Posts Tagged ‘reflections’

a community of wardrobes

Posted: April 1, 2016 in galleries
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Wisdom of the Poor: Communal Courtyard,
an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong,
Art Gallery of Ontario

This installation is made from parts of 100 old wardrobes collected from traditional Beijing neighbourhoods, or hutongs, like the one in which Song Dong grew up in.  These neighbourhoods, and their communal way of life, are disappearing.

 

 

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections
The pieces of the wardrobes are arranged with the backside towards the viewer.  The arrangement is such that you can not see the front side of most of the wardrobes.

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections
There are two circles of wardrobes that you can enter – where you can now stand in the courtyard so to speak.   The wardrobes become stand-ins for the fronts of houses that once faced onto courtyards in the old hutongs of Beijing.

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections of a foot in one of the mirrors
A wardrobe was one of the items that the Chinese government provide to all families.  They are all similar yet different.  All have mirrors.  Most are made of the same colour wood and most have green curtains.  They all have little legs and they are all about the same height.
part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections
Wardrobes are personal articles and former owners have left their marks on many of them…. a different fabric in the window or a picture glued onto the wood.
part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections, door handles, key holes and a curtain that is a blue and white plaid and has musical notes on it.

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections, wardrobes arranged in a curved shape
part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections

This installation also appeared in the Venice biennale in 2011 although the wardrobes were arranged differently.  For the exhibit at the AGO, there are a number of items that appear within the ‘courtyards’ created by the wardrobes.  For the viewer, these items can only be viewed through the windows of the wardrobes.  One of the items, below, is a series of three paintings of the Canadian ballerina Karen Kain.

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections. through one of the windows there is a painting of Karen Kain on the wall

In another, bikes

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections, through two of the windows there is a bike

part of an art installation by Chinese artist Song Dong using vintage wooden wardrobe doors with mirrors and curtains, reflections, door knobs and frosted glass and a white curtain

This installation remains at the AGO until 17 July 2016

a walk on Eglinton

Posted: November 23, 2015 in general Toronto, history, locations, transportation
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The plan was to start walking westward from Eglinton subway station.

below:  The first photo I took was right after I got off a bus at the station.   With the ongoing reconstruction at Eglinton, there is now easy access to the old bus bays.  There is still a fence around them, but at least they can be seen and photographed.  These bays have not been used since 2004 and the area has been fenced off and unused since then.  Now they sit empty in the shadow of the ever increasing tall buildings around them.

abandoned bus bays at Eglinton subway station in the foreground and the newer taller buildings in the area in the background

abandoned part of Eglinton subway station, behind chain link fence

below: Looking west along Eglinton Avenue after the completion of Eglinton station in 1954.  The street running north-south just beyond the bus bays is Duplex Avenue.  There is now a police station on the SE corner of that intersection.   On the NW corner you can see the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric Building with its large front ‘door’.  It is still there.

historical black and white photo, aerial, from Yonge Street looking west along Eglinton Ave showing the bus bays at Eglinton subway station, up to Duplex Ave is shown clearly.

source: City of Toronto Archives, online

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below: (taken later in the afternoon, on the way home) The intersection of Eglinton and Duplex from west side with the brick Toronto Hydro-Electric building now between glass buildings.

looking east along Eglinton Avenue towards Yonge street with Duplex Ave in the foreground. The old Toronto Hydro-Electric building is in the picture, with a newer structure with a glass front beside it. New buildings between Duplex and Yonge on the north side of Eglinton are also in the picture.

below: After leaving Eglinton station, this caught my eye.  The glass cube-like building on the NE corner of Eglinton and Duplex reflects the afternoon sun onto the walls of the Toronto Hydro-Electric building across the street.

brick building with wavy shadows on it cast by the sun being reflected off the glass building across the street

brick building with wavy shadows on it cast by the sun being reflected off the glass building across the street

below: On Duplex, right behind this brick building is an intriguing building.  The highly textured concrete exterior and the 3D patterned wall are suggestive of the 1960s although I could be wrong.  It’s ugly yet fascinating at the same time.   Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees in front of it, the pattern of trapezoids, diamonds and rectangles is revealed…. as is the dirt and grime on the concrete.  The fact that there are no windows and doors facing the street provides a clue that this is yet another Toronto Hydro building.

Three tree with no leaves are in front of a concrete wall that is built in 3D pattern of trapezoids and rectangles. There are no windows or doors.

