Tom Dean

Tom Dean (born 1947) is a conceptual artist, known for his work in a diverse range of fields, among them sculpture, installation art and printmaking. In 1999, he represented Canada at the Venice Biennale and in 2001, he received the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. The Globe and Mail in 2001 called him "the epitome of the artists' artist". Life and career Dean, born in Markdale, Ontario, attended Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) in the 1960s. In Montreal, he co-founded Véhicule Art Inc in 1972, one of Canada's first artist-run galleries, and in 1973, co-founded Véhicule Press which published avant-garde art material in the English-language. From 1972 to 1974 Dean published Beaux Arts magazine with Stephen Lack. In 1976 Tom Dean moved to Toronto and from 1986 to 1989 he lived in New York. He now lives in Toronto. In 1992, he was an artist-in-residence at York University in Toronto. In 1997, his sculptural project Excerpts from a Description of the Universe III (1987) made of wood, steel, cast iron, felt and porcelain, which was part of a larger series that attempted to describe the natural world, was purchased by the National Gallery of Canada.