Blog

  • SpeakEasy’s Annual Holiday Show & Sale

     
     
    Thursday, December 1, 2011
    7:00 pm to 11:00 pm
    The Gladstone Hotel
    1214 Queen West
    Second Floor Lobby + Studio Room
    Cover: Pay What You Can ($4.00 Donation Suggested) 
    For more information contact: David Brown
    T: 416-533-1374

     

    Chestnuts roasting, sleigh bells ringing and the season starts a-swingin’! Join us for holiday coctails, a few good tunes and another fantastic show. It’s an evening of arts, crafts and seasonal fun. It’s a chance to shop for hand-crafted holiday gifts. 
     
    It’s an opportunity for the public to see the work of 42 local artists
    ranging from quirky one-off ceramics to handmade soap, jewellery, books
    and hand painted Christmas cards.
     
    Participating Artists:
     
    WhiteLotus Design, Jewellery
    pépin d’or Jewellery
    Charming Fairy Beads
    Poetic Designs, Jewellery
    Fredrick Prince, Jewellery
    Jodes Jewels
    Pallina Beads
    Shawnte Designs, Jewellery
    Pikay Creations, Jewellery
    Its Your Life Handmade, Jewellery
    Sex on a Stitch, Risqué Crochet
    Joy Pottery, Functional Ceramics
    Flock of Tea Cosy
    Elizabeth Victoria Millinery
    Sneaky Moose Suedeworks
    Your Time Boutique Inc, Artisan Beeswax Candles
    Floating World Studio, Printed paper items
    Kempton Jones – Owlies of Ontario
    Deborah Sanderson, Jewellery
    okku design, Various paper goods and silkscreened items
    Arlumizú Designs, Handbags, & accessories
    Cookie Friday Co. | Crafted in Toronto
    Sallygirl Designs, Scarfs
    RedHen Craft, Blank journals and bookmarks.
    Chiho Tokita, Ceramic artist-potter
    Anneke van Bommel, Jewellery, prints and objects
    Priya Means Love, Organic botanical skincare
    Catherine Carroll, Fired Earth Tiles
    Offcut Studio, Wood objects
    DylaniumKnits
    Soap Scum, Soap for dirty people! 
    B the Balm, Artisan soaps and botanical balms
    Claire Manning, screen printed and embroidered goods
    Aww Gee, Fun creatures & accessories
    periwinkle blue, Hand made bags
    Natalie Waddell, Ceramicist & Maker of Things
    Bev Dywan, Party Glass, Upcycled home décor objects
    Wendy Jane, Bags and Accessories
    Katie Muth, Lino-cut prints
    bibu, Retro meets modern for home and baby
    Katherine Miller , Peppermint Robot Surprise
    Happy Seamstress
     
    SpeakEasy is a monthly gathering of Toronto’s creative community. It’s an opportunity to network, share ideas, and keep in touch with the pulse of Toronto’s creative professionals. Since 1996 it has grown from a get-together of a few friends to an event that now draws regular crowds of up to 300. SpeakEasy takes place 6 times a year, on the first Thursday of the month, at The Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West)

    The atmosphere at SpeakEasy is casual…conducive to innovation and inspiration. Each month a selected group of artists from a different creative discipline displays work for the crowd. Some of our most popular shows have featured Photography (part of the city wide Contact Festival), Illustration, Industrial Design, Multimedia, Graphic Design, Fine Arts, and the SpeakEasy Craft Shows.

    Why is there a need for SpeakEasy? 
    Many people in Toronto are working alone these days. At a venue like SpeakEasy you can meet new friends and make new business contacts. SpeakEasy allows people to see what is new and exciting in the industry, and learn how other people tackle the day to day challenges of the creative field. SpeakEasy is very informal. There are no annual fees and no rules. The event is about creative people coming together to share ideas, exchange knowledge, and learn from each other. There are no other associations that are focused on helping creative individuals to help themselves.

  • Brothers of the Weird

    Todd James, Vanity Nemesis  2011, gouache and graphite on paper, 30″ x 22.5″

    November 25, 2011 – January 22, 2012
    COOPER COLE GALLERY

    The opening of Cooper Cole Gallery’s new exhibition, Brothers of the Weird, also marks the relaunch of the former Show & Tell Gallery under a new name. Brothers is a group show featuring the work of five artists—Todd James, Devin Flynn, Ian Flynn, Billy Grant, and Joe Grillo. Though most of these artists have never shown work together before, their vivid and uproarious visual language makes the grouping feel like a conversation among friends, which it is in a way—two of the artists are brothers, while Grant and Grillo are both members of the New York–based Dearraindrop Collective.

