Archive for the ‘events’ Category

Little Italy festivities

Posted: June 16, 2019 in events, people
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Toronto city street signs on a pole, LIttle Italy College Street and Beatrice Street as well as a yellow do not block intersection sign

Summer in the city means street festivals almost every weekend.
This weekend it was Taste of Little Italy on College Street.

below: Lots of food for sale!  Especially meat on a stick.

outdoor barbecuing shish kebobs, a boy is cooking and serving, people waiting to buy food

below: There were also games for prizes including the one below – knock over the cans off the table with a soccer ball.

behind a net, a line of people watches as a boy starts to kick a soccer ball towards three blue cans, game to try to knock the cans over

people walking down the street towards the camera, a man in a purple Raptors shirt with marching baseball cap, a woman in a light blue blouse with a drink in her hand, a woman in a pink pant suit

below: Keep your eye on the target!

a boy pretends to shoot a woman carrying a big pink purse with a big gun made out of balloons

below: Dory blows bubbles

a man seated by a table on the sidewalk, starts to shoot a man in a red jacket with a bubble blowing gun shaped like a blue fish

a man is starting to draw a caricature of a black man who is seated, laughing, on a chair. Another black man watches

on the street, a man is giving another man a haircut, two people are sitting on a bench in a bus shelter behind, watching

people in a line up to get food at an outdoor vendor, white tent covering,

people on the street at Taste of Little Italy, passing by a bar with a large patio

a woman with a yellow popsicle, a woman in a white skirt and top and a man in a beige suit jacket, all walking on the street

three muslim women in head scarves on the street, street festival

below: Singing Italian songs

an older man sings Italian songs, Italian flag behind him, people on the street have stopped to watch him

below: … and maybe not so Italian….

a man wearing a sombrero plays a tenor sax outside, street musician

a man cooking lamb shish kebob outside at a street festival

an older man walking on the street with a woman behind him in a large straw hat and dark sunglasses and carrying a large brown and orange purse as well as a grey plastic bag

three musicians playing on the street, open violin case on the ground to collect money, people walking by

a big yellow sphere open in the middle, a drink stand, serving lemonade to people at Taste of Little Italy street festival

below: Octopus

octopus cut into pieces and placed on skewers, waiting to be grilled outside

grilling food at an outdoor street festival, taste of little italy

two little girls in pink with pink hats holding onto shish kebobs

a woman holding a small dog with a black and white Raptors we the north scarf on

a couple kissing

bare as you dare

Posted: June 11, 2019 in events, people
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I was standing at the corner of Bay and Front, near Union Station, when the WNBR (World Naked Bike Ride) passed by.    This has been an annual event for more than 15 years now and the ride occurs in many countries around the world.  Full nudity is not mandatory, costumes and accessories are welcome, and half the fun is watching the reactions of the people on the sidewalks…. especially those who aren’t expecting to see a large group of naked people cycling past!

world naked bike ride - 3 people watching them, not sure of what to think of naked bike riders

world naked bike ride

below: I love the heart!

world naked bike ride - the behinds and backsides of a group of nude cyclists

world naked bike ride goes down Bay street, south of Front, a large group of naked people on bicycles

below: Mr. Conehead rides by

world naked bike ride - one naked man on a red bike, wearing black shoes, and wearing a conehead

below: As it turns out, this man with the suitcase is in a lot of the pictures that I took.

world naked bike ride, a man with a suitcase watches, one nude rider is carrying a Canadian flag

world naked bike ride, one cyclist is wearing Viking horns

world naked bike ride

world naked bike ride and people on the sidewalk watching them

world naked bike ride going down Bay street, crossing Front st and two large buses

If you want more information – or you want to get involved, they have a website and a facebook page.  It’s on the latter that you will find another motto, “less gas, more ass”

See you next year?

Turbanup 2019

Posted: June 10, 2019 in events, people
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Turbanup with its bright and colourful fabric was back at Yonge Dundas Square again this year.

