This community event was largely organized by the Parkdale Residents Association and in particular a few key organizers like Ric Amis and Kelly Foote with the support of a few volunteers. I was there in the early hours so didn’t get to see it at night. It seemed to have attracted a good crowd to visit the forty+ booths set up.
There were crafts, painters and live performance including magic and music. I watched the magician, Spencer Scurr, who had a good repertoire and was engaging the public. Most of the artists were local which gave them an opportunity to sell some work and get get some exposure. The weather was perfect and even the Parkdale Public Library had a book sale.
The vision of the event was “To provide an integrated community event that showcases professionals next to budding artists, kids’ art next to home artists, performers next to community arts programs, and arts’ supplies vendors next to installations. “
Artist, Julie Campagna
Artist, Elva Hook
Artist, Shannon Sandwell
Perhaps this event will grow next year and get more support financially and more volunteers. Kudos to the skeleton crew that put the event together in a rather short time.
Text and photo: Phil Anderson
A Photo Journal by Polyna Alexseev
Teresa the Swamp Hag’s performance. Spooky season is swamping the streets with spooky fun décor, and Teresa just got the thing. Teresa is a long-time community member and is a daring soul and a captivating performer
Pan Piper on the Steel Drums. Many people join the groove of some Caribbean favourites and even Western classics from the most iconic composers
Raven’s Nest Crystals and creations had many pedestrians lured in due to the incredible irresistible smell of sweet incense. They also had beautiful jewelry collections with crystal lamps and minerals
Diyen Sang is giving a demo of his process around the corner from the Parkdale Library
Black Line Accessories are unisex handmade jewelry for all sizes. Many stopped by to have a chat and look at more unique pieces just in time for Halloween to come and trendy dark accessories to complete the season’s mood
These incredibly talented twins did not fail to grab the attention of people. Absolutely a show-stopper act! (pun intended) Isabella Hoops and Darling Darling (The Spin Twins)
September 23 -24, 2023 Queen West Art Crawl / Trinity Bellwoods Park
The Quest West Art Crawl was celebrating its 20th anniversary and has gone through some transition recently. There were just over a hundred booths this year and the artists also were online (for 6 days). I chatted with artistic director, Jonathan Brett who had a long history with the Crawl. He selected most of the participating artists. Some were veterans who had returned and for a few it was their first time with the Crawl.
Artistic Director, Jonathan Brett
Brett said that the Crawl now has a major donor, TD Bank as well as money from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and under his direction had become more assessible and diverse, not only with artist booths but with performances too. There were activities set up for children as well and the event seemed to work well with families. The Crawl includes 2 SLGBT and Kids zone plus Drag that is 50% BIPOC. They also partnered with Workman Arts and the Native Canadian Centre donating booths to artists at the suggestion of those organizations. The CRAWL is also a hub for ON CULTURE DAYS.
I had arrived early on the Saturday morning but there seemed to be a lot of people out already and there a few booths set up with food vendors as well. Brett had said that having Nuit Blanche on the same night had been a bit of a drain on resources especially security and he had reached to the organizers of the Geary Street Art Crawl to look for common solutions.
Artist, KJ Chong
Artist, Cherie Daly
Artist, Deepti Saxena
Everything seemed to be well organized and functioning well. There was a variety of art works to choose from with different styles including mixed media, textiles and more. One of the main benefits of the Queen West Art Crawl was its location in a lush park that was big enough that if you got tired of the crowds you could disappear into another corner of the Park. Jonathan Brett said that they did follow up surveys of the booths and online sales and the results had all been good. During these difficult times it is reassuring that people are buying work and helping artists to survive. It was good to see the Queen West Art Crawl again with renewed vigor.
Geary Street Art Crawl
This year’s street crawl had a few cutbacks in terms of funding which meant no street closure. However it went ahead and was lots of fun.
Most of the art was in artists studios spread out along Geary Street. But there were a few outdoor installations set up in the grass or in one case in a shipping container on the street. Outdoor patios were packed and there was a festive mood.
A lot of vintage clothing stalls were set up in the Parkette and people strolled through, some with children or dogs. There were a few stages with live music and a number of venues set up with DJ’s playing. The lack of street closure didn’t stop pedestrians from wandering through the crawl. A few signs were written with arrows pointing out ART. Not sure if there was a map but it was actually fun just discovering things as you went along.
The energy reminded me of Liberty Village in the 90′ s when there were many artist studios in that neighborhood. The big difference is that technology is heavily involved now. There are now art galleries located in the Geary neighborhood. The massive Bau-Xi Gallery at Dufferin Street and the new Station Independent Projects Gallery at 220 Geary, a much smaller 2nd story walk up.
Michelle Cieloszczyk, embodied, shattered
The brew pubs were doing good business and there was some live outdoor music. Some neighbors even celebrated their outdoor community garden offering people a taste of salad. Geary Street seems like a last refuge for some displaced artists as industrial space gets eaten up by developers. Lets hope Geary Street keeps its vibe going for years to come and the Geary Street Art Crawl gets more funding next year.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of Saturday nightlife, Nuit Blanche made its annual appearance across the downtown core, Scarborough and North York, in a presentation of three curated installations on September 23rd. In addition, surrounding artist-run centers and contemporary galleries also partook in the 7 pm – 7 am event by showcasing their own individual exhibitions, inviting crowds of people to engage with the artists and curators of the spaces.
