It turns out that one of the key staffers at MOCCA also runs occasional shows out of his loft gallery over on Niagara. I just happened to be reading the Toronto Star on Monday when the story came across that they were doing a one-day show with a high concept twist -- any painting unsold at midnight would be burned. Also, the pieces were all pretty much 8.5 x 11, and they were mostly priced from $50-300 to help spur quick sales.
I decided that I ought to check this out, so I managed to find the place after work and looked around. As one might imagine, the artwork was of various quality and probably not the very best that the artists in the show had available, as they knew there was a significant risk of it going up in smoke. I decided to "rescue" one of the pieces. In fact, it is one of the ones in the picture in the paper, though I hadn't realized that at the time.
I think it would have been fun to stick around until the show ended and the fire was lit, but I really had to get back home. My understanding is that most of the pieces did sell and only 20 or so were actually burned.
Flash forward to Friday, I arranged to pick up my piece at MOCCA, which was a good time to catch the Vera Frenkel show Ways of Telling.
It is hard to really describe the show. Part of it is mixed media, including a file cabinet supposedly filled with private information on other artists or actors (at least I think that was the concept). There were several video installations, with my favourite being The Blue Train. I should have taken a bit longer listening to and exploring this piece, but I was running quite late, as I was at work writing memoranda until 7 pm. I might try to go back Sat. or Sun. in the late afternoon. It isn't entirely clear to me if Ryerson or MOCCA or both now own a copy of The Blue Train.
The real centerpiece of the exhibit is The Transit Bar, which is a functioning bar where drinks are served and occasionally there is a piano player. You are essentially a participant in reenacting a bar (I believe in postwar Germany) and you can passively or actively engage in such role-playing. I was pleased to see that the piano player was on the job when I strolled in. I didn't drink, but I did sit down and read some of the newspapers. There were a few other people sitting in the space. Shortly after I sat down, my contact turned up. We spoke a few words, and then he left to go talk to an older woman. I half-suspected this was Vera Frenkel herself, and I was right. So two artist sightings in 3 days -- not bad. (And three if you count Art Spiegelman's wife, who was also at the AGO, though I suppose she is more of an editor/publisher, but still a key figure in the New York art world.)
I guess the two of us, sitting and discussing the show (in our dark trench coats) was just too perfect, and I noticed that Vera took a few photos of us, so perhaps we'll end up in some future project. It was interesting to learn that the National Gallery in Ottawa actually owns The Transit Bar, but it certainly isn't something they display on a routine basis, so there really is just one week left to check this out if it sounds of interest. It was a nice moment, and perhaps a bit of a turning point as I start to make greater efforts to make some contacts in Toronto's art and theatre and even literary scenes.
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