-
Art we love: Peak Gallery owner Zack Pospieszynski
We consider Zack Pospieszynski–owner-director of Peak Gallery–to be a man of discriminating taste and lucid opinions, and so we dropped by the gallery the other day to ask him about his current likes and dislikes in contemporary art. The …
-
“The primal form of all dwelling is not a house but a case. This bears the imprint of its dweller.”
-Walter Benjamin…
-
Design we love: an old wagon jack?
We saw this strange rustic object in Robin Fraser’s shop–called REC + ART HISTORY–on Queen West last week. He explained that it was a wagon jack, for hoisting up your wagon and fixing its ailing wheel. It has a …
-
Design we love: chandelier feathers
At Symbolist, an intriguing and always mysterious second-hand store at 1080 Queen Street West, there is a big basket filled with these charming metal feathers. They cost a mere $3.00 each, and while they once apparently graced a chandelier …
-
It doesn’t matter how new an idea is: what matters is how new it becomes.”
-Elias Canetti…
-
Art we love: ceramics by Robert Archambeau
We’ve not always been big fans of ceramics–a lot of it seems artsy and sentimental– but we’ll always make an exception for the exquisite stoneware pieces of veteran ceramics artist Robert Archambeau. Archambeau, who won the Governor General’s Award in …
-
“A poem is a poem, a building is a building, architecture is architecture, music is…it’s all structure. Essential. I use it as language.”
– Architect and theorist John Hejduk.…
-
Art we love: the happy zones by Jose Ciria
For his third exhibition at the Christopher Cutts Gallery–Window Dreamer–New York based Spanish painter Jose Ciria has produced a suite of vast, chromatically explosive paintings which, while they may indeed invoke what the gallery calls the “sanguinity and terra …
-
As Andrea Branzi writes in his book, Learning from Milan, “we live in a megasystem of furnishings and fittings, within a gigantic lightscape, in a wired-up territory in which an infinity of terminals are linked together, like an all-embracing
… -
Design we love: Industrial Storm’s cracked coffee table
This lean, noble table–Industrial Storm‘s Cracked Coffee Table–is visually powerful enough to be regarded as both furniture and sculpture. Described by Industrial Storm’s Hanson Tan as “Asian inspired with a contemporary sensibility,” the table features a top …
-
Design we love: Freitag messenger bags
The Swiss design firm Freitag has been creating its unique, ecologically impeccable line of bags since 1993. They are made of recycled truck tarpaulins, unraveled seat belts, old bicycle inner tubes and recycled airbags. The company’s Top Cat bag is …
-
According to Italian architect and designer, Andrea Branzi, the city is “a permanent contradiction,” a “stable chaos.”
… -
Art we love: Tidal Waves and Sea Bathers by Y.M. Whelan
By the time you read this, Y.M. Whelan’s sparkling exhibition at the Fran Hill Show Room–called Book of Dreams: New Paintings–will probably be officially over, but gallerist Fran …
-
Design we love: Is driftwood making a comeback?
We remember (admittedly, it was quite a long time ago) when driftwood was considered to be a really chic design accent–people were putting soft, sinuous hunks of it here and there (on mantlepieces, on bookshelves, in the corners of rooms). …
-
“Consider this: all the ants on the planet, taken together, have a biomass greater than that of humans. Ants have been incredibly industrious for millions of years. Yet their productiveness nourishes plants, animals and soil. Human industry has been in
… -
Design we love: Herman Miller meets Julie Jenkinson
Here’s a charming example of revitalization. For her sprightly reimagining of classic Herman Miller seating designs from the 1970s (by Don Chadwick), Toronto-based designer Julie Jenkinson has reupholstered the chairs in her crisp Animaze fabric, silkscreening her drawings onto 100% …
-
“It seems to me that architecture is radiated by the building and does not clothe it, that it is an aroma rather than a drapery; an integral party of it and not a shell.”
Le Corbusier…
-
Design we love: Prairie tables
What might first appear as mere abstract detailing in the eccentric shapes of these sleek, white, interlocking tables turns out to have geographic meaning: the tables, which have MDF tops and solid ash legs, actually come in the shape of …
-
“I am enthusiastic over humanity’s extraordinary and sometimes very timely ingenuities. If you are in a shipwreck and all the boats are gone, a piano top buoyant enough to keep you afloat that comes along makes a fortuitous life preserver.
… -
“You can design a car so that every time you get in it, it’s a relief–you have a little vacation for a while.”
Automobile Designer Harley Earl
It ought to be the same with a condo.…
-
Art we love: Sacred and Profane Love (Self-Portrait II) by Harold Klunder
Harold Klunder is everywhere regarded as one of Canada’s most powerful painters. His latest exhibition, Black Sun, now at the Clint Roenisch Gallery is a remarkable experience, both for the majestic trio of paintings making up the Black Sun …
-
Art We Love: Ominous Footpath by Susanna Heller
Veteran painter Susanna Heller–Canadian born, educated at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax and now living in New York City (where she has lived, in fact, for many years now)–is a maker of exceedingly vigorous, searching, …
-
“Power is everywhere; not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere.”
Michel Foucaul
… -
Design we love: black cat lamp
We were both attracted and, at first, a bit put off by the funky directness of this little lamp. Its tasteful black shade is profoundly belied by the body of the map—which is a feral-looking black cat-made of fired clay!…
-
Design we love: Buddha machines
Maybe there ought to be a column in this blog called Design That Simply Catches Our Fancy—a place to explore objects that, while they may not kick the history of design ahead by much, are, nevertheless, attractive and pleasing.
Like …
