Biography
Murray Favro was born in Huntsville, ON in 1940. He moved to London as a teenager where he studied art at H. B. Beal Technical and Commercial High School. With Jack Chambers, Greg Curnoe, Ron Martin and others, Favro was part of the generation of London artists who became nationally recognized in the 1960s. He is also well known as a founding member of the Nihilist Spasm Band, which was crucial to the development of his artistic approach.
Favro is widely regarded for his highly original exploration of invention, perception and cognition. Working in drawing, sculpture, performance and installation, Favro often incorporates slide and film projections, lighting effects, and computer and electronic technology. His work involves inquisitive play and studied observation. The everyday objects that he designs and builds raise serious questions about art, technology and the nature of representation.
Around 1965 he abandoned painting for other-than-art interests – guitars, machines, airplanes, experiments with film images and inventions. A Canada Council Arts Bursary in 1970 allowed him to devote himself to his art. That year he developed his first successful “projected reconstruction,” in which images on a slide are projected onto their wooden, white, life-sized counterparts, giving them colour, detail and identity. He later produced modified inventions (Windmill Electric Generator, 1975-76; Perpetual Motion Machine, 1976-77), evolved inventions (Propeller Engine, 1978), and material, 3-dimensional renderings of airplanes (Sabre Jet, 55% Size, 1979-83).
Known for his multi-disciplinary practice, Favro’s artwork has been the subject of a major retrospective organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1983 and in 1998 at the London Regional Art & Historical Museum. Murray Favro received the Gerhson Iskowitz Award in 1997 and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2007.
Seeking Artworks by Murray Favro
Selected Works
Murray Favro
Clunk, 1966
Murray Favro
Drive Mechanism For A Future Bike, 2011
Murray Favro
Modified Aluminium Chair, 2011
Murray Favro
My Version Of A Conventional Shaped Guitar, 2011
Murray Favro
Bicycle Chain Modification, 2017
Exhibitions
November 7 - November 30 - 2024
“A Collectors Survey”
Exhibition from Michael Gibson's personal collection paying tribute to some of the artists who he has had the privilege of knowing and representing over the past 4 decades.
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April 19 - May 15 - 2021
“ROCKSTARS”
For our Spring exhibition we have curated a show of four artists born between 1940 and 1950. All four artists were at one time represented by Carmen Lamanna Gallery and created visceral and now revered artworks. Completed[...]
MoreCurriculum Vitae
BORN
1940, Huntsville, Ontario
Lives in London, Ontario
COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Windsor
Bell Canada
Carleton University Art Gallery
McIntosh Art Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London
MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Museum London
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Oakville Art Gallery
Owens Art Gallery, Halifax
Transport Canada
Winnipeg Art Gallery
EDUCATION
1958-1962 H.B. Beal Technical and Commercial Secondary School, London, ON
1963-64 Special courses at H.B. Beal Technical and Commercial Secondary School, London, ON
SELECETED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 Lever and Wheel, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie
2010 Lathe, Lawn-Mower, Tools, Tracks & Vise, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto
2002 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto
2000 SD 40 Diesel, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto Canada
1998 Murray Favro, McIntosh Gallery & London Regional Art and Historical Museum, London, Ontario
Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1996 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1994 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1991 Carmen Lamana Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1988 Carmen Lamana Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1984 Murray Favro: A Retrospective, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada;
Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Canada; London Regional Art Gallery, London, Canada; Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredricton, Canada
1983 Murray Favro: a Retrospective, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1982 18 Preparation Drawings to Construct a 55% Scaled Sabre-Jet, Whitewater Gallery, North Bay, Canada
Sabre-Jet Under Construction, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1980 Sabre-Jet Under Construction, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1978 Murray Favro at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1977 Air Show — The Flying Flea 1976-77, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1976 Inventions 1975-76, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1975 Invention Exhibition, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada.
1974 London Survey — Murray Favro, London Public Library and Art Museum, London, Canada.
1973 Synthetic Lake 1972-73, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Murray Favro, Forest City Gallery, London, Canada.
