Jimmy Limit: Recent Advancements, curated by Marcie Bronson, was recognized as Exhibition of the Year, Monographic.

Brock University’s Rodman Hall Art Centre was recognized with two prestigious prizes this week at the 37th annual Ontario Association of Art Galleries (OAAG) Awards, presented at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto Nov. 5.

Twenty-eight public art galleries in 19 cities across Ontario were nominated for awards.

Communities represented in the visual art nominations this year included Barrie, Cambridge, Chatham-Kent, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, Kleinburg, London, Mississauga, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa, Owen Sound, St. Catharines, Sarnia, Toronto, Waterloo, Whitby, and Windsor.

The OAAG Awards are annual, province-wide, juried art gallery awards of artistic merit and excellence.

They recognize the new exhibitions, publications, programs and community partnerships that have been commissioned by and produced by Ontario’s public art galleries over the previous year.

Jimmy Limit: Recent Advancements, curated by Marcie Bronson, was recognized as Exhibition of the Year, Monographic.

In her acceptance speech, Bronson noted that this exhibition was St. Catharines-based Limit’s first public art gallery showing.

The award citation noted the curator and artist as well as the Rodman Hall installation team, including Danny Custodio, Matthew Tegel and Jesse Harris.

Inspired by commercial photography practices and the design of industrial supply catalogues and weekly flyers, Jimmy Limit builds and photographs simple constructions of hardware store goods and fruits.

Selecting his varied subjects for their aesthetic interest rather than function, he engages them from a strictly formal standpoint.

Through photographs and installations, Limit engages layers of reflection on past and present photography traditions to explore the relationship between an object and its image in a consideration of how desire is created and sold.

The exhibition catalogue Milutin Gubash – co-published by Rodman Hall Art Centre, Carleton University Art Gallery, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Southern Alberta Art Gallery and Musée d’art de Joliette – received an Honourable Mention in the category of Art Publication of the Year.

Serbian-born artist Milutin Gubash has developed a diverse practice focused on the investigation of his own personal, social and cultural identity.

This first monograph examines the overlap of history, humour and authenticity found in his multifaceted practice.

Often cast as the lead alongside his family and friends, Gubash employs narrative to blur the boundaries between real, lived lives and the people who we wish we were.

Produced to accompany a multi-venue 10-year survey of Gubash’s work, the publication includes original essays and complete photographic documentation. Milutin Gubash lives and works in Montreal.

Stuart Reid, director/curator of Rodman Hall Art Centre, said the awards are important recognition from peers.

“They mean a great deal to our institution,” he said. ” We are very proud of the excellent program of contemporary art exhibitions that Rodman Hall produces for the Brock community and the people of Niagara.”