- Art Toronto 2009 Preview
I’ve attended the Toronto International Art Fair in some capacity or another ever since my return to Canada in 2007, though most frequently at the behest of MAP Magazine back in Scotland. And while I’m grateful that the magazine isn’t participating in this year’s fair, the affiliation still allowed me the dubious privilege of grabbing […]
- Notes from the Front: Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche is the sort of thing that sounds good as a concept, because it sounds batshit insane. And I rather wish it had been as mad as all that, but in the epic battle against my numbing exhaustion, it didn’t stand a chance. Might have helped if there had been more zombies.
Jillian McDonald’s Zombies […]
- Notes from the Front: AGO, upArt at the Gladstone
On account of all the bluster happening between the Toronto International Art Fair, Nuit Blanche, and who knows what else, this particular steeltown girl (and her little blog too) is reporting live from a Toronto hotel room, where the internet is dubiously sourced and the decor is non-offensively bland. Hurrah for art!
My primary purpose in […]
- Learning how to run (and never stop running) (TIAF 4/4)
Despite the many conditions that preclude me from actually purchasing art, I was sorely tempted by a small, modestly-priced drawing by Orlando Camacho from Miami’s Spinello Gallery, depicting a minute herd of dwarven men facing a comically plump green dragon, breathing out a flurry of the word ‘RUN’ in a threatening cloud above their heads. […]
- The madness of the market (TIAF 3/4)
‘So what’s going on here, my loves?’
Jerry Saltz cooed this to his rapt audience at the Sunday talk mentioned in yesterday’s post, and despite going on to assess our present art fair circumstances as ‘pretty effed up’ he received naught but sycophantic chuckles in return. But let’s face it, sychophantic chuckles are the […]
- Some would be inspired… (TIAF 2/4)
When facing down the offerings of over a hundred art galleries plus some dozen peripheral projects, questions of quality tend to fade into insignificance - the vast majority of work is certainly going to be technically skilled, but to stand out from this crowd, good just isn’t good enough.
Of course, it also helps to literally […]
- First Thoughts on the Toronto International Art Fair (1/4)
In between days spent attending the Toronto International Art Fair on behalf of Map Magazine, I’ve been spending the evenings unwinding with the most recent episodes of Doctor Who. In keeping with Russell T. Davies’ postmodern take on the original’s camp values by way of melodramatic angst, The Doctor relates how the ubiquitous evil […]
