Urbandreamer tours the indie art galleries....

[urbandreamer]

Oh I'm not really dissing Mira Godard's tastes/clients/artists; in fact, I've started looking at some Riopelle's more closely and realize I do like some of his paintings. Everyone has their own taste....

Anyhow, thanks Redroom Studios for the positive comments! I had lotsa fun and even stopped to chat with a few gallery sitters/gallery owners this time. I generally find the Queen St W/E crowd friendlier and the further north or more isolated you go the more corporate and unfriendly the gallery owners get--very bizarre.

Either way, I'm debating setting up my own art blog--should I? Taking personal photographs of the galleries/art has proved very educational--before I always felt I had no link towards the art now it's becoming more interesting and rewarding.

 

[Redroom Studios]

ha! ya you could become the Christopher Hume of art critics. Give out grades from A to F... make a reputation for yourself and then see how many galleries ban you.

 

[urbandreamer]

Ha yeah I may do that--I can be very blunt sometimes.

I'm starting to post on my blog too--basically, which ever site (UT or my blog...shh it's top secret gets more attention wins! (Ever notice how I love attention?

Maybe I'll do some more snapping today--accompanied by my gorgeous girlfriend?

 

[urbandreamer]

A photo of a photo gallery...

...on Dundas St West, just east of Crema Coffee Company, the Junction. Taken today:

Only when I opened this year's Contact magazine did I realize how many galleries there are on Dundas West of Keele. In May (Contact festival month) I shall show y'all some pix.

 

[Redroom Studios]

cool, you are definitely giving me an education about parts of the city that I dont know very well...

 

[urbandreamer]

I got educated today....

In St Jamestown, who woulda thunk there's an art gallery? Well there is, on (future) hipster central Sherbourne:

 

[urbandreamer]

Meanwhile, back in "I'm old and white" Yorkville,

... the streets were devoid of pedestrians
so I decided to grab some photos of the upperclass establishments.

A bit of rubbish kicks off the show:



Better:

Oh yeah, it was closed today (Monday) but I wanna check it out soon:

Oh dear, more crap (I think....)

I have a feeling those St Jamestown kids produce more interesting art than the majority of art seen in Yorkville these days--wow!

 

[Urban Shocker]

Yorkville's obviously a gallery district that carries the work of artists who've arrived rather than those who are starting out. Several specialize in Inuit art ( including Feheley, shown in your pics ) so it isn't all "I'm old and white" in nature by any means. Heffel is an auction house and they sell a wide range of art, including contemporary.

 

[urbandreamer]

Whatever happened to that Native Art Centre(?) gallery on Prince Arthur? It was that gallery that turned me onto Pacific Northwest art. Isaac's gallery maybe? Anyhow, either I'm blind and didn't see it, or it has moved. (Edit: Just googled it and apparently--duh!--it's moved to that other "elitist establishment joint" 401 Richmond.)

Yes I know Heffel is an an auction house--I know a girl that works there as an appraiser.

However, Yorkville's, and in fact most of Toronto's art scene, is made up of mostly rich white people. It's something that disappoints me about Toronto.

 

[Urban Shocker]

Well, someone of limited means who is just starting out as a collector will obviously be better off concentrating on smaller galleries carrying the work of young artists. Events such as OCAD's annual Open House are worth visiting to scout out new talent. Many smart collectors go that route, including collectors who are quite well-heeled and enjoy discovering new artists. I also think that the multicultural nature of the city is reflected in both the artists and those who collect them - just as benefactors and donors who give back to established places such as the AGO and ROM are now more representative of the wider population.

 

[urbandreamer]

What a miserable day for gallery hunting but ...

... in my local 'hood and on my way to Cherry Bomb Coffee on Roncevalles I took some photos.

On Bloor West, nearing Keele (very close to a new condo proposal@Indian Road) we see this badly (window) dressed Ukrainian grandma looking very cold and unfriendly. I've never been inside--maybe because I'm not Ukrainian?--but here's a sample of their wares/art(?):

Then on Roncevalles, a new gallery is spotted in (gasp) Harry Stinson's High Park Lofts project. The building is very unhospitable and ugly, so it is nice to see a bit of colour to cheer up the grim environs:

For some reason, the area was crawling with welfare types today. On some days, Toronto is very Ontario trashy. Maybe tomorrow I'll see something that cheers me up?

 

[urbandreamer]

It's that time of year again: Contact Photography 2008 begins today!

Many shows opening tonight, tomorrow and Saturday.

On Queen West in Parkdale today, as I was taking photos of this gallery one of the owners said he's an urban planner/lawyer and likes urbantoronto! But critically, do we like the show opening tonight??? hmmm....

My Sunday, 4 May 2008 stop at this gallery proved to be educational! Turns out the photos are by Sean Galbraith, the urban planner I mentioned above. He's into urban exploration of abandoned buildings, and posts on this forum: http://www.uer.ca/ Very cool photos of abandoned psychiatric hospitals, factories etc.

 

[urbandreamer]

More previews of Contact 2008, paintings and more!

After Ideal Coffee on Ossington today I was buzzed and ready to snap away, even though the weather frankly was shi**y. Let's begin on Ossington and head south towards the crazies near CAMH then onwards towards the welfare bums of Parkdale.

129 Ossington had me excited because I spent much of my summers in barns mowing hay as a teenager. Laurie De Camillis's "Wolfe Island Barns" makes me want to go buy an abandoned barn to live in--upstate New York?

This pair in particular really was nostalgic and are my favourite paintings of the year so far: Gorgeous, eh?

And this--from an UT perspective--painting is rather brilliant too--is that MOZO on King East? It's taken from a promo card at 129 Ossington: Rob Croxford's "transitory" show on throughout May 2008. An UT must see!

Right beside 129 Ossington is another interesting idea/show. I hear '80's music is the big thing right now so not surprisingly, we see a twist on a classic '80's icon:

The skyscraper geek in me gets excited imagining these cubes are office/condo tower "hats"

At AWOL, creepy creatures abound: (not really my taste)

I love staring at these cute little creatures!

Nearing Queen West Lennox Contemporary is a mixed bag of treats and blahness. The good:

The bad:

The ugly:

Time to take a break before we hit Queen West--can you spare any change?

 

[urbandreamer]

From CAMH on Queen let's walk to Parkdale...

Lens Factory for some reason never turns my crank:

Frankly this "art" doesn't either:

Toronto School of Art provides another seasonally-related show:

I sneaked into loop--the door was open but apparently the show doesn't open until Saturday. Nonetheless, the girls inside forbid me take photos... (Are they out of the loop?) But the sidewalk is public property, so here ya go:

Is it just me or do I see a marketing tie-in to the condo sales centre across the street? Weird--look at the colours on the painting vs. the sales centre reflection!

Another look at Katherine Mulherin's galleries. These "blue" paintings are apparently interpretations of urban gridlock at night. They would look really cool hung in one of those condos facing the Gardiner Expressway! They are part of Dennis Ekstedt's Sprawl.

I love the knives--interesting to see the difference between the gorgeous high quality Japanese knives, the so-so Italian ones and the crappy Made in China ones. Help me reference the quotes please! My Sunday, 4 May 2008 visit helped me get some more info about these knives: They're by Lisa Neighbour, are digitalized/photoshopped prints based on real knives she randomly found around Toronto, and the little sayings are "famous last words" of various murderers, theives etc. I just watched Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" so the knives were extra vivid on Sunday afternoon. Here is a sampling from Lisa Neighbour's I'm just going home like a shooting star on until 10 May.

Out in Parkdale I spy a show hidden in a clothing boutique:

I don't see anything....


Finally, on the edge of civilization--aka near Roncevalles--another show with a few good paintings:

Bonus shot: Pussy willows outside Cowbell looking good:

Sadly, I was so exhausted from my 3.5 hour walk I couldn't make it to any gallery openings tonight.... I was looking forward to all the ladies....

'til next time, thanks for sparing me some change.

 

[urbandreamer]

On Sunday, 4 May 2008 I went on a six hour walk....

along Queen West mostly, with a few distractions. Like Dundas West of Bathurst, for example:

An alley way provides a hint of how the other half lives; a part of the world I've never seen (aka Toronto Cottage Country):


Musa Cafe has some paintings hanging on their walls, so I try to show you some here:

Finally, a gallery--on the north side of Dundas, at Palmerston, a new show opened Friday, Neither Here Nor There by Christine Cheung. I'm not impressed (2/10 cuz I like green

Damn it, Dundas West was dead, I wanted to see more people, more art, more buildings, more life!!! so I head back down to Queen West via Markham St. It proves worthwhile--a gorgeous green-painted Victorian house, and this bizarro display of weirdness:

Whatever happened to those Teletubbies? Did they all get a public hanging in some Toronto fan's front yard?