Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009 - (Page 46)
A Star is Born — The New AGO An already important North American museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has just vaulted into world status with a $276-million overhaul by architect Frank Gehry, the irrepressible mastermind whose team is behind the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain and the Disney Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles, among others. Toronto-born Gehry, now 79, lavished time and thought on the expansion of the AGO, fuelled by boyhood memories of visiting the gallery and playing on its grounds, right beside his grandmother’s house. Owing to a brilliant rethinking of its spaces and amenities, the results exceed all expectations. While the building has only been enlarged by 20 percent there is, miraculously, almost a 50-percent increase in art-viewing space, which, along with exciting new amenities, has made the gallery an international art and architecture destination. For example, Toronto collectors George Hartman and Arlene Goldman acquired The Index, an exotic sculptural installation involving an ersatz werewolf and a man-sized figure with a bird head, by Montreal artist David Altmejd. “We are donating this major work by this young internationally recognized Canadian artist to lend a hand in positioning the AGO at the highest level of leadership on the world stage in contemporary art,” says the couple. The Gehry team, in collaboration with astute AGO staffers, has made the AGO’s treasure trove of art much more accessible. Just inside the main entrance are the Thomson galleries of Canadian and European art, named after the late lead donor, media magnate Kenneth Thomson, whose gifts precipitated the expansion project. The Thomson gifts led to other major donations, including collections of African and Australian aboriginal art, photography, and works by vanguard Cologne Dada artists. All of these additions, combined with the gallery’s existing collections, put the AGO on the map for art appreciators. Gehry architecture groupies can rest easy; there are several striking variants of his sculptural elliptical staircases and the museum’s exterior is clad with his signature titanium, in an azure-blue that blends visually into the sky, a carapace applied in thousands of square sheets lending the exterior an endearingly quilted aspect. A glass-walled, visor-shaped galleria with mighty wooden ribs extends 180 metres down the length of the entrance facade and is another architectural detail that is standout Gehry. With the transformation of the Art Gallery of Ontario, chuffed Torontonians can now make a watertight case for heralding our city as one of the world’s compelling destinations for art and culture. A newly renovated AGO draws excited art enthusiasts. I t’s official. Toronto has become a go-to destination for art — one of the continent’s best. As a cultural hot spot, it has now attained critical mass in terms of museums, galleries, arts festivals and creative talent. Enthusiasts have long known Toronto to be a terrific city to see (and buy) art and to take in film and performing arts. After all, every year sees a host of arts-based celebrations: there’s the Toronto International Film Festival (in September); the dusk-to-dawn, street-based Nuit Blanche “art thing” (in early fall); the Toronto International Art Fair (in October); month-long Contact Photography Festival (in May); and LuminaTO, a new multidisciplinary arts festival (in June). But if Toronto was the best-kept secret of art appreciators, well, the secret’s out. This is the city’s big international moment. Toronto has become Arts Central, an evolution triggered in part by the midNovember 2008 reopening of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto’s major public art museum (see sidebar). But that’s only part of the story. Toronto’s dominance in the international arts scene and among high-end collectors can be attributed to the good health of its galleries and fairs, as well as the robustness of the artists themselves. It helps that the Toronto International Art Fair was recently bought by Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. (MMPI), a major player in the American art trade-show business that is now using its significant prestige to draw global collectors to this city. Further bolstering Toronto’s art exposition roster, MMPI has also acquired the One of a Kind fine craft show (now in its 34th year) and launched a new spring show for independent artists, The Artist Project. According to Steven Levy, senior vicepresident of MMPI Canada, “Our parent company is a savvy organization with a long-term interest in Canada as a marketplace for quality art.” 46 | www.SeeTorontoNow.com
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
Contents
Contributors
Welcome
Cityscapes
Toast of the Town
In the Night Garden
Gooooal!
Take a Moment
Faces of Toronto
Red Rocket
Past Perfection
Water Lust
The Artist’s City
Living the Green Dream
York Region and North Toronto
Mississauga Marvels
Vine Country
Discovery Walks
Neighbourhoods of Greater Toronto
Listings
Visitor Resources
2009 Event Calendar
Parting Shot
Toronto Tourism Magazine 2009
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