silent knight

Posted: October 9, 2015 in events, galleries, public art
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Silent Knight by Ekow Nimako,
a sculpture of a barn owl using more than 50,000 pieces of LEGO,
on display in front of the Gardiner Museum as an extended Nuit Blanche exhibit

sculpture of a barn owl taking flight made of white lego, on a black pedestal (also made of lego) in front of the gardiner museum

close up of the wings and the lego blocks used to make the sculpture of a barn owl

close up of a foot and talons of the barn owl sculpture that is made of lego

#snbTO

one blue, one naked

Posted: October 8, 2015 in events, public art
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Some of the art installations from Nuit Blanche remain available for viewing this week.
Two of them are near Jarvis and Gerrard.

below: As you travel south on Jarvis Street, just before Gerrard, you can see a billboard art installation, ‘Refugees run the seas’ by Francisco Fernandos Granados.  The accompanying sign says:  “‘Refugees run the seas’ draws and diverts from pop culture as a way to invite the viewer to imagine a future where justice for migrants exists.  The work evokes past and present scenes of harrowing escape while allowing the possibility of a time to come when those seeking refuge will be agents of movement, rather than victims.”

“Refugees run the seas ’cause we own our own boats” is a line from Wyclef Jean’s rap in Shakira’s song ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ in case you were wondering how this billboard “draws and diverts from” pop culture.

a billboard on a city street. it is blue with just the words on it that say Refugees run the seas cause we own our own votes

below: In the Children’s Conservatory at Allan Gardens is another installation.  This one is titled “Sphinx” and it is by Luis Jacob of Toronto.   According to the Nuit Blanche sign: “Toronto is changing before our eyes.  Neighbourhoods and skylines are transformed seemingly overnight while the social fabric of the city is altered in ways that are difficult to discern.  Come in and see the ‘Sphinx’, who poses questions that we want ardently to ask.”

The hands and fingers of this tall and imposing headless man are forming a frame that is apparently supposed to capture our attention.  When you walk into the conservatory it’s definitely not the hands that you notice. The hands are way above the line of sight.   Of course, one could ask why he has no clothes and does having no head enhance the artwork.  Can you ask questions if you have no mouth, no voice?  And are the questions ardently wanted or ardently asked?  hmmm….

There are books and pamphlets in display cases around the room.  These publications are all about Toronto and they date back as far as 50 years ago.  No, you can’t access the books, you can’t open or read them.  I’m not sure what information they are supposed to add to the exhibit.

In a glass walled and glass roofed conservatory, a white statue of a headless naked man stands on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Two men are looking at a display on a table in the left of the picture.

 

#snbTO

playing in bubbles

Posted: October 8, 2015 in events, people
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Totally unexpected… walked past Yonge Dundas Square this afternoon and happened upon Shopper’s Drug Mart’s 15th birthday party for their Optimum program.   There was a DJ, music playing, and a couple of people dancing.  There were acrobats but I just missed their performance.  The main attraction was a large clear plastic bubble filled with many bits of coloured paper the people were lining up for…. a life sized confetti globe.

blog_optimum_bubble_balloon
Once inside, people were posing for photographs.

Two women stand inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. They are posing for a photograph.

Pictures were printed on the spot for those who wanted them.

A man stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. He is posing for a photograph. In the foreground is part of the back of the photographer, his camera, and the laptop showing the photo.

It was also part of a contest for gift cards and vacations.

A woman stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. She is posing for a photograph.

A boy stands inside a large clear plastic bubble with many bits of coloured paper. He is batting at the papers and smiling.

I didn’t go in the bubble but I did score a loot bag by showing my Optimum card.
I now have some candy and a small bottle of brown nail polish.

blog_optimum_loot_bags

#15daysofhappy

58th World Press Photo Contest

Posted: October 3, 2015 in events, galleries
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At Allan Lambert Gallery, Brookfield Place,
winning photos from the 58th World Press Photo Contest

Winning images chosen from 97,912 photographs taken by 5,692 photographers from 131 countries.