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, a famil group with some with turbans and one person having a black turban wrapped on their head, to the side a young girl doesn't look very happy about this

an older man with a beard and an orange turban, is tying a yellow turban onto the head of another man who has a large tattoo on his neck

a woman holds a yellow sign that says Ask me why sikhs wear turbans

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, woman taking a selfie as her head is wrapped in a blue turban

 

orange turbans

piles of colourful fabric on a table At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square,

a woman watches another woman getting a turban

a policeman getting a black turban at Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square,

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, a man in beard and red turban wraps the head of young person in a blue turban, in the chair behind is a female police officer having her head wrapped in a purple turban

young person in blue turban

a woman in a bright yellow T-shirt, sitting on a chair, taking aselfie of her with her new red turban

an older woman having a magenta turban wrapped around her head

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, people having turbans tied on their heads with purple fabric

 

a woman having a black piece of fabric twisted in front of her head in prep for having a turban made for her

two young boys in turbans, one in blue and the other in white. The younger boy, in white, has a red mask face painted around his eyes

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, 4 young men standing behind a barricade, all with turbans, one with a hoodie over his turban

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square,

an older woman in a light blue turban smokes a cigarette

An older woman in a beige sari sits on a chair outside, three women stand behind her, beside a table with piles of fabric in oranges and reds

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, a man in a purple and white turban wraps another person's head in the same colour of turban

3 D Turbanup sign at Yonge Dundas Square, in front of it a young woman in a black turban is helping a balding man with a yellowish green turban

a young person in a black T-shirt is directing a woman sitting to get the best pose for a photo, woman is having a pink turban wrapped around her head by another woman at Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas square

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, young person looking bored, standing behind table with orange sign above head that says free ice cream cones

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, an older woman with a white cloth over head head and a kirpan sword at her side

a sikh man in bears and orange turban carries a tray of cups of mango and rose milkshake

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, an older woman is sitting in a chair, talking (gesturing) with her hands while a Sikh man with a long beard and orange turban wraps her head in a pale orange turban

a woman with a light orange cloth draped over her head and around her shoulders and body takes a selfie

the back of a woman with white bra straps showing and a large tattoo on ther shoulder. A man pulls a length of pink fabric as he wraps her head in a pink turban

At Turbanup event at Yonge Dundas Square, a sikh man with a pale orange turban wraps a pink turban around the head of a woman who is seated, and frowning

a mother in son in bright turbans, mother in pink and son in orange, sit by a table piled with orange and pink fabric

a young boy in a red turban gives a thumbs up sign

Raptors updated – into the finals

Posted: June 5, 2019 in events
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Just over a week ago, I posted about the Raptors mural on Queen Street West and how there had already been two versions of it.  Now it has changed again!

This is what it looked like this afternoon:

mural of the Toronto Raptors, 5 players in their red uniforms along with the coach and Drake. On a storefront on Queen Street West.

below: All the TTC buses and streetcars have “We the North” signs in the window.

in the window of a TTC streeecar is a we the north sign

In just over an hour the Raptors will play the Golden State Warriers in Oakland California.  It will be their third game in the NBA finals – so far the series is tied, each team has won one game.  Stayed tuned!

on the exterior wall of the Eaton Centre is a large red sigh with black letters that say Go Raps Go

a white car is parked by the side of the road, it is decorated withlarge black letters that say We the North, it is also flying a black and white flag witgh the same words on it

Also see And even more Raptors

downtown Saturday

Posted: June 3, 2019 in events, people
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This blog post wanders from Burger Mania at Yonge Dundas Square to the Riverside Eats & Beats StreetFEST and onward to the Riverdale Art Walk  out Queen Street East, with a few distractions along the way.

thre people sitting at different tables in a coffee shop

a man with glasses and hair that is shaved on one side of his head is offering another man a rice krispie square, he is holding it to the man's mouth

a woman in long overcoat and hat is talking to and gesturing, with a woman in a white head scarf and top

a man selling rice krispie squares and other desserts, outdoors, Yonge Dundas Square, from E and R Sweetery

under a red tent roof, people preparing food

a woman in a red shirt and sunglasses walking with her son who is also wearing sunglasses, south asian ethnicity

under a tent roof, a man is cooking burgers

a large inflatable pool floatie in the shape of a pink flamingo sits on the ground at Yonge Dundas Square, in front of a bar selling drinks

a young Asian woman is taking a picture of a small burger with her phone

family group - mother and father laughing, baby in stroller, Asian, at Yonge dundas square

people sitting on a bench by large red flower pot in Dundas Square. Man at end, balding with grey hair, is reading a newspaper, two people are eating

a woman sits at a high table with three small burgers on it, two dogs are beside her on the ground but looking up

a young man is being grabbed and held on to by two security guards and they are removing him from Yonge Dundas square

a topless man with a bag on his back skate boards at Dundas Square

a woman is laughing as she talks on her phone and walks up Yonge Street

a couple walking together on Yonge, passing the Stag Shop. He is wearing pink pants and a white jacket. Both have white hair.