Nuit Blanche crowd, Nathan Phillips Square, September 23, 2023
Beginning the tour of installations earlier on in the night is your best bet, for within an hour of walking, I saw the crowd sizes triple and lines begin to form out the doors of many participating buildings. One of which was 401 Richmond, home to dozens of artist-run centers, including Red Head Gallery, Gallery 44 and Abbozzo Gallery.
Upon entering the main entrance, you are swept up in the sound of saxophones and jazz percussionists, who play surrounded by free standing walls of artwork created by local emerging artists. The musicians can be heard beyond the lobby as you wind up and around the metal staircase and find yourself in Red Head Gallery. Tonia Di Risio’s current exhibit Tracings Revisited follows the experiences of objects used in reflection of her grandmother. The sculptures are shown projecting from the walls, each left individually untitled, decorating the space in a seemingly personal narrative of loss and remembrance.
Tonia Di Risio’s Tracings Revisited, on at Red Head Gallery
Down the hall, you’d find yourself entering Gallery 44, the Centre for Contemporary Photography. Two exhibits are currently being shown in adjoining rooms, however, tucked away in their member’s gallery one can see Ryan Jakebek’s, Confluence. Within the square space, an entire wall (the first on your right) is a series of cut up photographs hanging together in unison showcasing an event called Kumbh Mela. Every 6 years, a small river in India plays host to upwards of two hundred and forty million visitors. On astrologically pre-determined days, Hindu pilgrims believed these waters obtained divine power. The artist highlights the power of scale found within crowds, further contextualizing this exploration by presenting, on the adjacent wall, individual detailed portraits (which were all left untitled).
Ryan Jakebek’s Confluence exhibit at Gallery 44
Moving along to Abbozzo Gallery, a unique collection of works were on display, inspired by artificial intelligence and the legend of Robert Johnson. The exhibition, 12:06 AM, is presented by artist Richard A. Jacobson, who heard the legend of the famed guitarist, rumored to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for supernatural playing abilities. If you enjoy stepping into the supernatural, technological and fantastical nature of artworks, this is the exhibit for you. Jacobson explores, through the use of his resin guitars and skull sculptures, feelings of fear, curiosity and creativity.
Richard A Jacobson’s 12:06 AM exhibit at Abbozzo Gallery, (R-L)…exposing our Dark Desires, Outside the cocoon it waits, The Time for Deals is Past, An act of yesterday’s logic & hype-ge-al
Dark Wind
As previously mentioned, each of the sectors participating in Nuit Blanche included curate installations. Some, like those in the downtown core of Toronto, can be found on the streets. The downtown installations were curated by Kari Cwynar and included 9 of the night’s artists stretching from Nathan Phillips Square, down Bay St., ending at Union Station. Under the theme of Disturbed Landscapes, these 9 artists unearthed the land beneath the corporate buildings, bank plazas and parking lots to highlight the relationships between land and power in urban environments.
One of these works, along Bay St., was titled A Practical Guide by Divya Mehra. This artist used her inflatable installation of a plastic bag to explore themes of displacement, loss and oppression. The word “LOOT” is imprinted on the bag where one would normally see the words “THANK YOU”. It encourages the viewers to question the colonial displacement of people across history.
A Practical Guide, Divya Mehra
The last of the installations, found at Union Station, was titled To be one and multiple at the same time by Krista Belle Stewart. In a series of banners stretching from floor to ceiling in between the columns seen from Front St, Stewart engages with a similar topic of travel across spaces. Having traveled herself by ocean liner from Europe to Quebec City, followed by train to Union Station, Stewart reflects upon the past and present roles of transit and travel between colonial nation-states.
To be one and multiple at the same time, Krista Belle Stewart’s installation outside Union Station
In a collective engagement of art, Nuit Blanche brought to light a variety of topics and discussions that needed to be had. It didn’t matter how many people you may have had to rub shoulders with as you walked, you could feel the energy of the night even as the dawn rose the following day. Nuit Blanche is a night to remember and though it only happens once a year, its messages and emotions conveyed will last far beyond.
Micki-Lee Smith with Adam Kaleta and Zakriya Bashir-Hill, Submerge, multi-media composition using “naturally derived samples”, in addition to electronically produced sound, it represents the ways in which sound can be a form of pollution. In a dark and near-empty room at 401 Richmond, there stands a glowing façade of water, waves moving at the whim of a nob adjusting the vibrations’ intensities. Audiences experience the perspective of underwater environments disrupted by booming and haunting sounds. This installment is a larger statement about the human impact of noise pollution on our oceans.
Micki-Lee Smith with Adam Kaleta and Zakriya Bashir-Hill, Submerge, 2023, multi-media composition (left) & detail with the water pool (right)
As shakers, tingshas, speakers, and singers project into the microphone, the art forming on the brick wall of 401 Richmond responds to the sound, reacting in vibrant and dazzling ways. This interactive installation speaks about how increasingly divorced humans are the result of isolating themselves from the natural world, and from one another. The art encourages the viewer (and noise-maker) to imagine a prosperous and flourishing world, where every voice matters.