Three people are looking at a series of photographs on display. One of the photos is a boat carrying refugees, taken from above, the boat is packed full

below:  Taken by Andy Rocchelli of Italy, part of his series of ‘Russian Interiors’ portraits. There were 10 photographs in the series, three of which are shown here (well, two and a half).  All were of women.

Three pictures on white board on display in the Allan Lambert gallery in Brookfield Place. Behind the board is the stone facade of the old bank building.

below:  One of the multitude of Chinese migrant laborers, a factory worker in in Yiwu China. His job is to coat polystyrene snowflakes with red powder.  There are 600 factories in Yiwu and they produce 60% of the world’s Christmas decorations.  Photo by Ronghui Chen, second prize winner in the Contemporary Issues category.

A picture of a photograph taken in a red room of a young man wearing a Santa Claus hat and a blue jacket.

 

below: The three winning photographs from the Sports (Singles) category.  The predominant photo is the second prize photo; it is a photo of Odell Beckham of the New York Giants making a one handed touchdown catch, taken by Al Bello.  The winning sports photo is the one on the far left.  It is a photo of Argentine football player Lionel Messi receiving the Golden Ball trophy at the World Cup in Brazil, taken by Bao Tailiang.   In the middle is a picture of Philip Hughes, a cricket batsman who was hit on the head by a ball during a game, taken by Mark Metcalfe.

Picture taken at night. The light source is from lights in the floor. Three photographs are on display, part of a larger exhibit of winning photography from around the world. The three shown here are sports photos. The main one being a football player catching a pass.

people looking at photographs, the winning pictures from the World Press Photo contest, on display at Brookfield Place

people looking at photographs, the winning pictures from the World Press Photo contest, on display at Brookfield Place

people looking at photographs, the winning pictures from the World Press Photo contest, on display at Brookfield Place

World Press Photo contest winners, sign cautioning people that the section they are about to enter has some disturbing images in it.

people looking at photographs, the winning pictures from the World Press Photo contest, on display at Brookfield Place

below: The winning photo, by Danish photographer, Mads Nissen of Jon and Alex, a gay couple, sharing an intimate moment at Alex’s home, a small apartment in St Petersburg, Russia. (It looks better in real life!)

A photo by Mads Nissen, the winning photograph of the 58th World Press Photography Contest, Jon and Alex , two men, one lyng on his back and the other sitting beside him. The greenish curtains in the background dominate the picture.

crushed and bundled

Posted: October 2, 2015 in events, public art
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below: Coke, Dole juice, Diet Coke, Fanta orange, cans, cans, and more cans.

Three women check out bundles of crushed pop cans that are bundled for recycling. They are stacked two bundles high making a low wall beside the sidewalk.

below: Coors beer, Canada Dry, Nestea, more Fanta, more Coke, all crushed and ready to be recycled.

Crushed alumiium cans ready to be recycled

The City of Toronto collected about 200,000 tonnes of blue bin recyclables in 2014.   Since a tonne equals 1,000 kilograms, that’s 200,000,000 kilos of recyclable plastic bottles, pop cans, tin cans etc.

Crushed plastic bottles ready to be recycled

Crushed plastic bottles ready to be recycled

Piles of crushed recyclables collected from Toronto’s blue bins are stacked along Bay Street beside City Hall.  They will be part of an installation entitled ‘There is No Away’ for Nuit Blanche this coming weekend.  This work was sponsored by the city’s Solid Waste Management committee and put together by artist Sean Martindale.    This installation hopes to raise awareness of just how much garbage we produce and throw “away”.

A bundle of old rusty tin cans that have been crushed and pack into large bundles ready to be recycled.

