NOW: A Collaborative Project with Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette

Photo courtesy of nowexhibition.com

The NOW exhibit by Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette is currently on in the Salle Young Gallery at the Art Gallery of Ontario, part of their Toronto NOW series.  The show runs from January 21st to April 1st, and admission is free.  You can access the gallery through the FRANK entrance during restaurant hours, and make sure to also check out the Gift Shop Gift Shop pop-up shop in—you guessed it—the gift shop.

Torontoist: Street Art Shakes Up the AGO

Both artists are typically known for their street art—Martindale, for his urban interventions (such as pocket planters made of advertising posters and tree planter alterations) and Paquette, who works under the name Mon Petit Chou, for graffiti.  And yet, Martindale sees their AGO stint as a perfect opportunity for showing how street art and gallery art tend to inform, and not isolate, one another.

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While the gift shop and FRANK installations reflect on the AGO itself, the Young gallery is bursting with commentary on Toronto today. Video projections documenting the artists spray painting the word "NOW" repeatedly using early graffiti styles, or continually painting over the work of other local graffiti artists, pay homage both to the art form, past and present, and to the complicated relationship we have with it in this city.

You may recall that I mentioned the show before, just after I finished painting the legal wall that Sean and Pascal secured for the Whitewash collaboration.  Here's the photo I took at the time:

The wall after I painted it.

And here are the results on video:

Part of the Whitewash video installation - Martindale, Paquette, et al.

Whitewash video installation cont'd - Martindale, Paquette, et al.

Some  nice work from the others in the Whitewash installation, with plenty more to come.  Make sure you drop by to see the whole show for yourself; I can testify that the opening party was bumpin'.  I look forward to watching Whitewash evolve as other artists are added to the list.

Occupy stencils

Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette recently invited me to paint something on the wall they secured as part of their upcoming show at the AGO's Toronto Now gallery (running from from January 21st to April 1st, 2012).

It was a bit of a stretch to fill an entire wall myself just before the holidays, and I'm not super happy with the overall result; as always, it was an experiment.  But I am quite happy with the way these new stencils turned out:

They are based on photos of Occupy Toronto protesters and their signs taken by the esteemed Martin Reis.  Here are some details:

The wall has already been buffed to make way for the next artist, which is probably for the best.  Still, it was fun to try out painting on a legal wall.  Thanks to Pascal and Sean for the opportunity and the help!