Donald Andrus: The Shape of Desire by Ihor Holubizky, Pan Wendt & Roslyn Rosenfeld

What is the life of an artist? When summarizing a lifetime of work, how do you choose what to include and what to leave out? If you’re lucky — or at least, forward-thinking — you might have some control over that. The Shape of Desire is exactly that: four essays examining the artist Donald Andrus’ work throughout his career, spanning his different creative periods, his inspirations and larger scale projects, and his meditations on his own career and life. The book includes the contributions of three art historians, curators, and writers, who write the introduction and first two essays, before giving way to Andrus’ reflection on his work as an artist. It is then followed by an additional essay focusing on a specific subset of Andrus’ work.

I was not familiar with Andrus’ work before reading this book, so as a newcomer, this felt like a very thoughtful, comprehensive overview. I was, as all New Brunswickers are whenever a connection is discovered, glad to learn that Andrus had taught at the University of New Brunswick and had crossed paths professionally with Molly Lamb Bobak and Bruce Bobak, two of New Brunswick’s most famous artists.

Andrus is an artist with an appreciation for “common materials,” using sheets of wood and lots of oil pastel in his work. His portrait series was stunning, while his often-wild abstracts were fascinating to look at. The Shape of Desire is populated with beautiful, high-quality reproductions of Andrus’ pieces. As a book dedicated to an artist, it’s a very fine examination of his work, his life, and his impact on art and artistry.

The Shape of Desire is populated with beautiful, high-quality reproductions of Andrus’ pieces. As a book dedicated to an artist, it’s a very fine examination of his work, his life, and his impact on art and artistry.

Ihor Holubizky is an art historian and senior curator, He has held several public gallery curatorial positions, including curator at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Since then, he has held the position of the curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia, and the Art Museum at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

Pan Wendt has been Curator of the Confederation Centre Art Gallery since 2010. Previously a freelance curator and critic, he has written for journals such as C Magazine, Fillip, and Arts Atlantic, as well as numerous catalogue and critical essays. His curated exhibitions include James Lee Byar: Letters from the World’s Most Famous Unknown Artist (2004, Mass MoCA); Colleen Wolstenholme: A Divided Room (2007, Confederation Centre Art Gallery); Funkaesthetics (2008, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery); Free Parking, Quotation, and Hank Bull: Connexion (2011, 2013, and 2015, Confederation Centre Art Gallery).

Roslyn Rosenfeld taught art history for a dozen years at the Saint John and Fredericton campuses of the University of New Brunswick. She has published reviews in Fuse and over forty reviews and features in ArtsAtlantic and has curated or written essays for eighteen exhibitions. She is the author of the award-winning monograph, Lucy Jarvis: Even Stones Have Life.

Publisher: Goose Lane Editions (February 6, 2024)
Hardcover 9″ x 9″ | 140 pages
ISBN: 9781773104102

Alison Manley

Website

Alison Manley has ricocheted between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for most of her life. Now in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she is the Cataloguing and Metadata Librarian at Saint Mary's University. Her past life includes a long stint as a hospital librarian on the banks of the mighty Miramichi River. She has an honours BA in political science and English from St. Francis Xavier University, and a Master of Library and Information Studies from Dalhousie University. While she's adamant that her love of reading has nothing to do with her work, her ability to consume large amounts of information very quickly sure is helpful. She is often identified by her very red lipstick, and lives with her partner Brett and cat, Toasted Marshmallow.