Iain Baxter, N.E. Thing Co.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

Jed Lind, Gold, Silver and Lead
Toronto Sculpture Garden

The art world is not immune from criticism, when it comes to artistic practise and the effects art production has on the environment. Sometimes making a statement actually damages the environment. N.E. Thing Co. Paint into Earth, SFU, Vancouver, B.C. (1966-68) entailed pouring toxic paints into the earth, an irresponsible yet effective way of communicating an idea. And yet the physics of the world occurs regardless of our ideologies, our ideas, our concepts. And this may be the central failing of conceptual art as a historical phenomenon. Despite all the clever idioms, posthistorical quips, the world changes, evolves regardless of all that, and surprisingly fast these days. In 1990, Iain Baxter made CO2 Landscape – Homage to Chico Mendes (1990), (Mendes was a Brazilian worker who fought for the preservation of the rainforest). Here Baxter threw in artificial plants, with a painted backdrop that included fake burning logs and a giant thermometer dead centre.

If art is an idea and you should have fun with it, as conceptual art espoused, then Iain Baxter personifies his era. His first solo show was in Japan and Baxter claims the Seattle painter Morris Graves was an influence (as he was for Emily Carr). After a car accident in Saskatchewan, the ardent ski enthusiast Iain Baxter was transformed by an awareness of the fragility of life. He became an artist and has

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