Gallery hoppin: Distillery & Queen West

I finally got some gallery hopping in last week! As I mentioned in the National Post yesterday, I enjoyed Harold Edgerton's science pix at Corkin Gallery and Ryan McGinness's op art at Artcore in the Distillery district. I was also surprised to see Anthony Goicolea's newer, dystopic works at Monte Clark--quite a switch from the sexy self-lovins the artist became known for.

Other shows I enjoyed around town were John Eisler at Diaz (the folded canvas layers on the wall and silver mylar on the floor was just too appealing), Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky at Pari Nadimi, and Jay Isaac at Paul Petro. Up at Bloor and Lansdowne, I was also glad to see the Black Panthers poster exhibit at Toronto Free Gallery before it came down.

Petro mentioned that he's expecting the recession to bring back a level of connaisseurship to the art market--that, in other words, those who are collecting art on a whim will drop out, while those who really love it will stay in and give up other extras to keep collecting. An interesting perspective, particularly given that he's been through a few market downturns. At TIAF, I also heard word from some galleries that they were selling more older "sure thing" works rather than newer, less tested stuff. It will be very interesting to see the impacts on small and large scales.

Photo of Jay Isaac's monument to failed paintings from Paul Petro Contemporary Art