Michael Snow is rightly recognized as the greatest living Canadian artist, and he is also acknowledged as one of the most significant figures in Canadian art history. In a productive, lengthy career, he has, in a wide variety of genres, asked (and often answered) some of the most vexing and important issues in the history of art. During his career, the notion of what constitutes a work of art has undergone many changes, and he has been in the forefront of defining these changes.
In many ways, he is the visual artist as intellectual: his images are vibrant and compelling but so are the ideas behind them. Ultimately, his work is about perception. What do we really see when we look at a work of art? What is the act of looking all about? What exactly is a work of art?
Michael Snow: Lives and Works is a personal and intimate portrait of an artist who has helped shaped the face of Canadian art in our time.
