Rolly's Garage to become Psych-Art Outpost?

Located on the ever-more-contentious Ossington Avenue strip in Toronto--you know, where city hall ixnayed any new nightclub licences--Rolly's Garage has played host to concerts, art shows and other events over the past few years.

Now, it may be finding a new incarnation. Yesterday, Meta Gallery--which focuses on largely on outsidery psychedelic art--released an announcement that they will be moving into the Rolly's Garage space in April. This makes it the third gallery to exeunt the Distillery in the last little while.

More details are available in a helpful report at BlogTO, which notes Meta owner Jody Polishchuk's complaints about high rents at the Distillery. Granted, given the kind of niche Meta is operating in, it could well be a challenge for them to make it anywhere in the post-conceptually focused Toronto scene. (I also wonder if those who hoped for more community/event oriented solutions for the Rolly's space could be disappointed by the news.) I'll be waiting and seeing on this one.... including whether any new galleries dare move into the Distillery.

Image of Mars-1's artwork from Jonathan Levine Gallery. If Rolly's gets up to code, Mars-1 is supposed to be the first show in Meta's space there.