Dysturb

Posted: May 9, 2016 in events, graffiti and street art
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Spread around Kensington and Chinatown are 20 large black and white photos taken by a number of freelance photojournalists who are part of a group called #Dysturb.   One of their goals is to present photojournalism in new ways, including as street art, with the aim of engaging people and encouraging discussion of global issues.   The images are part of an exhibit for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

Kensington has had a problem with taggers for a while.  Often street art gets vandalized in that area.   The #Dysturb photo that was at 56 Kensington (under Mona Lisa) has already been torn down and a couple of others have been ripped.

Pictures of some of the images that are part of the exhibit are shown below.  I have included a partial transcription of the words that accompany each picture.

 

Libyan Coasts, August 1, 2015
Photo by Christophe Stramba-Badiali/Haytham

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a boat load of Libyan migrants is being rescued from their rubber dinghy.

West African migrants are seen aboard a boat, approximately 20 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, as they are about to be rescued by Medecins Sans Frontieres. The MSF-hired ship, named Argos, was patrolling the waters off Libya when it encountered one rubber dinghy carrying a total of 111 migrants including several children and infants. “

Barpak, Ghorka District, Nepal, May 9, 2015 ”
Photo by Renaud Philippe/Hans Lucas

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - children playing in the wind created by a helicopter, Nepal, on a wall in an entraceway. A man is busking in front, and there are people walking past on the sidewalk

Children play in a cloud of dust and gravel thrown by an Indian army helicopter landing in Barpak Nepal.  The community is at the epicenter of the devastating earthquake that struck April 25, 2015, taking over 8000 lives.  Of Barpak’s 1400 houses, only 20 remain standing.   The rest of the town is a pile of rubble that blends into the rocky landscape.  An archway that somehow survived the quake greets visitors with a rueful ‘Welcome to Barpak’.”

Shaanxi Province, Henan, China, February 27, 2014
Photo by Sim Chi Yin/Vii

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - an ill Chinese man is being comforted by his wife. The picture is on a graffiti covered wall and a black car is parked close to it.

Gold miner, He Quangui, battling silicosis, struggles to breathe while cradled in the hands of his wife Mi Shixiu.  After many attempts to stabilize his breathing, in the early hours of the next morning her tried to kill himself to end the suffering.  He contracted the irreversible disease working in illegal gold mines in China’s Henan province.   He is among some six million workers in China who have pneumoconiosis – the country’s most prevalent occupational disease.”

Cizre Turkey, October 30, 2015.
Photo by Emilien Urbano/Myop for Le Monde
NOTE: I took this picture on Friday. Today (Monday) it was gone.

large black and white photo pasted onto a boarded up storefront of European Textiles on Spadina Rd. The photo is part of #Dysturb exhibit at Contact Photography Festival. It shows a hooded man holding an automatic rifle

A militiaman from the PKK Youth wing YDG-H in Cizre Turkey.  The Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H) – the militant youth wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – are battling to defend their neighbourhoods from Turkish security forces.  The YDG-H has been acting as a paramilitary force in Cizre for the past few months and has closed off several Kurdish neighbourhoods with their armed checkpoints and patrols.

Fort McKay, Alberta, Canada, August 12, 2015
Photo by Ian Willms/Boreal Collective

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a sick boy is lying on a bed, on a wall in the entranceway to a store, sidewalk and street scene in the background

Dez, 7, plays in his bed.  Dez was born with an underdeveloped heart and has received multiple open heart surgeries.  His family and healthcare professionals in Fort McKay believe that his condition was caused by environmental pollution.   Fort McKay is an indigenous community that is surrounded by oil  sands developments.”

Kunduz City, Afghanistan, November 18, 2015.
Photo by Andrew Quilty/Oculi

a large black and white photojournalist picture, part of CONTACT photography festival, pasted on a wall - a mother (covered in a black burka) and her daughter in grief, at a gravesite. Pasted on an orange wall with an old brown leather sofa in front of it.