    The work is sharply psychedelic, graphic, and lushly-coloured. Todd James’ “Chloe” paintings are the stars of the show—with their still life-inspired composition, exuberant palette, and blonde bombshell in the foreground. James’ work takes cues from art history heavyweights like Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, yet also shows signs of influence from his fellow Americans Philip Guston and Roy Lichtenstein.

    Dearraindrop members Grant and Grillo’s work also satisfies a need for colour and bounce. The group’s graphic design background is evident in the paintings which feel like Saturday morning cartoons reimagined by graffiti artists. The Flynn’s work is quieter by comparison. You can still hear the message—you just have to listen more closely.

    Daniel St. Germaine

  • Istvan Kantor: Burn books etc…

    Let’s shake hands, exchange some ideas, burn books, etc, on

     

    December 3 – 4, 2011, 2 – 4 pm
    ANTIX – Centre for Art Crime and Neoism
    276 Crawford Street, Toronto
    through drive way towards garage
    www.istvankantor.com
    http://home.interlog.com/~amen/
    http://www.hungarianpresence.ca/Culture/Media/kantor

    Istvan Kantor Monty Cantsin Amen is back from his European performance/exhibition tour with a new book, new cd and new mixed media works… he’ll be at his storage space, known as ANTIX, this Saturday and Sunday afternoon, for a reception and the burning ceremony of his new book that was published in Hungary as part of his solo exhibition at the King Saint Istvan Museum (Szent István Király Muzeum). COME AND WARM UP YOUR SOUL AND BODY AT THE FLAMES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL RED AND GOLD, 200 PAGES BOOK, FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOS. His newly released cd of his 80s songs, BLOOD and GOLD, will be also available for sale for only $10 on this special occasion.

    Dont miss this opportunity to closely admire the ANTIX Depot that is Istvan Kantor’s storage space and summer gallery, archive of Kantor’s life and crimes, a meeting place for secret conversations, future projects, conspiracy plans, also amazing deals on bloody canvases and many other beautiful Neoist Monty Cantsin artifacts! It is “the Vatican of Neoism”, the secret emergency exit to Neoist eternity… an archive of over three decades of works, from mail-art to machinery, anti-drawings, re-mixed-media paintings, stolen information, broken sculptures, hypersex-manifestos, flaming banners, burned flags, 1001 broken irons, … a spot for revolutionary ideas, conspiratorial gatherings, great deals, mind blowing conversations with Neoist Genii

  • Toronto Transformed

    Old image:  Harry Enchin , “Strombo” . New part of the composite image’s photo: Nadia Kakridonis, South side of Queen Street West  near Simcoe.  The strombo mural was painted over just days after the shot

    December 1 – 29, 2011  
    Opening: Thursday, December 1, 7 – 10 pm
    TWIST GALLERY 
     1100 Queen St. West
    Toronto, ON  M6J 1H9
    T: 416 – 588 – 2222
    info@twistgallery.ca
    www.twistgallery.ca
    Hours: Tues – Sat 11 – 6 pm

     Toronto Transformed by Harry Enchin juxtaposes spontaneous photographs from 2008-2011 with record images from the City of Toronto archives.  Just as the ‘old’ images were originally captured with the photographed tools of the day, the current ‘new’ images were captured with a digital camera.  The combined photographs retain perspective, with reference points of old and new structures, establishments and roads.  Photographs include iconic images.  Change is observed in both historic and rejuvenated neighbourhoods such as the emerging art district of Queen and Ossington.

    TorontoTransformed is Twist Gallery’s 22nd art exhibit since opening its doors back in February of 2010.  Aside from the art shows, the 5,000 square foot venue has also played host to a variety of different events ranging from concerts to fashion shows, weddings and corporate functions to fundraisers.

  • SOLSTICE SALON

    Nayoun Kim, Mr. Detective

    December 1, 2011 – January 8, 2012
    Opening: Thursday, December 1, 6-9 pm
    PENTIMENTO FINE ART GALLERY
    1164 Queen Street East
    Toronto, Ontario M4M 1L4
    T: 416-406-6772
    Email: rockinrolland@sympatico.ca
    Hours: Wed – Sunday 12 – 6  pm

    SOLSTICE SALON at Pentimento Fine Art Gallery presents the works of 15 gallery artists from December 1 trough January 8, 2012. 

