The Old Stump by Lawren Harris sold at auction the other day for $3.5 million at the Heffel fall art auction. It was the second highest price ever paid for a painting in Canada. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I’m happy that a Canadian painting can command a high price in the auction market. On the other hand, it is just a painting and we have people hungry in the streets and it just seems a little hinky to me. I know a lot of artists and most of them would be very happy to move a few small works for prices measuring in the hundreds rather than the millions. The reality here in Canada though often seems to be that the broader public has little if any interest in art made in the past century or so. Many people I know outside the art community view artists with suspicion, as if we are charletons out to hoodwink them with tricky ideas.
At the same time, we have this strange and inflated market for historical Canadian paintings.
Sometimes as a painter, I feel like a dinosaur.
27th Street 
What kind of art appreciation is taught in Canadian schools? Are children given access to the arts?
When I was growing up and in school, we visited an art gallery or two over all those years. In high school, I took art which was optional, and it was very good, but only a small percentage of people in my high school took it.
The problem is that the more recent artists are living too long. Everyone knows that art isnt worth anything until after the artist is dead. This makes living off your art a bit problematic though.
lol. i suppose people only buy older artworks because they think they might be worth something