Creation in Conversation: Anne-Marie Cosgrove
A conversation I had recently with writer Ariel Marken Jack on my new work and series. Published in the Lunenburg Barnacle, May 2025.
https://www.thebarnacle.ca/creation-in-conversation-anne-marie-cosgrove/
In this column, Ariel Marken Jack connects with a local artist and sits down for an in-depth conversation about their art practice. This month, Ariel sat down with Anne-Marie Cosgrove.
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, SHIMMER, 2025
CMS Art Projects
Sanctuary Drawings
March 1 – March 28, 2023
Statement
With this body of works, Anne-Marie Cosgrove relates romantic and formal concepts of inside and outside within broader categories of attractions including those of sanctuary and retreat. The drawn lines describe simple divisions of space that gravitate towards each other.
Press Release
CMS Art Projects is pleased to present an on-line exhibition of THE SANCTUARY DRAWINGS by Canadian artist Anne-Marie Cosgrove.
In this new series of works, Anne-Marie Cosgrove relates romantic and formal concepts of inside and outside within broader categories of attractions including those of sanctuary and retreat. The minimalist lines and forms describe simple divisions of space that gravitate towards each other.
Anne-Marie Cosgrove (b. Montréal, Québec) is a conceptual painter who has exhibited her work nationally and internationally in cities such as Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, Washington DC, New York, Miami, Lisbon and Madrid.
Her work draws from art history, graffiti and pop culture and engages with current cultural issues including personal identity and feminist spaces.
This series is being released in a limited edition. Anne-Marie Cosgrove is represented by CMS Art Projects in Toronto
https://www.artsy.net/show/cms-art-projects-sanctuary-drawings-new-work-by-anne-marie-cosgrove
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, SANCTUARY, Detail, 2022 Archival ink on cotton rag paper, 30 × 22 inches
Burren College of Art, Ireland
I began working on an iPad as an alternative to and in parallel with painting. Drawing with my fingers on the glass surface, I consciously chose a minimal palette of “brushes.” I used the medium to explore the facets of drawing and painting with lines, constructing spaces within which I could communicate using abstract narrative forms.
The first series took time as I was teaching myself how to use the different tools within the application. Once I was more familiar with the medium, I could explore the types and differences between brushes as much as I wanted to. This “freedom of choice” became the subject of my first series, which I humorously titled “Afternoon in a Candy Store.” This series was eventually exhibited on Artsy with CMS Art Projects in Toronto.
The second series began in Canada and physically materialized in Ballyvaughan, Ireland, in October 2022 during a Burren College of Art residency. During the month-long residency, I created new drawings on the iPad and continued to print the work using the BCA's digital studio facilities. This new series, “Sanctuary,” was also exhibited with Artsy and CMS Art Projects in 2023.
CMS Art Projects
Afternoon in a Candy Store
January 26 – February 22, 2022
Statement
Deeply influenced by the visceral and corporeal qualities of painting, this work was born out of a desire to paint more directly. Drawing with her fingers had an impact on the look and characteristics of the lines, undermining and commenting on the look of digital media culture.
Press Release
Anne-Marie Cosgrove began experimenting with digital format in the fall of 2021. These new, large-scale drawings developed from an exploration of the digital medium. As a result of working directly with her fingers, these new works embody an unfinishedness that is noted foremost in the edges of the works and in the multi-layered lines that drop off into the unfinished borders. CMS Art Projects is thrilled to release Cosgrove’s first digital drawing series, Afternoon in a Candy Store, in collaboration with the artist and Smokestack Studios in Hamilton, Ontario.
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, TIGER, 2021 Digital archival print
PADA STUDIOS: LONG RANGE STUDIO VISITS
In this conversation as part of our Long Range Studio Visits we introduce Henrique Neves and Anne-Marie Cosgrove. Artists talk about their practice during confinement and techniques they use while painting. They also discuss importance of questioning and rethinking older works and discovering new methods of painting.
Thank you to PADA Studios in Barreiro, Portugal, for the opportunity to spend time with artist Henrique Neves discussing our work over a period of time in 2021. “In this conversation as part of our Long Range Studio Visits we introduce Henrique Neves and Anne-Marie Cosgrove. Artists talk about their practice during confinement and techniques they use while painting. They also discuss importance of questioning and rethinking older works and discovering new methods of painting.”
You can find the interview here:
https://www.padastudios.com/cosgrove-neves
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, SPECTACLE, 2019 Acrylic on canvas, 64 × 60 inches
CMS ART PROJECTS
CMS Art Projects is pleased to present an on-line exhibition of new drawings by Anne-Marie Cosgrove from October 7 - November 1, 2020.
