Tattoo exhibit

I'm a complete museum junkie. Just can't get enough of them. Want to see them all! So, while checking out Chihuly, I knew I couldn't just stop there and popped over to 'Tattoos. Ritual. Identity. Obsession. Art'; another exhibit I was dying to see.

Not only was it a visual treat with the designs and artistic works on display it was also a history lesson about the tools, the stigma, the practice of this old art form.

I love this Japanese painting. The look of utter discomfort expressed in her body with just the tiniest hint as to its source. I couldn't stop studying it.

This is a decorative plate of Rusty Fields, the most tattoo'd British woman. In America people purposely covered themselves in tattoos in order to join Side Shows and earn a living. Seeing a person covered in tattoos was an oddity to 'normal' society.

It was interesting to see this picture of a young Anna Gibbons juxtaposed to an older Anna Gibbons. She is covered in religious tattoos given to her by her husband.

Most favourite image of the whole exhibit. This would be me if I ever actually got a tattoo.

It was an enjoyable exhibit and if you want to check it out yourself you have to make it fast! It ends September 5, 2016.

Tickets available here

ROM 

100 Queen's Park,

Toronto, Ontario

Monday to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00AM-5:30PM

Friday 10:00AM-8:30PM

Don't miss a post! 

Sign up for email posts (found on the sidebar), like my facebook page, or follow me on bloglovin'. You can also keep up with my instagram feed and I occasionally tweet.

Let's get social

Chihuly

Have you heard of Dale Chihuly?

If you haven't you probably would still recognize his blown glass work on display all over the world. Back to when I lived in London, I had the opportunity to visit a Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Halcyon Gallery and loved seeing all the individual pieces on display.

The Toronto exhibit, on now until January 2nd 2017, is nothing like the display in London. At the beginning of the exhibition is a quote from Chihuly ''I want people to be overwhelmed with light and colour in a way that they've never experienced.'' And he does just that.

This large scale, all encompassing, display creates a real feeling of theme and emotion. The glass sparkles under the special lighting and I could have spent hours looking at each piece. The scale of displays dwarfs the viewer, demanding reverence and attention with its presence.

If you can get yourself to the ROM for this exhibit I'd say do it. DO IT NOW! So worth it!

Tickets available online here

ROM 

100 Queen's Park,

Toronto, Ontario

Monday to Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10:00AM-5:30PM

Friday 10:00AM-8:30PM

Who's your favourite artist? Have you seen one of Chihuly's pieces before? Let me know in the comments below!

Don't miss a post! 

Sign up for email posts (found on the sidebar), like my facebook page, or follow me on bloglovin'. You can also keep up with my instagram feed and I occasionally tweet.

Let's get social

everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything at MOCCA

I never got around to reading the wildly popular Douglas Coupland debut novel, Generation X, but he has stayed on my radar over the years with subsequent novels (that I didn't read). So when I heard he had a contemporary art exhibit open in Toronto at both the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art I figured, THAT I could do. (I visited MOCCA on this day, but here's a exhibition review of the joint display at the ROM)

Admittedly, Coupland draws inspiration from pop art icons such as Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein. This exhibit is a colourful, fun, and quirky display, mostly using found and collected materials arranged in ways that made me feel like I was viewing the cluttered contents of the artist's mind and his impressions and conscious thoughts on Canadian identity.

His paintings were influenced by, and in some cases direct homages to, iconic Canadian artists like the Group of Seven; reduced to mere shapes and colours. Although they looked nothing like their inspired landscape images they could still be identified with their emotive "canadian-ness"; the Canadian connection with nature and her wilderness. 

As you make your way out of MOCCA there is a #GrowingUpUtopian family photo album. It is being made up of photos submitted to Twitter relating to Canadians' optimistic moments from their childhood. The end result I image to be one great, big, happy, Canadian family album.

There was a second gallery space that had an unrelated LED billboard with a statement that made me giggle with it's trueness. 

You can catch everywhere is anywhere is anything is everything at the

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art until April 19, 2015

(admission by donation)

and at the Royal Ontario Museum until April 26, 2015

(admission free with general museum admission fee)

If you'd like to learn more about Douglas Coupland check out the Artsy website. It provides visitors with his bio, over 30 examples of his work, exclusive articles, as well as up-to-date Coupland exhibiton listings. The page even includes related artists and category tags, plus suggested contemporary artists, allowing viewers to continue exploring art beyond Coupland.

Don't miss a post! 

Sign up for email posts (found on the sidebar), like my facebook page, or follow me on bloglovin'. You can also keep up with my instagram feed and I occasionally tweet.

Let's get social