Magfoto and Cymatiste, Urban Arboretum, 2023, interactive installation
With phragmite reeds gathered from High Park, Indigenous artist Bonnie Devine and her team braided and assembled the grass in a large circle to create a focus for interaction and awareness. Throughout the night, the circle was animated by performances from Dr. Duke Redbird, Raven Davis, Maria Hupfield, and Ange Loft. Situated in Commerce Court, the intention of this installation is to invite discussion and dialogue regarding this location’s past, present, and future, and to learn about the rich cultural history of Indigenous folk.
Bonnie Devine with Duke Rebird, Raven Davis, Maria Hupfield, and Ange Loft, A Circle of Enquiry for a Dish with One Spoon, 2023, installation
A Photo Journal / by Dylan MacHattie
A Void by Voidz Studio IDFK, 190 McCaul St.
She work hard for it by Lido Pimienta, Maria Qamar (Hatecopy) and Miss Me!, 100 Queen St. W.
Row, pow, row your boat by Anupa Khemadasa, 19 Trinity Square
Crack in the Case by elsewhere collective, Toronto Metropolitan University Creative School Innovation Studio, 110 Bond St.
The Returning by Keitha Keeshig – Tobias Biizzindam, Native Art Society, 115 Church St.
Your wish is your command by Divya Mehra, TD Centre, 75 King St.
Living Room by Hannah Busse, Richmond-Adelaide Centre, 130 Adelaide St.
Beyond Concrete Feat, Balete, Bulate, Bituka, Bentway Skate Trail, 250 Fort York Blvd.
Station Independent Projects opened their new space Friday evening on September 22, 2023 on Geary Avenue in Toronto. Its mandate is to organize exhibitions and events with a focus on artist advocacy and specializes in discovering new emerging and mid-career artists that are not represented by galleries and organizes shows to connect artists to broader audiences.
Station Independent Projects Opening Reception on September 22. Photo: Leah Oates
Part of the Geary Art Crawl, Terrain #2, the current photography exhibition runs till October 7th, 2023, featuring artists: Paul Brandejs, Margaret Kittel Canale, Bob Carnie, Konstantin Dzjubei, David Akio Grant, Leah Oates, Kamelia Pezeshki, Corrine Laurice Pulicay, Jessica Sarrazin and Max St-Jacques.
.Margaret Kittel Canale, We built this city on rock & roll, photograph on metal, 24” x 18”
David Akio Grant, Ginza Cinema, photograph, 12″ x 18″
Prior to opening the gallery in the Lower East Side in New York City and in Toronto, Station Independent Projects had organized exhibitions in the New York City, Chicago and Toronto area for over twenty-five years with numerous galleries, art fairs and non-profits.
Station Independent Projects Gallery Director, Leah Oates in front of her work. Photo: Phil Anderson
Leah Oates is the founder of Station Independent Projects, originally a Lower East Side gallery in NYC at two venues from 2012 to 2017. Oates received a B.F.A. from The Rhode Island School of Design and an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for Postgraduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. She has been organizing shows for approximately 25 years at venues such as The Scope Art Fair, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Peer Gallery, Asya Geisberg Gallery, Chashama, Artists Space, Nurture Art, Usagi NYC Gallery and Gallery 1313.
Station Independent Projects Opening Reception on September 22. Photo: Phil Anderson
Steve Rockwell
*Exhibition information: Terrain #2 / Group show, September 22 – October 7, 2023, 220 Geary Avenue #2B, Toronto. Gallery hours: Thurs-Sun: 1 – 6 pm.
Imagine a garden at night: an entirely different place than the day-lit version. Flowers have closed their petals. The birds are gone. Even the insects are different, replaced by nocturnal moths and other strange creatures. You might find moonflowers that open only in the dark. This is not familiar territory. Do you belong here? With your feeble night vision and fear of the dark?
It’s into a world like this, of unease and mystery, that Kate Wilson’s new paintings invite you to enter. A shadowy world in which your vision falters and where what you see is generated more from internal imagination than external reality.
Wilson has titled the show Night Botanicals but don’t expect still life flower paintings in any conventional sense. There are floral elements here, but by not restricting the work to realistic representation, Wilson opens the paintings to a much wider range of interpretations.
Installation view of Kate Wilson: Night Botanicals at General Hardware Gallery
The paintings are small and dark, with a velvety matte surface. They beckon you to meet them up close. These oil paintings on wooden panels are covered in gutsy, confident brushwork that does not shy away from mixing colour directly on the surface. Wilson’s handling of paint records every step of her process, each movement of the brush and pressure in the wrist. Although similar in style and tone, each one of these paintings offers a unique experience.
In Botanical Night the view is framed by dark organic shapes. You see through to a space suffused with a luminous red glow. Is this a sunset? Or is it fire? Warmth or danger? You don’t know. Shadowy shapes grow in from the edges unaffected by gravity. Which way is up? Are you looking down? Or perhaps you’re on the ground looking skyward? A small cluster of flower-like shapes in the lower right corner draw you in. As you focus your attention, jewel like colours rise out of the darkness.