    In the tradition of old style salons the works represent the best of each artist from the architectural glass works by Christy Haldane, paintings on Mylar by Virginia McClure, the provocative photographic work of G. Elliott Simpson alongside emerging artists Nayoun Kim (winner of the 2011 Leslieville Mural Competition), Colin Davis and the pop icon based work by Wil Simpson.

    Artists list:

    Ethel Shoul
    Virginia McClure
    Wil Simpson
    Noreen Mallory
    Nayoun Kim
    G. Elliott Simpson
    David Caesar
    Brian Deignon
    Colin Davis
    Jane Duncan
    Christy Haldone
    Michelle Reaume
    Marcus Berns,
    Victoria Wards
    Kathryn Adams

  • Alex Webb: “The Suffering of Light”

    Sancti Spiritus, Cuba 1993

    December 1, 2011 – January 14, 2012
    Opening:Thursday, December 1, 5-9pm
    STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY
    1026 Queen Street West
    Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H6
    T: 416.504.0575
    E: info@bulgergallery.com
    www.bulgergallery.com  
    Hours: Tues – Sat  11- 6pm

    The Suffering of Light” is the gallery’s first solo exhibition by acclaimed American photographer Alex Webb and it is presented in conjunction with the APERTURE release of the monograph with the same name. This exhibition gathers some of Webb’s most iconic images, taken in the far corners of the earth, and chronicles his acute reflections of daily life with his remarkable sense of colour and composition.

    Recognized as a pioneer of American colour photography since the 1970s, Webb has consistently created photographs characterized by intense colour and light. His work, with its richly layered and complex composition, touches on multiple genres, including street photography, photojournalism, and fine art, but as Webb claims, “to me it all is photography. You have to go out and explore the world with a camera.” Webb’s ability to distill gesture, colour, and contrasting cultural tensions into single, beguiling frames results in evocative images that convey a sense of enigma, irony, and humour. Featuring key works alongside previously unpublished photographs, “The Suffering of Light” provides the most thorough examination to date of this modern master’s prolific, thirty year career.

    Quote: “I only know how to approach a place by walking. For what does a street photographer do but walk and watch and wait and talk, and then watch and wait some more, trying to remain confident that the unexpected, the unknown, or the secret heart of the known awaits just around the corner.”

  • A r t S a l o n

    Francesco Marchetti, Untitled, mixed media on fabric, 90 x 100 cm

    December 3 – 31, 2011
    Opening: Saturday, December 3,  3 – 6 p.m.
    R.S.V.P. to invite@delucafineart.com
    De Luca Fine Art | Gallery
    217 Avenue Road
    Toronto, ON, M5R 2J3
    T: 416-537-4699
    E-mail: corrado@delucafineart.com
    www.delucafineart.com.
    Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11-5pm

    This spectacular exhibition is your chance to see 22 artists at once. It’s the prefect introduction of what the new year will bring. Don’t miss it!

    _________________________________________________________________________________________

    ARTISTS:  Flavio Belli (Canada) – Janet Bellotto (United Arab Emirates/Canada) – Bruno Billio (Canada) – Emanuele Bonfanti (Italy) – Mauro Bordin (France) – Tony Calzetta (Canada) – Jerry Campbell (Canada) – Giovanni Cerri (Italy) – Giuseppe De Luca (Italy) – Daniel Diaz (Argentina/Canada) – Laura Fantini (USA) – Ciba Karisik (Canada) – André Krigar (Germany) – Jiri La Docha (Canada) – Ernesto Manera (Argentina/Canada) – Francesco Marchetti (UK/Italy) – Antonio Pedretti (Italy) – Vincenzo Pietropaolo (Canada) – Abraham Anghik Ruben (Canada) – Iner Souster (Canada) – Michael Toke (Canada) – Juno Youn (Canada).
    _________________________________________________________________________________________

    De Luca Fine Art | Gallery, established in 2004, is now located at 217 Avenue Road. The gallery represents and introduces Italian and International Artists to Canadian audiences. In collaboration with select Galleries, De Luca Fine Art | Gallery introduces established and emerging Canadian Artists to Europe.

    For more information regarding this event and/or our services, consultation, and art rental program please visit www.delucafineart.com

  • David McClyment: Something About Small

    December 1, 2011 – January 15, 2012
    Meet the artist:Saturday, December 3, 2-5 pm.
    DAVID KAYE GALLERY
    1092 Queen Street West
    (entrance on Dovercourt)
    Toronto, ON M6J 1H9
    416.532.9075
    www.davidkayegallery.com
    Hours: Mon., Tue. by appointment
    Wed. – Fri. 11 – 6; Sat., Sun. 11 – 5 

    The irrepressible Toronto-based artist in his exhibition Something About Small: new portraits, or as the artist likes to call the exhibition, HONKING BIG HEADS ON CARDBOARD.

