Liddington (1981) lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
After obtaining his BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he focused on video and performance, Liddington completed an MFA at Western University, graduating in 2007. Liddington’s work holds a continuous interest in cultural memory and its iterations through abstraction, representation and modernist forms of visual language. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council. Most recently Liddington received the Canada Council creation grant for his project “The trees weep, The mountains still, the bodies rust” presented by the Musée d'art de Joliette. This exhibition is a touring project, having been exhibited at the Richmond Art Gallery (2022/23) and at Contemporary Calgary (2024).
Liddington’s work has been shown internationally, including performances in Athens, Greece and Onagawa, Japan, and select exhibitions of his painting/installation work in Toronto (AGO), Madrid (ARCO), Berlin (Art Berlin Contemporary), and New York (NADA). Liddington has had recent solo presentations at Cambridge Galleries (Ontario, Canada), Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge, Alberta), AKA Artist Run Center (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan), and the Art Gallery of York University (Ontario, Canada). Liddington has had multiple publications on his work, most recently a catalogue published jointly by the SAAG and AGYU with texts by Emelie Chhangur.
A central part of Liddington’s practice is his use of residencies as a means of developing ideas of space and place. These include residencies at the Glenfiddich Artist Residency Program (Dufftown, Scotland), AGNES Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, Canada), Art Gallery of York University (Toronto, ON), AKA artist-run (Saskatoon, SK) and Onagawa AIR (Japan).
Represented by: Daniel Faria GalleryI would like to acknowledge the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council as well as the Toronto Arts Council
Exhibitions: Solo
2027 Museum London TBA, London, ON
2024 Maclaren Art Centre (curator: Katie Lawson) Their horizon was mountain, their distance reveals, Barrie, ON
2024 Contemporary Calgary, The trees weep, the mountain still, the bodies rust, Calgary, AB
2023 Daniel Faria Gallery, Marbled Bodies, Softened Earth, Toronto, ON
2022 Richmond Art Gallery, The trees weep, the mountain still, the bodies rust, Richmond, BC
2022 Musée d'art de Joliette, The trees weep, the mountain still, the bodies rust, Joliette, QC
2018 Daniel Faria Gallery, after, before, yesterday, meanwhile, now, you, me, those, the others, right and left, Toronto, ON
2017 Art Gallery of York University (AGYU) (curator: Emelie Chhangur), the body will always bend before it breaks, the tower will always break before it bends, Toronto, ON
2017 Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG) (curator: Ryan Doherty), the body will always bend before it breaks, the tower will always break before it bends,, Toronto, ON
2015 Daniel Faria Gallery, Some Objects and a Nude, Toronto, ON
2015 Aka Gallery, It wasn’t until I closed my eyes that I could finally see what was there all along,
Saskatoon, SK
2015 8-11, Garden Fete, Toronto, ON
2014 Art Gallery Of Ontario, The Sun Has Always Set From East To West (Curator: Melissa Smith), Toronto,
ON
2013 Cambridge Galleries, Every moment can be traced back to the first time I felt the warmth of the
sun touch my face, (Curator: Iga Janik), Cambridge, ON
2013 Daniel Faria Gallery, Modern Love, Toronto, ON
2012 Today a Legend Died. Viva La Revolution, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2011 A Group of Objects, Come up to My Room: Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, ON
2010 coup de grâce, Clark and Faria, Toronto, ON
2010 Neon Sign (The Warriors), Gallery 1313 (curater: Elizabeth Underhill), Toronto, ON
2008 Appropriate Follies, XPACE Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON
2008 Dr. No reading machine, Artmetropole, Toronto, ON
Exhibitions: Group
2023 Glenfiddich Distillery Gallery, AIR Exhibition, Dufftown, Scotland
2023 McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Acquisitions Exhibition, Kleinburg, ON
2022 Garden Variety IV (curator: Erin Storus), Toronto, ON
2021 Daniel Faria Gallery, a faint tracing on the surface, (online exhibition) (Artists: Kristine Moran, Derek Liddington, and Andrew Dadson.)