Botanical Night, 2023, oil on panel, 20” x 16”
The enigmatic subject matter leaves you without a reference to scale. In addition to botanicals, the paintings might represent microscopic pond-life, or images on a galactic scale seen through a space telescope. In her writing, Wilson says she searches for a ‘zeitgeist’ of imagery: a visual language that reflects our time in history. Her previous work has included references to astronomy, exoplanets, molecular models, and microscopic imagery. You can see in these paintings both micro and mega scales.
In Botanical Mechanics 13 silvery brush marks, like feathered wings, obscure darker, spectral objects behind. In the foreground there’s a constellation of small dots rendered to appear spherical. ‘Mechanics’ in the title might lead you to consider these objects as distant stellar bodies or possibly microscopic particles. Are we dealing with celestial mechanics? Or quantum mechanics? Possible interpretations multiply the longer you look. Could these spheres be bubbles; are we under water? Or are they droplets on a glass surface?
Botanical Mechanics 13, 2023, oil on panel, 14” x 11”
Botanical Mechanics 18 draws you in to a dark cavernous space. The darkest section of the painting weighs heavily from above. At the bottom, there are two bright spots hinting at a far-off exit from this cave. The feathery shapes above haunt the space like some menacing bird of prey. As you look deeper into this picture you see more colour and texture as though your eyes are adjusting to the low light in this grotto. At the centre of the panel the paint is thinner, and we can make out the texture of the gesso and the first layers of paint. We are seeing back to the beginning. Wilson lets us see the entire history of how the work came together.
Botanical Mechanics 18, 2023, oil on panel, 12” x 8”
Wilson’s paintings illustrate the peculiar paradox that in dim light your mind, if not your eyes, see more. In the bright light of day, there is little ambiguity; you see the world as it is. But in the dark, with less information, you continually make best guesses as to what is out there. In shadows, what you imagine seeing may be far richer than what is really there.
Wilson uses painterly conventions to create depth with light, shadow, and the illusion of reflective surfaces. The shapes and marks suggest botanical subject matter but remain ambiguous enough that your imagination is coaxed into searching for new associations and interpretations. These small paintings require a bit of effort to get in to, but you’ll be richly rewarded. You’ll be surprised at how much you can see in the dark!
Mikael Sandblom
Images are courtesy of General Hardware Contemporary
*Exhibition information: Kate Wilson, Night Botanicals, August 26 – September 24, 2023, General Hardware Contemporary, 1520 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 6 pm.
**The exhibition is part of Gallery Weekend Toronto, September 21 – 24, 2023
“I don’t paint pretty pictures anymore” states Amber Smith-Quail. An Indigenous artist and educator, she has more important things to say than her previous work that consisted primarily of peaceful but captivating nature scenes.
In her exhibition Nawemaa / To be related Smith-Quail cracks open the hidden history of our First Nations peoples, addressing the missing and murdered women, children and two-spirit people in Canada. This story—the story of her aunt who went missing—is the story she has to live with.
The Thief (2021), is a mixed-media sculpture installation covering the entire back wall. The scene depicts a wolf cutting through a clothesline of red garments, one of which is in its mouth. When asked about this work, Smith-Quail says “I think about the clothesline as a connection, and the wolf has broken the connection.” She explains how communities are working hard to build those connections, the ones being taken from Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have fought, and continue to fight, to not let their histories be erased, in more ways than one, and this exhibition is an opportunity to learn the facts of what happened, and continues to happen, to our Indigenous peoples.
Installation views of The Thief, 2021, paper bag, paint, synthetic sinew, miniature wooden clothespins with Amber Smith-Quail
A series of Amber Smith-Quail’spaintings are drawn on LCBO bags, a happenstance activist statement. Each LCBO bag is decorated with flowers and animals, rectifying the stereotype associated with Indigenous alcohol abuse. Smith-Quail explains how she decided to cover the alcohol symbol with art, which she considers to be a tool for healing. “Now when people look at the LCBO bag, people will see the beauty and elegance of Indigenous culture.”
And Your Bird Is Green, (top) and Mister Pink, (bottom) both 2023, archival pigment print
Dakiimii (to have land), (2017-2023), is an imagined monopoly board depicting the land ownership, Oka Crisis and five white gifts (to name a few) that the Indigenous endured. As viewers walk around the board, they will notice motifs around the room reflected.
Dakiimii (to have land), 2017-2023, acrylic paint on panel
The educational properties of this work also extend to Smith-Quail’s beadwork in the show. The beaded Land Back, (2022-2023)is a reminder that in Canada beadwork was outlawed at a point in time so Indigenous peoples had to hold onto the knowledge they had in secret. As a result, many Indigenous people do not know how to bead because it was schooled out of them.
Land Back, 2022-2023, vintage and contemporary glass beads, porcupine quills, beading foundation, pipe bones, commercially tanned deer hide
“Nawemaa / To be related” is an effort to get viewers to see and appreciate the beauty and elegance of Indigenous art and culture, recognize the appropriation of its uniqueness within our commercialized world, and the ways we have all been indoctrinated to have certain incorrect beliefs about our First Nation peoples.