The title You Can Have Any Line You Want reflects the artist’s desire to build intimacy between the viewer and the work. It’s an invitation to participate, to choose and in some sense to empower the viewer, to begin a dialogue about desire.
Born in Montréal, Québec, Anne-Marie Cosgrove lived and worked as an artist until moving to Toronto to complete her MFA in 1987. Anne-Marie maintained a studio in Toronto for 25 years. The impact of living and working in two of the largest, most populous and multi-culturally diverse cities in Canada has been the greatest influence on her identity, her production and her work.
Anne-Marie Cosgrove’s work pulls from art history, philosophy, poetry, religion, graffiti and pop culture and engages with current cultural issues including identity, feminism and human rights.
When the pandemic broke this spring, Anne-Marie closed her Toronto studio, placing her work in storage and began working north of Toronto.
About CMS ART PROJECTS
With over 25 years of international experience working in partnership with artists, writers, curators and galleries CMS Art Projects is embarking on a new series of ambitious artistic initiatives. CMS Art Projects is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
https://www.artsy.net/show/cms-art-projects-you-can-have-any-line-you-want
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, RABBIT, 2020 Acrylic on arches paper, 30 × 22 inches
CUTMR, THE GLADSTONE HOTEL
COME UP TO MY ROOM 2020
THE GLADSTONE HOTEL
The historic spaces of the Gladstone Hotel come alive with site-specific art and design installations! Walk into a universe of art and design at Come Up To My Room (CUTMR) 2020, the Gladstone Hotel’s annual 4-day alternative design exhibition running from January 16-19. Find out what happens when art and design intersect through site-specific installations, within the walls of a historic hotel. Visitors can explore, discover and engage in conversation with the artists are on site throughout the festival. Different from our 37 permanent artist-designed hotel rooms (some of which will also be on display!), CUTMR presents temporary projects that occupy and alter spaces in dramatic, conceptual and experimental ways.
CUTMR is curated by artist, not project, giving artists the opportunity to take risks and explore their wildest dreams! Nobody (including the curators) will know what the exhibition will look like until it’s installed the day before!
For CUTMR 2020 space and scale are twisted and reimagined through interactive and tactile installations, curated by Megan Feheley and Astrid Ho, with the Gladstone’s Exhibitions Director Lee Petrie.
CUTMR 2020 PARTICIPANTS
All Odds (Nathan Clarke, Stephen Dalrymple, Leigh Dotey, Emily Falconer, Reba Forbes, Anna Guidoccio, Hena Han, Jasmine Hogg, Vanessa Jackson, Matt Macdonald, Natalie Sirianni, Tim Steadman, Stefan Tobolka, Jake Whillans), Janina Anderson, Bekah Brown, Anne-Marie Cosgrove, Elizabeth D’Agostino, Enchanted Forest Group (Sasha Bateman, Catharina Goldnau, Brenda Nieves, Kim Ross), Darian Goldin Stahl, Kal Honey, Aaron Jones, Svava Juliusson, Noni Kaur, Maxwell Lander, Alexandra Majerus, Heidi McKenzie, Paula McLean, Mariah Measawige, Yasmeen Nematt Alla, Kayla Polan, The Structural Design Build Workshop (Christy Cheng, Elizabeth C. English, Elizabeth Lenny, Mia Milanovic, Emma Moseley, Mariah Palantzas, Amanda Reyes-Martin, Alyssa Tang), Emmie Tsumura, Morris Wazney, Linda Zhang of Studio Pararaum
CUTMR 2020 EVENTS
Student Day: Friday January 17: $5 admission for Students with valid ID
Exhibition Party: Saturday January 18, 7-10pm (included with CUTMR admission, cash bar)
Love Design Party: Saturday January 18, 10pm until late (free admission, cash bar)
Love Design Market: Sunday January 19, 11am – 6pm
THAMES ART GALLERY, CHATHAM, ONTARIO
Excited to announce that I will be exhibiting paintings in this bi-annual juried exhibition at the Thames Art Gallery in Chatham, Ontario. The guest curator Matthew Ryan Smith, Curator & Head of Collections at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Ontario, will be presenting three awards at the opening reception.
October 25, 2019 - January 5, 2020
OPENING RECEPTION: Friday October 25, 7pm
4/EDITION, ART TORONTO
I will have a series of works on paper in 4/EDITIONS with CMS Art Projects opening today!
