TORONTO.- The fifth installment of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s ongoing Toronto Now series will feature an exhibition by local artist Laurel Woodcock. On view from December 4, 2010 to January 30, 2011 in the AGO’s free, street-front Young Gallery, Toronto Now: Laurel Woodcock features four works, all of which are being exhibited for the first time.

The exhibition incorporates the vocabulary of commercial signage—in response to what Woodcock calls the “storefront features” of the Young Gallery—to visually interpret turns of phrase, cinematic tropes, and abbreviations, often with an effect that results in obscured clarity or context.

“Laurel Woodcock is an artist whose references come from popular culture, whose modes of production come from daily life, and whose inspiration comes from the legacy of conceptual art,” says Michelle Jacques, AGO associate curator of contemporary art. “Given the growing dialogue around conceptualism in Canada both nationally and locally, it felt timely and apt to showcase Laurel’s artwork in the Toronto Now series.”

A reception to celebrate the opening of Toronto Now: Laurel Woodcock will take place in the Young Gallery on Saturday, December 4 from 3 pm to 5 pm. The Young Gallery is located next to FRANK, the AGO’s signature restaurant.

The AGO’s Toronto Now series launched in March 2010 with an aim to feature emerging and established local artists on an ever-changing basis, with new installations rotating in every two months and always on view for free. Artists previously featured include Dean Baldwin, Will Munro, and Allyson Mitchell, among others. The next installation, launching February 2011, will be organized by Toronto’s South Asian Visual Arts Centre (SAVAC).

Laurel Woodcock is an Associate Professor in the School of Fine Art at the University of Guelph, where she coordinates Extended Practices – the component of the studio program which focuses on interdisciplinary and participatory approaches to art production. She received a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, and an MFA from NSCAD in Halifax. Her work has been exhibited widely in Canada, the United States, France, England, Spain, Egypt and Scotland, and is represented in private and public collections. She lives in Toronto.