Georgia Gardner
*Exhibition information: Amber Smith-Quail Nawemaa / To be related, September 7 – 26, 2023, Dignam Gallery, Women’s Art Association of Canada, 23 Prince Arthur Ave, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Sat 11 am – 5pm.
Being and Belonging: Contemporary Women Artists from the Islamic World and Beyond
Away from racial biases and political circuses, 25 immigrant female artists from the Islamic world were asked to present their art at the Royal Ontario Museum this year. They are from the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, but not all of them identify themselves as Muslim.
Although these artists are from different countries and continents, they have so many things in common. Their homelands were taken away from them. Colonialism, social instability and political turmoil forced them to leave their countries. They were threatened by patriarchy, misogyny, injustice and discrimination, but they were not defeated. You can see their resilience, bravery and strength perfectly illustrated in their arts. They are taboo breakers. They challenge the stereotypical image of themselves. They are storytellers, each in their own unique way. It’s all out there sitting on the weirdly angled walls of the ROM waiting for you to observe and enjoy them.
Installation view of Being and Belonging
Maïmouna Guerresi is an Italian-Senegalese artist born in 1951 in Italy. A multimedia artist who expresses herself through photography, sculpture, video and installation. She mentions Sufism (Islamic mysticism) as a constant source of inspiration for her work. Black Muslim women’s stories are narrated throughout her work. “The image of the African Muslim woman is placed in a dimension where space is not determined by either time or history” states the artist.
The Trampoline photographs, Blue and Red, are from the Aisha in Wonderland series (2015-2016). They are mesmerizing, with two large paintings, each portraying a woman, standing on a thin diving board. The backgrounds are gray which intensifies the red and blue colour of their hijabs. One figure has moved above a rusted closed iron door, the other one is ascending towards a window. Serenity is the first thing that comes to mind. Calm faces, eyes looking down, avoiding any challenge. Mathematically calculated hand movements keep their balance. Both women have safely located themselves between their surroundings. There are no signs of struggle, resistance or fight. An acceptable amount of skin and hair is showing; perhaps what the religion, the ‘norm’ and the law agree on. Fragility is visually tangible, as well as the power of inner strength. One little miscalculation, one small mistake might cause them to fall. Behind the rusted iron door perhaps. They are matriarchs holding the lanterns, walking towards the future, showing the path.
Sama Alshaibiwas born in Iraq in 1973 to an Iraqi father and a Palestinian mother. She fled Iraq, during the Iran-Iraq War in 1981 and lived in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan before moving the United States in 1986. Sama created An Act of Possession in 2019to shed light on the war and dislocation of Palestinians since 1948. She wrote “I want my actual homeland, not the multi-generational inheritance of displacement”.
The Suitcase can be a symbol of change or dislocation if change is forced upon you. It can also embody the day your ordinary life turned upside down. You can’t believe that the time came and you had to leave. You put some of your belongings in a suitcase and left the rest behind. And then … that one last look! Would you ever see the people and belongings you had to leave behind again? You run, and run, as fast as you can, as far you as you are allowed to, carrying one little suitcase like a part of your body. These are all of your belongings now. Then you stop somewhere without a home, a job, or an identity. They are all taken away from you. Your clothes don’t keep you warm anymore. Your documents can’t put a roof over your head. Your money is worthless. You stare at your suitcase and the reality hits you: you carried nothingness.
Sama Alshaibi, An Act of Possession, 2019, aluminium, plywood, and paper, 67.3 x 43.2 x 21.6 cm. Courtesy of Sama Alshaibi
Shiva Ahmadi, is an Iranian-American artist, born in 1975 in Iran. She moved to the US in 1998 after witnessing the Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq war in the 80s. She currently works as Associate Professor of Art at the University of California, Davis. Shiva created the animation Ascend in 2017focusing on Syrian refugees who lost their lives when forced to flee their country. Shiva says “My work is a response to current world issues, which all stem from corrupt power and dictatorship”.
The animation is calm and playful, featuring young and adult figures playing with bubbles. The colors are vibrant green and blue with a touch of warm brown. It must be a hot summer day. The gentle bouncing movement of bubbles is hypnotizing. The tranquility of dreams and fantasy circulate in your mind. But you can’t fool yourself. Considering the region, something will happen. And it does. One of the bubbles turns into a little bomb, the other one into a grenade. Any second it can explode. And it does. Sorrow sinks in your heart. Aylan Kurdi’s lifeless little body shows up. And suddenly it hits you. The bubbles are not playful anymore, they became scary and they kill people. They destroy the parents’ dream of a peaceful life for their children. The next scene starts with different figures sitting in a boat playing with bubbles. Another hot summer day. But you can’t fool yourself, you know what happens next.
Stills from Shiva Ahmadi, Ascend, 2017, single-channel video animation with sound, 6:48 mins. Courtesy of Haines Gallery, San Francisco, and the artist.
Canan is a Turkish-Kurdish feminist-activist artist born in 1970 in Turkey. Canan created 71 small paintings in 2020. The inspiration comes from the Falname (Fortune telling) book which was used by fortune-tellers in Iran, India and Turkey during the 16th and 17th centuries. That is why the paintings look like tarot cards. You can find them all sitting next to each other covering the whole wall at this exhibition, ready to separate you from real, ordinary life for a few moments. She explains “People over the centuries have turned to fortune-telling and astrology to find hope in times of despair.”