Somethings old

below: A sign with an old Toronto HU (Hudson) exchange phone number.  HU1 would be 481.  This number is probably from the late 1950s.  In the early days, Toronto phone numbers had only 6 digits.  In the mid 1950s a seventh digit was added and then between 1961 and 1966 the letter prefixes were phased out, replaced by numbers.

old sign on the side of an small apartment building, the Latimer Apartments, with an old Toronto phone number starting with the letters HU

below:  The Eglinton Grand, art deco building from 1936; National Historic site since 2003.

The Eglinton Grand, a cinema theatre built in art deco style in 1936.

 Somethings new

many curved and disjointed reflections of buildings in a tall glass building. Afternoon sun so there's a yellowish tint to the reflections

 And some window ‘shopping’ to do

below: Marbles wedged between glass make an excellent decorative touch.

a layer of marbles wedged into a window to look a bit like stained glass

A line of toy figurines on a window sill in the window of a restaurant

below: little Japanese wooden dolls in the window of the Sake Bar

three little Japanese wooden dolls with white hair and white kimonos standing inside a window. Reflections of the stores across the street are behind them.

below:  And even a lovebot hangs out here

a 3D concrete lovebot stands on the sidewalk beside a store as people walk by

below:  A little chuckle at this sign….

I small sign hanging over a doorway of a hot dog restaurant called Bite Me

below:  And then later I saw this.

A sign on the wall outside a store that says Bite Me More

sticker on a pole on a sidewalk. One man is kicking another, pixelated picture, with the letters X G G L on it.

Rather than wait for a bus I decided to keep walking home but unfortunately it’s that time of year when the daylight hours are just too short.   One last look at where I had just been before putting my camera away and heading home.

very late afternoon sun, as it disappears behind buildings, looking down a street, sun is reflecting off some windows, a large part of the street is in shadow, a TTC is there, with its lights on, some construction on the street, some cars,

distress at Union Station

Posted: July 16, 2015 in locations, public art
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A while back, I posted some photos of ‘Zones of Immersion’,  Stuart Reid’s art installation at Union Station.   Now that it is completed, I decided to revisit it.  There has been some talk about how depressing it is.
I’ll let you decide whether it is depressing or not.

If you are on the ‘northbound to Finch’ platform you get a clear view of all the panels.
If you are on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform you can only see some of the glass panels.

I’ve now been back a number of times and this is what I saw:
1) Of the figures with discernible gender, 12 or 13 were male.
2) The males are of different ages and shapes.
3) The number of females outnumber males by at least 2:1.
4) Almost all (or even all?) of the women are young.  They are all thin, if not gaunt.
5) There is one child…. with a finger up his/her nose.
6) Only two or three figures are smiling.

 

Part of an art installation at Union Station, paint on glass panels - a rough drawing, black outline with some grey shading of a couple

paintings on glass panels, Union Station art installation, two women. One on the left looks very sad, like she's been crying. The other woman is painted very dark grey with a few red highlights.

Looking along a subway platform at Union Station, the far wall is an art installation, paintings on glass panels of people

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels,

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman's head in dark blues and blacks, heavy paint around the eyes

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a large face in red
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part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, three men sitting on a subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left are white words on blue background, on the right are two women in profile

“the way we settle into a seat
the way we stretch when the train is empty
and retract as it fills
the way we deflect a glance and simultaneously present
language of the body claiming, relinquishing and balancing
personal space in the interstitial realm
halfway between the worlds of here and there”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman in yellow on a green and blue background, a man is waiting for the subway and his reflection is in the photo

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, woman standining

The panels that can be seen on the ‘northbound to Downsview’ platform are seen as the reverse of those viewed from the other platform.

black and white painting on glass of a woman holding a mobile phone

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, upper part of a man sitting and reading, in profile, on the left is the reflection of a woman waiting for the subway
“slicing through the clay of the earth’s first skin
steel rails and electric lines
going from      going to
slicing through time and distance
darkness and light
station by station
releasing us into the city’s fabric
stop by stop
after a days labour
taking us home”

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, four women sitting on the subway

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a group of people standing. The word because is also visible in the picture

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, a woman sitting on the subway with a child on her lap. The child has a finger up its nose

part of an art installation, paintings on glass panels, on the left side is a man on blue and on the right is a woman's head drawn in blue

painting on glass panels, two women, on the left is standing, on the right is pointing to the left.

