Gary Chapple - Detours

G a r y C h a p p l e
D e t o u r s

M a y 1 9 , 2 0 1 0 - C o n t a c t P h o t o g r a p h y F e s t i v a l

On Wednesday May 19th, i went into TO to see some of the Contact Photography Festival exhibits. I was rather ambitious, as i saw less than half of what i'd intended. This year's theme was Pervasive Influence: Exploring the social and political consequences of the medium of photography, in a world devoted to the image.

First i stopped to take some photos of flowers after getting off at the Museum subway stop.

Over exposed, so i decided to push it.

Through The Vanishing Point by Lewis Kaye and David Rokeby. I'm not big on 'video installations' in the first place, but worse this was in a building, visible through a window at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology building at the University of Toronto. So, i saw pretty much nothing.

The back of the Ontario Provincial Legislature Building.

Nice shirt in the window.

Into the University College building, where the University of Toronto Art Centre is (didn't exist when i went to U of T).

The Art Centre had an exhibit about Marshall McLuhan that was very good (they had a TV interview session, where he sat in the middle of a circular theatre, and had to spin around to answerr audience questions - oh, the 60s, lol), plus beyond an exhibit called The Brothel Without Walls. "Marshall McLuhan wrote of the photograph as 'the brothel without walls'. McLuhan described photographs as 'dreams that money can buy' which could be 'hugged and thumbed more easily than public prostitutes.' The exhibition The Brothel Without Walls considers McLuhan’s metaphor within today’s global village, where it appears that the illusions images create are often preferable to reality."

Evan Baden, Jenna, from the series 'Technically Intimate', 2009

Douglas Coupland (yes, that Douglas Coupland), Prows, from the series 'Colour Correction', 2010

Jessica Dimmock, Madonna, from the series 'Paparazzi!', 2009

Marina Gadonneix, Mire #8, from the series 'Remote Control, Paris', 2006-07

Susan Anderson, Danica, Age 5 Santa Ana, California, from the series 'High Glitz', 2005

Oh right, i had a blood test that morning, lol.

I'd walked from Museum stop, to the east side of Queen's Park, then across Queen's Park to the UC building, then down King's College Circle and through to Baldwin, which was kind of perfect place to stop for a bite. A very long time since i ate at Cafe la Gaffe.

This is grilled marinated chicken breast, with an apricot, port & ginger glaze, with a 'market' salad and pesto pasta.

This is AGO's public installation, Untitled (It) by Barbara Kruger. "Her bold works – declarative texts juxtaposed with found images – question the assumptions embedded in advertising and the limits of individual agency in a consumer society." If you say so!

Don't you love streetcars?

Going west along Dundas on the streetcar.

Through Chinatown.

Not sure about the show here, as the place was closed. I am annoyed by the picture in the window, which has ripped off artist Neal Adams (and whoever did the lion).

Some random graffiti.

Almost an animation!

Some furniture shop on Ossington.

Not a Contact show, but mildly amusing.

Scotiabank love.

The last show was The Mechanical Bride at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art. "The renowned Canadian theorist Marshall McLuhan applied techniques of art criticism to assess the affect of mass media upon the public in his groundbreaking book published in 1951, The Mechanical Bride. Reflecting the enduring influence of Marshall McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride exhibition explores the social and cultural affect of images and their emotional and political implications."

Jacqueline Hassink, the series 'Car Girls', 2006-08.