Kevin Yates

The creature, 2016,
bronze, painted wood,
249 x 76 x 43 cm

detail of The creature, 2016,
bronze, painted wood,
249 x 76 x 43 cm

One day and one night, 2016,
bronze, silk, 40.5 x 51 x 27 cm

You and I, 2016,
bronze, 21.5 x 19 x 4 cm

Usher the Fall of the House, 2013,
found dresser, wood, paint,graphite,
Plexiglas, bronze and aquarium gravel,
195 x 99 x 48.5 cm

Bird Wallpaper (Torn), 2013, 1/3,
with Robert Yates,
high-definition video installation with sound, paper,
206 x 124.5 cm

Camp Street, 2013,
bronze, painted wood,
32.5 x 23 x 19 cm

9th Street, 2013,
bronze, painted wood,
30.5 x 35.5 x 23.5 cm

Chestnut Street, 2013,
bronze, painted wood, 30.5 x 35.5 x 23.5 cm

Emma Maersk, 2012,
poplar, cast aluminum, balsa, paint, plexiglass, lamps,
270 x 80 x 238 cm

Ship in a Bottle, 2012,
bronze, glass, 21 x 45 x 15 cm

Telephone Road, 2009, edition of 2,
bronze, white metal, nylon thread, 33 x 79 x 15 cm

Napier Street Garage, 2009 and Napier Street, 2009, edition of 2, bronze, painted wood, 17 x 12 x 11 cm and 31 x 24 x 21 cm

2nd Street South, 2009, edition of 2,
bronze, painted wood, 24 x 17 x 16 cm

Tecumseth Street, 2008, edition of 3,
bronze, aluminum, cedar, LED, 124 x 40 x 20 cm

Sorry, 2008, bronze, 151 x 86 x 82.5 cm

Suitcase, 2006, beech wood, 15 x 50 x 38 cm

Untitled, 2006, beech wood, 86 x 113 x 40.5 cm

Kevin Yates

Yates has garnered a great deal of attention for his sculptural work, whether finding inspiration in a crime scene, or tracing the sense of dislocation which results from too frequent relocation. He likens his work to film stills: objects that hold space like a “pause” allowing the viewer time to examine and inspect. Yates is particularly interested in the cold relationship that exists between tragedy and the scrutiny of the viewer. His installations confound the expectation of knowing-through-seeing, setting the stage for a perpetual mystery.

1974

Born in Owen Sound, Ontario

1995

Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto

1998

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax

2001

M.F.A., University of Victoria, Victoria

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2020

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2016

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition

2013
Usher the Fall of the House
-Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
about the exhibition
-Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catharines

2012
Re:Thinking the Past, Grey Roots Museum
& Archive, Owen Sound

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

about the exhibition

2009

Alluvium, Ditch Projects, Springfield, Oregon

Recent Work, ODD Gallery, Dawson City,
Yukon

2008

HOT HAIL, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2006

This Room has no Walls, Galerie Optica,
Montréal

Dead Objects, Susan Hobbs Gallery,
Toronto

2005

Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2004

My ex-girlfriend is a slut, Robert
   McLaughlin Gallery Oshawa;
   Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery,
   Owen Sound

2002

small dead woman, Forest City Gallery,
London

New and Used, Anna Leonowens Gallery,
Halifax

small dead woman, YYZ Artist’s Outlet,
Toronto

Untitled (small dead woman), Artspeak,
Vancouver

2001

Hesitation, The Rogue Gallery, Victoria

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011

Tales to Astonish, Hallwalls Contemporary
Arts Center, Buffalo

2010
Hantise, Art Mûr, Montreal
Tales To Astonish, Cambridge Galleries,
Cambridge, Ontario
Wunder Worry, Open Space, Victoria

It Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New
Canadian Art, National Gallery of
Canada, Ottawa
2009

So Fake They’ll Think It’s Real,
Sienna Gallery, Lennox, Massachusetts

2008

Comic Relief, National Gallery of
Canada, Ottawa

duesseldorf contemporary redux,
Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