The paintings are dazzling, with bright colours, under the spotlights, and hard to ignore. They immediately lead you from the material world into the mysterious, mythical, symbolic and magical world of fortune telling, crystal balls and tarot cards created by the artist. Images include a prince on a white horse fighting with dragons, crossing rivers and passing high mountains for the sake of love; a woman combing her long silky black hair in a rose garden; and fairies making wishes that come true. Figures half human, half animal symbolize love, power and victory. The human, animal and natural worlds are intertwined. Some picture a world perfectly in harmony, while others depict chaos. Some show people praying to the moon, the sun and the stars with their hands held up to the sky. Pomegranates, apples, tulips and daisies all have meaning, symbolizing important elements in eastern cultures. Red apple is health, a yellow one predicts illness. Animals are symbolic too. There is always something about cats and crows, because of their association with evil. Cats were taboo in Persia and crows are the harbingers of bad things, even death. Everyone wants to see a goldfish in their dreams. If only we had the power to choose.
Canan, Falname series of 71 paintings, 2023. Each ink, opaque watercolour, gold paint, and pencil on handmade paper, 24 x 16.5 cm.
The exhibition’s theme is power, space and movement. Such a trio of complex phenomenon! Each single word is loaded with layers and layers of pain, laughter, nostalgia, hope, challenge, failure and success. What makes the difference is the way those emotions are felt and expressed in the magical kaleidoscope of different languages, cultures, religions and histories. Hafez, the famous Persian poet, describes love as ‘only one word,’ however you won’t hear one love story twice he says. And that’s also the beauty of this exhibition.
Shirin Kabiri
Images are courtesy of the ROM.
*Exhibition information: Being and Belonging / Group Exhibition, July 1, 2023 – January 7, 2024, Royal Ontario Museum, Level 4, Roloff Beny Gallery, 100 Queen’s Park, Toronto. Museum hours: Tue – Sun 10 am – 5:30 pm.
Gallery 1313’s members’ gallery – a room in the corner of the main gallery – hosts a dizzying variety of shows. Currently it features the works of a young new member, Caleb Saraby Sandblom, who is about to embark on an MFA in the US. Here he offers us a selection of recent works, which are primarily mixed media on board. Wonderfully energetic and graphic, the work might best be described as street art in overall style. The work is clearly influenced by this highly urban artform.
Saraby Sandblom has long been in the habit of collecting images chanced upon here and there – magazine photos, papers found in the street, and so on. He admits doing this to the point of hoarding them. It is a selection of the resulting cache of images, and various pieces of writing, that is incorporated into the finished works. Often this involves photocopying them and/or projecting them onto the board. It is an unapologetic use of basic graphics technologies.
Installation view of Caleb Saraby Sandblom, Noise/Signal
He does not lament the lack of originality that follows from this approach, but rather embraces the derivative nature of his imagery. This seems indicative of a postmodernist attitude towards authorship, namely that it is not you or I in isolation that create ideas and images. All is a social construct in this respect. No abidance to the myth of the avant garde here then. That is not to say, however, that his work does not have the stamp of individuality. It is indiosyncratic in an interesting way.
Home, Visualizer, 2020, acrylic, paper, ink and pencil on board, 9 x 11 inches
Two of the works that I find to be most successful, Laundry Comfort Rites and Shitbox Scratchpad, are small in scale. In the former there is the outline of a narrative that allows the viewer to engage with the work. There are, oddly, echoes of the art of Paul Klee here, in terms of its intimate scale, deft use of colour and a strong overall composition. The simplified wailing and tearful figures create a real sense of drama in a beautifully economical way. In the latter piece, the images and words are smartly incorporated. These works point to a considerable talent behind them.
Laundry Comfort Rites, 2021, mixed media, 11 x 11 inches
By contrast, other works on display are less engaging. While, for instance, we get a hint of a narrative in his Boy Is the New Girl, with these words pasted on it, little follows. That is to say, the text and imagery are hard for the viewer to connect, though formally it is a very coherent work. As well, the larger works, while well designed, can seem overblown – especially the monochromes. This fact suggests that Saraby Sandblom’s style and method are perhaps best suited to works on a small scale, which, as a rule, is true of this exhibition.
Boy is the New Girl, 2021, acrylic, paper and ink on cardboard, 32 x 40 inches
Experimentation is key to his method. He spends hours working out various compositions. Thus, one might explain the seemingly arbitrary juxtapositioning of images, in thematic terms, as being the result of such experimenting. Experimentation is an essential aspect of most artistic practices of course. But, ultimately, any work must be more that just a product of the playful arrangement of elements. What more is difficult to say – if it were easy we’d have a formula for art production perhaps. At any rate, more content might be beneficial in this case. Given the early stage of his career, the works in this exhibition show a lot of promise. I can’t wait to see what he produces in the future.
Hugh Alcock
Images are courtesy of Gallery 1313.
