How art thou: On the scene at gallery and show openings in Toronto

Cultural Goods Gallery Opening Reception

The evening of Oct. 26 saw fashion designer Kim Newport-Mimran and her husband, fashion entrepreneur Joe Mimran open the doors to their latest venture, a gallery and art hub dubbed the Cultural Goods Gallery. Tucked away in a quiet industrial strip on Dupont Street in Toronto’s west end, the area, long home to a number of flourishing galleries, now counts the Mimran’s 2,500-square-foot venue among them. The space opened with works from New York-based artist Al Diaz. Titled FROM SAMO©… TO SAMO©… EVOLUTION OF STREET: ART & TYPE, Diaz is a key figure in New York’s street art scene who collaborated with a young Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The invite for the opening of the gallery was billed as a reception, but it was more of an opening party, with fashion folk like stylist Adrienne Shoom and Fashion Magazine’s Bernadette Morra. They squished shoulder to shoulder with art movers like gallerists Jane Corkin and Daniel Faria and curator David Liss. Also circulating, society pals of the Mimran’s including Rocky and Rene Pantalone, Trinity Jackman and Cleophee Eaton and Scott McFarland. Exhibition curators Grace Zeppilli and Jason Halter were on hand too, as were art scene regulars Dr. Parambir Keila and lawyer Anjli Patel, in attendance with their baby daughter Ajuni. The exhibition, which also includes a selection of new works by Toronto-based artists including Javid Jah, Danilo Deluxo McCallum and Nicolas ‘Alfalfa’ Sanchez, runs though Dec. 17.

Art Toronto Opening Night Preview

The following evening, the Metro Toronto Convention Centre was once again transformed into Canada’s most important annual art fair. More than 90 galleries gathered from across the country and beyond for the four-day showcase, which kicked off with a VIP opening on the evening of Oct. 27. New at this year’s fair was the Focus Exhibition, a space to encounter new and ambitiously scaled works. Curator Marie-Charlotte Carrier of the Hayward Gallery in London was responsible for this first go, “held open”, which explored works by Nan Goldin (from gallery Caviar20), Maureen Gruben (from Cooper Cole) and Laura Hudspith (from Zalucky Contemporary), among others. Talks and tours dotted the weekend, and rather importantly at an art fair, from what I heard (and saw with all those red dots), loads of works went to new homes. Among them out on opening night: Border Crossings Magazine editor Meeka Walsh; artists Tony Scherman, Margaret Priest and Nathan Eugene Carson; collectors including Sheldon Inwentash and Lynn Factor; Carol Weinbaum and Nigel Schuster and Heather Gotlieb; gallery CEOs including Contemporary Calgary’s David Leinster, the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s Shelley Falconer and the AGO’s Stephan Jost (the AGO acquired a number of works for their collection including Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s monumental Game of Goose from Galerie Nicolas Robert) and of course, there too, was Mia Nielsen, director of Art Toronto.

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