Robert Smithson's Corner Piece

Robert Smithson of Spiral Jetty fame. His work at the AGO is called Gravel Mirror Corner Piece. In the french philosophy book "The Poetics of Space", the home is considered our corner of the universe and archetypal protective space.

XSPACE IN JANUARY: INNER LANDSCAPES

Joshua Barndt’s Limbo at XPACE on Ossington has a just a little of Altmejd’s The Index at the AGO. In so far as the work’s creation of a place as an expression of human experience and inner myth.

The low ceiling’d basement space – a cellar – is mostly covered by mounds of tires, plywood structures, earth, growing grass and full garbage bags. A takeaway about Barndt’s installation reads “...details hold poetic potential. ‘We collect our garbage in plastic bags to be forgotten’. Though forgotten, garbage does not disappear. Instead it is stored in the metaphorical basement of our consciousness...”

Its worth a visit just to see the large scale knitted characters in the ground floor show Static and Loss (shown below) because, well, they're wierd-cool.

Jan 8th to Feb 6th, 2010, 58 Ossington Ave Toronto www.xpace.info

November at Ossington & Queen

War at a Distance, at Gallery TPW. A group exhibition of diverse works by both Canadian and international artists and journalists. Francesco Simeti Wallpaper installation. Richard Johnson Postings from Afghanistan drawings, in a PowerPoint slide show, still shown here. 56 Ossington Avenue

Dark Lady Dark Fight at Katharine Mulherin Art Projects, 1080 Queen St W. Dark (!); halloween creepesque; fun too. B&W ink drawings. Artists is past participant of Sketch.

TO East West Text Work

Lauri Lynnxe Murphy's unique works are “designed to interact with one another as a series of thoughts, or ideas, that when viewed together create a greater meaning. Each painting is like a phrase, word, or sentence, or perhaps even a rebus, whose subtext expands beyond its obvious parts”. Also John Will with a humorous, astute, (foreboding of more trouble to come?) piece shown here. Look for upcoming feature in Canadian Art Top 10 Canadian artists. Seen at Text-based, a group show at @ Brayham Gallery on Queen East until Nov 1st
brayhamcontemporaryart.blogspot.com

At Birch Libralato until Oct 10th, Andy Patton. “Andy Patton's new paintings are deeply influenced by his immersion in the study of Song period calligraphy in classical China. Like those works, they are both paintings and poems; they weld vision and language together.” Shown here, Fallen Blossoms. The work reads in vertical rows running top to bottom; big pieces.

Mischievous Bunnies & Cast Art

Robert Farmer at Rouge Concept gallery. Lucky Charms - mythic travel and evident "tension between dream and nightmare", shown here. http://www.robertfarmerworld.com/

Philip Read reimagines the material world in Cast Porcelain Coke Bottles. Classic (once disposable) form turned art.

Wendy Walgate's enviro/whimsy Five Litres - Red, Yellow and Blue 2008, earthenware, slipcast, glazed and installed in glass laboratory beaker ('Yellow' shown here).

rouge concept

732 Queen Street East

http://www.rougeconcept.ca/

At Trias Gallery

A friend recently asked "I have a $500 budget for my husband's birthday." Here are 4 original paintings I showed her from Trias Gallery, just to start; the options are vast.

Above are from Christopher Griffin's Bear and Bull (allusion to financial markets) series.

One of Griffin's figurative paintings:

And a Ruth Dwyer abstract, Surf Hitting the Shore...

Cosmic Ferocity

Now at Show and Tell Gallery to Oct 4th, BRIAN DONNELLY's Blasphemies, Monstrosities and other Perversions. CONJOINT FEROCITY AGAINST COMMON ENEMIES shown here (& speaks to me in particular en ce moment). Donnelly's work here "... is a view past the traditional world of figurative painting, distorting common perspectives, perverting it with his own brand of zoological influence." A good date show? Which could follow with one of those blood orange margarita's around the corner @ Reposado.

www.showandtellgallery.com

1161 Dundas St. West

Also on Dundas West, Kristan Horton's Orbit at Jessica Bradley Art + Projects

A "series of photographic works.... Digitally repositioned as spatial dispersions on a single plane and derived from the artist's initial photographic records of his movements around his subject matter, these images are quasi-abstractions that recall Futurist and Cubist paintings."

Zen, shown here.

www.jessicabradleyartprojects.com

1450 Dundas Street West