TORONTO curator Phil Anderson sent out a call for COVID-19 portraits, and artists sent in their works from around the world. COVID-19 portraits are unlike any others and will be displayed until June 27th. There were so many submissions they became overwhelming. A few examples below. To see many more go to http://www.g1313.org
<“I AM BORED”, by Steve Stober, Toronto photographer>
<‘ISOLATION IN SILENCE’ by Jacques Desruisseaux, Lennoxville, Quebec>
<‘NURSE’, by artist and nurse Christina Damianos>
<‘GAY COUPLE’, by John Hryniuk – “Showing how the pandemic has no prejudice and affects us all – cultures, races, genders, sexual identities, classes, etc.”>
<‘FREEKY’, mixed media, by Polar Canpolat, Turkey>
<‘SELF PORTRAIT IN ISOLATION’, by Sarah Leonard>
GALLERY 13/13 can be found at 1313 Queen Street West, Toronto
Category Archives: Art & Design
The art and design scene in Toronto and elsewhere
THEY’RE BEAUTS ALRIGHT – BUT DUE TO COVID-19 TTC SERVICES HAVE BEEN REDUCED
CANADIANS TELL AMERICANS HOW TO HAVE SEX IN A CANOE – NEW YORK TIMES
“All the news that’s fit to print” covers a lot of territory in the New York Times. Some tips on making love in a canoe made it into their Magazine on July 29th, 2018.
JAMES RAFFIN, former executive director of the Canadian Canoe Museum – http://www.canoemuseum.ca – came up with directions in point form . . .
“– to avoid capsizing, bodies should stay low in the hull
– centre of gravity is most important
– stow your paddles, handle ends down, behind the stern seat
– take out the removable centre thwart, if there is one, in the event of a flip
– let your hips roll with the canoe
– keep some body parts visible above the gunwale
– a canoe with nobody in it raises alarm
– only remove your life jacket if you’re a capable swimmer
– black flies and mosquitos are most active around twilight”
The Museum was The Peterborough Examiner’s newsmaker of the year for 2017 after successfully convincing the federal, provincial and city governments to donate millions to help erect a new $65-million building.
The new museum is expected to open in 2021. GORDON LIGHTFOOT, a Canadian “icon”, donated a few canoes – including the yellow one that inspired his song ‘Canary Yellow Canoe’. There are 600 canoes in the collection – 100 on display at a time.
Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau (Justin’s father) loved canoeing – especially in the Far North.
THE DETAILS – Article by MALIA WOLLAN, New York Times Magazine; photos by CLIFFORD SKARSTED, Peterborough Examiner; The Canadian Canoe Museum, 910 Monaghan Road, PETERBOROUGH, 85 miles (135 kilometres) from TORONTO.
SOME RAZAMATAZ ON QUEEN STREET WEST AND SHERBOURNE STREET
SOUP’S ON AT THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO – BUT YOU WON’T SEE IT UNTIL AT LEAST LATE SUMMER
The Gallery is in lockdown, like so many other institutions, and will probably stay that way until at least the end of July. Philanthropists Jim and Margaret Fleck bought ANDY WARHOL’s ‘Campbell’s Soup I’ series in the 1970‘s from The Factory, America’s epicentre of Pop Art. Understandably the work opened up a huge debate on what can be classified as art.
AGO Director and CEO, STEPHAN JOST, says this is the only complete series of Andy Warhol’s soup cans to be found in a public institution. 
Each piece of the 32 canvases is different, and Warhol’s errors make them so close to art that they become art.
TORONTO PHOTOGRAPHERS BILL & JOSEPH JAMES TRANSPORT THEIR EQUIPMENT BY MOTORBIKE, 1912
This wonderful tinted photo of Bill and Joseph James is part of the City of TORONTO Archives Photography Collection. Much of the brothers’ vintage work can be found in the Archives.
AN ESPLANADE MURAL – DOWNTOWN EAST SIDE (PHOTOGRAPHED A WHILE AGO)
THE ED MIRVISH THEATRE HAS CHERUBS IN IT – THEY’RE WAY UP HIGH
TORONTO’S WARTIME HOUSES HAVE BECOME UNAFFORDABLE IN TODAY’S REAL ESTATE MARKET
<NORTH YORK wartime housing, 1967>. Between 1941 and 1947 a crown corporation called Wartime Housing Limited built thousands of houses across Canada for war workers, veterans and their families. These Wartime Houses became some of Canada’s first suburban communities.
Wartime Houses are iconic architectural forms — a rectangle with a triangle on top. They were part of a government initiative to provide affordable rental homes to working class people.
<PHOTO ABOVE – NOW magazine>. There are three Wartime Housing sites in TORONTO. The houses are now privately owned, and many have been gentrified through additions and demolitions.
<PHOTO – National Film Board>. Artist MEAGHAN HYCKIE – “It does feel strange not to be able to afford a house in the East York neighbourhood of small, Second World War-era homes I grew up in. Does private home ownership and development result in a more livable city? Is a bigger house a better house? And what part should government play in suburban planning and building conservation?”
<PHOTO – Wartime Housing in Windsor, Ontario>
‘BIKE IN BLACK AND WHITE’ – BY STEVEN EVANS, TORONTO PHOTOGRAPHER
Steven Evans website – www.stevenevansphotography.com
