gardens, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario.[36]