 

 

 

 

 

National Seniors Day

Posted: October 1, 2015 in events
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National Seniors Day, 1st October

Just this week StatsCan announced that the number of Canadians older than 65 was more than the number of Canadians under 15.  There were 5,780,900 Canadians 65 and older (16.1% of the population) compared to 5,749,400 who were under 15 years old (16%).

The results of the last census in 2011 showed that Toronto had a population of 2,615,060, 14.4% of whom were over 65.

There was a CARP Flag Raising ceremony at City Hall today to  celebrate the contributions of older adults across Canada.  CARP, formerly the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, is a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization that concerns itself with issues that affect the older members of our communities.  Membership is no longer restricted to those over 50 years old; the societal challenges posed by aging populations are a concern to people of all ages.

below: CARP president Moses Znaimer and a woman (my apologies for not knowing who it is) listen to a speech by Toronto city councillor Pam McConnell prior to raising the flag.

CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) is in the foreground. Pam McConnell, a Toronto City councillor, is giving a speech. To the right of them, the CARP flag is ready to be raised on a flag pole.

The blue flag of CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) flies in front of Toronto city hall during the official flag raising ceremony.

The blue flag of CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) flies in front of Toronto city hall. It has an orange coloured carp fish on it with CARP underneath in block white capital letters. There is a red maple leaf in the center of the A

Population by age group in Canada, as of 1 July 2015.  All numbers from Statscan.
The largest group are those between the ages of 50 and 54

population chart of all age groups in Canada as of July 2015

A full report, prepared by the city, of the population of Toronto in 2011 and how it compares to that of 2006 is also available.

 

30,000 moths

Posted: September 30, 2015 in galleries
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The exhibit is called ‘Black Cloud’ and it consists of thirty thousand black moths, each one individually attached to the walls and ceiling of the clerestory of the The Power Plant Gallery.   Artist Carlos Amorales has reproduced the shapes and sizes of thirty six different species of moth with black paper.  They swarm towards the lights and they congregate in the corners.  It’s a fascinating display both in the overall composition and in the attention to small details.   This installation first appeared at an art gallery in Paris in 2007.

A wall covered with black paper moths, part of an art installation called Black Cloud by Carlos Amorales

A wall covered with black paper moths, part of an art installation called Black Cloud by Carlos Amorales where 30,000 black paper moths are stuck to the walls and ceilings of a hallway - looking up at all the moths on the ceiling

A wall covered with black paper moths, part of an art installation called Black Cloud by Carlos Amorales where 30,000 black paper moths are stuck to the walls and ceilings of a hallway - looking at the corner of the hall, where the wall meets the ceiling

A wall covered with black paper moths, part of an art installation called Black Cloud by Carlos Amorales where 30,000 black paper moths are stuck to the walls and ceilings of a hallway - this picture is a close up of some of the moths

As much as I liked the display, I was glad they weren’t real moths!

A hallway covered with black paper moths, part of an art installation called Black Cloud by Carlos Amorales where 30,000 black paper moths are stuck to the walls and ceilings of a hallway

#PPBlackCloud

Life.Style.Fair

Posted: September 29, 2015 in events
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King East Design District Life.Style.Fair is a festival celebrating contemporary design.
This year’s event was last Saturday and these are some of the things I saw as I walked King Street East that day:

A section of sidewalk. On it is painted the logo for King East Design District. There are also three lovebot stencil shapes spray painted in white on the sidewalk.

below: Frederick Street painting collaboration, organized by George Brown College School of Design students.

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple.

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. A young girls is using a small roller to paint purple in this picture

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. A small boy watches while his mother and a girl paint

painting a large Mondrian-like painting on the street. A large mat is laid out along Frederick Street and students have marked off squares and rectangles with tape. People are painting the shapes in red, orange, yellow, green and purple. Looking down the length of the canvas as it nears completion

below: What do you like about Toronto? This man was writing “Rob Ford” as I took the picture.
In hindsight, maybe I should have written something like “is not the mayor” beside it?
Some of the other things people wrote include, coffee shops, bikes, freedom, trees, TTC and lovebot.

