Summer daze without group-show convention
Ongoing A Viewing Room: The summer exhibition season is upon us, which means most galleries turn things down a notch and venture into their storage spaces with a mind to cobbling together a group presentation that matches, generally, the seasonal mood of laid-back lethargy. At Susan Hobbs, they go it one better — much better — by surrendering entirely to the summer torpor. Through the summer, the gallery is in the hands of furniture designers Mercury Bureau and Tom Chung, and the emphasis is as much on the environment — parlour-like seating, homey rugs — as the rotating slate of art that surrounds it. Informality rules, as the daily cocktail hour would suggest — 3 to 5 p.m. daily, with an emphasis on gin — meaning to lubricate conversation about art, collecting and whatever else might be on your mind these lazy summer days. Now that’s a summer exhibition anyone can get behind.
At Susan Hobbs Gallery, 137 Tecumseth St., until Aug. 13 DIY: MKG127 has always had a convivial way of resisting the dust-offthe-storage-bin convention of summer shows and DIYis its latest of five summer efforts curated by local art- ists. This time, it’s Dave Dyment, whose own DIY aesthetic filters through music and popular culture most often; here, it applies to a gang of nine artists and collectives for whom rolling up sleeves can be literal, figurative or a combination of both. From Michael Dumontier’s precise, minimal rendering of a blunt instrument like an axe to the rough-and-ready cobbling of VSVSVS, DIY embraces labour of all kinds as something to love.
At MKG127, 1445 Dundas St. W., until Aug. 20. Cathedral of the Salamanders: Summer, more than any season, seems primed for the non-sequitur and at Clint Roenisch, they’re not holding back. But don’t be too quick to dismiss: the idea of sanctuary — idealism, the moment before despoilment — looms large here, from an Adam-and-Eve-esque line drawing by Tony Romano to a monumental, primal canvas by Harold Klunder, suggesting that wildness is its own order; or was, before we got involved. Indeed, Romano’s idyllic lead image carries forth with the shadow of impending doom in a watchful skull, tucked above the happy couple, who knew a fall from grace better than any.
At Clint Roenisch Gallery, 190 St. Helens Ave., until Saturday. PED.Toronto: Air-conditioned gallery spaces provide welcome respite from summer heat along with their usual dose of enlightenment, but for those wanting a little sweat with their cultural experience the Koffler Gallery is more than happy to provide. All summer, the gallery serves as a bicycle hub, where you can grab a bike (for free, though there is a deposit) and partake of a slate of city tours designed by your artist guides, the PED Collective. Take a spin through the neighbouring Queen St. W. neighbourhood and the bike-mounted speaker provides the context for a tour of a neighbourhood in constant “transition,” for better or worse.
At the Koffler Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw St, until Aug. 21