Najibah tries to comfort her daughter Zahara, 8, as they weep over the grave of their husband and father, Baynazar.   Baynazar, 43, was wounded by gunfire on his way home fromwork during the Taliban takeover of Kunduz in late 2015.  He was taken to the nearby Doctors Without Borders (MSF) trauma centre.  In the early hours of October 3, during his second operation, a US AC-130 aircraft attacked the hospital for more than half an hour, killing 43 MSF staff, patients and nurses.  Dozens more were wounded.

About #Dysturb

#CONTACT16

four women

Posted: May 8, 2016 in history, memorials, public art
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Happy Mothers Day!

I didn’t write this blog post specifically for Mothers Day even though it’s about four women, Mary Pickford, Edith Cavell, Florence Wyle, and Frances Loring.  Just because they are women doesn’t mean that they are mothers, in fact only one is.  Mary Pickford adopted two children.  I also didn’t intend to write a blog post on the merits of motherhood vs childlessness so I am going to say nothing further on the subject!

The first woman can be found at the corner of University and Elm.  Here, there is a a bronze portrait bust of Mary Pickford that was sculpted by Eino Gira in 1983.

bust of Mary Pickford with her hand on her cheek, in front of Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, red brick hospital behind her in the photo

The plaque beside her says:

Born in 1893 in a house which stood near this site, Gladys Marie Smith appeared on stage in Toronto at the age of five.   Her theatrical career took her to Broadway in 1907 where she adopted the name Mary Pickford.  The actress’s earliest film “Her First Biscuits”, was released by the Biograph Company in 1909 and she soon established herself as the international cinema’s first great star.   Her golden curls and children’s roles endeared her to millions as “America’s Sweatheart”.  She was instrumental in founding and directing a major film production company and starred in over fifty feature-length films including “Hearts Adrift”, “Pollyanna” and “Coquette”.  For the last named film she received the 1929 Academy Award as the year’s best actress.

below: Just up the street, next to one of the entrances of Toronto General Hospital, is a memorial to British nurse Edith Cavell (1865-1915) and to all the Canadian women who served as nurses in WW1.  The memorial  was installed at University Ave and College St. in 1921 but later moved to its present location.

A memorial to British nurse Edith Clavell and the Canadian nurses of WW1, a bronze plaque mounted on a stone tablet. Picture of Clavell between two upright but wounded soldiers.

In memory of Edith Cavell and the Canadian nurses who gave their lives for humanity in the Great War.  “In the midst of darkness they saw light”

Cavell had been working in Brussels when WW1 broke out.  After the Germans invaded Belgium, Cavell helped wounded Allied soldiers escape to the Netherlands.  She was caught by the Germans, charged with treason, and executed on 12 October 1915.  She became the most well known woman casualty of WW1.

The above memorial was designed by Florence Wyle.  There is a memorial to Wyle and her partner, Frances Loring (also a sculptor), in a small park at the corner of Mt Pleasant and St. Clair.

below: bronze bust of Florence Wyle, by Frances Loring

bust of Florence Wyle, a Canadian sculptor, in a park

below: bronze bust of Frances Loring, by Florence Wyle

bust of Frances Loring, a Canadian sculptor, in a park, in the shade of a large tree

below: There are a couple of small statues by Wyle in the same park, including this one.
“Young Girl”, about 1938.

bronze statue titled "Young girl", showing a girl from the thighs up, holding up a cloth that is wrapped around her body but her breasts are bare

Loring and Wyle are responsible for a number of sculptures around the city.  Two of these used to be on the Bank of Montreal building at the northwest corner of King and Bay. It was built in 1887 by architects Marani and Morris and demolished in 1968.  The building featured a series of sculptures representing the Canadian provinces that were done by a number of artists.  Frances Loring sculpted the panels for Ontario and Quebec.  When the Bank of Montreal building was demolished, all of the panels were moved to the grounds of the Guild Inn in Scarborough where they remain today.

