June 16, 2008
Show and Tell, Now Graduating from Kindergarten
If you own an art gallery in Toronto, you should be sitting up and taking notes from our Facebook event calendar. These days, if you don't have
a) a brand new website,
b) a party to celebrate the launch of your new website, and
c) a beer sponsor,
you're just playing with crayons in the city's art scene.
Simon Cole, however, has those ABCs down pat: the brand new gallery-owner made a full-colour splash with a Grolsch-soaked launch at the Embassy Bar last Thursday. To celebrate the launch of his website, ShowandTellGallery.com, the Kensington art marketeer is putting on a group show featuring all-original, all-local work by artists including Rey Ortega (our very own Urbanaut), Nick Fox, and Elicser. We Kill You's mixed-media skate decks in lite-brite colours sell for $150 each; an afrotastic girl in aerosol on wood, by EGR, is yours for $350; a 4' by 5' oil-on-canvas by Brian Donnelly, depicting an eerie, lupine-headed nude, will go to the first serious wolf-lover with three grand to spare.
Show and Tell's premiere collection is a punchy, audacious glimpse into our urban artscape. To see for yourself, email info@showandtellgallery.com to make an appointment. Otherwise, the gallery can be stumbled upon at 49 Baldwin St, Apt 3.
Photo of Elicser's "Clean White Shirt" courtesy of Show and Tell Gallery. Print is 18" by 24" and sells for $750.
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So if you don't have a beer sponsor it's not art? what?
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Zzzzzz. Stale. None of this other stuff is at all exciting or new, though Brian Donnelly is the exception (Coal Miner's Daughter is laughable though). Absolutely sick of 'urban' artwork, graffiti is completely played out.
What's their next show going to be, people painting vinyl records? How about everyone takes the same object and paints or modifies it in their own way? Wow, wouldn't that be original!
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By the way, Lupine means related to a wolf. That's a mountain lion. Nice try, though.
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Some of this work seems too good for a gallery. Galleries are supposed to be where you shellack some random found items and then write up some bullshit statement about the latest US war, or how you've recontextualized global warming, or just moan about your own personal gender confusion in an endlessly looping video. Or was that just another silly 20th century fad?
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I respect that everyone has their own personal opinion on art, and some people would prefer a Monet to a Faile. But is "urban" (the real heads call it "street") art really "stale" when the Tate Modern is showcasing some of the best in the world? Not to mention street artists getting record numbers at auction? I think if you do some research you will see that the street art markets in Europe and the US are far from "played out" and Toronto's is just warming up.
Show & Tell Gallery formed as a collective of young (not just street) artists who realized that there isnt a strong market for our work in Toronto, we are working hard to change that. The website is meant to act as a venue in order to promote our art internationally.
We have also received a very positive response locally, and the events beer sponsorship was a perk of one of our artists dating a bartender.
Everyone who made it out to the launch party had a blast, and it was nothing but good vibes, sorry we didnt see you there plusmedic.
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Oh and we keep the records on the turntables, not on the walls ;-)
Thanks to Torontoist for showing some love.
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@ShowTell
Thanks for this! The city is in dire need of galleries like this.
I might find myself stumbling into 49 Baldwin St, Apt 3. very soon :)
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@ShowTell: I think the fact that I predicted the skateboards would be broken in half is what put it over the edge for me when going through what's on the site. I guess I didn't give much credit to at least one of the other artists, Rey Ortega, but some of the others like Nick Fox (one of the pieces completely rips off Twist's work from the late 90s) and We Kill You are doing nothing new.
We Kill You is really the worst offender of them all. Nothing he's doing seems to be formed from any original idea. Simplistic character repetition, painting broken skateboards, even the moniker he's chosen riffs off everything that's already been done ad nauseum.
I guess being personally interested in street art since the late 90s as it rose to greater popularity has given me the whole "seen it all before" stance, but really, they're not breaking new ground or pushing any boundaries.
I wish your gallery the best of luck, because generating any interest in art is positive, but I hope you seek out artists who are headed in new directions.
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I thought art was supposed to be "good", yet plus up there seems to think it's more important for it to be "new".
Someone tell the AGO immediately!
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lol "since the late 90s". Graffiti and street art was in mainstream galleries by the early 80s. None of it is "new" anyway. Some of it is pretty good though.
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Thanks for all the positive feedback!
The negative response is to be expected (we do all live in Toronto after all).
All jokes aside, this gallery formed out of necessity by artists for artists. We have a lot of fresh ideas lined up for future shows, so sign up for the mailing list if you want to receive updates.
We are also hosting an open house this Friday (and if it is successful, every Friday) between the hours of 2pm and 7pm.
Plusmedic, I would be interested to know which painting by Nick you think completely rips off Barry McGee?
If you are so down with the street art scene you really should come by the gallery. We have quite a collection of Shepard Fairey, Evan Hecox, Faile, Mike Giant, Luc Price and other international artists you might be more interested in. Also, we offer custom framing so we could have an authentic piece of street art on your walls in no time.
Keep it real. (or is that contrived too, I cant keep up)
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hi, so apparently the wolf is actually a mountain lion.
but, i mean, isn't it whatever you want it to be? can't i blame the postmodern ambiguity of contemporary art for my mistake? no? okay. sorry, then.