1972 Country Road 1971-72, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1971 Sculptural Projections 1970, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1968 Art Invention, 20/20 Gallery, London, Canada
Half-Scale Sabre Jet 1964-68, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
AWARDS
2007 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts
1997 Gerhson Iskowitz Award for career achievement as an artist in Canada
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Murray Favro & Ed Zelenak, Michael Gibson Gallery, London, ON
2011 Cabinet (NGC Toronto), MOCCA, Toronto, ON (with Jenny Holzer, Eric Cameron, Walter S. Allward, Michel Campeau, Francois Bonvin, General Idea, Michael Morris, Ron Mueck, Richard Gorman, Dan Flavin & Emanuel Hahn)
2009 Projections a major survey of projection-based works in Canada, 1964 – 2007 – MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK
2008 Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines: Murray Favro and Marla Hlady, Windsor Art Gallery, Windsor, ON
Projections – Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
2007 Projections – Blackwood Gallery at University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON
Projections – Justina M Barnicke Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
Projections – A Major survey of projection-based works in Canada 1964-2007, UTAC, Toronto, ON
2005 Michael Snow & Murray Favro, Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto
2005 The Transformative Power of Art – Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2001 Oakville Galleries, Contruction ComplusionL Reconfiguring the Permanent Collection. Oakville
1998 London Regional Art and Historical Museum, Bealart: 80 Years of Experiment 1912-1992, London
Kerr Gallery, Track Records: Trains and Contemporary Photography, Calgary
1997 Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Track Records, Ottawa
Christopher Cutts Gallery, Works on Paper, Toronto
1996 Christopher Cutts Gallery, Inaugural Exhibition at 21 Morrow Avenue, Toronto
1990 L’art Bouge: un Regard sur les ‘Seventies’, Maison de la Culture Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal, Canada
Memory Works: Postmodern Impulses in Canadian Art, London Regional Art Gallery, London, Canada.
1989 Scrutiny, YYZ, Toronto, Canada.
The Curators Choose, Art Rental, Art Gallery of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1988 Thunder and Lightning, London Regional Art Gallery, London, Canada.
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Galeria Latinoamericana, La Habana, Cuba.
1987 Premier’s Office, Queen’s Park, Toronto, Canada.
1986 The Flying Show, 49th Parallel Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York, USA.
How We See — What We Say, Art Gallery of Harbourfront, Toronto, Canada.
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Focus — Canadian Art !960-1985, Art Cologne, Cologne, West Germany.
1985 The Gallery, Stratford, Canada
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1984 Quebec: 1534-1984, Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Quebec City, Canada.
Canadian Paintings and Sculptures, 49th Parallel Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York, USA.
1983 London Artist’s of the 1960’s, McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
1982 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1981 Murray Favro, Mary Janitch, David Rabinowitch, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto Canada.
1980-81 10 Canadian Artists in the 1970’s, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Stadtische Kunsthalle, Recklinghaussen, West Germany; Musee de l’Etat, Grand Duche de Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Museum Hedenaagse Kunst, Ghent, Belgium.
1980 Murray Favro, General Idea, Joseph Kosuth, Vincent Tangredi, carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Paterson Ewen, Murray Favro, Ron Martin, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1979 Carmen Lamanna Gallery at Galerie Marielle Mailhot, Galerie Marielle Mailhot, Montreal, Canada.
Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Creative Flight, The Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, Canada.
1978 3rd Dalhousie Drawing Exhibition, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Canada.
Another Dimension II, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta; Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Canada.
Murray Favro, Ian Carr-Harris, Robin Collyer, Carmen Lamanna Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1977 Carmen Lamanna Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Another Dimension, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Apercu insolite de l’art des dernieres annees Luxemburger Wort, 11 June 1981.
Audry, Rick, “Musee de l’etat: dix Canadiens de l’art moderne”
Tageblatt (Luxemburg), 10 June 1981
Baker, Kenneth, “Toronto — Murray Favro at Carmen Lamanna” Art in America, March/April 1981
Bodolai, Joe, “Murray Favro – Inventions” artscanada, April/May 1976
Borgeaud, Bernard, “Canada: Trajectories 73” Pariscop (Paris), 21 June 1973
Campbell, James, “A Full Context for Self” C Magazine, Winter 1995
Canada Trajectories 73. Paris: Musee d’art moderne de la ville de Paris, 1973.
