Within the shadows of the path...

New Series

  Through chaos comes a 

  razor edge clarity.

Varley

This afternoon

So on this spring day in January I wandered into AGO, not to see anything in particular, but just to wander aimlessly. I found myself oddly enough amongst all things Canadian, blown away as usual by a piece by Paterson Ewen who inspired me to take up the router in my own work, I came across a piece of nostalgia. A rather large piece by Fred Varley, a member of our own Group of 7 titled Liberation. One might see it as a ghostly representation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I see it as a resurrection for all. My nostalgia comes from spending countless hours sitting in front of this painting when it was in it's own alcove back in the 1970's. It moved me then and it moved me today...

 http://www.naturesscene.com/artdetails.aspx?source=reg&page=1&artID=2184

Birdland 8

Birdland 8, Latex House Paint On Raw Canvas, 48" x 36", 2011

In the night
The hunt is on...

Christian McLeod

 Queen St. W. a sunny autumn afternoon. This is Toronto's art scene, or at least it use to be. Though I still want my thirst for art to be slaked. After much head scratching I turned a corner on a street I knew at least had a number of bars to choose from, so if nothing else another kind of thirst could be fulfilled. Ossington Ave., another street wanting to be a destination for the art starved.Walking aimlessly I came to a curious door propped open, but not completely. My curiosity mounting I dared to stick my head in only to have my jaw drop at the sight of a few large abstract canvases leaning against the wall, and a young man who welcomed me to enter. After introductions, his name is Christian Mcleod, we started chatting about his work. large and bold almost landscapes. One really caught my eye with reminiscence of my youth. Grasses peering through the first snow, upon first glance. Further I looked and further I remembered. The white isn't snow, but in my childhood eyes it was water, and the grasses the grasses peering through in the shallows by the cattails of my fishing with my Father days. Where the big one always evaded our alluring lures. Then there were others, abstract visions of lands I know in my minds eye.

Though besides his art making something else came to my memory. At an age when I saw nothing but a future of living in my studio making art and galleries banging at my door there was no "scene" in hogtown. I remember the Issacs gallery and a few others, all with established stables. There was no Now magazine or Slate art guide. The internet? Queen St. West was populated with hookers and seedy bars. Yorkville was reeling from the exodus of the hippies and didn't quite yet know what it wanted to be. So here is this young fellow working away at wonderful work, and I am sure, not having it all that easy, but yet there he is working away, and I wish him all the best.

http://www.christianmcleod.com/

Birdland 4

Direct flight
No boarding pass required

Condoronto

In the dieing days of summer I have found myself walking my old exhibiting haunts of Queen St. W. to find it's gone. What once was a thriving and fruitful scene is now all but abandoned. Even the existing galleries have nothing that is moving forward. Why? The scene is scattered. Why? Condoronto is settling in en mass. Divide and conquer. Thank you Ford bros. You got the the dough do as you will. For a culture to move forward like a military unit it requires unison. The present political cloud that hangs over us is dark and oppressive. We need cultural communities much like SOHO, DUMBO, or Chelsea in NYC. For one it offers an environment that is simply easier to navigate. Potential art buyers can easily walk from gallery to gallery and enjoy a good coffee in between. Now one has to drive from a small cluster  of galleries to another. Besides Queen west there use to be Yorkville,  again a corpse in the dust of Condoronto. You might argue that the distillery district has replaced the other previous communities. No!! It is a self contained community, yes but it is just one and a very high end one at that. Nothing wrong there, but other self contained communities are needed for the visual and new media arts to flourish and make us a world class city that recognizes the value that unified communities offer all of us. What to do? Good question. Rail against Condoronto? Good luck.