4/editions Booth #10
Metro Convention Centre, North Building Lobby
255 Front St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2W6
October 24, 6-10 PM, Opening Reception with Art Toronto Preview
October 25, 12-8 PM
October 26, 11 am -8 PM
October 27, 11 am -6 PM
AIRD GALLERY
PAINT 2019
Exhibition Dates: Thursday October 10 to Friday November 1, 2019
Opening Reception: Thursday October 10 (6 to 8 pm)
Juried by: Christopher Cutts, Director of Cutts Gallery, Toronto
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, CAVE DWELLERS (I-V), 2017
PAINT 2019
I will have work in the upcoming group exhibition PAINT 2019 curated by Christopher Cutts at the John B Aird Gallery in Toronto.
PAINT 2019
JOHN B AIRD GALLERY, 900 Queens St West, Toronto
Exhibition Dates: Thursday October 10 to Friday November 1, 2019
Opening Reception: Thursday October 10 (6 to 8 pm)
Juried by: Christopher Cutts, Director of CHRISTOPHER CUTTS GALLERY, Toronto
YNGSPC AT PADA STUDIOS, BARREIRO, PORTUGAL
Great to have two new works in the group exhibition I could go on forever! curated by Kate Mothes founder of YNGSPC at PADA Gallery in Barreiro, Portugal. The private viewing opens on April 27th, 2019 from 4 to 8 pm.
PADA STUDIOS AND RESIDENCIES, BARREIRO, PORTUGAL
I’m thrilled to be working in Kate Mothes’ curated residency at Pada Studios and Residencies in Barreiro, Portugal from April 3 to May 30th, 2019. I will be continuing on in residence at PADA for an additional month.
Participating artists are: Dord Burrough (Australia); Saskia Fleishman (USA); Tintin Cooper (UK); Alia Hamaoui (UK); Juliette Ezavin (UK); Anne-Marie Cosgrove (Canada)
The artist gratefully acknowledges and thanks the Canada Council for the Arts for their generous financial support through the Arts Abroad program.
SURFACES FESTIVAL, VENICE, ITALY
Anne-Marie Cosgrove, Turbulence 2018 Acrylic paint on wood, diptych 12 x 20 x 2 inches (30.48 x 50.8 x 5.08 cm)
Happy to announce that one of my new paintings, Turbulence (2018), will be exhibited at the Palazzo Ca' Zanardi in Venice, Italy from September 27 to November 25, 2018 as part of the curated multi-disciplinary international SURFACES FESTIVAL.
www.itsliquid.com/press/ca_zanardi.pdf
The festival focuses on the concept of SURFACES, borders and structures between body, mind and soul, the human identity and the city, the space and the ground. The festival analyzes the idea of human and urban places, how people live them and how they are modified in contemporary society. Every human being lives in a world in which surfaces shape their attitudes and behaviors, limiting freedom and creating a sense of alienation. The man reacts breaking the limits and finding a new way of life. We imagine a world of "liquid bodies and cities", where differences create new possibilities, developing new structures, physical, intellectual and spiritual. The festival aims to analyze the relationship between body and space, and the hybridization between identities and cultural/physical/social/urban settings in contemporary time.
PALAZZO CA' ZANARDI
SELECTED ARCHITECTS
Letizia Artioli & Olimpia Starzycka . Italy/Poland | Katharina Koeglberger with SPLITTERWERK . Austria
SELECTED ARTISTS
Colin Andrews . UK | Fran Apprich & Fabrizio Urettini . Italy | Letizia Artioli & Daniele Cusmano . Italy |Athens . Greece | Natalia Bazina . Russia | Marie-Héléne Beaudry . Canada | Elysa Belessakos . USA |Patricia Borges . Brazil | Ece Canguden . Turkey | Caitlin Carter . Switzerland | Abigail Child . USA | Paul
