It’s almost May and that means that the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival is just around the corner. Some of the participating galleries are already showing their CONTACT exhibits so I paid them a visit. Along the way, there were a couple of other galleries so I checked them out too.
below: Some artwork created by Chris Curreri is being exhibited at the Daniel Faria Gallery. This ‘man’ stands alone in the corner, in fact he stands alone in the room. It is called ‘Christopher’ and it is hand puppet, hollow and lifeless, and waiting for its ventriloquist. ‘Ventriloquist’ is the name of the whole exhibit.
below: There are some Curreri photographs on the walls and they are all of animal entrails…. a bit gruesome (and on the gallery website). Exhibits lasts until the 1st of June.
below: At the Clint Roenisch Gallery there are some paintings by Dorian Fitzgerald, some large and some very small. I thought that I had more photos than these but, sorry, they will have to do. The large one at the back is of fish swimming among coral. The seven small pictures on the side wall are very detailed paintings in black and white. Exhibit lasts until 18th May.
below: The wonderful work of Emmanuel Monzon hangs on the walls of the Robert Kananaj Gallery (but only until the 4th of May).
below: The quality of his photographs is much better than this! The graininess of this photo is my fault.
below: In a room at the Arsenal Contemporary Gallery is a display of Caroline Monnet’s work titled ‘A Whole Made of Many Parts’. One wall is covered with this intricate black and white pattern. In the middle is a video monitor showing kaleidoscope-like movements of more black and white patterns.
below: From the gallery website, “In a new series of ‘Fragment’ portraits, Monnet has developed individualized masks that overlay the faces of chosen subjects. Mixing facial features with geometric shapes, new identities are forged through abstraction and interference.”
below: Sharing space with Arsenal, is the Division Gallery. At the moment, and until 8th June, they are featuring the work of Alex McLeod. Division is aligned with Galerie Division in Montreal and they share the same website.
below: McLeod’s work is colourful and playful.
below: This is from a video (which can be seen on McLeod’s website). In my opinion, it was the highlight of the show.
below: “Deux Soeurs Qui Ne Sont Pas Soeurs” is one of the videos by Beatrice Gibson now playing at Mercer Union. A photograph doesn’t do it justice.
below: On display outside Mercer Union is, Joi T. Arcand’s “i was born with butter in my mouth” (2019). Arcand is from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Saskatchewan.
Locations:
1. The following galleries are on St. Helens Ave – Daniel Faria, Clint Roenisch, and Robert Kananaj. There is another gallery there, TPW, but it was closed because they are setting up their next exhibit (opening 4th May).
2. Mercer Union is on Bloor, just east of Lansdowne station
3. Arsenal Contemporary Gallery and Division Gallery share space on Ernest Avenue (close to West Toronto Railpath)
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below: Playing with reflections. ‘Christopher’ by Chris Curreri reflected by an interior window at Daniel Faria Gallery.
as I walk Toronto 