Quebec sculpture - A stone relief sculpture from a series on provinces of Canada, originally on a Bank of Montreal building in Toronto. They were rescued when the bank was demolished and moved to the grounds of the Guild Inn in Scarborough. By Canadian artist Frances Loring. A naked woman upright, with a cloth over her shoulders and looking upwards

A stone relief sculpture from a series on provinces of Canada, originally on a Bank of Montreal building in Toronto. They were rescued when the bank was demolished and moved to the grounds of the Guild Inn in Scarborough. By Canadian artist Frances Loring. Ontario is in the picture, as a man surrounded by symbols of industry such as large gears and architectural plans

refugees outside the Italian Consulate

Posted: May 7, 2016 in events
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Refugees in a State Apartment, Jens Ullrich,
Photo exhibit, on a fence outside the Italian Consulate, Dundas West at Beverley.

Part of Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival

photos mounted along the exterior of a wrought iron fence around the Italian Consulate, right beside the sidewalk. The consulate is on old brick house (mansion) from the 1800's - 3 of the photographs, people walking past

Ullrich has taken found black and white photographs of the interior of a large home near Bremen Germany.  The photos were taken in the late 1920’s.    Each photograph is of a different room in the villa and to each picture Ullrich has added  one person.   If you knew nothing about the series, you wouldn’t know that the subjects were refugees.

In each photomontage, singular individuals are depicted—usually with their faces hidden from the camera—within empty yet elaborately fashioned spaces that emphasize their solitude and unstable status. “

photos mounted along the exterior of a wrought iron fence around the Italian Consulate, right beside the sidewalk. The consulate is on old brick house (mansion) from the 1800's - phot by Jens Ullrich of a woman refugee with her face obscured by clothing, sitting on a chair in the bathroom of a large bathroom. also a photo of a male refugee in another room, looking in a large mirror

One of the concepts behind this series of images was the desire to

respectfully capture the disparate emotions of these individuals and their precarious situations.”

photos mounted along the exterior of a wrought iron fence around the Italian Consulate, right beside the sidewalk. The consulate is on old brick house (mansion) from the 1800's - as seen from across the street with pedestrians walking past and cars driving past

photos mounted along the exterior of a wrought iron fence around the Italian Consulate, right beside the sidewalk. The consulate is on old brick house (mansion) from the 1800's - the photos are of refugees that have been photoshopped into old photos of the interior of the apartment of a wealthy person from the 1920's
#CONTACT16

weaving a trail

Posted: May 4, 2016 in general Toronto, locations, old buildings
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There is no theme to this blog post.  I never really had a purpose in mind as I walked yesterday.  I walked to enjoy the spring day.  I walked wherever my feet took me…  and they took me on a route that wove between Bay Street and University Avenue and from Grenville south to Dundas.

two women dressed up and walking down the street. One is in a puffy black dress, black tights and black shoes. The other woman has long red hair and a polka dot sweater on.

below: “Jimmy Mount Rushmore” mural on the side of Jimmy’s Coffee featuring four famous musical Jimmys: Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Buffet and Jim Morrison.

mural on the side of Jimmys coffee, monochromatic in rust, pictures of what Mount Jimmy Rushmore would like, four famous Jimmys, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Buffett and Jim Morrison

below: ‘Inner City Gate’ by Kosso Eloul.  1978.  A balancing act of stainless steel boxes on the lawn of the R. Fraser Elliott building (part of the old Toronto General Hospital), Elizabeth Street.

black metal sculpture of three boxes precariously balanced, the upper box is almost horizontal and it is being supported by the other two who are falling down but still balancing

below:  A blight on the sidewalk, so-called information pillars that are really just a sell-out to Astral Media.  They needlessly obstruct the sidewalk and obstruct the view of  cyclists and motorists.  Unfortunately they are part of a 20 year contract that the city has with Astral Media which doesn’t expire until 2027.

cyclists ride by an information pillar that has a large ad jutting out towards the street.