2018 MacLaren Art Centre (curator: Renée van der Avoird), Longevity or a Lack Thereof, Barrie, ON
2016 Art Museum at the University of Toronto (curator: Emelie Chhangur), Rehearsal for Objects Lie on a Table, Toronto, ON
2013 Fieldtrip Project (curator: Daisuke Takeya), Japan
2012 Living Arts Centre (curator: Cole Swanson), Homecoming, Mississauga, ON
2012 Le Gallery (curator: Amanda Needham), Death in the City, Toronto, ON
2012 Daniel Faria Gallery (curator: Rui Amaral), New Meditations, Toronto, ON
2012 Cambridge Galleries (curator: Iga Janik), MINI GOLF: A Social Practice, Cambridge, ON
2012 Ed Video, K-Town, Guelph, ON
2011 Angell Gallery / XPACE Cultural Centre, K-Town, Toronto, ON
2011 Meet us on the Commons, AGM, Mississauga, ON (curated by Elizabeth Underhill)
2011 Celebrity Still Life, Living Arts Centre, Mississauga, ON (June) (curated by Cole Swanson)
2010 Reality Check, Clark and Faria, Toronto, ON
2010 Here, There and Nowhere, Board of Directors, Toronto, ON
2010 Clark and Faria, Art Toronto 2010, Toronto, ON
2009 Landscape for a Modern Day Canadian Vampire, Spark Contemporary, Syracuse, NY
2009 group show, Zero to One Gallery, Kitchener, ON
2009 Assembly, Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2009 Bowie, Clark and Faria, Toronto, ON
2009 Clark & Faria Presents, Clark and Faria, Toronto, ON
2007 Showcase 07, Cambridge Galleries (curated by Daniel Faria and Ivan Jurakic), Toronto, ON
2007 Two Steps Back, (curated by Sarah Todd), Interaccess: Electronic Media Arts Centre, Toronto, ONPerformances
2016 Art Athina, Athens, Greece
2015 Nuit Blanche Saskatoon, An opera about a column made by union workers, who are played by non-union actors, without an opera (Curated by: Tarin Hughes), Saskatoon, SK
2014 Canadian Opera Company (Operanation), A Tale of Two Pairs of Lovers and the Sun, as Told by Three Men (Jeux), Toronto, ON
2014 Scotia Bank Nuit Blanche, The Sun has Always Set From East to West (Curated by: Denise Markonish), Toronto, ON
2013 Onagawa AIR, Together we could have a revolution, Onagawa, Japan.
2012 Born to Run (Site, 1964), OAAG at Hart House (UofT), Toronto, ON
2011 Dandy Gangs, Kariya Park / Celebration Square / Square One, Mississauga, ON
2010 Allegory for a Rock Opera, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
2010 Ballad for a working class pomo, Powerplant: Powerball 12, Toronto, ONResidencies
2023 Glenfiddich Artist Residency – Dufftown, Scotland
2020 AIR Fashion Exchange – George Brown College, Toronto, ON
2019 Grey Church, Vancouver, BC
2016 Art Gallery of York University –York University dance department, Toronto, ON
2015 AKA Artist Residency Program, Saskatoon, SK.
2013 Onagawa AIR, Onagawa, Japan.
2011 vsvsvs artist residency, Toronto, ON
2009 Spark Contemporary, Syracuse, NYCuratorial Projects
2017 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2015/16 The Conversationalists I/II/III/IV/V, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, ON
2012 Youth Line Auction, Neubacher Shor, Toronto, ON
2011 What Goes Around Comes Around, XPACE Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON
2008 Driving in the landscape, Forest City Gallery, London, ON
2007 Its all been done / Whats been done, University of Western Ontario,
Graduate student conference / exhibition, London, ON
2004 Steps of a Prescribed Procedure, Eyelevel Gallery, Halifax, NS
2003 SOtA: student publication, NSCAD / Khyber gallery, Halifax, NSFairs
2024 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2023 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2023 ARCO Madrid, Daniel Faria Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2021 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2020 ARCO Madrid, Daniel Faria Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2019 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2017 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2016 Art Athina, 8-11 Gallery, Solo Booth, Athens, Greece
2016 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2014 NADA New York, two-person, New York, USA
2013 ABC Art Berlin Contemporary, Solo Booth, Berlin, Germany
2012 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON
2011 Art Toronto, Performance: Dandy Gangs, Toronto, ON
2011 Art Toronto, Daniel Faria Galelry, Toronto, ON
2009 Art Toronto, Clark and Faria, Toronto, ONCollections
