In conjunction with 2011 Toronto Pride Week, a new photo exhibit & book is being launched featuring 10 Canadian LGBT photographers celebrating 100 Canadian queers in the arts.

10×10 is organized and curated by James Fowler and the White House Studio Project, and aims to spotlight some of the members of the LGBT community who have made extraordinary contributions to the arts in Canada, as well as some of the rising new stars.

Featuring the photographs of Tania Anderson, Joey Bruni, Paul Buen, John Caffery, InkedKenny, Patrick Lightheart, David Pike, G. Elliott Simpson, Tanja-Tiziana and Rannie Turingan, the 10×10 exhibit can be seen until July 7 at the White House Studio Project, 277.5 Augusta Avenue in Toronto.

The official reception & book launch takes place Thursday, June 30 from 7 until 11pm. A Facebook page has been set up and, if you would like to attend, you’re welcome to RSVP the event!

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Photosensitive – the non-profit collective of photographers determined to explore how photography can contribute to social justice – is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with a retrospective exhibition at the Allen Lambert Galleria in downtown Toronto’s Brookfield Place.

Showcasing the best photos from 17 projects, this exhibit will highlight the best works from the group’s 20-year history.  Photographers who have been involved with the PhotoSensitive exhibitions over the years will be at the opening on the evening of September 14, as well as representatives from the many charitable organizations with which we have partnered.

Vistek is proud to be support, not only PhotoSensitive, but the charities with whom they’ve partnered over the years (The Daily Bread Food Bank, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, The United Way of Greater Toronto, Canadian National Institute for the Blind,  Community Living, Canadian Cancer Society, World Vision, The Rwanda Initiative, Campaign 2000, CARE Canada. Save the Children Canada, Foster Parents Plan Canada, Special Olympics, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Toronto District School Board & The Harmony Movement.)

Be sure to check it out!

What: PhotoSensitive 20th Anniversary Retrospective
When: September 14 – 24, 2010
Where: 181 Bay Street, Suite 220, Toronto, ON

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Secret Garden by Angelina McCormick is, on the surface, a collection of flower photographs spanning 5 years of obsessive imaging of dying and artificial flora. Assembled for the first time in the Red Wall Gallery, the resulting array of images is much more than a botanical collection.

This exhibition reveals how McCormick’s practice has evolved over time. The formal elements of her photographs have changed with each collection; passing through several film formats, camera types and production approaches to the most recent iconic 8” X 10” shot, large, clean images.

More significantly, the expressive content of her work has also evolved. Each successive grouping, although always of either real or artificial flora, conveys a different aspect of the artist’s search for self.

Early work tackles aging, sickness and also death as transformation. Images of this ultimate of changes from life to death are made by someone who describes herself as “ruined and living in both worlds”, and pose important questions about our perceptions of both states of being. McCormick’s Holga series is playful and made with deliberate misdirection. These photos of fake flowers cloak gallows humour in a seductive surface of candy colours and soft edges. The most recent works become larger and more iconic. Crisp and bright, they induce awe sometimes at odds with their unpretentious look at human relationships, personalities and archetypes.

Artist: Angelina McCormick
On View: June 18 – August 28, 2010 | Mon – Fri 10am – 6pm, Sat 10am – 3pm
Where: The Red Wall Gallery @ SPAO, 168 Dalhousie (at the corner of Bruyère, in the Byward Market)

For more info contact: 613.562.3824 or info@spao.ca

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Glenbow Museum (Calgary, AB)
Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway (June 20 – Sept. 20, 2009)
→ Includes works by 20 artists who travelled west on the railroad promised by Sir John A. Macdonald in 1871. The artists featured in this exhibition captured images of the prairie and the mountains in over 130 art works and photographs from Glenbow, and from public and private collections in Canada and the United States.

Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
Andreas Gursky: Werke/Works 80-08 (until Sept. 20. 2009)
→ More than 70 works from throughout his career, reaching back in time to his student days at the Folkwang Hochschule Essen, followed by the period in which he studied in the class taught by Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Anthony Hernandez (until Sept. 7, 2009)
→ The first Canadian exhibition of this Los Angeles artist’s work, Anthony Hernandez will present a remarkable collection of photographs from the 1970s and 1980s.

Stan Douglas: Klatsassin (until Sept. 13, 2009)
→ In addition to the video installation (Klatsassin) and a body of black & white portrait photographs of the video’s principal characters , this exhibition  includes a Group of Seven location photographs of sites as diverse as Barkerville, Quesnel Forks, Stanley and Vancouver.

National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
Scott McFarland: A Cultivated View (until Sept. 13, 2009)
→ While not an exhibit actually taking place on the west coast, McFarland’s is a major body of work focused on Vancouver gardens.

Have you got an upcoming exhibit you’d like to promote? Let us know – we’re more than happy to give you a shout out.

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Next week marks the beginning of this year’s Luminato festival in Toronto (June 5 – 14, to be precise) and there are a wealth of exciting, free events happening that include live music performances, dance lessons, book readings, film screenings and a World Record attempt. Two events, in particular, jump right off the page to us: Raphael Mazzucco’s Mixed Media Installation and Shadow Notes: with Danny Clinch, Ralph Gibson & Andy Summers (yes – Andy Summers from The Police).

Mazzucco’s work has been featured in ELLE and Vogue magazines and his exhibition (which runs for the entirety of the festival at 639 Queen St. W on the 3rd floor of the Burroughes Building) of new and commissioned works that draw their inspiration from L’Oréal Professionnel’s Century of Color, Lancôme’s magic of femininity and Luminato’s festival programming.

Shadow Notes is an unprecedented exhibition presenting the work of Danny Clinch and Ralph Gibson, two photographers obsessed with music, and the photos of Andy Summers, a musician obsessed with photography. The all-day event takes place June 5 at Yonge-Dundas Square and includes a panel discussion with all three artists.

Check them out… and see what else is on the schedule!

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This year’s Chang School Photography Exhibit kicks off with it’s Opening Reception Thursday, June 25 from 6 – 9pm.

This annual event gives photography and image arts students an opportunity to display their best work in a juried show. And each year, a leading professional from the photography community selects several works for their outstanding merit. The winning artists receive valuable awards that in the past have included tuition for a Chang School course and a $500 gift certificate from a photography-supply merchant.

When:
June 25 to July 11/09
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 25/09  from 6 – 9pm

Where:
Ryerson Gallery
80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 305
Toronto, ON

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