below: Incised into limestone blocks on the Edward Street side of McClelland House (originally the McLean Hunter building) is half of an artwork by Elizabeth Wynn Wood (1903 – 1966) called “Communication”.  The woman is sending a message to a man who is apparently shown on the other side of the building.  Sadly, I missed the man so there is no photograph of him here.  When the work was completed in 1958, the incised lines were inlayed with gold colour.

outline drawing of a woman floating in the sky, incised into limestone facade of a building. She is releasing a bird.

below: Across the street from the ‘floating woman’, 480 University Avenue is getting a facelift.

lower part of building have its facade upgraded to glass panels
below:  This picture shows most of the front of 480 University and you can see the different stages of the recladding process.  At the top of the building, the precast concrete grille that was part of the original 1968 Global House office tower is still in place while new glass panels have already been installed on the lower floors.   It is interesting to watch the metamorphosis of an 18 storey office building into a 55 storey condo tower.   Four levels of underground parking have also been added to the site and a new indoor entrance to St. Patrick subway station is in the works.

Tall office building is having its concrete facade replaced with glass. The upper floors are still concrete, the middle floors are bare and the lower floors have new glass

below: Abstract in blues and greys

very close detail shot of glass and reflections that make diamond shaped abstract in blue and grey

There is a lot of building and redevelopment in the area where I walked.

below: Womens College Hospital is totally new.

a lone man walks by the new Womens College Hospital building with its light grey stone facade, large glass section, and large pink glass section.

below: The corner of College and Bay, looking southeast, is now a wall of glass.

cyclist rides through the intersection of College and Bay streets. A wall of glass condos in the background.

below: The new wing of Sick Kids Hospital dwarfs the older buildings on Elm Street.

view from a parking lot, a row of the back of older two storey brick buildings with some mature trees, then taller modern glass buildings.

below:  The old and the new integrated into one building, Princess Margaret Hospital.

Princess Margaret Hospital, with the older stone building at the bottom, and the new modern addition above and beside it.

below: Even the street is being redone.  The center of Bay Street from Dundas to Elm is torn up because of  TTC streetcar track replacement.

A digger and other equipment working on a torn up section of Bay street.

below: Little quirky details:  First, the cross shapes made of contrasting brick on the back of the Red Cross building.  Second, the workings (or barrier?) of the compressed gas tanks that have been made to look like ice.

part of the addition that was added to the Red Cross building, two cross shaped features in contrasting brick on the upper levels. In front of that building are large compressed gas tanks.

below:  Another piece of public art, ‘Liquid Echo’ by Catherine Widgery, 1999, is in front of 750 Bay Street.  They look like stiff and lifeless frozen metallic fountains… or maybe just 12 pencils 🙂 .   Circular vent shafts for the underground parking have been incorporated into the artwork.

public art installation outside 750 Bay street

below: A  lovebot watches over the people passing through the bus station, unaware that he is there.

large lovebot wheatepaste paste up above the downtown Toronto bus terminal. A white bus is parked in one of the bus bays. Condos in the background.

below: And last, a colourful collection of squares and rectangles. Blue and green.  Red and white.

green and blue glass of a building's facade, with a storefront below. The windows of the store are filled with red and white pillows arranged in a grid.

Alexander’s scandal

Posted: May 4, 2016 in history
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The dapper, larger than life Alexander Wood has stood on his corner at Church and Alexander streets for 11years now.  The bronze statue by Del Newbigging was unveiled in May 2005.

Wood came to Upper Canada from Scotland and settled in Toronto (known as York at the time) in 1797.  He was a successful merchant, magistrate, and lieutenant in the York militia.  The plaque on the granite pedestal tells his story.

 

statue of Alexander Wood, a young man with long coat, and a hat in his hand. The statue is on a large square pedestal so his feet are close to eye level. Below the statue is a plaque detailing his life as early settler of York, of being a gay, and of being involved in a scandal in 1810.

