Drop off dates for Artists: Tuesday, December 13 – Saturday, December 17th, 2011. 11:00 am – 6:00 pm

Pick up dates for Buyers: Wednesday, December 14 – Saturday December 17, 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm. We suggest buyers call us in advance to ensure your prints have arrived.

If you need to come before noon, please call us at 416 645 1066 and we can arrange a time.

2) Derek Liddington, Collage Study, $700 framed
Ok, so here is another artist who is interested in Modernity. And collage,
which is close to my heart. Derek’s work is considered, careful and
wistful. He is using academic references to insert himself into the
fantasies of history. This work makes me feel protected, that despite all
of the conflicting arguments surrounding contemporary art, uncle dad
(Derek) is going to dance us through this mess.

3) Jennifer Sciarrino, Gnomon – Cone, Herring, Island, 1pm, $500 framed
A trend is forming in my picks: physical space within a conventionally
2-Dimensional medium (photography, duh.)
Through the simply gesture of two finishing nails within a shadow box,
Sciarrino’s work generally lingers in the 3-D world. This work is subtle,
like a souvenir to a place existing between the physical and
representational world. But Sciarrino’s work isn’t so dry and heady, more
familiar and considerate. The use of the shadow box as an integral
component in the work is what nails it.
See, puns, I told you I’m a nerd.

4) Lindsey Cope, Picture Of A Bag Inside The Bag, $100
So by now, it is safe to admit that conceptual work is my bag. And what
better way to illustrate this than a bag containing a photograph of the bag
itself. The work is Ouroboros for the chip and pop set. Cope’s work is
always charming, playful and critical of consumer culture. I buy it.

5) Matthew Williamson, whoa man, $25
Williamson’s work has sold out, half of it to yours truly!
Kitsch and the paradox of customized mass-produced/disposable ephemera are
mingled with virtual ephemera. This work could be read as too preoccupied
with trends (Tumblr references anyone?), but isn’t that the point?
Williamson is poking fun as how far commerce extends into our senses of
self: like a Tumblr loaded with endless referential points amounting to a
portrait, the party plate takes Williamson’s virtual imagery and inserts it
back into the physical world, to be used. Party on.

Hudson Hayden, The Photoshoot, C-print, 2011. $400 framed (Edition 1/10), $200 unframed (1 available)

This image appeals to me on a number of levels; as a photographer I love that the subject is a photographer at work. But it also takes me on a sensory journey, I can feel the wind rustling the grasses and the cool waves lapping at the shore. The seemingly remote waterside locale really appeals to the escapist part of me.

Nathan Cyprys, Untitled, C-print, 2011. $390 Framed (Edition 1/8), $340 Unframed ( left)

The deep blues of this image and their sharp contrast to the pale peachy tones of the swimmer’s flesh really draw me into this image. The effect of refraction on human appendages is really intriguing, as is the smooth, glossy appearance of the water.

Kathryn Gaitens, The spot was exactly as she described it, Chromogenic on acrylic, 2009. SOLD OUT (Edition 1/15)

Here’s another image employing that deep cool blue. This image concerns me because I assume the all too familiar paint splotches on those trees mean that they are cited for removal. The trees are so thin and young, this image stands as a reminder of the fragility of nature.

Steve Payne, Lewisporte #1, from the series ‘Front’, C-print, 2010. $250 A/P, $175 (5 available)

This is a curious image to me. It’s colouring and theme remind me of Stephen Shore’s Uncommon Places (http://www.303gallery.com/artists/stephen_shore/index.php?exhid=98&p=images). At first glance the structure seems alone in the landscape and its rusty hinges and lock make me think it’s abandoned. On closer inspection Payne has included a soft reflection in its window of another building to hint at its context.

Other Picks: Susan Schelle – “rapunsel” 2011, Robin Cumming – “Lady 9 (from ‘Lady Things’), Alex Kisilevich – “Thunder as Wolf as Sheep”, Rob MacInnis – “Dress Rehearsal 2″, Ryan Park – “Untitled”, Bill Finger – “View”, Darren Rigo – “the innermost part”

Don’t miss your chance to purchase a limited edition artwork to grace your walls.

Condé and Beveridge have participated in Photorama throughout its 25 year history. This year they are offering a new work representative of their elaborately produced photomontages dealing with one of the most politically charged events in recent history entitled Liberty Lost.

Liberty Lost (G20, Toronto), Lightjet print, 40 x 60 inches, 2010.
$350 unframed

The following description was provided by the artists:
Liberty Lost (G20, Toronto) is the artists’ response to the events surrounding the G20 Summit in Toronto in 2010, and, in particular, the massive and repressive police presence. It is loosely based on Eugene Delacroix’s painting Liberty Guiding the People (sometimes referred to as ‘Liberty on the Barricades’) painted during the insurrection of 1830 in Paris.

While Delacroix’s painting represents the struggle for liberal or parliamentary democracy in 18th and 19th century France, Liberty Lost represents the limits of that form of democracy; a form that protects private ownership and wealth.

I will begin my favourites’ list with my two purchases from this year’s Photorama. When I received the jpegs for these works months ago, there was something about them that lingered for me. When unpacking them during installation, I knew it was love.

