Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [1968-2011] (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
32.5 cm of textual records and graphic material
18 photographs
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Robert Fones (born in London, Ontario, 1949) is a visual artist, curator, writer, designer and educator. Employing a strong ethnographical and archaeological component in his work, Fones uses sculpture, painting, woodblock printmaking, typography and photography to investigate the transition from manual to industrial production, and the hidden processes and impacts of geological and cultural change within contemporary society. Since 1976 he has lived and worked in Toronto, represented variously by Carmen Lamanna
Gallery, S.L. Simpson Gallery and (currently) Olga Korper Gallery. He has exhibited at artist-run centres and public institutions throughout Canada and, internationally, in the USA and Germany. His work is held by the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario and other public and corporate collections. Fones is an active participant in the visual arts community, having served on the board of the Art Gallery of Ontario, C Magazine Foundation and the Acquisitions Committee of the Design Exchange. He curated an exhibition for The Power Plant on the work of Toronto furniture designer, Russell Spanner, and Cutout: Greg Curnoe, Shaped Collages 1965–1968 for Museum London. He has written extensively
about art and artists such as Greg Curnoe, Murray Favro, Donald Judd and John Massey. Fones has taught at OCAD University, the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto, and in the Art and Art History Program at Sheridan College. He has published numerous reviews and articles in Vanguard, C Magazine, Parachute and other publications, published several artist books, participated in several poetry readings across the country; and undertaken several design and public art projects. He received the Toronto Arts Award in 1999 and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2011.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Series is comprised of the business and professional files of Robert Fones. It includes grant applications, awards, income tax returns, and documents relating to the sales and exhibition of his work as well as the publication of his writing. Of note is 21 years of correspondence with Carmen Lamanna, Robert Fones’ first Toronto art dealer from 1970 to 1990, and with S.L Simpson Gallery, which subsequently represented Robert Fones. It also includes correspondence and agreements with regard to his art related teaching career.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Further accruals expected
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open. Access to Special Collections is by appointment only. Please contact the reference desk for more information.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is held by the creator. Copyright belonging to other parties may still rest with the creator of these items. It is the researcher’s responsibility to obtain permission to publish any part of this fonds.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
File titles supplied by artist, except as noted. Files arranged in alphabetical order. Documents arranged in chronological order within files where possible. Dates determined by archivist based on contents of files.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English