A man with spiky black hair is writing on a board covered with different coloured post it notes.

below: The Beauchamp Art Gallery had strips of dried acrylic paint hanging from the ceiling that you could walk through.

Curtains of long strips of dried acrylic paint in many bright colours hang from the ceiling of an art gallery.

below: Also at the Beauchamp Gallery, artist Mike Hammer was creating a colourful painting consisting of blobs of acrylic paint.  The blobs flattened as additional drops of paint were added on top.  The paint flowed over the edge and created stripes.

an artwork in progress, made of many blobs of acrylic paint. The blobs flatten as other blobs are placed on top of them. The artist Mike Hammer is making this piece (although only his hand is in the picture)

below: Cubeworks studio demo.  Yes, she really does hand twist each Rubiks Cube into the colour pattern needed for the artwork.  This particular picture, of a gnome face, requires 500 cubes.  The algorithms for solving the cube are online so you can teach yourself and become a Rubiks Cube artist!

A woman is getting a rubiks cube ready to add to a picture that she is making using 500 rubiks cubes. The picture, about half done, is on an easel in the window of a store.

below: Painting by Jessica Gorlicky.  The easel spins to make the painting easier.

 

In the immediate foreground, but a little out of focus, is the shoulder and arm of a man taking a picture. The subject of his picture, a woman with long blond hair, is painting a picture of a TTC street car and a Toronto street scene. She is in this picture too.

below: Lovebots to colour

A large lovebot on paper is on a table. Black lines on white paper. It is more than a meter high. There are shapes in the middle and it is designed to be coloured. A hand holding a black sharpie is also in the picture, colouring part of the lovebot

below: Pizza carpets outside and pizza making inside, at the corner of King and Parliament.

A man and a woman are crossing the street. They are close to the sidewalk on the other side of the street. On that sidewalk are a number of carpets that look like wedge shaped pepperoni pizza slices. Each carpet is just over a meter long. They are in front of a shop that sells appliances.

below: The store Relative Space displayed three pieces by Stan Olthuis made from flooring materials that they sell.  This one is called ‘Dance Like No One’s Watching’

Part of the store window for the store Relative Space. The word space is seen in this picture. In the window is a design of a woman's silhouette in light yellowish woods inlaid into grey flooring.

below:  Will Graham and the beginnings of his sidewalk dragon.

A man is creating a dragon drawing in chalk on a sidewalk.

below: And last but not least, we can’t forget   – neon signs by Gary Taxali.  This is one of two that were on display at DOM Interiors.

In sursive writing the words Unforget Me in neon tubing to make a sign that is hanging in a store window.

#kedd2015

at Fairbank station

Posted: September 28, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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Fairbank station is not really a station, at least not any more; it’s the access point to the York Beltline trail at Fairbank Street.   The York Beltline trail is the western portion of the beltline trail.  It is a few blocks north of Eglinton Avenue and it runs from Times Road (west of Marlee Ave) westward to the railway tracks that run parallel to Caledonia Road.   Up until the 1990s this was a spur rail line used to service industries in the area.  There are still some small industrial buildings close to the Beltline, including some at Fairbank Street which is where I found these:

below:  Three anser faces on the far wall and a whoisrandom James Dean up close with sunglasses.

the sides of a couple of buildings covered with street art including the head and shoulders of James Dean wearing sunglasses with a beachscene, a green animal head and three anser faces.

below: Green fur and sharp teeth, a creature by blackburn

On the side of a building, a large street art painting of the head of a green animal. Open mouth, big fangs. Small ears and eyes. Bear? or maybe large bobcat?

below: by braes, or braesoner

A street art by braes of a boy in a red and white baseball hat and red shirt. The bat signal is beamed onto the wall beside him, black bat symbol in a yellow oval. The boy has a backpack full of tools.