Glenfiddich Distillery Art Collection, Dufftown, Scotland
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
George Brown College, Toronto, ON
Global Affairs Canada, Art Collection, Ottawa, ON
Scotiabank, Corporate Art Collection, Toronto, ON
National Bank of Canada, Corporate Art Collection, Montreal, QU
RBC, Corporate Art Collection, Toronto, ON
TD Bank Financial Group, Corporate Art Collection, Toronto, ON
BMO Financial Group, Corporate Art Collection, Toronto, ON
Soho House, Chicago, USA
Soho House, London, UKDonations
2024 Auction, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB
2024 Auction, Museum London, London, ON
2023 Auction, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB
2023 Auction, The Plumb, Toronto, ON
2021 Auction, C Magazine Toronto, ON
2020 Auction, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2020 Auction, OCADU Drawing and Painting fundraiser, Toronto, ON
2018 Auction, Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, ON
2018 Auction, C Magazine Toronto, ON
2017 Auction, Stellar Living 2017, Mercer Union, Toronto, ON
2015 Auction, Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, ON
2015 Auction, Project 31, OCAD University Toronto, ON
2013 Auction, C Magazine Toronto, ON
2013 Auction, Stellar Living 2013, Mercer Union, Toronto, ON
2012 Auction, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto, ON
2012 Auction, Youth Line Auction, Toronto, ON
2011 Auction, XPACE Cultural Centre
2011 Auction, Art with heart, Toronto, ON
2011 Auction, TPW: Photorama, Toronto, ON
2011 Auction, Cmagazine, Toronto, ON
2011 Auction, Western Front, Vancouver, BC
2010 Auction, Canadian Art Foundation, Toronto, ONCatalogues/ Publications
2024 The trees weep, the mountain still, the bodies rust Contemporary Calgary, 2024
2019 Derek Liddington: the … Art Gallery of York University/Southern Alberta Art Gallery
2015 Flesh, Marble, Leaf and Twig, Stefanos Ziras & Eleni Papadimitriou, Derek Liddington. 2015. 8-11, Toronto, Canada.
2013 A Love Story: Derek Liddington, Cambridge GalleriesBibliography
2023 Vogl, Rhiannon. “Derek Liddington: “The trees weep…” Border Crossings Magazine. 41(1). pp.118-123
2022 Lindsay, Meghan. Interview, NEWEST (Issue IV: Internal Traveler, Spring 2022)
2019 Chhangur, Emelie. Derek Liddington, the body will always break before it bends … (AGYU/SAAG publication, Summer 2019)
2019 Fabien. “SOMETHING”, Derek Liddington, the body will always break before it bends … (AGYU/SAAG publication, Summer 2019)
2019 Doherty, Ryan. “SOMETHING”, Derek Liddington, the body will always break before it bends … (AGYU/SAAG publication, Summer 2019)
2018 Vogl, Rhiannon. Derek Liddington: After, before, yesterday, meanwhile, now, you, me, those, the others, right and left. Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, 2018
2017 Todd, Sarah. Today a Performing Objects, Readymade Bodies, Luma Quarterly (Issue 09, Volume three, Summer 2017)
2015 Randle, Chris. Flesh, Marble, Leaf and Twig, Art in America (November, 2015)
2015 Genda, Dagmara. A New Level of Anxiety in Derek Liddington, MOMUS (Fall, 2015)
2013 Janik, Iga. Derek Liddington: Interview, Cambridge Galleries (Winter, 2013)
2013 Genda, Dagmara. Derek Liddington: A Love Story, Cambridge Galleries (Winter, 2013)
2012 Walker, Ellen. Today a Legend Died, Cmagazine (Winter ,2012)
2012 Needham, Amanda. Death in the City, Pilot (Summer, 2012 Issue 10)
2012 Vaughan, R.M. Fender Blender, Globe and Mail (May 04, 2012)
2011 Lau, Charlene K., Magenta Magazine
2010 Starr, Lori. Artsync: Artists Interview, Fall, 2010, http://www.artsync.ca/interview-derek-liddington/
2010 Genda, Dagmara. Artist Profile, BlackFlash 2.0, Summer, 2010, Issue 27.3
2010 Speciale, Michele. On Now, ArtSync.ca, Fall, 2010
2010 Enright, Robert, Borderview: The Canonoclast: Derek Liddington, Border Crossing, March, 2010, Issue 113
2009 Whyte, Murray. McFarland, Kydd, Gillmore, Kurland and everyone else at Clark & Faria, Toronto Star: Blog, 06/08/2009
2008 Ho, Stacey. Reading Machine for Dr. No, Things of Desire, volume 1 number 8, 2008
2008 Todd, Sarah. Two Steps Back, published by Interaccess, 2008.
2007 Smith, Greg J. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, published by the torontoist, July 18, 2007
2007 Dault, Gary Michael. Coke machine glows, Globe and Maill, August 4, 2007