*Exhibition information: Caleb Saraby Sandblom, Noise/Signal, August 2 – 13, 2023, Gallery 1313, Cell Gallery, 1313 Queeen St, W. Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 1 – 5pm, Sun 1-4pm.
It is a balmy evening in Toronto’s Roncesvalles area, but the heat and humidity do little to deter the growing number of people coming to the Northern Contemporary Gallery. Graffiti-artist-turned-muralist Megan Oldhues’ art has brought admirers from all over to her first solo exhibition, Transient.
Installation view at the opening reception with Scrap Yard (in the bottom), 2023, printed in a mirror that reflects the room and the guests
Already established as an underground street and graffiti artist, Oldhues has spent a great deal of time freight-hopping across Canada. This life as a vagabond came with downsides, but ultimately shaped the artist she is today. Her travels introduced her to some of Canada’s best street artists and, with their guidance, Oldhues has expanded and cultivated her craft. Her murals can be found across Canada from Toronto to Saskatchewan, and from Puebla, Mexico to Mongaguá, Brazil, capturing the human condition in its simple and domestic moments.
The first piece to draw in the crowds is the recently-dried self-portrait, created in the early hours of the opening day. This mural portrays the artist in her element: among the mountains enjoying a quiet moment, and it’s particularly apt for this show as it painted directly on the gallery’s wall, making its lifespan transient too.
Megan Oldhues, Self-portrait, 2023, mural on the gallery’s wall
Oldhues’ paintings capture a balance of solitude and playful exploration. The rural, quiet life between the mountains of the West Coast and the prairies of the Midwest are the focus of her exhibition. A case of empty beer bottles, train carts and crossings, horseback riders, as well as vintage trucks portray an atmosphere of simplicity while the calming hues encourage reflection.
“Rural vagrance” are the words she uses, after a contemplative pause, to describe her exhibition. Oldhues is already her bags, preparing to fly out that evening to Romania. There’s a wall there in need of a mural and her talents are just the ticket.
The word “transient” encompasses not only the subject matter of her pieces, but also an important element of her life; train-hopping and -spotting and couch-surfing were paramount to the development of Oldhues’ artistic style and her way of life.
Through the Chain Link is a gripping piece. Oldhues’ training in realistic art is evident here. Her clever use of broad-brush strokes to denote detail is pleasing to the eye. The subject’s gaze, directed at something the viewer cannot see, adds elements of wistfulness and curiosity. What does she see that we cannot? What is she looking at? Paradoxically, the piece demands more yet it is complete as it is.
Megan Oldhues, Through the Chain Link, 2023
When asked about the history behind Through the Chain Link, Oldhues speaks about sharing her love of train-spotting with a friend and finding joy in recreating that memory. It seems each painting is a moment of time in her life, moments she fondly recalls and wants to preserve. Her process consists of taking photographs — capturing the moment — before rendering the images on canvas — painting the story, the feeling.
Oldhues also likes to add in a bit of play to her pieces: Dry Cold is a good example of realistic art, although the blue strip along the edge adds an element of abstraction “to break from the tradition of realism,” she explains to me.
Megan Oldhues, Dry Cold, 2023
It is clear in the way she answers my questions that Megan Oldhues is excitedly beginning a new phase in her artistic life. She is an artist with a career that is just beginning. As the title, Transient, suggests, her major artwork and her successes are yet to come.
Text and photo: Elin MacRae
*Exhibition information: Megan Oldhues, Transient, July 27 – August 1, 2023, Northern Contemporary Gallery, 420 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Sun 12 – 6pm.
The new Bau-Xi Gallery building at 1384 Dufferin Street
Bau-Xi Gallery, established in 1965, has just expanded into the West end of Toronto into an old shoelace factory at 1384 Dufferin St. at Geary Ave. They are keeping their Dundas Street location, just expanding. The new location has some 22,000 sq. ft on two floors which includes over 17,500 sq. ft. of exhibition space and lots of storage space. Co-Director, Kyle Matuzewiski, currently at the new location explained that all their works that were in storage at the two locations on Dundas Street West across from the AGO have now moved to storage at this new location as there is an abundance of space.
Co-Director, Kyle Matuzewiski with Isabelle Menin’s Cherubini series
Kyle told me about the preparations and refinishing of the new space. He pointed out the white markings on the polished floor of the first level where machines of the old shoelace factory once stood.
Installation view of the first floor
On the equally spacious second floor the wood floors had been refinished.
Installation view of the second floor
Many paintings were already hung on the walls while others await installation. There were recognizable art works from the extensive roster of Bau-Xi Gallery that looked impressive in the new space.
Installation view with Will Robinson, Spyhop (in front)
A few people trickled in but it was the first day they were open in this new location and, though they had done a mailing to their patrons, people were just finding the new space. Those that had arrived looked visibly impressed. Expect a big opening in early September.
Geary Ave has become a hipster destination for a young and vibrant crowd of artists and creative industry types. Several restaurants and brew pubs have added to the desirability of this new area. Given that many large-scale developments, such as the Galleria Project at Dupont & Dufferin, are bringing thousands of new residents to the neighbourhood one hopes that this will be good for business. So, congratulations to Bau-Xi for seeing the potential.
