This artist is sharing his late wife’s legacy by giving away her life’s work | Canada Voices

When artist Martha Fleury died of ovarian cancer in 2023, she left behind an extraordinary body of work. Her Toronto studio housed over 1,400 paintings, drawings, and journals. The art varied wildly in style and tone. Size too. Postcard sketches were stored alongside massive canvases, a lifetime of expression and creativity packed away in various portfolios. For Fleury’s husband Max Dean, exploring the art was a chance to witness another side of his partner.

“I was alarmed at just how great they were. And how different they were from the rest of her work,” said Dean. Though Fleury’s art had been displayed at various exhibits and venues like Mississauga’s Village Gallery, the remainders at her studio showcased a sensuality and femininity that felt decidedly outside things she’d shown in public. Dean wanted Fleury’s audience to know those aspects of his late wife. He wanted people to know her art in general. And the best way he could think to do that was by giving her work away.

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Last week at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Dean curated Passing On. Members of the public were invited to select a piece of Fleury’s art to take home. Dean offered the work for free, asking only that patrons choosing a piece committed to “live with and care for the art.”

In addition to the giveaway, Dean curated a selection of Fleury’s work alongside her personal effects and furniture. The tableaus offered a glimpse into the artist’s home life and sensibilities. It also served as a sort of posthumous collaboration between Dean – a Governor-General’s-Award-winning multidisciplinary artist himself – and his late wife.

The two met online in 2014, though Dean knew of her paintings long before the two connected romantically. Their first date was at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Four months later, they moved in together. Passing On is a celebration of Fleury’s work, but also the love that Dean shared with her.

On Saturday morning of the art fair, held in Nathan Phillips Square, a lineup had formed to enter Passing On. Patrons braved the July heat for the opportunity to take home one of Fleury’s pieces. Browsing through the racks of art were parents with their children. Teenagers. Retirees. One person selected a tiny painting of a tree. Another took a sketch of a nude woman. Someone else took home a plastic doll. There were portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. Art made with watercolors, acrylics, graphite, mixed media, and more.

“Some of these pieces would have sold for thousands of dollars and we’re giving them away. People have the opportunity to look at them and engage with them,” said Dean. After selecting a piece they like the public could “assume the custodianship of the work.”

Wandering the outdoor space, Dean walked a few patrons through the different pieces they’d selected and the various tableaus he’d created with his wife’s art and belongings. He spoke with deep admiration about the work, sharing details people might miss at first glance: a technique Fleury used, a hidden face in the background of a painting, or the time period the art was created in. Passing On featured pieces from across Fleury’s life, work she had created from her childhood up until her death.

While there was a sense of joy throughout the installation, Dean was sure not to sugarcoat the bigger themes of his wife’s work. That included nuanced depictions of sexuality, family, and mortality. He described one of Passing On’s main pieces, Toe to Toe, like this:

“[It’s] a tableau bringing together a painting by Martha with her father’s favourite chair, an easel and a plastic wash basket of used paints and brushes. The lounge chair is upside down and is supported by the easel. Standing on the front legs of the chair is a self portrait of Martha as a child,” said Dean. “It is rendered using graphite and the features are not clearly defined. You might also note that there is a ghost of another figure standing to one side of Martha, her mother, who has placed her hand gently on Martha’s shoulders.”

For Dean, the piece was a depiction of Martha’s family dynamic. Her father didn’t support her art, showing little interest in what she’d accomplished. Though Passing On served as a celebration of his late wife, it was also important to share the bigger – and sometimes harder – questions that made her art so vibrant.

Throughout the installation were signs written by friends and colleagues, championing Fleury as an artist, teacher, and person. They shared anecdotes about how she encouraged students to express themselves creatively, her playful and wacky style, and how art informed almost everything she did.

As the audience left the exhibit, they compared their selections, chatting about the art they’d chosen and why it spoke to them. For Dean, appreciation of his late wife’s work and the discussions it sparked were the point of Passing On, adding another layer to the work’s meaning. He noted that over 1,100 works found new homes over the course of the fair. Before heading home, a woman holding an oversized sketch stopped Dean and asked to snap a picture.

“Thank you for introducing us to Martha,” she said.

“Thank you for taking Martha home.”