Traveling Collector: Canadian Content
May 2008
In 2004, British architect Will Alsop’s Sharp Centre for Design launched Toronto’s art and architecture renaissance. This funky black-and-white checkered structure built on stilts on top of the Ontario College of Art & Design building—at the time called "courageous, bold and just a little insane" by the Royal Institute of British Architects—awakened the city to the idea that a strikingly unconventional building can be both functional and a tourist magnet. Hoping for the same kind of magic that turned the Sharp Centre into a landmark and the Guggenheim Bilbao into a must-visit destination, the city’s two most prominent behemoths, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, enlisted Daniel Libeskind and Frank Gehry to help change the face of Toronto. Libeskind’s answer was his recent addition to the Royal Ontario Museum, the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal (2007), which follows the shocking spirit of Alsop’s design—the new building looks like a giant meteor that landed atop the museum’s older building. Gehry’s contribution, which will open this November, is a spectacular remake of the Art Gallery of Toronto, with 110 galleries and a block-long, glass-enclosed sculpture promenade.Despite all this recent architectural eye candy, Toronto is still known to art lovers for its unique niche museums and hidden artistic delights. Topping the list of Toronto’s best-kept secrets is Canadian artist Derek Besant’s 15-story-high "Waterfall" mural (1989) in the lobby of the Scotia Plaza on King Street West. Standing in front of the 62 canvases that form the vertiginous mural, one actually senses the rushing waters cascading down the side of the wall. Just as exciting, and just as well concealed, is Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s spectacularly arched, 6-story-high steel-and-glass canopy at the Allen Lambert Galleria at Brookfield Place. The Galleria’s canopy, often referred to as "the Hall of Lights," covers the shops, restaurants, office towers and heritage buildings of Brookfield Place, while linking Bay Street to Heritage Square. It imparts the sensation of walking inside an urban cathedral.
Toronto is home to a number of specialty museums, all within walking distance from the city’s center. The Bata Shoe Museum is a shoebox-shaped building with a lid-topped roof that houses the world’s largest collection of shoes and footwear–related objects, some dating back 4,500 years. While here, don’t miss Picasso’s pony-skin ankle boots, Napoleon’s socks and Elvis Presley’s blue patent-leather loafers. The Gardiner Museum is Canada’s only museum devoted to ceramics. In addition to having the largest collection of early American ceramics on display in Canada and a sizable collection of 16th-century Italian majolica, 17th- through 19th-century English pottery and English porcelain, the museum mounts two to three contemporary ceramics exhibitions each year. The Museum of Inuit Art Gallery, Canada’s only museum south of the Arctic dedicated to the art and culture of these indigenous peoples, is at the Harbourfront Centre. Though the primary focus is sculpture carved from stone, antler, ivory and bone, prints, drawings and wall hangings are also on display.
After a day of walking you might want to spend the next few days crisscrossing the city in a taxi. One of Toronto’s premier contemporary art museums is The Power Plant. Like London’s Tate Modern, the gallery’s three renovated exhibition spaces occupy an old industrial building, complete with a tall smokestack. At the gallery through May 11 is Chicago-based artist Sadie Benning’s "Play Pause" (2006), a two-screen video installation that tracks hand-drawn animated figures of men and women as they navigate an anonymous city in search of pleasure. There will also be nine major works by British artist Simon Sterling, winner of the 2005 Turner Prize, that address the interrelationship of environment, politics, culture and art history. Contemporary art collectors should visit Queen Street West, the art and design district.
While in the neighborhood stop off at the Drake Hotel for lunch, dinner, drinks—or an art rush. The hotel, a local hot spot for collectors, is filled to the brim (lobby, lounge, restaurants and rooms) with a contemporary art collection curated by Drake owner Jeff Stober and in-house curator Mia Nielson, a former Sothebys.com associate. "My focus is on international artists," she says. "During the month of May, the Drake will be part of Contact, the world’s largest photography festival. We will be projecting photos on the front of the hotel and featuring a book launch by Magnum photographer Larry Towell."
Toronto’s downtown Historic Distillery District is a leisurely place to end your visit. Situated on 13 acres of what was once the largest distillery in the British Empire, this pedestrian-only village, with its quaint brick-lined streets and 40-plus well-preserved Victorian industrial buildings, is dedicated to promoting art and culture. With 17 art galleries, 10 combination galleries/artist studios and 30 working studios (sometimes open to the public), plus restaurants, jewelry, ceramic and furniture boutiques, and a performing arts center, there is enough here to make your trip to Toronto complete.RESOURCES
Art Gallery of Ontario
416.979.6648 ago.net
Bata Shoe Museum
416.979.7799 batashoemuseum.ca
Distillery Historic District
416.364.1177 thedistillerydistrict.com
Gardiner Museum
416.586.8080 gardinermuseum.com
Museum of Inuit Art Gallery
416.603.7591 miagallery.ca
Ontario College of Art & Design
416.977.6000 ocad.ca
Royal Ontario Museum
416.586.8000 rom.on.ca
The Drake Hotel
416.531.5042 thedrakehotel.ca
The Power Plant
416.973.4949 thepowerplant.org