below: Yonge Street was closed to traffic between Queen and Dundas Streets because a large crane was parked there temporarily while heavy objects were lifted onto the roof of the Eaton Centre.

a large crane is on a truck in the middle of Yonge street, downtown, with tall buildings on both sides including the Eaton Centre under renovation on the right

three workmen in orange safety clothing use a crane to lift heavy objects off a flatbed truck

a police man in a bright yellow jacket stands in front an orange cone and yellow police tape to block off Yonge Street. He's directing traffic, to make cars turn on Queen street. A woman with orange hair is walking across the street , just went in front of the police man

a man in a kiss t-shirt is talking, a black man is waiting for a streetcar behind him, streetcar is just arriving.

reflection in the glass of a door and window of a Burger King restaurant, of a woman witting on the sidewalk pan handling

a couple holds each other on the street

Riverside Eats and Beats

a man playing a fiddle, smiling, wearing a blue cap and a blue plaid shirt

below: Soundcrowd was practicing for their performance at The Opera House that evening.

a choir onstage with a man with microphone standing in front of them

in a store window, two mannequins with no heads waering gold close fitting dresses, in front of window is a rack of clothes on the sidewalk, with two women looking

a group of women talking, outside

 

Riverdale Art Walk at Jimmy Simpson Park.

a large bed of pink and white tulips in front of a white tent (roof only) with paintings on the side that are for sale, Riverside Art Fest

a woman holds a small white dog while she talks to a man, in front of a white tent with artwork on the walls for sale. Two women inside the tent are looking at the dog and smiling

two paintings on easels outside a white tent. One is an airplane at an airport and one is a barn in snow

a framed portrait of a woman on a metal grid, people standing behind it including a man with a white shirt with bright red and black blotches

large images (photosgraphs) in red, black and yellow, for sale

small artwork hanging on a white tent wall, light is coming from behind so they are silhouetted

a boy in a fedora sits cross legged on a high stool while looking at a phone. He is in a tent with artwork on the wall that is for sale

at an art show, an art piece made of metal, images on metal

Weems, all about town

Posted: May 30, 2019 in events, galleries
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Each year the CONTACT Photography Festival spotlights a few artists.  This year, Carrie Mae Weems is one of them.  As I’ve walked around Toronto the past month I have tried to check out all the place where Weems’s work is on display.

below: On Spadina, just north of King is a large portrait of Mary J. Bilge (singer and actor) in red with the title “Anointed”.  In the photo, Bilge is being crowned by Weems.

a large red photo of a woman being crowned, sitting in profile, the word anointed is written in large letters on the picture. Mounted on the side of a red brick building

below: A small pink photo of a girl in the parking lot that is adjacent to the building where the above photo is mounted.  The marks on the girl’s face are problems with the display case, not with the photo.

a pink and black photo of a girl's head, on a small display in a parking lot, with a Huawei ad behind it. Ad features that head of a model

***

below: At the Contact Gallery, 80 Spadina Avenue, part of ‘Blending the Blues’ which is collection of images from a few different projects that Weems has done over her thirty year career.  The picture shown here is “Untitled” 2017.

detailed picture of a woman sitting at a table with lots of things around her, on the table, behind her, and in front of the table, by Carrie mae Weems, the photo is only in blues and black

below: From ‘Blue Notes” 2014-2015 which involves blue toned images of people with coloured rectangles obscuring part of their faces.   The picture on the right is a copy of the Booking Sheet for Sandra Bland who was charged with assaulting a public servant (i.e. police officer) in July 2015.  She was died in police custody a three days later.

park of an exhibit in a gallery showing the picture of a black boy with a large red rectangle acros his face, beside it is an enlargement of the arrest record of a black man in Ferguson Missouri

