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R o b e r t    H o u l e

b. 1948, St. Boniface, Manitoba
First Nations Affiliation: Ojibwa; Saulteaux

Painter and mixed-media artist Robert Houle draws from the long and sophisticated visual tradition of First Nations cultures, demonstrating their currency in contemporary high art milieus. Houle uses new media to reinterpret traditional forms, and often deploys site-specific installation to subtly draw out elided histories. He has exhibited internationally and curated extensively, including two landmark exhibitions, New Works by a New Generation (Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1982) and Land, Spirit, Power (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 1992). He has served on the board of directors for the Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts, the Native Canadian Centre, and The Power Plant, all in Toronto. Houle is instructor of Native Studies at the Ontario College of Art, Toronto.

 

R E C E N T   E X H I B I T I O N S

1997 Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art (travelling)

Ghostwriter 2.
Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario

Cultural Imprints: Contemporary Works by First Nations Artists.
Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, British Columbia

1996 ReGrouping: A Living Legacy.
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ontario

Prairie Theism: Internalizing the Prairie Landscape.
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Pontiac's Conspiracy.
Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Where is Canada? Real Fictions.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia

1995 Notion of Conflict.
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Displaced Histories.
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Ontario

1994 Hidden Values.
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (travelling)

Premises for Self Rule.
Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

1993 Kanata: Robert Houle's Histories.
Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario

Trajectories of Meaning.
Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Ontario (travelling)

1992 Reconstructing Symbols, Deconstructing Meanings.
Howard Yezushi Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts

Symbols & Meaning: Five Native American Artists.
McIntosh Gallery, London, Ontario

Rethinking History.
Mercer Union, Toronto, Ontario

Hochelaga: A multi-media installation by Robert Houle / Hochelaga: installation multi-media de Robert Houle.
Galerie Articule, Montréal, Québec

1991 Okanata.
A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1990 Indians from A to Z.
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba (travelling)

 

S E L E C T E D  C O L L E C T I O N S

Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Burnaby Art Gallery, Burnaby, British Columbia
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec
Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario
Agnes Etherington Art Gallery, Kingston, Ontario
Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
McGill University, Montréal, Québec
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Nickle Art Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
North York Performing Arts Centre Art Gallery, North York, Ontario
Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
Univeristy of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, BC
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

 

S E L E C T E D   B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Ace, Barry, and July Papatsie. Transitions: Contemporary Canadian Indian and Inuit Art. Ottawa, Ontario: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1997.

Baele, Nancy. "Houle-Durham exhibition is a quirky pairing." The (Montréal) Gazette, 28 December 1991, p. H10.

Bell, Michael. Kanata: Robert Houle's Histories. Ottawa, Ontario: Carleton University Art Gallery, 1993. [Supplement to the exhibition, Kanata: Robert Houle's Histories, 3 January - 11 April 1993]

Canadian Museum of Civilization, ed. In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Hull, Québec: The Museum, 1993.

Cardinal-Schubert, Joane. "In the red." In Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, eds. Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, 122-133. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Charet, Paul and Andrée Charet. "Compte rendu du livre Terre, esprit, pouvoir: les premieres nations au Musée des beaux-arts du Canada." Anthropologie et societes 16, no. 3 (1992): 130-132.

Collins, Curtis J. "Defying the limits." Espace, no. 19 (March / April / May 1992): 34-36.

Collins, Curtis J. Hochelaga: A Multi-media Installation by Robert Houle / Hochelaga : installation multi-media de Robert Houle. French translation by Kathleen Fleming and Claire Pouliot. Montréal, Québec: Galerie Articule, 1992. [Exhibition held at the Galerie Articule, Montréal, 9 March - 7 June 1992]

Douglas, Susan. "Crossroads visualism: Robert Houle." Parachute, no. 80 (October / November / December 1995): 42-46.

Fabo, Andy. "Rethinking history: Beyond the valley of the other (Mercer Union, Toronto)." C Magazine 34 (Summer 1992): 36-43.

Fry, Jacqueline. "Robert Houle." Parachute, no. 64 (October / November / December 1991): 66-68.

Halpern, Sylvie. "Le peintre sans reserve." L’Actualite 11, no. 7 (July 1986): 56-62.

Henry, Victoria. "Breaking the bonds of art history: Robert Houle puts his art beyond the reach of anthropologists." Canadian Forum 68, no. 783 (November 1989): 22-23.

"Houle and the Ojibway Leaves." The Native Perspective 2, no. 10 (1978): 21-23.

"(Houle's) art-making as an act of personal and political exorcism." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 19 April 1986, p. D17.

Houle, Robert. "Faye HeavyShield: An intuitive voice." Aboriginal Voices 1, no. 4 (Fall 1994): 24-26.

Houle, Robert. Robert Houle: Indians from A to Z. Winnipeg, Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery, 1990.

Martin, Lee-Ann. The Art of Alex Janvier: His First Thirty Years, 1960-1990. Essay by Robert Houle. Thunder Bay, Ontario: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1993. [Catalogue to an exhibition held at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 19 February -  4 April 1993, and travelling to other galleries]

Nemiroff, Diana, Robert Houle, and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1992.

Podedworny, Carol. "Robert Houle: Indians From A to Z." FUSE Magazine 15, no. 1/2 (1991): 59. [Review: Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba]

"Pontiac's conspiracy." Toronto Star, 11 July 1996, p. G5.

"Reconciling cultural differences: The 'ghettoization' of Native art still angers him, but Robert Houle says his attitudes are changing." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 13 February 1990, p. A-17.

Renwick, Arthur. "Kanata: Indians as voyeurs to the 'two founding nations'." Aboriginal Voices 1, no. 4 (Fall 1994): 29-31.

Review: Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Canadian Art 10, no. 4 (Winter 1993): 63-64.

Review: Canadian Museum of Civilization. Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 29 November 1991, p. C2.

"Re-Visions: Contemporary Native art." Winnipeg Free Press, 26 September 1992, p. B6. [Review: Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba]

"Robert Houle: Indians From A to Z." Calgary Herald, 2 August 1991, p. C8. [Review: Glenbow Museum]

"Robert Houle: Indians From A to Z." Winnipeg Free Press, 17 February 1990, p. 50. [Review: Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba]

Tétrault, Pierre-Léon, Dana Alan Williams, Guy Sioui Durand, Alfred Young Man, et al. New Territories: 350/500 Years After: An Exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art of Canada. Prefaces by Robert Houle, Tom Hill. Montréal, Québec: Ateliers Vision planétaire, 1992.

"Trajectories of meaning." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 5 February 1993, p. C2. [Review: Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto, Ontario]

 

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