“Militia Officer, Businessman, Public Servant, Justice of the Peace, Gay Pioneer

Alexander Wood came to Canada in 1793, settled in York in 1797 and started a mercantile business, one of only three stores in York at that time. Within a year he was a lieutenant in the York Militia; he was appointed magistrate in 1800 and by 1805 was a Commissioner for the Court of Requests (a senior planning officer). He was involved in a homophobic scandal in 1810 and fled to Scotland, but in two years he was back in Canada and resumed his duties. In spite of ridicule and discrimination he had a successful career in public service: he was on the executive of nearly every society in York, often as treasurer; he was manager of several businesses and acted for clients in land transactions. Wood died in 1844 at the age of seventy-two while in Scotland. The British Colonist paper called him one of Toronto’s ‘most respected inhabitants’.”

***

There is another bronze plaque on the back of the pedestal, complete with shiny bits.  This plaque adds more details to the story of the 1810 scandal that Wood got himself into.

plaques on a statue. The top is of a man with his pants lowered, the bottom is the story of the scandal that led to Alexander Wood having to leave Canada. The bare bum on the plaque is shiny from repeated rubbing by passers by.

“1810 The Scandal
In 1810 a woman reporting a rape to Magistrate Wood said she had scratched her rapist. Wood inspected several suspects privately, requiring them to undress. To avoid the scandal caused by his unconventional behaviour, Wood fled to Scotland. After two years he returned to Canada but suffered ridicule and discrimination for the rest of his life.

Alexander Wood 1772-1844
Militia Officer, Businessman, Public Servant, Justice of the Peace, Gay Pioneer”

***

In 1810, word had spread quickly around the town (of 700) and Wood had become known as the “Inspector General of Private Accounts”.    The worst of the scandal blew over while Wood was in Scotland; he was back in York in 1812 and resumed all his previous occupations, including magistrate. At that time, “molly’ was a derogatory word for a gay man and he was nicknamed Molly Wood.

In 1826 he purchased 50 acres of land east of Yonge St. and north of Carlton St. in the neighbourhood where his statue now stands.  It is also the “Village”.  In Wood’s time it was referred to as ‘Molly Wood’s Bush’.  Wood remained in Toronto until 1842 at which time he returned again to Scotland where he died two years later.

Current Studies, Paper Planes

Posted: May 3, 2016 in events, galleries
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‘Current Studies’ and ‘Paper Planes’
Two different series of photographs by Sjoerd Knibbeler
Allan Lambert Galleria, Brookfield Place

At ground level there are six large freestanding ‘walls” arranged in line, three at each end of the atrium.    Each ‘wall’ is covered by two images, one on either side.  They are photographs that are the result of Knibbeler’s experiments to “ shape, encompass, and capture air currents.”  This is the ‘Current Studies’ part of the installation.

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

Suspended from the ceiling are a set of photographs of paper airplanes, the ‘Paper Planes’ part of the installation.    Knibbeler photographed paper airplanes that he made using information that he found online.  He chose military planes that were never produced.

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

A picture taken inside the Allan Lambert Gallery at Brookfield Place, photos by Sjoerd Knibbeler, a series called Current Study large pictures standing in the middle of the gallery, as well as series called "Paper Planes" which are hung from the ceiling

#CONTACT16

May day

Posted: May 2, 2016 in events, people
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May 1, May Day, International Workers Day
To mark the day, there was a rally at Yonge Dundas Square.
The wet afternoon didn’t dampen the spirits of those who were there with their placards and banners.

May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

Two men holding placards at a rally. One says "Canada US NATO out of the Middle East" and the other says "Capitalism Can't be fixed - Fight for Socialism" , both are from the International Bolshevik Tendency - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A man holds a placard that says "Enough is enough, No to Capitalism, Socialism now"May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A group of people holding a large rad and white banner with most of the words written in Arabic and English. The English part says "Long Live May Day. Workers of all countries unite"

An older man holds one end of a red banner for the Communist Party of Canada while a young man holds the other end - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

Two students hold a red banner for the Filipino Youth and Students fight for land, rights and justice - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A man holds up a sign written in Arabic about men missing I think. It is red with a picture of a fist on it. On the fist are glued pictures of 16 men . Also in the picture, a man holding a placard with a photo of three men on it, talks to a woman whose back is to the camera.