Installation view of Bau-Xi Gallery’s new exhibition place
Moves like this make the art world see hope at the end of the tunnel as economic struggles, climate change and the housing crisis fill most people’s minds. The arts are an economic driver that bring dollars into the cities. Tax dollars they no doubt need. Happy to have it happen in the Geary hood and let’s hope it thrives and perhaps a few local artists will find new representation as well.
Text and photo: Phil Anderson
*The gallery is open 7 days a week 10 am – 5:30 pm.
As the Propeller Art Gallery itself proclaims, it is hosting a show unlike any in its history. The show, titled Much Too Much, features the text-based conceptual art of Stefan Wegner, an artist with a background in advertising. The well-lit gallery space is crammed with artworks – nineteen in all. Its sheer scale in such a modest space is betrayed by the length of time the viewer must spend there in order to appreciate all on display. In particular there is a cornucopia of text. Too much, as the show’s title perhaps suggests.
Installation view of Stefan Wegner, Much Too Much at the Propeller Art Gallery
It is indeed exciting that a gallery that usually shows traditional aesthetically based artworks – as a rule, either paintings or sculptures on pedestals – has chosen to highlight conceptual art. It is refreshing. Their claim, however, that this show is ‘absolutely unique in the current art world landscape’ is simply not true. Let’s put it down to promotional hyperbole. Wegner’s work fits in the mainstream of conceptual art, and loosely echoes the work of such luminaries as Canada’s Ian Carr Harris, and text artists Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer, to name but a few.
Installation view of Stefan Wegner, Much Too Much at the Propeller Art Gallery
In his artfully designed catalogue Wegner explains: ‘I work with words. When thoughtfully arranged and applied to objects that amplify or deepen their meanings, words will surface values…’. This kernel of an idea is illustrated, for example, by his piece Revisionism of Man/Woman. Here we are presented with anonymous portrait paintings (or facsimiles thereof) of a middle-aged man and woman respectively. Near the bottom corner of each is placed a small digital screen – the actual artwork in this case – that displays a changing set of titles for each, e.g., ‘Unregistered Massage Therapist’ for the man, and ‘Too Many Piles Again’ for the woman. Each passing title, Wegner suggests, changes any portrait you might place next to it. One portrait becomes one hundred. Such is the magical power of words one supposes.
Stefan Wegner, Revisionism of Man/Woman.
This strategy is an old one. For example, back in 1884 Frenchman Alfonse Allais exhibited a series of monochrome paintings with titles written on their frames. A red expanse, for instance, is given the title that translates as ‘the harvesting of tomatoes by apoplectic cardinals by the red sea’. Likewise, humour is the signature basis of most of Wegner’s works.
Stefan Wegner, TheLast Supper, installation (above) and napkin (detail, below)
At times his humour is deliciously dark. For example, he titles one piece TheLast Supper. It consists of a box together with a set of a dozen fancy napkins, on each of which is stitched instructions on how to use the napkin to end a diner’s life, e.g., to strangle her. Or again, in the case of Stolen From a Meme, Wegner offers up a dark semi-opaque box which, the viewer can vaguely make out, contains a set of teeth. On the box is inscribed: ‘Apply the minty paste to the exposed part of the skeleton and lie in a dark room for a third of each day until death releases you’. All told most of the works are entertaining in this way. As well, they are all flawlessly crafted.
Stefan Wegner, Stolen From a Meme
Very often Wegner’s use of words is to compile lists. His Spectrophobia, for instance, comprises a mirror etched with hundreds of words that name, according to Wegner, common phobias such as fear of God, telephones, darkness and daylight – we fear almost everything it seems. In general, he has the urge to hold back very little, tending towards what one might call a verbal horror vacui. In this vein, every work is also accompanied by an explanation. It is not clear this helps. Take the case of his Everything Must Go, which consists of these very words carved into a tombstone shaped piece of white marble. There is little need to explain to the viewer what it is trying to say, as he does. It is best to give space to the viewer to interpret the work for herself, I feel. It is is this lack of poetical space in this sense that diminishes the impact of the work.
Stefan Wegner, Spectrophobia
Stefan Wegner, Everything Must Go
By ‘poetical’ I mean the non-literal. The space I speak of, therefore, is the semantic gap between words used in a literal sense and their use poetically, or metaphorically most often. It requires the effort of the viewer to bridge this gap. Text based conceptual artists such as Barbara Kruger and Robert Montgomery, are aware of this poetical dimension to their work. And this is reflected in their being influenced by poetry itself.
In his introduction Wegner explains that he ‘works tirelessly to uncover thoughts, feelings and values that are worth exploring’. I take it though that it is the process of their uncovering that matters, not the ideas in themselves. That is to say, insofar as conceptual art is art at all, and not merely the illustration of some idea or other, it is when the artwork’s meaning is essentially linked to how it is expressed. Accordingly, words, as the medium of communication here, ought not to support or amplify an idea, as Wegner claims, but rather the idea ought to inhere in the way the words are used and their concrete expression in the artwork.
Hugh Alcock
Images are courtesy of the artist.
*Exhibition information: Stefan Wegner, Much Too Much, July 12 – 30, 2023, The Propeller Gallery, 30 Abell St, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sun, 1 – 5:30pm.