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“Scenes and Take”, 2016, is composed of two large photos (“Director’s Cut” and “The Bad and the Beautiful” below) on the outside walls of the TIFF Bell Lightbox at the corner of King West and Widmer Streets.  Each photograph is accompanied by text which reads as a summary for movie.  For instance, the text for “The Bad and the Beautiful” starts as “The Plot: Bright and beautiful, a young would-be starlet in Hollywood seeking fame and fortune.  Along the way, she encounters erroneous assumptions, bad luck, and dangerous men.”

large photo on a wall outside, of a woman in a long black dress, back to camera, one hand on door sill as she stands in open doorway, by Carrie Mae Weems

The photos are of Weems as a muse, or the embodiment of the black female gaze.  She places herself on the set of ‘Scandal’, a series created by Shonda Rhimes and starring Kerry Washington.

two large photos mounted on two walls that meet at the corner of King West and Widmer, two people walking them including a woman in a head scarf

‘Slow Fade to Black’, 2010,  is a series of large posters on King Street West near Metro Hall – black performers slowly fading from fame and memory.   They address the representation of Black women in popular culture

series of large panel photos by Carrie Mae Weems, Slow Fade to Black, each photo is a person or a face that is blurry, done with one colour on black

‘Slow Fade to Black’ was also the name of a book subtitled, the Negro in American Film 1900-1942 written by Thomas Cripps and published in 1977.

two men walk past two large photos on King Street, Slow Fade to Black photo by Carrie Mae Weems, one is blue and black and the other is burgundy and black

Performers, all black women, portrayed in this series: Katherine Dunham, Koko Taylor, Eartha Kitt, Abbey Lincoln, Dinah Washington (twice), Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Bassey, Josephine Baker (twice), Mahalia Jackson, Leontyne Price, and Nina Simone.

people sitting in a streetcar with their back to the window, can see large photo on exhibit on opposite sidewalk through the windows of the streetcar

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And last, at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery (the Art Museum at the University of Toronto), is ‘Heave’.  From the gallery’s website, “multi-part installation Heave combines photography, video, news media sampling, as well as ephemera to probe the devastating effects of violence in our life and time. The complex installation explores the spectacle of violence in our contemporary lives relocating this present within sustained histories of conflict and uprising.”

a collection of pictures on the wall and Life magazines on a table, part of Heave, an exhibit by Carrie Mae Weems at University of Toronto art museum and gallery

living room furniture arrangement as part of a gallery exhibit, heave, by carrie Mae Weems

4 people watching a video on a large screen, one person is standing while 3 people are sitting on a bench with their backs to the camera

EMSF walk about

Posted: May 27, 2019 in events, transportation
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Open Doors was this past weekend in Toronto.  For one day only, the new maintenance facility for the Eglinton Crosstown in Mt Dennis was open to the public, the EMSF (Eglinton Maintenace and Storage Facility). Although the new trains (aka light rail vehicles) are very much like the new TTC streetcars and the new maintenance buildings resemble the Leslie Barns, here are a few glimpses of what is to come.

below: The parking lot and pedestrian access to the EMSF is off Industry Street.

bus shelter at Bertal Rd near the new facility, barbed wire fence around the building, grass and weeds around the shelter

below: Exterior of new Crosstown light rail vehicle. Six new vehicles have been delivered from Bombardier so far.  Another seventy are expected to arrive before the Crosstown opens in 2021.

inside the new maintance building, a new grey, black and white crosstown train on display, people walking past it and taking pictures

below: Interior, looking towards the front.

a few people talking at the front of new Crosstown train, from farther back in the train.

below: The AVIS facility – Automated Vehicle Inspection Station

the AVIS building at the new eglinton crosstown buildings, AVIS means, automated vehicle inspection station. It is a covering over tracks that the trains can pull into

below:  Looking into the maintenance building.

people standing outside the open door of the crosstown facility, can look inside

inside the new train maintenance building with three levels of access to the trains,

the front end of two trains parked inside, with work areas under the trains for maintenance

below: The site takes up 42 acres of land.   There are 8.5 kms of track.

streetcar tracks and overhead wires

exterior of new crosstown maintenance facility with double grey stripes, a doorway with many warning signs.

