Shary Boyle, a Toronto artist whose quirky pieces often involve a dark, feminist twist, has been selected to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale art exhibition in 2013.

Toronto artist Shary Boyle is shown with part of a new exhibit. (Art Gallery of Ontario)

Marc Mayer, director of the National Gallery of Canada, made the announcement late Friday in Toronto. The Ottawa-based NGC is working with the Canada Council for the Arts to organize Canada's exhibit, which will be curated by the NGC’s Josée Drouin-Brisebois.

Prior to 2010, curators from across the country were invited to apply on behalf of artists. However, during the past two years, the NGC chose a committee of contemporary curators to select the artist who would represent Canada.

Brisebois praised Boyle's art for its “personal vision of sexuality, relationships and human vulnerability.”

As an official entry at the Venice Biennale, Boyle will draw the attention of the international art world, but she’ll also have to raise money to pay for her exhibit. The Department of Foreign Affairs cut its funding for the prestigious art fair in 2009. According to the NGC, private philanthropists will contribute to the show.

Boyle is known for her hand-painted porcelain figurines, often amusing depictions that put a new spin on a mythical story. She has worked in a variety of media, including animated projections that have accompanied concerts by musicians and singers such as Feist, Peaches, Doug Paisley and Christine Fellows.

The Rejection of Pluto, a 2008 porcelain sculpture by artist Shary Boyle, is part of the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario. (Art Gallery of Ontario)

She has been a darling of the Canadian contemporary art world during the last few years. She earned a nomination for the Sobey Art Award and won both the Gershon Iskowitz Prize in 2009 and the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award in 2010.

Born in Scarborough, Ont., in 1972, Boyle graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto in 1994. She has had solo exhibitions in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Boyle has a year to put together a new show for the Canadian Pavilion in Venice.

Artists who have represented Canada at the Biennale in recent years include Steven Shearer and David Altmejd.