Toronto James Cooper Mansion | ?m | 32s | Tridel | Burka

According to CTV news, there is a fire in an under construction building at Bloor & Sherbourne. It's on the 11th & 12th floor. Must be this one.

I was at No Frills on Sherbourne St. tonight around 6:30-6:45 and saw all the activity just north of the store but didn't realize what it was all about. I glanced up at JCM just because I was there but it was dark & couldn't see much, the fire must have been out by then or on the north side as I approached No Frills from the south.
 
The hoarding is down and the public art has been installed. Not sure if I really like the art or not (there's a half dozen cast-iron wolves mounted vertically, upside down, and right-side up to a bunch of stainless steel structures), but the heritage building and link structure look great lit up at night
 
New artwork is installed

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I like it. It's Bizarro World Canadiana. Reminds me of Charles Pachter's moose sculptures and Douglas Coupland's enormous toy soldiers.
 
Eldon Garnet's 'Inversion' Installed at James Cooper Mansion

Here's the plaque inscription:

Inversion
Eldon Garnet, 2010

The multi-sited sculptural work is a commentary and a reflection on our urban interaction with nature. Not long ago, the wilderness was considered somewhat threatening and something we should fortify ourselves against. Today, our relationship with nature has turned into a nostalgic yearning to embrace something that no longer exists.

About Eldon Garnet
A public sculptor, a photo based artist and writer, Eldon Garnet is based in Toronto. As well as having many major Canadian public sculptures to his credit, Garnet has also extensively exhibited his photographic and sculptural work throughout North America and Europe. He has published many books, and has served as the editor of Impulse magazine.

For more photos of the sculpture installation go to Tridel's Facebook fanpage photo gallery.

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Photo by Lorne Chapman
 
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I've been really hard on this project in my previous posts.

But now that it's coming close to completion, I think it looks a lot better as a whole than in parts. I would say that despite some problems, it has ended up up being fairly successful.
One of the main things for me was the cladding, which in smaller doses seemed to me a big aesthetic mistake - not to mention horribly cheap, to boot. But the isuse seems to have ironed itself out and the cladding looks much more unified and proper done as a whole.
The southern base treatment is still out of whack, with its semi-historical look stone siding, and the tower really looms over the area - especially the little neighbouring house immediately north. I still wonder if the building is too tall for the site. The way it towers up behind the mansion is a bit disconcerting.

But, all in all, I think it's turned out...alright. The new public art was getting a lot of stares as I went by.
 
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I was walking past the building last night, and could see the illuminated interior of the mansion. Too bad I didn't have my camera: gorgeous restoration and design work.

Sculpture gardens are a classical landscaping feature you don't see much of in Toronto: the combination of modern and vintage on this site comes together more cohesively because of the art.
 
I like these public art sculptures ~ very nice :)
 

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