Performance Work
Performances and storytelling have been a part of Jeff Willmore's career since it began in the 1980s, with many early performances at London's famous Forest City Gallery. Past performances have ranged from simple storytelling in front of a small group, to more elaborate group pieces involving costumes and props. One such event involved kilt-wearing artists flinging typewriters across a parking lot in London's dangerous and well-storied east end.
Jeff's recent travelling exhibition, Organizing the Search for Tom Thomson, featured a performative element, which evolved into a performance piece presented at the Tom Thomson Gallery's annual summer festival in August 2009.
In 1999 curator and art writer Rick Nixon compiled a comprehensive retrospective show called Performative Utterances and Other Oaths. The exhibition included some of Jeff's past performances featured on video.
Storytelling was a key component in his major exhibition of 1994 and 1995. A Forest the Size of France, curated by James Patten, was presented at Museum London as well as The Art Gallery of Algoma in Northern Ontario.