Not shown: There is also a building for Transit Operations.

yellow and bizarre

Posted: May 10, 2019 in events, locations
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The merging of events, the overlap of months.
At the Distillery District, many features were made yellow in April in honour of cancer awareness month.

the heart at the Parliament street side of the Distillery District that is usually red has been made yellow

Towards the end of that month, some large pictures began appearing on the brick walls.  An early installation for CONTACT month, May, these are Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart’s  “Good Stuff Bad Stuff” which is a series of conceptual photographs attached to the exterior walls of some of the buildings.

From the CONTACT website:  “a series of bizarre self-portraits that connect concepts of home and identity. The artist’s own grungy apartment and various public spaces serve as the backdrop to the photo series. Using physical experiences and found objects, the photographs in this exhibition explore the relationship between ourselves and the personal objects we buy, inherit, and throw away.”

picture on a wall at the Distillery District

below: I’m not sure that a candle on one’s head ‘explores’ anything… but maybe I was missing something?

a woman's head with a lit candle on it, melted wax has run down her face and hair, bright orange wall in the background.

And so we go off on a bit of a google tangent to see what there is for ‘candle, head’.  I find candles as a Christian symbol for light in the darkness.  There is also an image of a black man with a real lit candle on his head with melting wax running down his forehead, lit by his pastor “to deliver him from the spirit of homosexuality”.  Searches also yield skulls as candle holders (or candle holders in skull shapes) used as a novelty item, or as method of casting spells if you believe in such things.   And last, Tim Burton made a music video for “The Killers” (a group) where at the end, two people are sitting across from each other at a table, both with a lit candle on their head.  In this last case there is melding of reality and fantasy as one character is a wax figure that occasionally comes to life.   Whether this has anything to do with the image above, I have no idea.   But I’m sure that my ramblings, although entertaining (ha!) are probably just a detour.

below: Hope floats. One of the photographs on a wall surrounded by “graffiti” ( of the fake kind).  No candles here?  It’s the paper boats that are burning.  If there were candles, they are long gone.

a head partially submerged in water, surrounded by little white trays with flames

 

below: More yellow

the four legs of the large spider-like sculpture at the Distillery District are yellow and the head part is wrapped with blue plastic

below: Another picture.  Flowers and hands.

a large poster attached to brick wall, outside, hands coming out of a large bush with purple flowers on it.

below: More picture.  This time an ode to junk food and trashiness by the looks of it.  The lion is blue but unmoved.  With a fast food paper crown on her head and a cigarette in her mouth.  Garbage randomly strewn but carefully placed so there is no product placement.

picture on a stone wall, blue tones, lion sculpture, sitting beside flight of stairs, woman leaning against lion, cigarette in her mouth, food in the other hand, garbage strewn on the stairs around her feet

below: The last bit of yellow for today.

distillery district, love sign for locks, the heart has been decorated with a lot of yellow flowers

fake yellow flowers placed by some locks

below: And one last photograph to give you some ideas of what to do with the photos of Venice that you might have, you know, the ones that look like everyone else’s.   There are many more on display at the Distillery District.   As I type this I am warming up to the pictures but I am still torn.   Does anyone want to offer an opinion?

large photo on a brick wall, taken by a canal in Venice, of a woman covered from head to toe in black weeds as she stands beside the canal

Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart is on Instagram

Mayday

Posted: May 1, 2019 in events, people
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the back of a man whose baseball cap says Toronto on the back and his black jacket says Ontario on the back

May Day, the 1st of May.  In some countries it is International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day, and is often a holiday (similar to the first Monday in September that is celebrated as Labour Day in Canada and the USA).   This May 1st there was a protest in front of Queen’s Park to protest some of the recent policies announced by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his provincial Conservative party.

 

below: UnaFORDable DOUG and CONservative CONS

people carrying protest signs at a rally

below: Cheering for a clownish Doug Ford as premier, the first clown we’ve had.

a man in an orange wig and clown costume holds a sign on pink bristol board that says Hooray! Our first clown premier

below: Let them drink beer.  Doug Ford as Marie Antoinette (how did he fit into the dress?!)

a woman holds up a sign at a protest that says let them drink beer. with a picture of Doug Ford as Marie Antoinette

below: …. and at Rock bottom prices folks!

