Reading Tower #6

Carol Wainio (b. 1955)

Carol Wainio is a renowned contemporary painter from Ontario, based in Ottawa. Wainio incorporates contemporary and historical references into her work, such as photographs and illustrations. Themes of consumerism, the restrictions placed on lower social classes, and how we understand history through illustration are often visited in her works. Working with the motif of the book in 2002, her work refers to both historical and contemporary fairy tales. The sixteenth century character Puss in Boots has been a reoccurring subject in her works.

Wainio received her training at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Concordia University, earning a Bachelor and Master of Fine Art. Her works have been widely exhibited in Canada notably at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. Internationally, her works have been shown in the U.S., China, and at the Stedelijk Museum, the Venice Biennale, and the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Bologna. Her works are held in numerous private and public collections, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Musée des beaux arts de Montréal. In 2014 she was awarded the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.