Posts Tagged ‘standing’

TTC streetcars on Dundas at Yonge street

two men talking, one holding a large white banner with blue chinese writing on it.  Some English words, Heaven will soon eliminate the CCP, secret china .com and epoch times,

small group watching a street performer at yonge and dundas, one black man is holding a guitar, a woman with a phone, another man putting a coin into a can

four men standing on the sidewalk watching a street performer

sign on Comics Cafe, store now closed, with C in Cafe missing, a picture of superman

a woman in a red jacket stands in the doorway of a double decker tour bus as a man walks past

woman in short shorts and fuzzy brown slippers waits for a bus

man yelling in Japanese, wearing black outfit and a head band with large red dot on it, beside sign that says

people looking at comic books tht are lined up on a cloth on the sidewalk, for sale

man standing on sidewalk with dog on a leash, looking at his phone

a garbageman in orange t shirt and large black bag walks past intersection of Yonge and Dundas, cyclist waiting for the traffic light to change

two young women smiling as they watch street performer

a woman wearing a blue dress and a hat walks past a store window with many reflections

two men talking together, one has a long white beard and white hair

an older black man is sticking his hand in a fountain at Yonge and Dundas

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
blog_union_art_thinking

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.

 

Lineal Order

Part of an art installation by George Boileau, 1990,
on Simcoe St., between King and Wellington.
A bronze statue of a bare footed man wearing an overcoat.
Behind him on the wall is ‘his shadow’.

Close up of a bronze sculpture of a man.  In this picture you can only see his head and shoulders.  Behind him on a wall is a black silhouette that looks like his shadow.  A large white planter is also in the picture although there is nothing growing in it.

A bronze sculpture of a man in bare feet.   He is wearing an overcoat.  He is standing with his arms passively at his side.   Behind him on a wall is a black silhouette that looks like his shadow.  A large white planter is also in the picture although there is nothing growing in it.

Not seen in this photo is another figurative sculpture.  A small boy stands on the other side of the stairs.  He too is bare foot and wearing a coat.  He is looking toward the shadow on the wall.