2007

Fun House, Art Gallery of Alberta,
Edmonton

Remaking the Real, Susan Hobbs Gallery,
Toronto

2006

Recent Acquisitions, Musée d’art
contemporain, Montréal

Eye Contact, Jordan Schnitzer Museum,
Eugene, Oregon

FrameWork 11/23

by Ana Ghookassian (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, November 2023

read (pdf)

FrameWork 12/20

by Alejandro Tamayo (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, December 2020

read (pdf)

FrameWork 4/16

by Edward Bacal (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, April 2016

read (pdf)

What his work boils down to

by Murray Whyte (review)

The Toronto Star, 9 April 2016

Kevin Yates

by Micaela Maftei (review)

Canadian Art, Spring 2014

Kevin Yates

by Krystina Mierins

Artillery, November 2013

read (pdf)

Kevin Yates: Strange Symmetries

by Mimi Joh-Carnella (review)

CanadianArt.ca, 18 November 2013

read (pdf)

FrameWork 9/13

by Sabrina Maher (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, September 2013

read the full text (pdf)

FrameWork 5/12

by Renée van der Avoird (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, May 2012

read (pdf)

Kevin Yates at Susan Hobbs, Toronto

by Rosemary Heather (review)

Flash Art, January/February 2010

The world in the wake of the flood

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 7 November 2009

read (pdf)

Dusseldorf Do

by Leah Sandals (review)

NOW, 17-24 July 2008

How to Review Toronto’s Art Scene in One Day or Less

by Stephanie Vegh (article)

stephanievegh.ca, 7 July 2008

visit (stephanievegh.ca)

When all hail breaks loose

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 23 February 2008

Fun House takes you through a looking glass, darkly

by Mary Christa O’Keefe (review)

Vue Weekly, 11-17 October 2007

Gallery scraps old ideas

by Susan Jones (review)

St. Albert Gazette, 22 September 2007

Not just another pile of laundry

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 24 July 2007

read (pdf)

Remaking the Real

by Claire Christie (exhibition brochure)

Toronto: Susan Hobbs Gallery, 2007

read (pdf)

Poetique de la table a pique-niquec

by Michel Hellman (review)

Le Devoir, 18-19 November 2006

Bouffee d’air

by Lyne Crevier (review)

ici, 16-22 November 2006

The tables turn

by Christine Redfern (review)

Montreal Mirror, 9-15 November 2006

Kevin Yates: Susan Hobbs Gallery

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 23 September 2006

Kevin Yates

by Kate Regan (review)

Toronto Life, September 2006

Eye Candy

by David Balzer (review)

Eye Weekly, 27 January 2005

The Big Picture

by R.M. Vaughan (review)

The National Post, 15 January 2005

Love, hate and the scary, mushy things

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 14 January 2005

A small study in American apology

by Julia Dault (review)

The National Post, 6 January 2005

Kevin Yates

by Betty Ann Jordan (preview)

Toronto Life, January 2005

Kevin Yates: Susan Hobbs Gallery

by Corinna Ghaznavi (review)

Espace Sculpture, Summer 2005

My ex-girlfriend is a slut

by Corinna Ghaznavi, Stuart Reid, and David Diviney
(exhibition catalogue)

Oshawa/Owen Sound: Robert McLaughlin Gallery/Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, 2004

Critics’ Choice

by Sarah Milroy (review)

The Globe and Mail, 12 July 2003

Generation Next

by Sarah Milroy (article)

The Globe and Mail, 10 May 2003

The art of small-scale violence

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 13 July 2002

Art by Numbers

by Peter Goddard (review)

The Toronto Star, 13 July 2002

The Nature of Serial Killers

by Bess Gabrielle Lovejoy (review)

The Stranger 13, 6-12 June 2002

Kevin Yates: small dead woman

by Lorna Brown (exhibition catalogue)

Vancouver: Artspeak, 2002