“Works of art are cultural ambassadors – leading to communications and understanding of other cultures” – Glenn Lowry

In the geography of Post War art, the United States is the dominant axis and New York its epicenter. The influence is heightened upon Canada, whose language, media and a border are all shared with America. 

Having no significant historical trauma to cope with and little unifying elements from one coast to the other, Canada has at times felt a crisis in national identity. This culminated in the 1990's, when the country nearly split, as the French-speaking Quebec wanted to separate.

The unique history of multiple languages, perspectives, nations all flowing together without melding makes the the Canada unique. In art, that means that we tend to get very self-reflexive. Canadian art can't be distinguished by it's subject matter or medium, but is rather often tied with higher level of self-awareness and searching of its owns identity.