below: by mska (left side) and paula prezende (right side)

two women painted on a purple dumpster. The one on the left is by mska and the woman has a skull mask on. The other is by paula prezende and is a woman with long red hair but with a big hole in her chest.

below: by deadboy (note raccoon on mud flap)

on the back of a truck, two white skulls with wide open mouths in profile, a raccoon and all signed by deadboy.

below: by poser and ABM Crew

Poser bunny in blue on pink and black background, painted on the back of an old truck container. Weeds growing in front and a tree to the left.

below: by Nick Sweetman

What looks to be a multicoloured underside of a very large beetle or similar creature with tiny legs, segmented body and numerous antenae. Painted by Nick Sweetman.

very bright coloured geometric street art on a garage door

graffiti on the side of an old truck container on wheels that is parked where the weeds are growing up around it. There is a large rose painted in grey tones as well as a black and white piece by The Crew
A crocdile swimming in the water with a little orange birdie sitting on his head - a street art painting on the side of concrete block wall. The croc is swimming in the water, with his mouth open wide and showing his teeth

below: By brunosmoky

a street art painting of a makeshift boat with stove pipe smoke stack, painted to look like boat is made of boards haphazardly nailed together. On the the side of a building, but with weeds growing up in front of it.

 

a row of stickers all with faces on them on a vertical pole beside a garage door that has also been painted in many bright colours.

a stenciled sign that says Citied Feed Zombies

random pieces

Posted: September 26, 2015 in graffiti and street art
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This is a collection of things that I’ve seen recently that haven’t fit in with any other blog posts.

below: He hangs out on Queen St. West.

A partial painting of a red head man, life size or close to it, on a white wall that people have added stickers to. The stickers cover all of his torso

below: A legless stikman behind bars on Palmerston

Stickman behind a wrought iron fence. He is missing the lower half of his body

A lovebot sticker, lovebot is holding up a sign that says I am a toy. It is on a sign for a store that says Since 1914

below: Malibu rum and Corona beer exposed by demolition on Peter Street.

A construction site. A wall has been exposed that has two large wall paintings, one is an ad for Malibu rum and the other is an ad for Corona beer.

below: Argh.  He understands our frustration.  The Dufferin bus didn’t stop even though there were two of us waiting here!

On a TTC temporary bus stop sign, someone has put a sticker of a person on it, the sticker fits perfectly into the vertical part of the letter T in S T O P

below: Death is the conduit of rebirth.  Life, death and everything in between.

A street art painting of a large skull with the eyes painted as people's heads. Beside it are the words, Death is the conduit to rebirth

below: False can’t hide behind the pipes, Kensington

Behind two yellow pipes on the exterior of a building, a painting of a person's torso with a large heart painted on his shirt. In it's hands is a white sign with the word false written on it.

below: Love the hearts, especially now that blue crowns have started appearing with them.

a yellow happy face lovey heart on a telephone pole, with a blue crown on top of it as well as a stencilled sign that reads Honesty of the best poetry, Gregory Alan Elliott

below:  Panda with guns.  This image was originally a Banksy and it came with the words ‘Destroy Racism.  Be a panda. He’s black.  He’s white.  He’s Asian. ‘

A painting of a panda standing upright, painted on an old wood fence. The panda has a gun in each hand and they are pointed upwards

below:  Seen on hoardings on Eglinton Avenue near Bathurst.  My apologies to the artist, Alice Choi for accidentally cutting off her name from the bottom when I took the picture.

A painting of a person sitting on a chair with only a red cloth draped over their body. The head is a light bulb. A calculator, smartphone and computer monitor and some fish are floating around the person.

below: This stikman is embedded in the pavement.  He’s been run over many times.

A stikman painted onto the pavement of a street

below: Remnants of people and such

The remains of many black and white stickers or wheatpastes on a wall

A small sticker of a girl with a large head and big eyes

below: There will always be haters I guess.

A sticker with a red heart and the words Love Everyone that someone has scrawled on in black marker, shut up

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