Tom Dean: Roundtable Discussions

Presented by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery at Top Top Projects

Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE installation at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2025. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Tom Dean: Roundtable Discussions

June 7, 2025, 2 – 5pm, followed by reception 5 – 7pm
Top Top Projects, 165 Geary Avenue, Toronto (entrance on Bartlett Avenue)
Learn more | Register here

As part of the exhibition Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is pleased to convene roundtable discussions around two essential nodes of Dean’s early practice: press and space. Co-presented with Art Metropole and the plumb, these conversations will bring together an illustrious panel of speakers to shed light on the historical context of these movements and activities, and to reflect on the threads of resonance that are visible, at work, and urgently needed in the present moment.

Roundtable A: Press
2:00pm
Co-presented with Art Metropole
Featuring: Vincent Bonin, Robert Fones, Peggy Gale, and Luis Jacob

Roundtable B: Space
3:30pm
Co-presented with the plumb
Featuring: Anthony Cooper, Suzy Lake, Nell Tenhaaf, and Adam Welch

The event will take place at Top Top Projects (165 Geary Ave, Toronto, ON M6H 2B8) and will be followed by a reception with refreshments.

Please let us know you are coming by registering here!

Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE installation at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2025. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE is an exhibition that brings together a rarely seen body of conceptual and sculptural work produced between 1969-1974, when Dean was living in Montreal. Documenting the artist’s extensive and active engagement with the local alternative art scene and broader cultural milieu, GOOD-BYE invites viewers to reevaluate and reflect on the enduring significance of Dean’s work, and this cultural history, in today’s context.

In parallel with the exhibition, two additional presentations of Dean’s work will be on view at Art Metropole and the plumb, curated independently by each organization. Together, these projects offer expanded perspectives on Dean’s multifaceted practice and continued relevance.

Learn more about Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Tom Dean: GONE at the plumb, and Works By Tom Dean at Art Metropole.

Tom Dean: GOOD-BYE installation at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2025. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid

Tom Dean (b. 1947) is a conceptual artist, known for his work in a diverse range of media including sculpture, installation art, performance, drawing, and printmaking. Playing on tensions between the ordinary and mythical, his works reference both everyday objects and classical icons, alluding to the dream world of the psyche and matters of the soul, while always residing in the intensely material world of desire and the body. He received the Governor General’s Award for Visual and Media Arts (2001), was selected to represent Canada at the 1999 Venice Biennale, and was honoured with the Toronto Arts Award for Visual Arts in 1996. His work can be found in major collections including the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée d’Art Contemporain, and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.