at a Queens Park demonstration on May day, a woman holds a red and white for sale sign with the word Ontario written in the blank, for sale Ontario

below: Oink oink, Ford with a pink snout

three people at a protest in Toronto, woman on right is yelling, man on left has a camera on a tripod and man in middle is holding a sign with a picture of Doug Ford's face with a pig snout that says Our futures are not yours to fuck with, greedypig, #greedypig

below: Signs.  “You know it’s time for change when children act like leaders and leaders act like children.”

a few people with home made placards at an anti-Ford May day protest

below: A poop emoji makes an entrance

a person holds up a sign that is a drawing of Doug Ford's head with a poop emoji on top of his head

below: That’s a good reason to revolt!

a woman in a blue coat and black beret holds a sign that says We're having a revolt because the PC's are so revolting

below: Rapping to the crowd

a young black man is performing a rap song in front of a crowd at a protest

below: Bees and trees not sleaze….and some important facts about mental health and youths in the province.

protest signs at a rally including one that says Bees and trees not sleaze

below: You have been warned!  Beware! Killing two birds with one stone,  Entrepreneurs at TugaDoug.com advertize their product while protesting.  Follow the link to order yours for $19.95

Warning! Beware of Doug says a sign, with picture of Doug Ford on it. Another sign says My pug would make a better premier

below:  Standing near the front of the crowd were these three people with their three different issues –   For Ontario’s Rich Developers,  concern for trees (cancellation of the tree planting initiative), and the threats to health care.

three people at a protest, a woman in an orange coat holding a sign that says I speak for the trees, a man in a yellow jacket with a sign that says Don't take away our health care. and a younger woman with two signs, one is a play on the word Ford so it says For Ontarios Rich Developers where the first letters of those 4 words are emphasized F O R D

below: “Give me the birds and the bees please.”

a woman holds a protest sign that says Give me the birds and the bees please

below: Books not beer

a woman holds a sign that says books not beer

below: “Let’s show our government that we refuse to regress.”

a group of artists with bright yellow and light green signs walks as a group towards a protest in front of Queens Park, the woman at the front also has a sign on a stick that says We refuse to regress

below: Get organized instead of panicking!

in the middle of a protest crowd, a woman holds up a sign that says Don't panic, organize

Maybe I’ll see you at the next protest?

initial Contact 2019

Posted: April 25, 2019 in events, galleries
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red circular sticker on a window, marking a gallery that is participating in contact photography festival

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.

a mannequin top, of a bald man, on a frame with black loose fitting clothes, stands on a red carpets facing the corner, nothing else is in the room

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.

three people stand in a large open gallery space, looking at a large red piece on the floor, two hands, and two feet, fill the four corners, and a black harness connects them through the center, a photo is on the wall beside them - it is of entrails. It is the work of Chris Curreri

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.

a large horizontal painting on a beige wall, of fish and coral in an aquarium, also some smaller paintings in black and white along the side wall

below: The wonderful work of Emmanuel Monzon hangs on the walls of the Robert Kananaj Gallery (but only until the 4th of May).

three paintings by Emmanuel Monzon on a wall in gallery, pictures of empty places, or where urban sprawl seems to take over deserted places

below: The quality of his photographs is much better than this!  The graininess of this photo is my fault.

a large frames photo on a wall of rock formation in Monument Valley USA with a stop sign in the foreground

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.

a wall covered with black and white pattern, a video monitor in the middle of a wall playing a video 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.” 

portrait of a man wearing a clear cube over his face. cube has black geometric drawings all over it so part of man's face is obscured

part of a monitor on a papered wall with a reflection in the monitor as well as an intricate pattern in blue

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.

two pictures on a gallery wall by Alex McLeod. One is white shapes on turquoise and the other is pinks, oranges and yellows on blue like a landscape from above

below: McLeod’s work is colourful and playful.

two little lumpy statues, one blue and the other green, on a white podium, in the background are two photographs, one in reds and the other in brownish orange shades

below: This is from a video (which can be seen on McLeod’s website).  In my opinion, it was the highlight of the show.

ornate circular shapes like beads and flowers in shades of blue and purple on a black background, a video playing on a wall

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.

picture from a video, a woman's reflection in the side mirror of a car, long hair, long dangly ear rings

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.

a poster on display on an exterior wall. Mercer Union Contemporary Art Gallery

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.

reflections in a window, vague shape of a man, blue background on top and orangey brown on the bottom

a red exit sign lights up a dark doorway, all red

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