Carmen Lamanna Gallery at Owens Art Gallery. Sackville, New Brunswick: Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, 1975
Dault, Gary Michael, “Review/ Toronto Letter” Studio International, April 1974
Dault, Gary Michael, Murray Favro, Carmen Lamanna Gallery, November”, artscanada, February 1969
Dault, Gary Micheal, “Reverie Track”, BorderCrossings, Summer 1996
Dewdney, Keewatin, “Form-Image Replicas” artscanada, August/September 1971
Engelstoft, Bertel, “Lidt Modernisme” Politiken (Denmark), 11 December 1980
Feinstein, Roni, “Opening Doors” Art in America, November 1994
Forum ’76. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1976
Friedrichs, Y., “Kunstler Aus Kanada Der 70er Jehre” Das Kunstwerk, vol.34 (1981)
Fulford, Robert, “Art on the Edge of Empire” Artnews, September 1974
Graham, Mayo. Another Dimension. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1977
Graham, Mayo, New Landscape (Multigraph). Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1974
Halasz, Piri, “Art at Rutgers, ‘A Response to Environment'” The New York Times, 23 March 1975
Harris, Marjorie, “You Should See It When It’s Working, It’s Really Great” artscanada, June 1968
Heart of London Art & Artists, January 1971
Hume, Christopher, “Favro tracks the feel of the real”, Toronto Star, March 14, 1996
James, Geoffrey, “The Heart of London” Vie des Arts, winter 1968-69
Jespersen, Gunnar, “Louisiana Viser Ti Canadiske Kunstnere” Berlingske Tidende (Denmark), 2 December 1980
Klepac, Walter, “Sculpture Today in Toronto” Vie des arts, Spring 1977
Kluyver-Cluysenaer, Margaret. Realism: emulsion and omission. Kingston: Agnes Etherington Art Centre. 1972
Kunst Bleibt Kunst. West Germany: Kunsthalle Koln, 1974
Lamy, L. “L’Art au Canada” Il Domus (Italy), November 1974
Lassen, Hellen, “Nuditskunst Fra Canada” Information (Denmark), 23 December 1980
Levesque, Jean-Jacques, “L’Art Irlandais et Canadien: les premices d’un art futur, international” Les Nouvelles Litteraire, Winter 1973
Ludewig, Joachim, “Hier Fast Undekannte Kunst” Westdeutsche Allgemeinen Zeitung (Germany), 1 February 1981
Martin, Ron, “Murray Favro at 20/20 Gallery” 20 Cents Magazine, Febuary 1968
Michel, Jacques, “Une culture enquete d’elle-meme — la trajectoire canadienne aujourd’hui” Le Monde (Paris), 6 July 1973
Motion as Another Sculptural Dimension Vanguard, December 1977/January 1978
Murray, Joan, “10 Canadian Artists in the 1970s at the Art Gallery of Ontario” Artmagazine November/December 1980
Murray Favro. London, Ontario: London Regional Art & Historical Museums; McIntosh Gallery, University of Western Ontario. 1999
Nasgaard, Roald. 10 Canadian Artists in the 1970s. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1980
Nasgaard, Roald and Wilkin, Karen. Changing Visions: The Canadian Landscape. Toronto and Edmonton: Art Gallery of Ontario and Edmonton Art Gallery
Nasgaard, Roald, “Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto, London 1973” artscanada October 1973
Nasgaard, Roald, “Toronto” artscanada, December 1973/January 1974
Neumann-Baumert, Elley, “Kanadische Kunstler In Staatsmuseum” Lux-Post (Luxemburg), 17 June 1981
Rans, Goldie, “Murray Favro” Vanguard, September 1982
Roque, G., “Une autre dimension” Parachute (Montreal), Winter 1977-78
Rozon, Rene, “Le Canada au musee d’art moderne” Vie des arts, summer 1973
Selected Sculpture London. London: London Regional Art Gallery, 1976
Smith, Brydon and Theberge, Pierre. Boucherville, Montreal, Toronto, London. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1973
26th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition. London: London Public Library and Art Museum, 1966
27th Annual Western Ontario Exhibition. London: London Public Library and Art Museum, 1967
3rd Dalhousie Drawing Exhibition. Halifax: Dalhousie University, 1978
Warnod, Jeanine, “Experiences candiennes” Figaro (Paris), 26 June 1973
Wechsler, Jeffrey. A Response to the Environment. New Jersey: Rutgers University, 1975
Wilkin, Karen, “Ten Canadian Artists — And How A Controversy Grew” Artnews, February 1981
Woodman, Ross, “London (Ont.): A New Regionalism” artscanada, August/September 1967
News
Press
Videos
Murray Favro “Lever & Wheel”
Murray Favro interviewed at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie during his Summer 2015 exhibition "Lever & Wheel"
