Tag Archives: portraits

ART TORONTO OPENS OCT 24-26 SHOWCASING CDN & INT’L ARTISTS + GALLERIES

FLY enjoyed a “flying visit” to this year’s ART TORONTO taking place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (North bldg) this weekend. Many of the booths were still being set up (today was “media day”), but FLY got a chance to chat with a few gallery owners as well as the reps from Art Canada Institute’s “Canadian Art Inspiration Student Challenge” (see video below). You can get all the details at: www.arttoronto.ca

The first booth visited was the exciting Art Canada Institute which was focused on their unique program to support young artists. Visit www.aci-iac.ca for details…but here’s Victoria Nolte to tell you all about it…

FLY discovered the “speakeasy” booth…just look for the blue velvet curtains and Matador Club sign. Lots of groovy paintings and photos FLY had the pleasure of chatting with gallerist Michael Thomas Vuksta of Oeno Gallery (below) located a couple of hours east of Toronto in Pr. Edward Country. Oeno has 4 booths showcasing Canada’s legendary Group of Seven and Maudie Lewis as well as contemporary artists. The gallery itself has a spectacular sculpture garden, too – check out their website: www.oenogallery.com Some very cool offerings in the Cry Baby Gallery booth. The gallery is located on Dundas West in Toronto  www.crybabygallery.ca The busy gallerist from Pangee in Montreal was busy setting up her booth – her walls had only just been set-up & painted for installations. Here she is having a chat with a stunning soft sculpture  www.pangeepangee.com So much to see and experience…here are some booths that caught FLY’s eye…

And lovely to meet the representatives from The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (below), located down at Harbour Front. They have new exhibitions launching in early November so visit their website for details: www.thepowerplant.org 

One really striking booth located opposite the performance stage and VIP lounge is Central Art Garage from Ottawa, showcasing large canvases and artworks with indigenous subjects – below. www.centralartgarage.com FLY’s favourite, though, has to be this painting featuring…yes, a fly! A relative perhaps? Haa haa FLY hopes you will visit the Metro Toronto Convention Centre this weekend to support local and int’l artists and galleries. Lots of provocative, inspiring, beautiful paintings and sculptures to see as well as talks and presentations to enjoy. Visit Art Toronto‘s website for hours and ticket prices: www.arttoronto.ca 

IN AUSTRALIA, VISIT THE ASTOUNDING EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY INDIGENOUS ARTIST VINCENT NAMATJIRA, GREAT GRANDSON OF LEGENDARY PAINTER ALBERT NAMATJIRA.

The National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, ACT) is presenting the first survey exhibition of acclaimed Western Aranda artist Vincent Namatjira, Vincent Namatjira: Australia in colour, which charts the artist’s career, revealing the power of his painting and the potency of his words.

Renowned for producing paintings laden with dry wit, Namatjira has established himself in the past decade as a celebrated portraitist and a satirical chronicler of Australian identity. His paintings offer a wry look at the politics of history, power and leadership from a contemporary Aboriginal perspective.Showcasing Namatjira’s burgeoning artistic practice, this major exhibition brings together paintings, works on paper and moving image from public and private collections nationwide. The exhibition will also feature a selection of watercolours from the national collection by the artist’s great-grandfather and critically acclaimed Western Arranda artist, Albert Namatjira.

Read all about the show and the artist here:  https://nga.gov.au/stories-ideas/welcome-to-the-past-present-and-future/

As a little girl, FLY loved Vincent’s great grandfather Albert’s iconic Australian paintings of desert landscapes featuring stunning gumtrees (below)…. …..and now, Vincent is winning major national art prizes (The Archibald) and securing his own place in Australian art history. He was the winner of the 2019 Ramsay Art Prize, the first Indigenous artist to win the Archibald Prize in 2020, and in the same year was recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in honour of his contribution to Indigenous visual arts.His work reflects a definite political point of view and features many pop-culture personalities and provocative images. If you’re Down Under in the next few months, FLY recommends you drop in to the National Gallery of Australia and visit Vincent’s paintings to learn more about the cultural issues still boiling under in Australia, and enjoy his colourful, brilliant images.

Vincent Namatjira
Australia in colour – 2 Mar – 21 Jul 2024

ROSEDALE ART FAIR THIS WEEKEND @ RAMSDEN PARK, TORONTO

Thank goodness the weather cooperated today with more sunshine than raindrops, and FLY was able to buzz around the artists’ tents of this year’s ROSEDALE ART FAIR – the first time for nearly 3 years, thanks to Covid. Usually held further up Toronto’s Yonge Street at Summerhill, the park setting was lovely with lots of green grass and leaves.
FLY’s first port of call was the charming display by Michelle Hutchinson – her abstract florals were so colourful you’d expect to see bees hoping from flower to flower!  www.MichelleHutchinsonArt.com…and next door to Michelle was Gail Williams whose paintings were fun and filled with wonder. www.gailwilliamsartist.com  FLY particularly like one titled “Prince” so here’s a closer look… Sculptor Chaka Chikodzi always has a busy tent…FLY had to do some pretty fancy flying between his potential buyers just to get a couple of great close-ups!  www.chakachikodzi.com  Mark J. Gleberzon has been a friend of FLY’s for many years, and his work is definitely a favourite of the winged-one! Mark recently had great success exhibiting in Chicago, selling multiple paintings and even before today’s Fair opened, he had already sold 2 of his Barbie & Ken pop portraits. Bravo, MJG!  www.markgleberzon.com Jibola Fagbamiye was too busy selling his fabulous portraits to stop and chat with FLY – bravo Jibola- but FLY grabbed a few shots of his booth in action!  www.jibolastudios.comThe weather started to cloud over so to avoid getting wings wet, FLY flew over to another aisle sheltered under the trees and immediately stopped when spying FLY’s favourite colour…cobalt blue…at Andrew Stelmack‘s booth. www.astelmack.com  Next door was another FLY favourite, Michael Toole, who greeted FLY with another gorgeous blue graphic artwork! www.michaeltooleart.comMeet the delightful Ghazaleh Naderian who showed FLY around her booth, filled with beautiful floral mini-paintings. Perfect for that little space you need to brighten up.  www.ghazal-arts.com
 FLY’s bestie, Erena, ran into one of her favourite artists, Olaf Schneider – she has a number of his paintings herself. Those parrots were magnificent but scared FLY somewhat as they like eating little insects….oh dear!  www.olaf.ca  
You still have another opportunity to visit the Rosedale Art Fair tomorrow, Sunday June 12 so please go visit and say hi to all the artist – they’re so pleased to get back to “normal” and show their work to art lovers and (hopefully) buyers.