Dundas Street West

DUNDAS STREET WEST

Art Metropole
1490 Dundas Street West, (416) 703-4400, artmetropole.com
Wednesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

August 15 to September 22
VSVSVS, “VSVSVS Moves In”
VSVSVS (verses verses verses) is a collective studio and gallery project in the Port Lands of Toronto. Focused on developing an alternative art space with a dual emphasis on collaboration and personal autonomy, VSVSVS aims to build community and foster the creation of art and cultural projects. The members of VSVSVS will occupy Art Metropole’s window platform every day, 24 hours per day, for five weeks. They will construct an environment to suit their needs as those needs develop.

 

COOPER COLE
1161 Dundas Street West, (647)-347-3316, coopercolegallery.com
Tuesday and Wednesday 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday and Friday 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

September 6 to October 6
Maya Hayuk
COOPER COLE is pleased to present a solo exhibition with American artist Maya Hayuk. This will mark the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and first Canadian solo exhibition.
Hayuk continues her exploration of concepts such as light, space, fractals and symmetry through the use of vibrant and energetic colours and shapes. Expanding on her signature style of painting, this exhibition will showcase a new body of works on canvas that paired with a large-scale gallery installation.
Running simultaneously in the gallery’s project space: a solo exhibition by PaperRad co-founder Jacob Ciocci.
(Image: Courtesy COOPER COLE)

 

Jessica Bradley Inc.
1450 Dundas Street West, (416) 537-3125, jessicabradleyartprojects.com
Wednesday to Saturday 12 p.m. to 5p.m., or by appointment

September 22 to November 3
Shary Boyle
Shary Boyle’s latest solo exhibition includes work from 2011 and 2012 made during residencies in Cape Dorset and St. Bruno, Saskatchewan. The artist’s vibrant watercolours reflect the solitude of the Far North and the compelling Inuit mythology which inspired her as she worked alongside Inuit artist friends, collaborating with Shuvanai Ashoona on one extraordinary large-scale drawing. Boyle’s prairie watercolours are infused with endless sky and horizon line marked by family farms. Select new porcelains will also be on view. Boyle will represent Canada at the 55th Venice Biennale, June to November 2013.
(Image: Shary Boyle Untitled 2011 Courtesy the artist and Jessica Bradley Inc.)

 

LE Gallery
1183 Dundas Street West, (416) 532-8467, le-gallery.ca
Wednesday to Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

September 7 to September 30
Mitsuo Kimura, “Strange Journey”
Japanese-born artist Mitsuo Kimura delivers a stunning exhibition of paintings on paper in his unique high-intensity works. Observing the recent environmental disasters and fallout from afar, Kimura explores the impact on Japan’s national psyche, and his own tribulations, through his character-based paintings. Fans of anime and otaku culture will find a connection to this young Japanese artist’s tendencies. Complex patterns and intricate graphic detail, trademark elements when one thinks of contemporary Japanese artists, animate a legion of anthropomorphic creatures intent on aiding in the process of emotional reconstruction.
(Image: Mitsuo Kimura Agony 2012 Courtesy LE Gallery)

 

Loop Gallery
1273 Dundas Street West, (416) 516 -2581, loopgallery.ca
Wednesday to Saturday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

September 1 to 23
Linda Heffernan, “Plus 2″ and Ester Pugliese, “False Relations and Fractions”
Linda Heffernan’s “Plus 2” uses satellite views of major cities and snippets of media commentary as a jumping off point. The textured semi-abstract paintings in this exhibition explore points of view in the struggle for a green economy.
In Ester Pugliese’s “False Relations and Fractions,” mixed media works offer up incongruous image pairings and split-second variations that layer cultural references, natural elements and imagined realities: roofs of houses open up to reveal ephemeral hierarchies; wind-power-output graphs intertwine with Italian madrigal spectrograms; groupings of fragile objects invite closer inspection.
(Images: Linda Heffernan Plus 2 2012 / Ester Pugliese laughter’s turn 2012 Courtesy the artists)

 

MKG 127
1445 Dundas Street West, (647) 435-7682, mkg127.com
Wednesday to Saturday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

September 15 to October 13
David R. Harper , “Sturm und Drang” (Storm and Urge)
In “Sturm und Drang” (“Storm and Urge”), Harper investigates the tension between love and rational thought. Juxtaposing platitudes and outbursts of irrationability, Harper is not privileging one over the other. Rather, he is determined to find a balance between the two, by subjecting love to four rational confines: the vitrine, the archive, the portrait and, finally, the diorama. In the hopes to find a proper home for overwhelming and unresolvable feelings, Harper simply resigns to validate strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience and leaves the battle for poets.
(Image: David R. Harper Out of the Fall 2012 Courtesy MKG127)