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1000 Poems Per Night: TRB Live, January
Happy New Year! 2017 begins with a packed list of Toronto readings and events. Rowers Reading Series gets things moving on January 10 with a night of poetry and prose by Joan Crate, Adebe DeRango-Adem, Jacob McArthur Mooney, and Hoa Nguyen (6:30pm, Supermarket, 268 Augusta Avenue). Circle January 11 on your calendar for back-to-back readings. At 6:30pm at…
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The Small, Strange Worlds of Karine Giboulo
The artist statement is a most dissatisfactory document and Karine Giboulo’s is no exception: “Karine Giboulo creates colourful miniature worlds in which depictions of reality and flights of fantasy mingle.” Granted, Montréal based Giboulo does create miniature worlds, but to simplify her work down to a mingling of reality and fantasy is one of those…
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Choosing genres, missing art, and Wes Anderson presents the Bible: Bookishness for May 13, 2013
What to expect when you’re expecting a book “I waited until my first book was published to learn the genre, and when Oprah announced “It’s literary fiction!” just seconds after my pub date, I was overcome with joy. When we found out that I’d written a second book, however, we decided to find out ourselves…
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Revisiting ab-ex: the return of modern artist Milly Ristvedt
Art lovers of Toronto, take heed. You have only a few days left in which to witness the comeback of a storied Canadian artist. Milly Ristvedt was, in the 1960s and ’70s, a practitioner of abstract expressionism, in the vein of Mark Rothko. And while her work can be seen at the Art Gallery of…
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Roger Ebert, book body parts, and art speak: Bookishness for Apr. 8, 2013
A speculatively ruptured transversal Your guide to International Art English. The Toronto Public Library and the Case of the Missing Money “In classic murder mysteries, the detective looks for motive, method and opportunity. Councillors have the opportunity and the method to cut back on the library but what could possibly be their motive?” Asking “Why does…
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Diplomacy in the doghouse: Dachshund UN
I am a fully grown adult. At 24 years of age, I read heavy books, pay taxes, drink whiskey and, when called upon, can grow a very serious beard. Even so, I have absolutely no immunity to wiener dogs. I find them highly adorable. In their presence, my insides go all fluttery. I make noises along…
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Musical hockey, the dark side of kitsch, and classic Canadian TV: Bookishness, Jan. 21, 2013
MOCCA is alright Starting Feb. 1, Toronto’s Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art will be showing “ARE YOU ALRIGHT? New Art From Britain.” The exhibition’s works portray “allusions tothe grotesquely beautiful and explor[e] the darker side of kitsch… reveal[ing] a trend of disillusionment with contemporary British society.” Find out what all that means with a perusal…
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The AGO’s “Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting”: Something for everyone
Let’s face the obvious first. Surrealism isn’t everyone’s bag, especially in its more nightmarish forms. And if that’s true of you, if the darker Dalis make you cringe and the chilling Ernsts give you the sweats, taking in the work of Frida Kahlo may not be the optimal way to spend an afternoon. Kahlo’s art,…
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Reading in 2013, pennies, and the physics of getting James’s peach airborne: Bookishness for Jan. 7
New Year’s Read-olutions Everyone around seems to be setting reading goals for 2013. I’m aiming for what now seems like a measly 100 books, held in comparison to Jeff Ryan’s 366 books in 2012. Alternatively, you might resolve to read less. The best Canadian designs ever From The Canadian Design Resource, a list of the top 100 Canadian…
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People We’ll Never Meet: A dance on the topic of strangers
Eiden: Eidos See: Know Hail, Mary, Jean-Luc Godard’s film about the immaculate conception was banned by the Vatican because it imagined what it might have been like to be Mary. I saw a woman lay her head over the streetcar tracks. We spy on strangers. Bodies leaping from…
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Not Nothing: A Review of Artist’s Statements
[British artist] Damien Hirst What do you mean, an artist’s statement?[Art writer] Sarah Borusso Just a statement of purpose or… it’s up to you really, we run them just to give a context to your work… It’s kind of up to you. DH OK, I can do one now. SB OK. It’s a kind of separate thing from the…
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Going Glocal – FOCUS ASIA at Art Toronto
Reviewed in this article: Beyond Geography, flagship FOCUS ASIA exhibition for Art Toronto It’s no coincidence that Art Toronto, Toronto’s biggest international art fair, chose “Focus ASIA” as it’s theme this year, inviting galleries from Asian countries including China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and the Philippines to show. The rise of the museum in China occupies…