Prepare for art fair fun
Consider it a calm before the storm. In a couple of weeks, a pair of art fairs, Art Toronto and Feature, move into town, so savour the peace while you can.
Lecture University of Toronto Art Centre: UTAC wraps up The Flesh of the World, its daring multi-venue exhibition taking on a breadth of bodily representation and function with its annual Janet E. Hutchinson lecture delivered by the University of Illinois’s Carrie Sandahl.
Afterwards, the event will showcase a performance of Catherine Richards’ Shroud Chrysalis, inviting audience members to be bundled in copper taffeta, an electromagnetic shield.
Wednesday, 4:30 to 6 p.m., UTAC, 15 King’s College Circle.
Opening Ray Mead: Abstraction Through Line: Mead, a charter member of Painters Eleven, a Canadian collection of abstract painting confreres that included such luminaries as Jack Bush and Kazuo Nakamura, died in 1998.
His estate bestowed some 500 drawings in the Robert McLaughlin Gallery the following year, making its trove a completist’s dream for the roots of abstraction in English Canada.
Saturday, RMG, 72 Queen St., Civic Centre Oshawa, until Jan. 24.
Ongoing Clandestine Chemistry: Manny Neubacher, one of the gallery’s principals, was hesitant to speak about this show, citing legal concerns and at least one pending approval from a well-known organization linked to illicit activities (think for a moment; you’ll know).
All of which makes for an intriguing, if somewhat vague, enticement to the gallery’s inaugural exhibition in what used to be a motorcycle repair shop. With work by Dean Drever, Brad Tinmouth, Tough Guy Mountain and Consortium of Thieves.
Neubacher Shor Contemporary, 250 Emerson Ave., until Oct. 17.
Last chance past present FUTURE: Newly decamped from Dundas St. W., Erin Stump’s opening show, assembled with a helping hand from Narwhal’s Kristin Weckworth, conveys an optimism that suggests Dupont St. will be a well-worn art avenue sooner, not later.
Featured artists include Katie Bethune-Leamen, Fastwurms, Maggie Groat, Susy Oliveira, Cameron Lee and Annie MacDonell.
ESP Projects, 1558 Dupont St., until Saturday.