The one in France, not the one in Ontario. Nor the one in jail.
Creating an interesting photograph out of a work of art is difficult. See how Naomi from Paris Metblogs does it. Awesome, no? I think the French would call it “oosoom.”
Since arvin kindly mentioned Toronto architecture and how it’s celebrated, I thought I should mention it’s that time of year again to vote for the Pug awards. The Pugs are The People’s Choice Awards for Architecture in the city of Toronto, formerly known as the Fugly’s and then the Pugly’s, they are there for the people to voice their concern about how ugly (or not) their city looks. Go ahead and vote now.
From the site,
Do you care what Toronto looks like. Do you like the way it’s being developed - from the new condominiums and institutional buildings to the parks, streets and public spaces? If you could change anything, what would you change? And don’t say nothing because there is an outlet for your accolades and a pulpit for your disdain. It’s called the Pug Awards - The People’s Choice Awards for Architecture - and it’s about recognizing the best & worst urban/architectural elements in Toronto. It’s open to the public, and it’s your chance to voice your opinion about your city.
We hereby invite you to take part in the first International Metroblogging Streetart Contest.
Love Street Art? Here’s your chance to promote it! We’ll be collecting the submissions (through the Flickr Group) until April 18. At that time we’ll vote the best street art in Toronto. Those voted best locally will go on to the International competition. Till from Metblogging Berlin explains the details:
Metroblogging means global, which implies that all submissions of participating cities will first run against each other “locally” and then the top compete on a global level to find out where’s the hottest spot for streetart in the world.
To participate, follow those steps:
1) We setup a flickr pool - metroblogging streetart
http://www.flickr.com/groups/metrobloggingstreetart/
Feel free to join.
Each one of your submission should make it in the pool. If you don’t have/like Flickr - feel free to email them in to notarvin+streetart@gmail.com - We’ll post them for you. In this case, let me know whom to give credit to (photographer and streetartist).
2) The contest runs for two weeks. Then a voting process will start to find a city’s Top 3 streetart pieces.
3) After the local heros are chosen, we run another global contest to crown king of all. Top of the world, Master of the Universe - you know the deal! The Top 3 from each city will enter this contest. Watch this blog for more information.
Artist Brian Kipping, who died recently had just come to my attention last week. I was planning on sharing some of his work but didn’t know that I would also be writing after his death. I don’t know too much about him except that he was born in Edmonton and painted scenes we should be fairly familiar with.
Click on his name to view his website and here for something from home.
photo by arvin
One aimless night, as I was walking along unfamiliar Dundas West, I was totally blown away. I had seen it before in pictures and from far distances but seeing it up close, the OCAD building (aka the Sharp Centre for Design) can take your breath away. It was also the first time I had seen it at night and the colours, though faded and subdued in the dark, still struck and contrasted with the empty night sky. The structure itself, of course, struck and contrasted with the other buildings around it. After two years, I wonder how people feel about it.
As I walked underneath it, awestruck by its sheer massiveness, all I could think about was “I wish I had my camera” as it was just… awesome.
Along with the new Canadian Opera Company building and the transformation of the AGO and of the ROM, there is definitely an ardent revitalized resurgence of modern architectural art in the our city.
A cavalcade of new architecture is reinvigorating the city.
One question: Do you like any of it?
It was great. You should see it.
(more…)
If you really love your buttons then head down to the Lennox Contemporary Gallery for a free, one night only, “one inch button” display. This even takes place on Saturday July 22, at 8pm.
“50 buttons selected from countless public submissions will be on display…buttons will also be available for purchase in random packages of five.”
There you can find “button-pushers” (I guess it’s ok if everyone’s doing it) a DJ, and a collection of probable punks, eccentrics and I suppose the art elite?
I tried to take a good pic of one of mine but at times my phone doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.
New Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario running from July 8, 2006 to October 22, 2006. Guest-curated by David Cronenberg.
You should go.
And since I really, really want you to go, I’ll share this with you. Now you have no reason not to go, cheapskate.
Ooo! I just noticed this warning:
Adult Content: Andy Warhol / Supernova: Stars, Deaths and Disasters, 1962-1964 contains graphic and explicit depictions of violence and sexuality.
Now you really have to go.
Today we visited Roger Wood in his studio. Roger is a true chrono-mechanical genius. He builds wonderful surreal clocks and bizarre clock-like installations. Roger is a brilliant assemblage sculptor, turning stuff he finds at fleamarkets or on the street into opulent, whimsical, sometimes even decadent time keepers.
Roger’s place is stuffed with his gorgeous artworks and tons of stuff that he’ll turn into new pieces in the future.
So, if you’re looking for a really unique steampunkish clock, don’t hesitate to contact Roger!
Link to Klockwerks, Roger’s homepage.
Toronto Science Center features a big kinetic sculpture by George Rhoads. If you haven’t been there so far you should definitely go and have a look. My look was rather long. I kept staring at the installation for almost an hour…
