Barbara Astman
Barbara Astman creates photographic series that target the personal world through recollection or revelation. Her early work responds to contemporary issues by incorporating humor and stereotype. Her oversize photographs from the early 1980s are striking in their bold, unusual use of color and scale.
Throughout her career, Astman pioneered the artistic use of both analogue and digital reproduction techniques. She is among the first to discover and explore the technological practices and concepts that are key signifiers in contemporary art.
Born in Rochester NY, Astman studied at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the late 1960s when multimedia practices were the hotbed for artistic innovation. Astman came to Canada in 1970 during the wave of draft dodgers from the Vietnam War. Since the mid 1970s she has been a professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. She is represented in important public, corporate and private collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Deutche Bank, New York; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Her artist’s archives are held in the E.P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, AGO.
Astman has an extensive and prestigious solo exhibition history, most recently the two-part Looking: Then and Now (Corkin Gallery, 2016) and Barbara Astman: I as artifact. The latter featured a new series accompanied by a comprehensive publication (McIntosh Gallery, 2014). In May 2011, her installation, Dancing with Che: Enter through the Gift Shop (Kelowna Art Gallery, 2013) toured across Canada. And her touring retrospective, Barbara Astman: Personal/Persona – A 20 Year Survey, was curated by Liz Wylie (Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1995). Astman has been included in major group exhibitions, such as: Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971-1989 (AGO, 2016), Living Building Thinking: Art and Expressionism (McMaster Museum of Art, 2016), Look Again: Colour Xerography Art Meets Technology (AGO, 2015), Herland (60 Wall Gallery, New York, 2014), Light My Fire Part I: Some Propositions about Portraits and Photography (AGO, 2013), and Beautiful Fictions (AGO, 2009). Canadian Art featured a profile of her career in its Spring 2014 issue.
Astman was commissioned to create an installation for the inaugural exhibition at the Koffler Gallery (Toronto, 2013). She has completed several public art commissions, including the Murano on Bay in Toronto, comprised of 217 windows with photo-based imagery (2010); a public art installation for the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, Germany (2005); and a floor installation for the Calgary Winter Olympics (1987).
Active in the Toronto arts community, Astman has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, including the AGO Board of Trustees (2009-2013). Currently, she is the Chair of the Art Advisory Committee, Koffler Gallery, Toronto and President, Board of Directors, Prefix (ICA) Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto. In addition, she has co-curated an installation titled The Emergence of Feminism: Changing the Course of Art, featuring work by Joyce Wieland, Suzy Lake and Lisa Steele (AGO, 2008).
Between Life and Light
45th Anniversary Photography Show2 Nov 2024 - 19 Jul 2025The University of Toronto is honouring Jane Corkin with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in recognition of her excellence in the arts as a visionary gallerist, pioneering interpreter of photography...Read moreBarbara Astman
Woven Stories7 Oct - 11 Nov 2023Corkin Gallery is delighted to present 'Woven Stories,' an exhibition by Barbara Astman. Building on Astman's keen interest in translating and comprehending our consumption of images, the artist introduces a...Read moreArtists Across Generations
17 Dec 2022 - 20 Apr 2023This exhibition brings the breadth of our international roster - ranging from local artists including Christian Butterfield and Gina Rorai to international artists Frank Mädler and Andrés Marroquín.Read moreWhat happens in silence
29 Jun - 3 Sep 2022Ann Agee | Young-Il Ahn | Barbara Astman | Vincent Barré | Virgil Baruchel | Lynda Benglis I Brassaï | Christian Butterfield | Sarah Charlesworth | Michelle Forsyth | Lily Cox-Richard | Kyungah Ham | André Kertész | Brendon McNaughton | Frank Mädler | Larry Poons | Gina Rorai | Grit Schwerdtfeger | David Urban | Zulu CultureRead more
"What happens in silence' brings together artists who reference notions of the sacred. These artists re-envision cultural icons by pushing the limits of mediaI am my own muse
