written by Alice McClintock Tucked away on the first floor of the Toronto Reference Library is a unique space, where the TRL showcases portions of Toronto’s cultural history. On now is the exhibition Vice & Virtue: Booze, Broads, and Sunday Laws, which traces the complicated history and the moral conflict of the city known as “Toronto the Good”. What visitors will appreciate is an exceptional exhibition that openly discusses a city’s moral code, through a study of race, class, and gender. Here there are tangible histories, some extending back to the nineteenth century, others much more recent to the collective Torontonian memory. The TRL handles such scope deftly, with an exhibition that engages with a local audience about their city’s past, while also challenging commonly held attitudes and assumptions about Toronto. At the start of the exhibition there is a touchscreen with a map of Toronto’s breweries and distilleries, giving visitors a sense of place. The exhibition’s primary focus is on temperance (a social movement popular in the late nineteenth century to stop the consumption and production of alcohol), and features temperance propaganda from the period, denouncing the evils of alcohol in the simplest terms, from a list of acceptable stimulants to effects of alcohol on various professions. There are also some labels for “malt” that are shown, as brewers circumvented prohibition laws in order to produce beer. Of particular interest are excerpts from brewer William Helliwell’s diaries (the brewery infrastructure can still be seen at Todmorden Mills), and a map of Enoch Turner’s original brewery property (another brewer who founded Toronto’s first free school in 1848). Also covered is the sensationalism of tabloids and sex scandals, most notably the controversy that surrounded Toronto when burlesque shows were opened on Sundays. There are examples of the tabloid magazine Flash, with its bold headlines of: “Lust-Mad Male Seduces Sitter in Wife’s Home”, “Filthy Movies Flood Canada”, and others. It’s interesting to see just how far we haven’t come, as the headlines in the National Enquirer show that we still thrive on scandal, except now in the mainstream. The exhibition takes a look at the legality of homosexuality throughout Toronto’s history, with added content surrounding Toronto’s first queer bar, and the early advocacy groups for LGBTQ rights in the city. Similarly, an investigation of the issues surrounding women’s access to contraception, which was not made legal until 1969, and how certain medical groups would use euphemisms (such as “feminine hygiene”) to be able to supply birth control to those who wanted it. Both issues are especially pertinent to consider in today’s political climate. Vice & Virtue brings together many interesting pieces of ephemera, and showcases the visual culture of Toronto during this particular time period. You can also link to an app called Aurasma that adds extra content to the exhibition by creating “auras” around certain objects. While the technology was at times spotty, the added content that Evan and I could access was informative and entertaining, mostly consisting of videos relating to certain artifacts or points in history. The TRL has done a wonderful job of representing some of Toronto’s darker cultural history. It is both entertaining and eye-opening. The exhibition is located in the TD Gallery on the first floor of the TRL, and is running until April 30. There are weekly tours at 2pm every Tuesday, and there is a host of talks and film screenings that accompany the exhibition. More information can be found here: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/programs-and-classes/exhibits/vice-and-virtue.jsp. All photography courtesy Alice McClintock. All images courtesy of the TRL.
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Written by Evan McMurtry From now until March 4th the Toronto branch of the Japan Foundation and the Stuart Jackson Gallery are hosting an unassuming, yet thought-provoking, aesthetically appealing, and well-choreographed exhibition called Legendary Loyalty: The 47 Ronin in Japanese Prints. Before we begin, I would like to thank Toshi Aoyagi, Program Officer at the Japan Foundation for guiding us on a thoroughly enlightening and entertaining tour of the exhibition. The Japan Foundation provides grants to artists, as well as language training and libraries at various locations across the globe. This exhibition features depictions of the forty-seven Ronin, an early eighteenth-century group of leaderless samurai who conducted a vendetta on behalf of their master Asano Naganori after an incident in which he was ordered to commit seppuku, a form of ritual suicide. In the process it highlights Japanese cultural politics since that time, not to mention Japanese artistic virtuosity. From the point of view of a museum professional, moreover, it could be said that whenever another culture portrays itself, rather than through the Western gaze as the Other, that can be vastly more nuanced and rewarding. There is much we can learn about Japanese culture from this exhibition, even though any code of honour portrayed here is dead in Japanese culture. As Aoyagi pointed out during our interview, Oboshi - leader of the faction in the incident - is held up in Japanese culture as exemplary: “If there’s one thing the Japanese are good at, it is they’re good in a group.” Aoyagi added that Oboshi is the ideal Japanese leader, having a physical presence, being not too skinny, as well as being patient with good planning skills and foresight. “Here comes the company boss,” Aoyagi quipped. The exhibition makes clear the enduring popularity of traditional stories in Japan. For instance, a cabinet showed eleven ukiyo-e prints made nearly fifty years later after censorship on the subject matter had ceased, and yet another showed mid-nineteenth century prints based on them. Another wall was lined with posters of a recent Japanese theatrical production of the events, which took three months to