TORONTO — Appropriation and amalgamation take center stage at “Beat Nation,” organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and currently on view at The Power Plant in Toronto, a show focusing on the influence of hip hop culture in Aboriginal contemporary art.
Toronto
Art Teachers Rock!
I came across this wonderful story in the Hackensack Chronicle and my heart melted. Art teachers are the heart and soul of the visual arts but they often don’t get the recognition they deserve. I was happy to hear that this small group of teachers in Hackensack was recognized by the Art Educators of New Jersey for their service.
I have personally benefited immensely from great art teachers and I’ve been fortunate enough to have quite a few along the way. The one who made the biggest impression on me was Toronto painter Ron Satok, who is famous for having painted a prominent mural at the original Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Incredibly, Satok is blind.
Barbara Kruger Tells You to Love, Shove, Blame … the Art Gallery of Ontario
The Dundas Street façade of Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario has been overtaken by a massive block-long banner created by propaganda-inspired artist Barbara Kruger. Titled “Untitled (It)” (2010), the block-long Kruger feels polite and subdued — two words, strangely, often used to describe the city of Toronto itself.
The Destroyed Bamiyan Buddha Inspires An Exhibition
While it became a worldwide symbol of the cruel Taliban regime and its intolerance towards difference, the destroyed colossal Buddha of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan valley has inspired a small exhibition which opened last Saturday at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum.