Urbandreamer tours the indie art galleries....

[urbandreamer]

29 May 2010 update

I missed door's open purposely this year (lineups and crowds make me very very impatient and angry so stay away!) and focused on hanging out in K-market, dundas west and trinity-bellwoods' area today. Stopped by several galleries I rarely see anymore, for example, Joe Plaskett's still lifes at Bau-Xi were interesting for a change:

Then over on Dundas West of Bathurst, Sleeping Giant woke me up with the final weekend to see their Contact 2010 show:

 

[urbandreamer]

Change at Bloor and Lansdowne tonight:

Gonna try to make it to Riverdale (Queen East) art walk either tomorrow or Sunday to see what the fuss is all about.

 

[urbandreamer]

Thursday, 24th June 2010 opening @Xpace and Gallery TPW--lotsa cuties, lotsa ultra pointless/pretentious art. More to come soon....

What a perfect couple:

Up on Dundas @Palmerston, another opening stumped me--why are a few dozen hipsters standing around posing? Performance art, or typical Toronto? I kept on walking...

Saturday, 26 June 2010: Leslieville/Queen St East:

Parts Gallery:

West Queen West:

1)Paul Petro:

2)Mocca: very urban toronto-style show, featuring videos and images of buildings under construction etc.

3)Katherine Mulherin: blah

4)Convenience Gallery--Lansdowne north of Queen:

Gotta love the Brits

 

[doady]

Thank you, I enjoyed your tour (and your critiques). It never occurred to be until recently art galleries also display photos. I never paid much attention I guess.

 

[urbandreamer]

Indeed, many photography galleries are scattered around Toronto, mostly south of Dupont of course.

Update from 19 June 2010, during my walk to the Mocca opening along Dundas West and down Ossington, then along Queen West from Bathurst to Roncevalles.

1)P/M gallery (Dundas near Brock) from across the street--I gotta go inside this week for a closer look, as these paintings/prints? of women look HOT.

2)Martina Sorbara's sister, the architect Ginger Sorbara, has a show at The Department on Dundas West:

3)Loop:

4)MOCCA opening for their latest show: "Empire of Dreams--Phenomenology of the built environment--Contemporary artists from Toronto--Curated by David Liss--Jun 19, 2010 - Aug 15, 2010"

It's a very UT-themed show, and I had to laugh at these "lame" jokes:

The old c.1980 Oldsmobile station wagon was cool. Let's learn how to drive it....

5)Back on Queen West, I stopped to say hello to my friends at Magic Pony

6)Their gallery space next door, Narwhal Art Projects made me smile...I'm a dreamer after all.

7)Heading westwards: Colour cheered me up:

8)

9)

10)Snowball in Parkdale:

 

[urbandreamer]

It's hard to determine if I'm just posting to myself or five other ppl...? But anyhow, here's what I've seen so far in July 2010, westside:

10 July 2010:

Xpace on Ossington:

An ongoing theme at Paul Petro--not exactly my thing....

Narwal sells out?

17 July 2010:

Bloor and Lansdowne gallery:

Dundas West:

Anyone going to Whipper Snapper's closing party, "The Funeral" on 29th July?

 

[urbandreamer]

Thursday, 5 August 2010 night at the gallery openings: Snowball Gallery, Parkdale:

Fly Gallery, WQW:

Propellor, WQW:

Ossington:

C1 Art Space, nice tees... Ossington just north of WQW:

Clothing boutique/gallery (name escapes me) on Ossington:

127 & 129 Ossington:

Angell Gallery:

Thought WQW was the art and design district? Honestly, Dundas West is quickly over-taking Queen as the gallery zone:

1) Le Gallery, Dundas St West of Ossington:

2) Loop

3) The Department

4) Zoots (coffee, brunch and art space)

5) I began the evening at P/M gallery but missed the actual shot, sorry--will update you soon: Here's the arty bike crowd gathering around the entrance to the gallery:

There's more galleries on Dundas West of course--Naco Gallery&Cafe (really good Mexican food+hipsters=) , Jessica Bradley, and more.

107 Shaw had an opening for "Studies for Possible Futures..." --pretty cool installation that reminded me of the past....

Scenesters gather in front of Paul Petro "Special Projects" Gallery for an opening, more photos later if you want to see them.

Also went to openings at the Gladstone, 1313 Queen St West.

1313: "I dreamt of a black cloud over your house" by Lalie Douglas ($400--how cheap. --even I could afford it. But where's the bedroom?)