    McCLYMENT has chosen his family and himself as the subject matter for this exhibition. He cuts large paper stencils and spray paints the image with enamels on cardboard. The casual presentation of his images belie the artistry in the elaborate stencils he cuts to create these spectacular large-scaled portraits.

  • The Grey Area:Pascal Paquette & Cindy Blazevic

    Cindy Blazevic

    November 30 – December 11, 2011
    Opening: Friday, December 2, 7 pm
    GALLERY 1313 Main Gallery
    1313 Queen Street West,
    Toronto, ON M6K 1K8
    T: 416 – 536-6778
    E mail: director@g1313.org
    www.gallery13131.org
    Hours: Wed – Sun 1- 6

    Step aside flags, anthems, invented traditions and overworked symbols of identity, you who were cultivated as mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, but whose negative assertions of nationalism bore so much responsibility for the havoc of the 1990s.  In this new post-war order, the shared heritage of rebuilding and the efforts to join the EU — perceived symbol of civilization, modernity and wealth—have become the new pan-Balkan identity, binding and tethering society, complete with its own culture and insignia. Pascal Paquette

    Grey Area is a collection of post-war documentary photography and painting that examines a less celebrated part of Europe, the Western Balkans, with its intermediate position, its historical and political complexities, and its perpetual status of limbo – a past unsympathetic to easy analysis or clear verdicts and a future wavering uncertainly between EU membership and minor nation-statehood.

    Grey Area is an exhibition about the collective post-war experiences, symbols and culture in the Western Balkans.  The show is an offshoot of and footnote to the artists’ archive project, The Culture Lobby, which took place in the Western Balkans 2008-2010.

  • Artist Proof Sale

    Isabelle Hémard, Floating Things (detail), linocut with gold leaf, diptych, $200.

    December 1 – 17, 2011
    Opening Night Fundraiser & Open House:

    Thursday, December 1, 6 – 9 pm
    Open Studio Gallery
    401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104
    Toronto ON,  M5V 3A8
    T/F: 416-504-8238
    E-mail: sara@openstudio.on.ca
    W: http://www.openstudio.on.ca

    Forgo the rush and hassle of mall shopping, and choose instead from hundreds of original, affordable works of art during Open Studio’s annual Artist Proof Sale. Open Studio—one of Canada’s premier printmaking studios and galleries—hosts a celebration of printmaking every December, giving art lovers a chance to connect with and purchase unique works of art. Attend the grand opening of the sale on Thursday, December 1st, and you will also have a chance to meet many of the artists who created the artwork in the sale. On the opening night of the sale, the Preview and Open House kick off at 6:00 pm; at 6:30, the cash registers are opened for those who have been anxiously waiting to take home artwork by both old and new favourites. During the Open House, enjoy food, cash bar and festivities, including printmaking demonstrations by special guest artists. To make your holiday gift shopping really easy, Akau Framing will be on site to take framing orders during the Open House on December 1st. Also available will be an exclusive range of t-shirts, aprons, posters and original artists’ greeting cards, perfect for the holidays or any time of year, as well as Open Studio’s artist-designed playing cards and pins, which make great stocking stuffers for the art-lover on your holiday gift list.

    The Artist Proof Sale provides art lovers with an exciting opportunity to purchase original, one-of-a-kind fine art prints, at prices ranging from $50 – $300. Hundreds of original works of art – including screenprints, etchings, lithographs and relief prints – will be available over the course of the sale. An amazing variety of artistic styles and types of work will be available by both established and up-and-coming artists from around the country. The Artist Proof Sale is an excellent opportunity for those who are looking to start or add to their art collections. It’s also a terrific way for those who are looking for original holiday gift ideas or who prefer to shop locally to check items off gift lists while also supporting a worthy cause.

    The Artist Proof Sale and Open House is an important fundraiser for Open Studio, with fifty per cent of the sale price of each print going to Open Studio, a charitable organization that works to provide affordable access to printmaking facilities, programs and services for artists from across Canada and abroad. Open Studio’s fundraising activities help to support this artist-run centre’s vital artistic programming, which includes exhibitions, artist talks, tours, demonstrations, hands-on workshops for the public and professional development opportunities for artists, including scholarships and residencies. This is always a popular and busy event, with fierce competition for some works, so come early!