from under the photographer's umbrella, a scene of people with protest signs - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A young man is giving out placards at a rally - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A group of women standing behind and holding up a large white banner for May Day - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A man holds a sign that says "Time for a new direction in the economy" - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

A man under a pink umbrella talks to a man whose back is to the camera - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

Three people hold a large yellow banner for the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

a bundle of small OCAP placard signs sit on a chair - May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day -

women talking and laughing together at a rally, holding placards that say "End Immigration Detention " and also holding umbrellas

women talking and laughing together at a rally, holding placards that say "Build a Solidarity City"

May day, International Workers Day rally at Dundas Square on a rainy day - a man holds his fist in the air as he stands beside a banner

Prince and the unicorns

Posted: May 1, 2016 in graffiti and street art
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As I was walking across Queen Street West a couple of days ago, I saw a pink sparkly tribute to the musician Prince who died recently.   In 1993 while having contract problems with Warner Brothers, Prince changed his stage name to this symbol.  It became known as the Love Symbol although he was more regularly referred to as ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’ for the next seven years.

A large pink painting on a sidewalk, a symbol used by the singer Prince. The painting is a memorial to him. His dates are given 1958 to 2016.

A few feet away, at the corner of Queen and Spadina I found the artist busy on another painting.  Victor, as in #whatsvictorupto, was in the middle of painting a blue and purple unicorn with pink glitter too.  I asked him if there was any significance to the unicorn.  He said that this was going to be his ‘Year of the Unicorn’.  He also mentioned that he already painted a few unicorns….

A man is painting a glittery pink and purple unicorn picture on the sidewalk as people pass by on Queen Street in Toronto

below: The finished painting

A blue and purple painting of a unicorn with pink glitter added to it too. Painted by Victor and signed as #whatsvictorupto

below: So far I have found two other unicorns.  First, this slightly faded unicorn on a four leaf clover is painted outside the Black Irish pub on Queen Street East at Sherbourne.

A unicorn in green, blue and black painted on a green four leaf clover by #whatsvictorupto The word Kelsey is also beside the painting

below:   Second, a unicorn on the sidewalk in front of Sick Kids Hospital

A blue and gold unicorn head painted in a red heart on a sidewalk, by Victor of What's victor up to.

below: A little bit of fun – it seems that a lot of people have uploaded their pictures of the  Prince painting to instagram in the past day or two!

a screenshot of a cellphone, pictures of the pink Prince symbol that different people have added to instagram

If I see any more unicorns I’ll let you know!

big pictures on Spadina

Posted: April 30, 2016 in events, public art
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May is photography month in Toronto.  It is the month when there are numerous exhibits in public spaces and in galleries, all part of the CONTACT Photography Festival.   Over the next few weeks I hope to visit many of the exhibits and blog about some of them.   From past experience I have discovered that a lot of the public installations appear before May 1st so I went exploring yesterday.

below: Looking south from Spadina and Adelaide….  Partially obscured by a building, on the right in this photo, is the first large black and white photo that I saw.

view from the NE corner of Spadina and Richmond streets. a small parking lot is directly across the street, two large billboards loom over the lot. Once is for Lorne's coats showing two people wearing coats. The other is for Maple flavoured iced capp at Tim Hortons.

below: Up close,  ‘Drape’ by Eva Stenram.  Stenram has taken a 1960’s pin-up photograph of a woman and manipulated it.  She has brought the background, the drapery, forward and has covered up the original subject in the picture.

large black and white photo by Eva Strenram called 'Drape'. It is mounted on the upper level of a three storey red brick building. It shows a woman sitting on the floor partially obscured by drapery. Her upper body and head can not be seen.

below: Looking west on Wellington from Spadina.  The light grey building is the Old Press Hall (Globe and Mail) which will be demolished in the near future.

looking down the street past parked cars. A large black and white photo is on the side of the building.

below: Up close, ‘Stopping Point’ by an unknown photographer.  The original title and description was: ‘Along the new Highway, which runs from Smooth Rock Falls to Fraserdale, Ontario, there’s no sign of human habitation apart from one empty lumber camp, c.1966. 