A century of women in photography30 Apr - 18 Jun 2022Sophie Taeuber-Arp | Diane Arbus | Barbara Astman | Claude Cahun | Michelle Forsyth | Dorothea Lange | Sondra Meszaros | Lisette Model | Sarah MoonRead more
I am my own muse brings together the work of women artists who look to themselves and other women as a means of social commentary. Issues of gender, identity, beauty, and fashion are explored over the span of the last century, as contemporary artists are presented alongside pioneers of the photographic art form.Accidental Geometries
9 Oct - 19 Dec 2020From mediums as diverse as photography, painting, drawing and sculpture, Corkin Gallery presents the exhibition Accidental Geometries with work by artists: Barbara Astman, Virgil Baruchel, Christian Butterfield, Jota Castro, Jeff...Read moreWhen the sun departs for a new horizon
14 Sep - 21 Nov 2019Barbara Astman, Constantin Brancusi, Brassaï, Jota Castro, Jeff Chiu, Michelle Forsyth, Yakov Gakkel, Miles Gertler, Elisa Julia Gilmour, Thaddeus Holownia, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, André Kertész, Frank Mädler, Carol Marino, Andrés...Read moreDesire
30 Mar - 21 Apr 2018Group exhibition exploring themes of intimacy, fetish, gender and sexuality.Read moreBarbara Astman
Then and Now II1 - 31 Oct 2016Read moreBarbara Astman
I As Artifact2 Sep - 22 Oct 2015Read moreOn Architecture And Structure
20 Nov 2014 - 11 Feb 2015On Architecture and Structure includes artists whose work either relates to wood and the architectural element, or uses structure as grounds for exploration and discourse. This exhibition will include works...Read moreBarbara Astman
It's All About Style25 Jan - 31 Mar 2014Read moreBarbara Astman
Dancing with Che19 Jun - 17 Aug 2013Read more
Prefix - Georgiana Uhlyarik
Georgiana Uhlyarik, Prefix Photo, May 1, 2020Frieze.com - Sara Knelman
Sara Knelman, Frieze , June 3, 2016Canadian Art - Georgiana Uhlyarik
Georgiana Uhlyarik, Canadian Art, June 6, 2014Toronto Star - Murray Whyte
Murray Whyte, Toronto Star, November 18, 2013NOW Magazine - Fran Schechter
Fran Schechter, NOW Magazine, August 23, 2012The Globe and Mail - James Adams
James Adams, The Globe and Mail, January 21, 2011Glossi Mag: Woven Stories: Image consumption through the eyes of artist Barbara Astman by Stefanie Beattie
Barbara Astman curates at Koffler Arts
May 22, 2025Elinor Carucci and Hannah Altman , May 29 to Aug 7 , Koffler Arts Barbara Astman , as curator, pairs Elinor Carucci with Hannah Altman....Read moreBarbara Astman Exhibition, "CONCEALED/REVEALED"
May 22, 2025CONCEALED/REVEALED at Paul Kyle Gallery in Vancouver Gives viewers a full range of Astman's work over the past decades going from the 1980s to some...Read moreBarbara Astman featured at AGO
May 22, 2025Recuerdo: Latin American Photography, on at the AGO until October 19 Recuerdo explores latin American culture through photography from Argentina to Mexico, with photographs dating...Read moreBarbara Astman featured in "Stitched: Merging Photography and Textile Practices"
May 22, 2025Until June 21 at the Smith Foundation , North Vancouver Woven Stories by Barbara Astman is featured alongside other artists to explore the relation between...Read moreThe National Gallery of Canada celebrates Barbara Astman
May 11, 2024The National Gallery of Canada exhibits the Governor General Award winners, including Barbara Astman. The exhibition will run November 15, 2024 — March 23, 2025....Read morePhotography in Canada features Barbara Astman and Thaddeus Holownia
May 9, 2024Photography in Canada, 1839–1989 : An Illustrated History, a new comprehensive book about Canadian photography, features Barbara Astman and Thaddeus Holownia. Written by art historians...Read moreBarbara Astman, winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, 2024
March 6, 2024Corkin Gallery is delighted for Barbara Astman, winner of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, 2024. This award is the most prestigious...Read moreBarbara Astman in group exhibition at the Koffler Centre of the Arts
February 7, 2024DECADE opens February 22 and runs until May 12 at the Koffler Centre of the Arts. Group exhibition featuring: Ruth Adler / Barbara Astman /...Read moreArtforum, Critics’ Picks: Barbara Astman "Woven Stories"
October 20, 2023“Astman’s capacious work is suffused with all manner of tension: between subject and object, digital and analog, abstraction and figuration, painterly movement and sculptural heft,...Read more
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