Rigo’s piece offers reminders of historical texts and adventurer novels that I grew up with and return to often. Not only that, but it will look fantastic above my vintage Italian sofa that is hand embroidered in a muted green, now to be enlivened by Rigo’s piece that will hang above it. This piece was taken only a month ago on his parent’s farm outside of the city, a site that Rigo returns to often as his photographic landscape. Rigo also has an incredible body of work on his website that is worth checking out.

Robyn McCallum, Anna, $250 framed, SOLD OUT

McCallum’s work is undeniably charming, playful and endearing. And to pull off all three is quite a challenge! Anna, like much of McCallum’s work, appropriates vintage pornographic imagery with tropical or floral backgrounds. What can I say? I’ve been seduced.

Michelle O’Byrne, Untitled, $225 framed, SOLD OUT

Michelle O’Byrne’s collage references Dada and Constructivist works that have a warm place in my heart. Encased in a plastic sleeve on paper, O’Byrne intermixes pieces from vintage magazines to create an uncanny take on the traditional Still Life. Similarly, her photograph within this year’s Silver Editions, English Silver, is a no-brainer for any collection.

Derek Liddington, Collage Study, $700 framed

Derek Liddington is a great friend of TPW’s. He is first and foremost a great artist. His black-and-white collage employs appropriated imagery as a means of executing a precarious and amusing scene of movement. I like to pretend that the two moving figures (Yvonne Rainer and Sol LeWitt) are my parents teaching each other to dance in their early days of romance. I have yet to clear this up with Derek, but am curious to hear his take on it.

Alex Kisilevich, Thunder as Wolf as Sheep, $200 unframed, (1 more available)

Oh Alex. His work is a favourite of a lot of us here at TPW. His work is minimal, surprising, nostalgic, and playful. Not only is this work both hilarious and interesting, but it also makes me fall in love with his dog Thunder each time I look at it. Alex has an incredible body of work that I have been eying for quite some time. He just had a solo show in China at the Lianzhou. He is definitely an up-and-coming artist to have on your radar, collectors!

Runners Up:

Bill Finger, After Psycho
Abbas Akhavan, and after and after (2003)
Robert Canali, Standard
Zeesy Powers, Magic Tan 1 and Magic Tan 2
Jean-Paul Kelly, 1899, 1904 (after Kasebier)

Robyn Cumming’s Lady 9 sold out so quickly at the opening night that some people went home empty handed and disappointed. We spoke to Robyn today and she has agreed to make a new edition of Lady 9, at a larger size of 16″ x 20″, for $350 unframed (edition of 10).

Call us at 416 645 1066 if you would like to make a purchase.

We sold all of Alex Kisilevich‘s Thunder as Wolf, as Sheep, HOWEVER he has decided to make one more available (the last of the edition). It’s edition of 5 and at $200 unframed it’s a steal.

Jamie Campbell has also allowed TPW to continue selling more of his popular Untitled work (Portal). $150 unframed.

Suzy Lake‘s emasculating still life has sole a few with several more available. $800 unframed.

There are also some great works that haven’t sold yet, like Bill Finger‘s amazing After Psycho or Andrew Wright‘s Scene.

If you haven’t come by, you definitely should come tonight to hear Bill Clarke lead a tour and talk about art collecting.

Alex Kisilevich, Thunder as Wolf, as Sheep, $200, 1 LEFT

I purchased Alex Kisilevich’s Thunder as Wolf, as Sheep. I don’t have a lot of money, but I like to collect work when I can. An event like Photorama has some pretty great options for collectors on a budget. When I’m picking out works that I want to add to my collection I like to think about how I would feel living with a piece – sometimes there are works that I really love, but I can’t imagine waking up with them everyday. I went to look at Thunder as Wolf, as Sheep everyday for a week and it made me laugh every time. That was enough to convince me that I had to have it.

Other picks: Aislinn Thomas – Note 2 – Place, Kotama Bouabane – Stroll, Bill Finger – After Pscyho, Ryan Park – Untitled, Bob Wilson – C’est ne pas jesus, Lindsey Cope Picture Of A Bag Inside The Bag, Matthew Williamson whoa man, Derek Liddington – collage study, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino – Gnomon – Cone, Herring, Island, 1pm

This is a smart and compelling work by multi-disciplinary artist Abbas Akhavan who has been busy travelling the world over with his work these last few years… most recently fresh off a stint at Performa in NYC. A small, double passport-size portrait calmly comments on contemporary identification measures in relation to information vs. accusation. Aside from it just being a really good piece, you heard it here… Akhavan is worth collecting.

Andrew Wright, Scene, C-print, 2001.  $600 framed

I can’t believe this hasn’t sold yet! A totally classic image by now Ottawa based Andrew Wright. Wright’s practice has most often commented on the physical and philosophical apparatus of photography and vision in relation to landscape, and this image is a great piece from his oeuvre. What’s being illuminated here? We may be anticipating a scene about to occur… until we realize that the lights lighting each other are in fact the scene.

Meera Margaret Singh, Batwings, C-print, 2008.  $650 framed / $350 unframed

I quite like this work by great portrait photographer Meera Margaret Singh. Aside from just being a lovely composition… there’s something about the sexy androgyny of the figure combined with the tattoos that, although we’re told are batwings, remind me more of the grim reaper.