Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection

PER DIEM: THE GERD METZDORFF COLLECTION documents the recent two-part exhibition at Griffin Art Projects. The title alludes to the stipend that the late Gerd Metzdorff, an airline employee, dedicated to the acquisition of artworks in the early days of his ventures into art collecting. From these modest beginnings, he put together some 300 works by leading contemporary artists from Canada, the United States and Europe. His taste was informed but eclectic, with works ranging from conceptual to expressionistic and from minimalist to exuberant. That the collection includes few artists of colour and five times as many men as women is disconcerting, however, and speaks to inequities in the art market during the latter decades of the 20th century.