(added in October) I got off the subway at Union Station today.  There were three guys in front of me.  One of them stopped and pointed to the nearest painting which happened to be the one above.  As he pointed he said “See what I mean, if that doesn’t make you want to jump… “.

 

I’m happy to be corrected if you can prove me wrong.

 

surrounded by the colours of Kensington

Posted: April 19, 2015 in graffiti and street art, locations, people
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On a warm sunny Saturday in April.
People out and about in Kensington enjoying the day.

Two women are posing in front of a mural in a Kensington lane while a man takes a picture and another man watches.

In a dead end Kensington lane with a car parked at the end of the lane. There is street art on both sides of the alley. One man is leaning against the wall on one side, taking a photo of a man who is leaning against the other wall.

Reflections of people walking on the sidewalk, reflected in the side windows of a red vehicle.

A couple is posing for engagement photos. She is sitting on the hood of a red and white Mini Cooper. He is leaning against the front of the car. The car has big eyelashes over the front headlights. The car is parked on a street in Kensington.

A couple is sitting on the sidealk outside a row of boarded up houses. The houses are brick and are painted in bright yellow, orange and red.

A couple is sitting by a window inside a restaurant. The exterior wall of the building is covered in a mural of brightly coloured little monsters. A woman is standing outside by the window as she checks her phone.

sugar beach

Posted: November 25, 2014 in general Toronto, locations, waterfront
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Sugar Beach on a November afternoon.

A time when you have your choice of seats to sit and watch the clouds race past and the wind whip the branches of the trees around.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas, looking over the sand towards Lake Ontario

Late afternoon beside grey Lake Ontario.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas, there are no people here, and the lake is looking a little grey.

The first hint of sunset appears in the sky.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas is in the foreground and the city is behind it.

Darker skies over the city as the rain clouds pass by.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas is in the foreground. The Toronto skyline is in the background, including the CN tower.

With the city behind.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas, with a four storey building behind as well as some willow trees

The low sun of late afternoon is reflected off the umbrella stands as well as the glass of the Corus building behind.

Sugar beach with its white chairs and pink umbrellas,

blue October skies

Posted: November 2, 2014 in general Toronto
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Since most of the city woke up to snow flurries this morning, I thought I would take a quick look back over the past month.  October was a beautiful month with many clear sunny days.  The leaves on the trees turned wonderful colours this autumn and the colours lingered for a few weeks.

Blue skies, autumn colours

A man is suspended from the roof of a tall building by a rope. He has a bucket and he is washing windows. The CN Tower is close by and seems to loom in the background.

Washing windows in the shadow of the CN Tower.

Two tall condo buildings. Sun is reflecting off the balconies of the condo in background. In the foreground is a balcony with a large plant. Sun is shining directly on the plant so it looks like it is in a spotlight.

Afternoon on the balcony. Condos on Blue Jays Way.

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older row houses in the background along with a tree covered in yellow and gold leaves. A large tree that has already lost its leaves is in the foreground.

Clarence Square

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Tall light grey brick apartment building with cirved bluish balconies. On one wall is the large shadow of another building with balconies.

Shadows of building on building, Roehampton Ave.

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walls in the abstract

Posted: October 25, 2014 in abstract, general Toronto
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Just a collection of walls that caught my interest as I walked in the past few weeks.

 

reflections in the window of the OPG (Ontario Power Generation) building, a curved glass structure.

diamond blues

 

grey concrete wall

patches, cracks, and drips under a  bridge

 

close up of a maroon coloured drain pipe down the side of a house that is red and orange.

vibrant orange with drain pipe

 

Four storey brick building with large windowes with rounded arched shaped tops. Yellow brick details around the tops of the windows.

Pattern of arches at George and Adelaide

 

close up of a concrete wall that has black paint (or something like black paint) spilled on the lower part of it.

black and white under grey

 

Close up showing part of a wood pallet that is leaning against a grey brick wall.

wood on brick, browns and greys

 

downtown glass

Posted: August 30, 2014 in locations
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Reflections I noticed as I walked up Simcoe and across King  this afternoon. 

Reflections in the building across the street, some women are walking by with their bicycles, a street car is just coming into view.

I often see tourists stopped here to take photos. I decided that it was my turn today. The CN Tower is also reflected in this building, along with St. Andrews Church.

