ART GALLERIES ABOUND in KING WEST

The art world is pulsing in the King Blue community and diverse art galleries await you. From the spacious Nicholas Metivier Gallery and the bright Trias Gallery, to the intimate Wellington Street Art Gallery and the Bay of Spirits Gallery, featuring Native works, there is art for every kind of collector in King West.

NICHOLAS METIVIER GALLERY

Nicholas Metivier Gallery at 451 King Street West is one of the bigger art galleries in Toronto and distinguishes itself by representing international as well as local artists, and by promoting its local artists at home and abroad. Founded in 2004 by Nicholas Metivier, artistic works of all styles are exhibited in the bright, airy space.

Group show Frames Per Second (July 19 to August 18) featured four distinct artists: Toronto-based Peter Horvath and Los Angeles-based Chris Soos collaborated on photographic grids using their iPhones’ Polaroid application; Dutch artist Renie Spoelstra’s charcoal drawings showed a smoky and dreamy, foggy world, while young Canadian artist Charles Bierk’s gallery debut consisted of larger-than-life portraits, uncannily realistic and unsettling, while compellingly beautiful. Next up at the Metivier is Howard Lonn’s Signals Back to the World, running from September 13 to October 6.

TRIAS GALLERY by Grace Cherian

Two modest glass doors greet visitors at 80 Spadina Avenue.  Outside the elevator on the fourth floor, a cavernous space yawns ahead. The ceilings are 12 to 14 feet high and the building, once a part of the Fashion District of Toronto, turns a century old this year. Indira Choudhury, curator and owner of Trias, has preserved the ancient architecture: the high ceilings, stout wooden vertical and horizontal supports and hardwood flooring. Some of the floorboards still show oil leaks from the sewing machines of long ago. Choudhury showcases the work of many artists:

Jodi Wheeler photographs interesting, often unnoticed, pockets of the city and paints them. In “Winter Day in Roncesvalles”, I actually ‘see’ a symbol unique to Toronto—the streetcar. I ride in it so often it hardly registers anymore, but I notice it now. Text carved into the painting is deliberately barely legible and encourages the viewer to interact with her art. The painting has an encaustic border along the left edge, taunting one to trace  fingers along the textured swirls. The artist has captured an ordinary street scene for posterity.

Ewa Stryjnik has quite a following at Trias and Choudhury features her paintings regularly. Stryjnik’s current project is Colour Structure #5. Paying close attention to the way she combines colours, and using different techniques and brush strokes, she builds the painting layer by layer for a paradoxical end result — a minimalist-looking painting. Ewa’s colour choices are surprising. The pale blues, greys, browns, and greens work cohesively with the brilliant oranges and yellows. These pure and luminous colours are mesmerizing and calming.

Pat Fairhead is one of the best water colourists in Canada. Her painting, “Staffa Falls”, is particularly captivating. Water gushes out through a very narrow crevice down the face of volcanic rock in delicate shades of pink and white. It plunges headlong at the base of the rock and turns myriad shades of translucent blue and white. The droplets of water look so real I actually catch myself stepping back from the painting so I won’t get splattered.

Choudhury’s selections in the Trias Gallery exhibit her thorough knowledge of both the artists and their works.

WELLINGTON STREET ART GALLERY

Opened in April 2011, the Wellington Street Art Gallery may not be big, but what it lacks in room, it makes up for in the abundance of pieces on display. Proprietor Patrick F. McNeill converts his “work/live space” into a gallery by day, focusing mostly on new artists from the Toronto area including a few from Kingston, Ontario.

McNeill has carved a niche in the King West neighbourhood by offering a variety of artwork at affordable prices – starting between $100 and $200. His approach has resulted in young, new collectors in the King Blue community frequenting the gallery and he sees the venue as a stepping stone in the development of his featured artists.

Preferring to showcase contemporary abstract works, McNeill admits he relies on an emotional connection and knows “in a millisecond” if he’ll show a piece. He often discovers his featured artists at the Artist Project Toronto, and uses the front room of the Wellington Street Art Gallery for solo shows.

Current stand out artists for McNeill are Imam Azhari with his powerful tactile paintings about his journey as a new Canadian, and Nicholas Crombach, who uses bronze to “explore the complexity of the human existence in relationship with the natural world”. The most unusual piece on display is perhaps the felting on canvas “Don’t get locked out of lunch anymore” by Tonya Corkey, created with dryer lint.

The next two exhibitions for the Wellington Street Art Gallery, located at 270 Wellington Street West, are Respectful Retrospective: Woodblock prints by Gwyneth Travers (September 4-14) and Extension: Robert Kamnatnik (September 15-30).

BAY OF SPIRITS GALLERY

Head south slightly and at 156 Front Street West sits the Bay of Spirits Gallery. This gem-of-a-gallery showcases a wide array of pieces created by First Nations artists from across Canada. On the warm earth-toned walls, paintings, masks and various prints hang, while bold sculptures, beautiful jewellery and various giftware items like dream catchers are displayed throughout the room.

Usually divided into four geographic sections of the Woodlands, Prairie, Inuit, and the Northwest coast, Native art can differ in form, style and technique. Forms include contemporary and fine art, art for tourists, and art for ceremonial, traditional or religious purposes.

Bold, vibrant colours dominate many of the works in the Bay of Spirits Gallery, which opened in Toronto in 1992. The pieces are strong and powerful, and many of them tap into the deep meaning and symbolism that exist in Native Indian culture. The art of Carl Ray is featured this month while the very long list of artists represented by the gallery includes James Simon, Leland Bell and Daphne Odjig.

These galleries are just a few of the many scattered throughout the King Blue community. There is an exciting art world in King West just waiting to be discovered by you.