About
Monica Tap uses landscape to consider questions of time and history, technology and memory. Her paintings are arrangements assembled from fragments including outtakes from painting's history, elements from her own snapshots, colour notes, and memory, with each work operating as both an invention and a response to place.
Tap earned a BFA and MFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax. She has had solo exhibitions at MKG127, Toronto; Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York; Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina; and Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at Remai Modern, Saskatoon; the Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C.; The Painting Center, New York; Oakville Galleries; and Gallery Roy, Germany, among others.
Her work is held in public and private collections including the McMichael Collection of Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Gallery of Hamilton, and the Würth Collection, Germany. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Guelph and lives and works in Toronto.
Biography
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CURRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum Vitae
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Born 1962, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Lives and works in Toronto, ON, Canada
Lives and works in Toronto, ON, Canada
Education
1996
Master of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
1990
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Everything is going to have to be put back / MKG127 / Toronto, ON
2023
Each thing, in its own way / Peter Robertson Gallery / Edmonton, AB
2022
Community Gardens / Pierre-Francois Ouelette Art Contemporain / Montreal, QC
2022
Rocks Water Trees / MKG127 / Toronto, ON
2019
A Place in the Country / MKG127 / Toronto, ON
2018
Arrangement / Peter Robertson Gallery / Edmonton, AB
2016
Green Thumb / MKG127 / Toronto, ON
2014
Teufelsmoor and other haunts / Gallery Stratford / Stratford, ON
2014
Paseo / MKG127 / Toronto, ON
2014
the pace of days / MacDonald Stewart Art Centre / Guelph, ON
2012
Road work / String Gallery / Wells College, Aurora, NY
2012
Six ways from Sunday / Wynick Tuck Gallery / Toronto, ON
2011
Road Trip / Peter Robertson Gallery / Edmonton, AB
2008
Views from the Train: One-second Hudson and other works / McLaren Art Centre / Barrie, ON
2007
Séance / Margaret Thatcher Projects / New York, NY
2007
Grand River Chronicles: Séance / Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery / Kitchener, ON
2000
Field work / The Painting Center / New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
2024
2024
Nancy Lowry: Colour in Place / Remai Modern / Saskatoon, SK
When the Sky Turns Pink (Experimental animation screening) / Kunsthalle / Bremen, Germany
2023
2020
A New Light – Canadian Women Artists / Canadian Embassy / Washington, DC
2020
'eigenlicht bin ich ganz anders' / Galerie Roy / Zülpich, Germany, curator: Heike Kati Barath
2019
Abstract Networks: Luce Meunier, Sarah Rooney, Monica Tap / Karsh-Masson / Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2016
13 Most Beautiful / Cydonia Gallery / Dallas, TX
2015
Beyond the Pines: Homer Watson and the Contemporary Canadian Landscape / Art Gallery of Mississauga / Mississauga, ON
2015
Running on Empty / Robert McLaughlin Gallery / curator: Heather Nicol / Oshawa, ON
2014
Crossover / Boston Cyberarts Gallery / Boston, MA
2013
STAG / Dispari & Dispari Projects / Reggio Emilia, Italy
2013
Auto-Motive: The View from the Windshield / Oakville Galleries / Oakville, ON
2012
60 Painters / curator: Scott Sawtell / Toronto, ON
2011
Another Roadside Abstraction: David Garneau and Monica Tap / Dunlop Art Gallery / Regina, SK
2010
Sequence and Passage: Mara Korkola and Monica Tap / Cambridge Art Galleries / Cambridge, ON
2010
Art School Dismissed / curator/producer: Heather Nicol / Toronto, ON
2009
Unnatural: Michel Daigneault and Monica Tap / Rodman Hall / St Catharines, ON
2006
Pulse: Abstract Painting and Film / Mount St Vincent University Art Gallery / Halifax, NS
2003
The Big Abstract Show / The Painting Center / New York, NY
2003
Painting!, University Art Gallery / Central Michigan University / Mount Pleasant, MI
Selected Publications: Catalogues
2023
McKay, Sally / Monica Tap's Shifting Practice of Perception / Peter Robertson Gallery (online)
2021
Baumkötter, Stephan / Heike Kati Barath and Kathrin von Maltzahn / Endlose Horizonte (Endless Horizons) / artist's book of pandemic-drawings
2015
Nicol, Heather / Running on Empty / Robert McLaughlin Gallery
2014
Ritchie, Christina and Barry Schwabsky / the pace of days / MacDonald Stewart Art Centre / Guelph, ON
2013
Fleming, Marnie / Auto-Motive: The View from the Windshield / Cambridge Galleries / Cambridge, ON
2011
Nye, Jeff and Robert Enright / Another Roadside Abstraction / Dunlop Art Gallery / Regina, SK
2010
Hartland-Rowe, Sara / Sequence and Passage / Cambridge Art Galleries / Cambridge, ON
2010
Smith, Pete / Unnatural / Rodman Hall / St Catharines, ON
2008
Beveridge, Sarah / One-second Hudson / McLaren Art Centre / Barrie, ON
2007
Brower, Matthew / "Medium" in Séance / Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery / Kitchener, ON
Selected Collections: Articles & Reviews
2024
Weschler, Lawrence / Some thoughts (and resonances) on the eve, no matter what, of a new world / Substack / October 31, 2024: Issue #79
2022
Donovan, Fr. Daniel / "The Donovan Collection: Between Summer and Winter" / St Michael's Magazine / Fall Winter 2022 / pp 42–43
2020
Dundas, Deborah / Two views and a new way of seeing / Toronto Star / August 15, 2020
2019
O'Quinn, Daniel / Monica Tap / BorderCrossings / Issue 151 / August 2019
2012
McKay, Sally / "The Pictorial Intelligence of Monica Tap" / Art Fag City / June 13, 2012
2012
Enright, Robert / "Painting's Countenance" / BorderCrossings / Issue 121
2010
Sandals, Leah / Old School Cool School / Canadian Art / Winter 2010–11 (cover)
2010
Adler, Dan / “Monica Tap” / BorderCrossings / Issue 116 / p 101
2010
Dault, Gary Michael / "Landscapes capture the rush and tumble of time" / The Globe and Mail / May 1, 2010
2008
Dault, Gary Michael / "Through a train window and onto a canvas" / The Globe and Mail / December 29, 2008
2005
Dault, Gary Michael / "Motion Pictures" / The Globe and Mail / June 20, 2005 / p R29
2004
Dault, Julia / "Hovering on the edge of recognition" / The National Post / January 22, 2004
2003
Enright, Robert / "Hover Crafting: the art of Monica Tap" / BorderCrossings / Issue 88 / pp 64–71
Selected Collections
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Würth Collection, Künzelsau, Germany
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
Mendel Art Gallery
Oakville Galleries
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Edmonton Art Gallery
Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts
Art Gallery of Hamilton
Bank of Montreal
CIBC Mellon
Genest, Murray, des Brisay, Lamek
OMERS Pension Funds
Pan-Canadian Corporation
Royal Bank of Canada
S.H.Y. Architecture (Bermuda)
Scotiabank
TELUS
Selected Residencies and Awards
2025
Pouch Cove Foundation / Pouch Cove, NL (also 2021, 2023)
2015
Ontario Arts Council
2008
Figure in a Mountain Landscape / Thematic Residency / The Banff Centre, AB.
2007
Emma Lake Artists Workshop / Emma Lake, SK (Residency leader)
2006
Research-Creation Grant / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
2006
International Studio and Curatorial Program / New York, NY
2004
Kunst & Complex Residency / Rotterdam, the Netherland
2003
Canada Council for the Arts (also 2001, 1998)