Does anyone else like going to openings?

Good night from Queen St West:

 

[urbandreamer]

25 August 2010: Paul Petro wQw:

Angell Gallery opening tonight! See you there!

 

[Urban Shocker]

Once I'm retired I'll do nothing but flit from one delightful soiree to the next ...

 

[urbandreamer]

^You don't need to be retired to enjoy the city's art openings!

Thursday, 26 August 2010 @the WQW art galleries/openings.

I've never been in this cheesy mainstream-looking gallery, but I saw tons of ppl hanging out for an opening, just west of Bathurst:

Queen West is rapidly changing...for the worse? Here's the Ruins (upscale men's clothing boutique) opening, attended by lotsa sexy models, myself included.

Next door, Paul Petro gallery celebrated its final show--gallery is closing soon. (To move to Dundas St W?)

So far, I've been too lazy to enter the annual Square Foot show at AWOL. (I've got tons of brilliant ideas, just not so great at the execution... )

The hottest opening of the evening? Angell Gallery on Ossington, featuring fantasy streetscapes with skyscrapers that could be straight out of Peter Clewes' studio, by Alex McLeod. It's always nice to see my x gf's in one room.

Around the corner and over near Dovercourt, the vibe was distinctly less happening at non-art gallery Thrush Holmes Empire:

Fractal/Arab-inspired art projection behind a private gallery event in Parkdale. It's as good as the art got--the rest was typical polite earth tones and light box art typical of the mid-career Toronto artist whose idea of profound art is stuck in 1990 Toronto. Good pick up joint though.

Good night from Queen & Ossington:

 

[urbandreamer]

Wednesday, 8th September 2010 evening on Tecumseh was nice--Diaz Contempory, Georgia Scherman cool videos by Shaun Gladwell, Susan Hobbs and another one that escapes my brain atm.... then spotted a hot opening at Clint Roenisch Gallery I had to attend to...

Diaz:

Reminded me of a colander:--the artist--Mexican Ricardo Rendon--agreed with my interpretation.

While the girls chatted about fashion and gossip in one corner, the guys gathered around S Gladwell's hot rods @G Scherman:

Lotsa hot birds @CR

Ossington:

Dundas West--the Department: 911 memories...?

Dundas West@Parkway--lazy art or clever Bukowski?

Mocca opening tonight @7-10pm: cya there!

 

[Urban Shocker]

^You don't need to be retired to enjoy the city's art openings!

Indeed not, but two weeks from today I'll have much more time to do so.

57 seems like a reasonable age to bid the workday world a fond adieu! ... and do something entirely different.

No doubt our paths will cross.

 

[urbandreamer]

Friday, 10 September 2010:

Show & Tell, Dundas west of Ossington:

Le:

Ossington--Xpace:

wQw:
1)Paul Petro is history:

2)Long lineups at Mocca worthwhile! Amazing show byDavid Hoffos
Met some real nice ladies... Don't know what uS looks like...were you there?

3)Paul Petro's main space still kicking: (Really cool knitted wall installation--perfect for your new condo--by Janet Morton upstairs.)

4)Katherine Mulherin--missed the Thursday opening due to work....

5)Mostly crap here, not worth crossing the street for....:

6)Fly Gallery:

7)Snowball:

11 September 2010: Junction Arts festival bored me this year, too tired to see the art really, other than a late night at Margret's....

'til next Thursday, enjoy! (Convenience Gallery on Lansdowne north of Queen is a treat, check it out!)

 

[urbandreamer]

Long time no post. 19 November 2011 here's what Clint Roenisch is offering:

Meredith Keith Gallery on Dundas St west near Lansdowne: The eye is staring at that huge rose window across the street!

The Department at Dundas and Gladstone:

Snuggle in my warm Hudson's Bay blanket, or just imagine what it's like at Fine and Dandy, Dundas and Sorauren

I feel out of the art loop in this city these days, so I just window shop, Dundas and Dovercourt Rd:

I missed the latest MOCCA opening Friday night but checked it out yesterday--highly recommend this show so check it out!

(Amusing reading my first posts in this thread, but I've come to appreciate UT as a sort of diary about my life. All forums are great for that, for people you know you can learn more about their progression in life.)

 

[taal]

Hey urbandreamer, just so you know I (and I'm sure many others) greatly appreciate these posts / pictures. Keep them coming if you can!