Art Spin Season Finale

This was the scene last night as the summer season’s final Art Spin got underway in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park. More than 300 cyclists — a 50 per cent increase over the previous record attendance — saddled up to tour West Queen West galleries and take part in an impromptu tribute to the late Jack Layton, a cycling advocate and long-time City Councillor before he went on to pursue federal politics.

Clay & Paper Theatre put on a bicycle-themed puppet show before the massive group set off on their bikes. READ MORE

Another Thrilling, Sleepless Night

Through the Gorilla Glass, 2011, by Spencer Rand, Jonathan Wong, Andrea Ling and Jonah Humphrey; GUILD Kinetic Sculpture and Light Installation

The line-up has been announced for Toronto’s sixth annual Nuit Blanche and there’s lots to stay up late for. As in past years, the downtown core has been divvied into three curated zones with dozens of additional independent artist projects. Curators Candice Hopkins (Zone A, Restaging the Encounter), Shirley Madill (Zone B, The Future of the Present) and Nicholas Brown (Zone C, You Had To Go Looking For It) have called upon local and international artists to flesh out their themes. This year’s program features a series of Nuit Talks during the week leading up to the big event; on the afternoon of October 1, the three curators provide a sneak peak of the night ahead from 3:30 – 5:30 pm in the City Hall Rotunda.

Visit the Nuit Blanche website to peruse the projects and plan your evening; the event kicks off at 7 pm October 1 and runs until 7 am the next morning.

Ascension, 2011 by Isabelle Hayeur (Video Installation)

Art Opening: Views Along the Don

Pottery Road may be closed for the summer but that didn’t stop a good sized crowd from finding their way to the Papermill Gallery at Todmorden Mills yesterday for the opening of Views Along the Don, a show of work by members of the Don Valley Art Club augmented by works from the City of Toronto’s permanent art collection. Ward 29 Councillor Mary Fragedakis, far left, was on hand to make a few remarks alongside DVAC President Frances Craig, centre, and Karen Black, Manager of Toronto Museum Services. The show features excellent work in a wide range of styles and mediums. Views Along the Don runs until September 4; access Todmorden Mills from Bayview Avenue, the Pottery Road entrance is open to local traffic, don’t worry about the construction crews.

Monumental Addition to Liberty Village

Chilean sculptor Francisco Gazitua, above left,  joined City Councillor Mike Layton in Liberty Village yesterday afternoon for the official unveiling of Perpetual Motion, a monumental steel sculpture that celebrates the area’s industrial heritage.

The sculpture is a gift from developer CanAlfa Liberty Village Homes and is part of the City’s Percent for Public Art program. “Parks and monuments like this are what help transform a development into a neighbourhood,” said the Councillor. Gazitua, a master sculptor and member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Arts, said he was delighted to see one of his pieces “find a home in Toronto.”

General Idea’s Really BIG Show

The Art Gallery of Ontario kicks off its General Idea retrospective, Haute Culture, on Friday with a free-for-all party from 6 – 9 pm. The really BIG show sprawls over two floors and 20,000 square feet of gallery space and features more than 300 works from the three-man collective’s extensive catalogue. This is the first comprehensive retrospective devoted to the group, a collaboration between artists AA Bronson (above right), Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal that began in Toronto in 1969.

Bronson, the only surviving member of the group, seemed genuinely buoyed by the attention showered upon him at yesterday’s press preview. The public acclaim stands in marked contrast to the commercial sphere; Bronson is unrepresented in North America although his work continues to be celebrated and collected privately in Europe (a survey of his solo career opens at Berlin’s Esther Schipper Gallery in October). READ MORE