{"id":54396,"date":"2024-10-27T12:46:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T16:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=54396"},"modified":"2024-11-21T17:08:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T22:08:56","slug":"an-engaging-stroll-through-art-toronto-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=54396","title":{"rendered":"An Engaging Stroll Through Art Toronto 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Installation view of Art Toronto 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the art fair revealed itself bit by bit while being on the escalator, I felt excitement surge through my veins. Overstimulated by the numerous artworks, I was pulled in multiple directions as they intrigued me at every turn. This was my first time at an art fair of this size and was impressed with the selection of artworks, especially the variety of mediums. The massive art piece by Marigold Santos was a complete showstopper and invited lots of conversation. Its size, the bold yet warm and soothing yellow, and its extreme composition immediately pulls the visitors into the world of the art fair the moment they step off the escalators.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Marigold Santos, Regrounding, <\/em>2011, acrylic, pigment, and gesso on canvas, 102 x 171 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was thrilled to see a gallery that focuses solely on artists of Asian descent, the SSEW Project, based in Markham. They just opened in April this year and made their first appearance at an art fair this weekend. Representing six artists at the art fair, three of which are based in the GTA and the other three are based in China and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Anita Wei in front of a SSEW Project artist\u2019s work<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The large size paintings on the right side of the SSEW Project installation infuses a modernistic approach to old Chinese style paintings that focuses on details, colors, and accuracy. There\u2019s a sense of grandeur in the sheer size of the works contrasted with the acute intensity of each small detail, dignifying the commended subject matters that hail from the genre of bird-and-flower paintings.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hui Yu, Weightlessness \u5931\u91cd, 2023, Chinese ink and color on rice paper, 68 \u00bd x 36 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the left side, the vibrant colors of oils and acrylics embraces rich cultural heritage through a contemporary lens. Using a Western-based medium of oil on wood panel, Hayley Chi Hay Chiu, a second-generation Chinese Canadian, captures a feeling of home away from home in her references to Chinese culture such as a game of mahjong, the buddha on the altar, and hanging clothes to dry high above the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Hayley Chi Hay Chiu, Abode (top left), The happiest building, (top right), both 2023, oil on wood panel, 7 \u00bd x 10 inches, and Everybody wants to play, 2021, oil on canvas, 16 x 20 inches (bottom)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mesmerizing piece by Polish artist Eliza Ko\u017curno from the Roberts Gallery in Toronto takes on a high-fashion outlook on still-life works. In her effort to bring excitement to the \u2018boring\u2019 still-life genre painting of the Renaissance, she adds elements of the glitz and glamor of modern culture such as the Tylenol pills and sunglasses mixed in with some elements of antiquity such as the tea set. For each one of her still-lives, Eliza Ko\u017curno challenges herself to new compositions inspired by her studies in jewelry, textiles, and design. A play on the multiple reflective surfaces and various materials, it is seemingly chaotic and filled with items that leave no space to breath. But her talent for composition and the confidence she puts into each chosen piece of item creates a cohesiveness that makes the perfect recipe for a high-fashion magazine cover.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Eliza Ko\u017curno, Still-life with pills, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48 inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warped in the blackness is a constellation made up of Canadian pennies covered in enamel. The pennies seemed to ground the pictorial frame from being sucked inward into a black hole with each individual penny pinning the canvas down. Represented by the TIAN Contemporain Gallery based in Montreal, artist Yen-Chao Lin laid out pennies on train tracks to have them flattened by the train, a unique process that adds another layer of depth to the work. Guided by spirituality and feng shui, Yen-Chao Lin created her own constellation as a reflection of herself and her heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yen-Chao Lin, Paradis anonyme (instance), 2022, enameled train flattened Canadian pennies, steel, 48 x 96 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was swerving through the crowds, I was caught by surprise as these dainty branch legs wearing cute black leather shoes stuck out of the Platforme Art Base exhibition stand, which focuses on Mexican artists, to greet me. An immediate smile came across my face as I made the connection between the title, “Branching-out” and the artwork. It is the literal embodiment of the title of the work. Erika Harrsch not only transformed the legs portion of the human body to literal branches, it also stuck out of the Platforme Art Base exhibition space to branch-out to oncoming visitors. Artworks like this remind me that art can be witty and fun and captures fleeting moments that may seem meaningless but make up the story of our life.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Erika Harrsch, Branching-out series: I walked in on me (in black shoes), 2023, tridimensional wood ensemble with resin, oil, acrylic, lacquer, plastic feet with sand and black patent leather shoes, installation area: 20 x 26 x 50 inches, branch diameter approx: 2 \u00bd inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grotesque figure that masks as a cute child by its baby-like gestures and chubby cheeks uses deformity, playfulness, and humor to address internal struggles of the passing of time. The intensity of the struggle is made exceedingly visible with the tense limbs stretched out in different directions, the visible veins popping out of its face, and the gaping mouth that I felt its frustration from far away.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sami Tsang, Bloodless wounds from poisonous roots, 2024, stoneware, color slip, glaze, clay, epoxy, acrylic, 75 x 32 x 32 inches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Text and photo: Sherry Qin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sherry Qin<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was overstimulated by the numerous artworks. I was pulled in multiple directions as they intrigued me at every turn<\/p>\n

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