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More downtown reflections of tall buildings.

Curved window beside the entrance to St. Andrews subway station.

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Two small trees in the foreground. Some tall buildings reflected in the windows of another building are behind the trees.

Roy Thomson Hall just sneaks into the lower left corner of the picture.

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Reflections of streetlights in a window, lots of horizontal blue bars are in the windows too.

My selfie for the day!

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Bulwer Street

Posted: June 10, 2014 in graffiti and street art, locations
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Bulwer Street is a short street that runs parallel to, and one block north of, Queen Street West.  It is only one block long, running east from Spadina Ave to Soho St.  

graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., the angle of the photograph makes it look like there is a large chain link fence in front of the wall.

children behind the fence

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graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., children including a larger than life sized boy wearing an orange T-shirt

children playing in the parking lot

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graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., big white eyes on a brown face looking up towards the sky. A white Hyundai is parked beside it.

white eyes

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detail of graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., a large brown hand is holding miniature size city buildings in blues and purples

he’s got the whole city in his hands

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graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St.

rooftop reflections

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reflections of a mural in the windows and side panels of a black car

mirrored in the glass

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graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St.

facing the alley

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sticker of half of a man's face (cut vertically)

only half the man he used to be

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picture of people in blues and reds beside a nondescript grey door at the back of a small parking lot (or driveway)

the back door

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bright blue, pink and orange tag on lime green background

tag – suniti? BA Kings?

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parts of three tags on a wall

parts of three tags on a wall

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A concrete wall with tags on the lower part. There are hydro wires in front of the top part of the wall, and they are casting shadows on the wall

wired tags on concrete

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large paper stencil of the top part of a woman is still there although parts of it have worn away

worn away but clinging on

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Uber 500's little yellow bird shows up on this street too

Uber 500’s little yellow bird shows up on this street too

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little fish, big teeth

little fish, big teethfish

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graffiti on a brick wall on Bulwer St., with the CN tower behind in the distance

one of the many, many, views of the CN tower

*****

one December evening

Posted: December 17, 2013 in general Toronto
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One cold Saturday evening, during a snowstorm, in downtown Toronto

Snow, lots of blowing snow!

Ruts in the snow on King St. reflect the light from the street lights. Snow is blowing across the road. There is a red stop light in the distance, and you can see the headlights of the cars that are stopped for it.

Snow on the roads and snow blowing across the streets.

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Snow covered ground lights make round patches of light in the snow. Small white Christmas lights are wrapped around a small tree trunk. The wind is blowing snow across the lights.

A dance of snow and light choreographed by the wind.

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A shop window with 6 mannequins. They are all dressed in long dresses or black skirts except one of the mannequins who is wearing a red dress. They all have large red bows in their hair. The backdrop makes it look that they are standing in a snowy pine forest.

Ladies of the night – all dressed up but nowhere to go.

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Night time. Fresh snow on the ground with only one set of footsteps walking through it. There are a number of trees along the side of sidewalk and they cast shadows over the snow.

Shadows playing in the drifts of snow.

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Black & orange construction cones along side a plastic orange fence around a construction site at the side of the road. Traffic stopped at a stoplight in the distance.

It wouldn’t be a Toronto street unless there was construction on it somewhere, even on the snowiest nights.

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With the shorter days of December come the lights of Christmas to brighten the longer hours of darkness.

The photos below were all taken in St. James Park.

looking across a snowy St. James Park towards the cathedral whose steeple is partially obscured by trees. Late afternoon. Part of the Toronto skyline can be seen in the background.

St. James Cathedral through the snow as twilight falls.

Shining

Shining

Two tree trunks wrapped in strands of multi-coloured Christmas lights are in the foreground. In the background are bare tree branches against the sky. The sky is a grey colour because it is a cloudy winter night.

Spots of colour contrast with the plain grey of the bare tree branches against the grey late afternoon sky.

snow covered benches under trees whose trunks are wrapped in strands of Christmas lights.

Snow covered benches await a warmer day.

Six trees with their trunks wrapped in strands of Christmas lights. There is a fresh, deep layer of snow on the ground.

Colour, light, and shadow. St. James Park trees in the snow.

A snow covered path through a park. The tree trunks have been covered with Christmas lights. A couple of trees have blue lights, a couple of trees are covered with white lights, and some trees have multi-colored lights.

More lights…. a snow covered path through St. James park.

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