Christener . Switzerland | Anne-Marie Cosgrove . Canada | Caterina De Fusco . Italy | Benjamin De Vuyst . Belgium | Katerina Drakopoulou . Greece | Lida Driva . UK | Lucas Van Eeghen . The Netherlands | Michael Gatzke . Germany | Maria Gedroc . USA | Felipe Antonio Tello Gonzalez . Chile | Gisela Elisa Heredia . Argentina/Austria | Tapio Hirvonen . Finland | Chris "Toffears" Irons . Belgium | Marek Jaskowiec . Poland |Przemyslaw Jezmirski . Poland | Maria José Cabral . Portugal | Lotta-Pia Kallio . Finland | Janelin Kinnunen & Satu Haiko (I/O) . Finland | Mona Illa (Julia Illa) . Spain | Zinaida Kubar . Ukraine | Harald Kuks (Kimbaz) . Austria | Oan Kyu . Italy | Keith Lam Yan Kit . Hong Kong | Derwin Leiva . USA | Georgina Lohan. Canada | Raúl López Herrera . Mexico | Doreen Maloney . USA | Johanna Mangold & Jan-Hendrik Pelz . Germany | Claudia Mayer-Mallenau . Austria | MELTING DANCE ART (Christina Nikolaidis-Strommer) . Austria | Simone Monney . Switzerland | Obaku Denmark . Denmark | Aneta Panek . Germany | Monica Pla . Spain | Cristina Pittoni . Italy | Liana Psarologaki . UK | Katarzyna Podgórska-Glonti . Poland | Marina Radulj & Monika Ponjavi? . Bosnia and Herzegovina | Valerie Rey . France/Costa Rica | Jung yun Roh . UK |Hiroko Saigusa . Japan | Ozlem Sariyildiz . Germany | Nitzan Satt . Israel | Ifat Shatzky . USA | J. Michael Simpson . USA | Tejbir Singh . Bahrain | Robyn Squires . USA | Rugovaj Stivi . Belgium | Darko Taleski . Macedonia | Mikhail Torich . USA | Monica Vaccari . Switzerland | Mataya Waldenberg . Austria | Roberta Weissman Nagy & Christian Pinzan . Croatia | Yulianus Yaps . Indonesia | William Ye . Canada | Olga Winiarczyk . Poland
HYBRID FESTIVAL, MADRID, SPAIN
From September 13 to 30th, as part of the HYBRID Festival in Madrid, I will have work in the group exhibition Should I stay or should I go? along with artists Alvaro Borobio, Pablo Carpio, George Ridgeway, Laura Sebastianes and Denise Treizman.
***
BARBECHO participa por primera vez en Hybrid, el festival de espacios de arte alternativos de Madrid de la mano de www.arscoco.com. La exposición que nos presentan es 'Should I stay or should I go?' y podremos disfrutar en ella de la obra de Álvaro Borobio, Pablo Carpio, Anne-Marie Cosgrove, George Ridgeway, Laura Sebastianes y Denise Treizman
EXPOSICIÓN: Should I stay or should I go?
ARTISTAS: álvaro Borobio, Pablo Carpio, Anne-Marie Cosgrove, George Ridgeway, Laura Sebastianes y Denise Treizman
Barbecho y Ars COCO plantean un ejercicio conjunto entre artistas, diseñadores y arquitectos en el cual se explorará el papel que juegan el diseño y la arquitectura a la hora de mediar entre arte y visitante. Durante una residencia de dos semanas, un equipo de diseñadores, arquitectos y creativos varios elaborarán una serie de intervenciones en el espacio cuyas técnicas abarcarán desde el objeto tridimensional y la estructura funcional a elementos más intangibles como la luz, el sonido, y el tiempo. El objeto será el de ralentizar al visitante en el espacio, dilatando la experiencia de la visualización de las obras (seleccionadas de la colección Ars COCO), reivindicando el carácter ‘performático’ del arte y la importancia del tiempo para su desenvoltura.
Horario: LU-VI 16-20.30 SA 11-20.30
Dirección: C/ Acebo, 6
OSA/AIRD GALLERY, TORONTO
Happy to announce that my work, Rêverie, 2017 has been included in the Ontario Society of Artists 145th Annual Juried exhibition to be held at the Aird Gallery in Toronto. Opening reception April 12, 2018 6-8 pm.
ESTHÈTE, GALERIE ERGA, MONTRÉAL
Excited to be showing new work in this curated group exhibition at Galerie Erga in Montréal, Québec. The exhibition curated by Véronique Boissono includes works by Jérome Bertrand, Erick Contreras, Nelson Xavier Coronel, Sylvie Dagenais, Andrée-Anne Dufour, Igor El Ruso, Demetrios Papakostas and Anne Thériault. The vernissage is on April 6th from 17h to 22h.
ESPACIO CONTEMPLAĆION, MADRID, SPAIN
Excited to announce that I am now working with Ars Coco in Madrid, Spain!
I will have several works included the upcoming group exhibition curated by Art Coco, Hide-and-seek at Espacio Contemplaćion, Madrid.
ONLY ONE GALLERY
Thrilled to be have several works in this local and happening group exhibition at Only One Gallery, February 3rd, 2018 in Toronto!