A very large black and white photograph from the 1960's of a car on a two lane road with pine trees on either side. There is a boat tied to the roof of the car. The photo is on the side of the Globe and Mail building with cars parked around it.

The above photograph is one of 750,000 photos in the Globe and Mail’s picture library.   100,000 of their old photos are being digitized to create a new historical archive.  From these, a collection of 20,000 prints will be donated to the newly formed Canadian Photography Institute at the National Gallery of Canada.

More of the photos from the Globe and Mail’s collection are on view inside the Old Press Hall.

Aude Moreau, sky, city, and a bit of a rant.

Posted: April 29, 2016 in galleries, public art
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I usually take a dim view of conceptual art largely because the importance given to the “words on the wall” has eclipsed the consideration given to the artwork itself.   Mediocrity in technique or creativity hides behind big jargon words and convoluted language in the artist statement.  Often the concept that the artist claims to be exploring is at odds with the end product.

When the art doesn’t live up to words that sound learned and meaningful then it degrades the work and makes the artist, and those curating the exhibit, seem pompous and out of touch.

For example, if you read that certain videos by an artist “cast a hitherto unexampled light on the conventional North American city”,  what would you expect to see?  Would you expect to see a video shot from a helicopter as it circled a city at night?  A video that looks familiar to anyone who has flown over a city after dark.   That’s what you get with Aude Moreau’s ‘The End in the Background of Hollywood 2015’ now showing at The Power Plant gallery.   I don’t have a photo of it but I do have a picture of three of her other photographs also on display.

below: From left to right (discounting the small picture farthest from the camera): 1. ‘Untitled (Hollywood Sign)’ 2015, 2. ‘LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department)’ 2015.  It’s a picture of a tiny helicopter in a large grey sky.  and 3. ‘Waiting for Landing’, airplanes lined up as they approach LAX airport.   Unfortunately, the words on the wall then go on to say, about these three images, “These demonstrate visual strategies that act upon the symbolic representation of the city and the spectacular dimension of the film industry.”  Oh my.

4 pictures hanging in a contemporary art gallery. One is a picture of the Hollywood sign taken just after dark, the next is a grey sky with a tiny dot of a helicopter in the middle, the third is too far away to discern, and the last is a picture of Los Angeles at night taken from a helicopter

And with that I left The Power Plant gallery.  Growling silently to myself and shaking my head with a mix of disdain and and frustration.   Imagine my surprise when once outside I encountered another of Moreau’s photographs.  A very lovely one.

below:  A picture of the Toronto skyline by Aude Moreau mounted on an exterior wall at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.  A picture with visual impact.

A photograph by Aude Moreau of the Toronto skyline as the sun starts to set, sunlight reflected off the buildings, darkening blue sky. The picture is mounted on an exterior wall and there is a tree in front of it as well as a couple of picnic tables

below:   You can play “spot the building” and test your knowledge of Toronto geography.   You can line up the DBRS building, the Hilton Hotel and the Canada Life building on University Avenue along with the Sheraton Hotel on Queen street.   The blue addition on the AGO is farther north on Dundas.  Can you think of where the photo was taken?  Apparently, it was taken from Toronto Fire Station 315 at College Street and Bellevue Avenue.  It was taken just after sunset but when there was still enough light in the sky to reflect off the taller buildings.   Moreau makes the city sparkle.

A photograph by Aude Moreau of the Toronto skyline as the sun starts to set, sunlight reflected off the buildings, darkening blue sky. The picture is mounted on an exterior wall and there is a tree in front of it

I must have seen this picture very shortly after it was installed.  It is part of the CONTACT photography festival that starts this weekend but there was no accompanying sign, no words that attempted to a explain the image.  Perhaps that was for the best.  In fact, I now have the CONTACT catalogue with their description of the artwork but I think I won’t read them.  I’d rather enjoy the picture just the way it is.

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