Tom
Dean: Desire
On September 18, 2003 the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre unveiled a permanent outdoor work by Governor General’s award-winning artist Tom Dean. Desire – a plump cherub crawling on his knees below a magnificent swan with a wingspan of 7’ – was the 26th permanent installation in the Sculpture Park. This pair of life-size bronze sculptures was selected from Dean’s Desire series that was temporarily installed in the Toronto Sculpture Garden in 2001.
In the 1970s, Tom Dean emerged as an avant-garde artist whose performances, videos, and public inventions are legendary to the Toronto arts community. He continues to produce provocative work that embraces taboo subjects, such as The Floating Staircase (1978-1981), a 6-metre high wooden staircase that was set on fire in the middle of Lake Ontario. In 1991, he created life-size bronze dogs with long tails of human hair in an Untitled exhibition.
In 1996, Dean was given the Toronto Arts Award, and in 1999, he represented Canada at the 48th Venice Biennale. At the Biennale, he presented The Whole Catastrophe, an exhibition of disembodied babies’ legs that sprouted from the floor. Dean also showed a body of work for which he emblazoned objects and clothing with the trademark red, yellow, and blue dots of the Wonder Bread logo.
Desire was commissioned with funds donated by Brian and Heather Ayre, James and Diane King, the Gordon Couling Foundation, and with the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program.