present since it consists of eleven shortened plays. Overall, it is the sheer entertainment value of the stories, which he likened to a Japanese Game of Thrones. As Aoyagi remarked later during our tour, “fiction grows in the imaginary world.” Ō Kinai and Wakajima Yasuemon (Hazama Kihei Mitsunobu and Okajima Yasoemon Tsuneki) Artist: KUNISADA (1786-1865) Signed: Ouju Kunisada ga (drawn by special order by Kunisada) Series: Kanadehon Chūshingura Youchi Ninzū no Uchi (Participants in the Night Attack in The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) c late 1820s-30 "I also like the aspect from design, the painters are making so many different variations from a single story line. This theme-and-variation structure is one of the special characters of Japanese creativity," stated Aoyogi in an online email exchange. Finally, another reason why we recommend Legendary Loyalty is for the use of technology. Unlike some iPad installations in which visitors are expected to click through endless screens, the curator at Legendary Loyalty thoughtfully installed them to give access to material not on display. For instance, one book that featured the semi-fictional life stories of the characters. Overall, the exhibition offers visitors a feast for the eyes that will be memorable. The exhibition is on view at the Japan Foundation, 2 Bloor Street East, Suite 300 until March 4, 2017. Click here for more information and exhibition times. All images courtesy of Japan Foundation. Written by Alice McClintock Printmaking has been one of my passions for a long time, ever since I started with a volunteer job at Lang Pioneer Village as their resident historic printer. While completing my Masters Degree in Museum Studies, I worked as a collections management intern over the summer of 2013 at Open Studio: Contemporary Printmaking Centre. For readers who aren’t familiar with this institution, Open Studio represents around 150 Canadian and international artists, many of whom are members who regularly make use of their studio. Many of their works are regularly exhibited in their gallery space. Open Studio is the place to find cutting-edge contemporary art, and their roster of exhibitions never fails to delight. Open Studio has three separate gallery spaces, and is therefore able to put on three separate shows. Guest artist and St. Catharines native Carolyn Wren’s impressive installation Dwell is featured in Open Studio’s main gallery. The installation consists of a large linen tablecloth with a linocut print, draped over a wooden table and sidelined by two wooden, stiff-backed chairs. Depicting both a map and landscape of Niagara Falls and the area surrounding it, Wren explores the subject of place as both private and public. Installations are some of my own personal favourite artworks, as viewers can move around the installation and experience it from different angles. The installation feels at once both stark and familiar, the domestic scene is inviting, but the lack of colour makes it visually arresting. On display in the Print Sales Gallery is the exhibition Design in Printmaking, where several works by Canadian artists are showcased for their use of elements of design, including line, colour, and form. I was drawn to Open Studio member Laurynas Navidauskas’ playful reimagining of familiar objects, and, almost for the "wow" factor alone, fascinated by a series of red/blue 3-D images by artist project Yorodeo (a collaborative effort between artists Paul Hammond and Seth Smith). LEFT TO RIGHT: Yorodeo (Paul Hammond and Seth Smith), Item #357, 2016, 3-D anaglyphic screenprint on paper, ed. 4/10, paper size: 22” x 22”, $300 Yorodeo (Paul Hammond and Seth Smith), Item #053, 2016, 3-D anaglyphic screenprint on paper, ed. 2/10, paper size: 22” x 22”, $300 Yorodeo (Paul Hammond and Seth Smith), Item #105, 2016, 3-D anaglyphic screenprint on paper, ed. 1/10, paper size: 22” x 22”, $300 Japanese artist Shogo Okada distills images from popular culture into their constituent parts and forms; his work is as energetic as it is minimal. Accomplished Master Printer Lorna Livey’s monotypes, based on photographs taken from a flight from Indonesia, are intense with marked colour contrast, demanding the viewer’s attention. Top Row Left to Right Shogo Okada Made of Plastic #1, 2016, screenprint on paper, AP [Artist Proof], 26.5” x 21.5”, $350. Shogo Okada, Made of Plastic #2, 2016, screenprint on paper, ed. 3/5, 26.5” x 21.5”, $250. Bottom Row Left to Right Shogo Okada, Made of Plastic #3, 2016, screenprint on paper, ed. 3/5, 18.25” x 21.5”, $250. Shogo Okada, Made of Plastic #4, 2016, screenprint on paper, ed. 3/5, 18.25” x 21.5”, $250. LEFT: Yorodeo (Paul Hammond and Seth Smith), Item #105, 2016, 3-D anaglyphic screenprint on paper, ed. 1/10, paper size: 22” x 22”, $300 CENTRE: Lorna Livey, Orange Crush, 2016, monotype on paper, ed. 1/1, paper size: 43”x 55”, $2,500 RIGHT: Laurynaus Navidauskas, Structure 3, 2015, screenprint, ed. 6/10, paper size: 15”x15”, 120, Laurynaus Navidauskas, Structure 4, 2015, screenprint, ed. 3/10, paper size: 15”x15”, 120 Located at the corner of Spadina at the artist complex 401 Richmond, Open Studio brings greater knowledge and appreciation of a rich and multifaceted artistic practice. Their work is pivotal to the support of Canadian artists, and I am always amazed by the variety and depth of the art that they showcase.
This trio of exhibitions runs until February 11, with gallery hours being from Tuesday to Saturday, 12-5pm. Open Studio rotates their exhibitions regularly, so please check back here for more reviews and updates. Open Studio offers a host of printmaking classes, from etching to lithography to letterpress to screen-printing. Their represented artists' works are also available for purchase. More information on Open Studio can be found on their website: http://openstudio.ca/. Biographical information on individual artists sourced from openstudio.ca All photographs courtesy of Laura Bydlowska |
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