Art Toronto, Metro Toronto Convention Center, Oct 24-27, 2019

November 3, 2019 | Posted in:Vellum News

Held annually in a big city with a small-town feel Art Toronto is the largest contemporary art fair in Canada. Showcasing galleries from all the provinces and perhaps the largest representation of Inuit art in the world, it combines new and old on a balanced scale. Representing one of three spaces from the New York area Vellum Projects presented “Zion Gazing” which explored a discourse between man, animal and the environment. Vellum is a magazine which focuses on emerging artists from all over the world the majority currently working in New York City. The projects area of the mag is the curatorial vision of publisher Stephanie Young, who features many of these artists. Here in Toronto the exhibition presented Marcy Brafman, Jennifer Deppe Parker and Diana Wege, all who have appeared in the mag. Zion showcased Diana Wege’s “Nine Lives” piece from 1993. Created as a grid with nine drawings on handmade paper each identical, yet randomly tainted with sketches, origami, writings and other paraphernalia. The work’s title references the popular saying which is even more prevalent today than twenty five years ago when it was first created, a quiet cry for our planet’s survival. Both Deppe Parker and Brafman find meaning and metaphor through the creatures that roam the earth. Using recycled magazine paper in collage format Deppe Parker alludes to her subject’s perspective through their eyes while Brafman searches for similarities in animal and human behavior. The special curatorial section sponsored by Rbc featured work by Rajni Perera a Sri Lankan artist currently living in Toronto who uses portraiture and figure to meditate on symbiosis and transformation. The booth was nicely curated by Aiden Gillis of Art Gallery Nova Scotia. Other gems included an original Calder gouache drawing which burst from its frame in bold Calder color bringing to mind a circus wave and Caroline Larsen, whose thickly painted semi-abstracted landscape created an intriguing optical illusion of needlepoint. The fair created an atmosphere of positive energy which was kept at a nice steady pace throughout its four day run neither overwhelming the visitor or participant.