December 28, 2011

Check out the “magic, whimsy and wonder of Marc Chagall…with a major exhibition organized by Centre Pomidou!” Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Centre Pomidou, features the colourful, dreamlike art of Marc Chagall as well as Russian modernism pieces including the work of Sonia Delaunay, Natalia Goncharova, Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir Malevich and Vladimir Tatlin. Showing at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the exhibit examines Chagall’s Russian heritage and influences in his development of his beloved style of creating. For more information on this exhibit, go to www.ago.net.

November 13, 2011

Today is the last day of Being Scene, an annual juried exhibition of art by those who have experienced both mental illness and addiction and the healing power of art. By exhibiting these pieces of art, Workman Arts in partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health endeavors to create a more realistic and respectful understanding of individuals in recovery from addiction and mental illness. The exhibition features work by fifty artists, all of which is for sale. One hundred percent of the proceed go directly to the participating artists.

At this stage in the exhibition, Being Scene is being shown at the Workman Arts building to coincide with the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival. For more information on Being Scene, go to www.workmanarts.com.

November 10, 2011

“Where are our media leading us – politically, spiritually, psychologically? Do we want to go there? How can we influence our own futures via the kinds of media that we create and use?” These are questions that Fred Ritchin, Professor of Photography & Imaging at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, will discuss tonight at the AGO. As the author of the first book on the digital revolution and photography and a co-founder of PixelPress, an organization which creates new forms of media and seeks to advance human rights, Ritchin will address meaningful media in an age of digital revolution.

The Talk begins at 7pm tonight in Jackman Hall at the AGO. AGO members pay $20.50; the public pays $22.50. For more information, go to www.ago.net/fred-ritchin.

November 8, 2011

Hailing from Arviat, the most southern community on Nunavut’s mainland, Lucy Tasseor uses stone local to her home. Arviat is close to the geographical centre of Canada where the local stone is a tough grey steatite which is harder than steel tools typically used by Arviat carvers. Tasseor created a unique sculpture style by using an axe to chip at this hard stone, allowing the artist to “communicate essential ideas of form and content with a minimum of elaboration.”

The Lucy Tasseor Tutsweetok exhibit takes place at the Art Gallery of Ontario and features more than 40 works by Tasseor from the 1960s through to the 1990s. For more information, go to www.ago.net.

October 28, 2011

Art-lovers, this is your weekend! The Toronto International Art Fair opens at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre today at noon, giving you the opportunity to explore, browse, and purchase some of the most unique and extraordinary art from all over the world. With an intense concentration of Canadian artists, you’ll rub shoulders with big names in the industry; curators and art aficionados from every corner of the globe will be shopping for their own collections and galleries, so you can be sure that only the best art will be on display during this fantastic Fair.

October 11, 2011

Founded by Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson in Toronto in 1969, General Idea was “a framing device within which we inhabit the role of the artist as we see the living legend.” By examining media image culture through projects including File magazine, paintings, installations, sculptures, photographs, mail art, videos, TV programs and a beauty pageant, the group challenged social power structures and traditional artistic creation.

Curated by Frédéric Bonnet, Haute Culture: General Idea is the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of its kind. Organized around five themes central to the work of the trio, General Idea’s body of work is revealed as a cultural critique which treats the image as a “virus that infiltrates every aspect of the real world.” Works on display include Baby Makes 3 (1984 – 1989), Nazi Milk (1979 – 1990), and Playing Doctor (1992).

The exhibition takes place on the fourth and fifth floors of the Art Gallery of Ontario until January 1st, 2012. For more information, visit the AGO’s website.

October 3, 2011

Paint combined with photography is a style of art used in many areas of the world to enhance the realism of a black and white print. In India, however, paint is used to embellish a photograph, at times covering the entire image. This different use of paint and photography achieves an enhanced emotionality, used to celebrate, commemorate, and mark rites of passage.

Embellished Realities: Indian Painted Photographs features over 60 works from the ROM’s collection that have never been on display. The photographs date from the 1860s, only a few decades after the invention of photography, up to the 2000s.

The ROM is open today from 10am until 5:30pm. For more information on this exhibit, go to www.rom.on.ca.