Toronto Art Boggart, Art Critic – Toronto
The persona Toronto Art Boggart and its art writing act as a strategy in a larger Toronto propaganda project. The goal of this propaganda is to make Toronto a globally notable art city. Through engaging in conversation and provocation, Toronto Art Boggart’s hope is to ignite and strengthen the dialogue about what artistic ambition can look like in this great city. Toronto Art Boggart lives, breathes, works, and will die in Toronto.
- Atom Egoyan & Toronto erotic thrillers
Toronto is a sexy city. But really it is a city that is meant to be seen through video. No one does this better, in my opinion, than Atom Egoyan. Toronto’s sweetheart, he shades the city with myth, confusion, and passion.
- Brat Star & Etobicoke
She is a star and a musician, but more importantly she reps Etobicoke. Etobicoke will be Toronto’s Brooklyn within a matter of minutes. So run. Brat Star is calling. Run past the Queensway to the Lakeshore. And be sure to check out Brat Star’s upcoming album Southern Ontario Gothic for all your moody Lake Ontario bars.
- Parlour Critique Club Nights
Imagine a space in Toronto where critical dialogue is respected. Where we can say what we feel and leave questioning each other, but still be friends. The current Parlour Critique Club was formed out of the previous critique club run by Laaya Tabei and Callum Donovan-Grujicich at Ontario College of Art and Design “University”. Now the two are half of the group that run Parlour, a garage gallery, along with Reiley Whelen and Owen Kosmala. In between installations, the young gallerists host a critique club night where anyone is welcome to show their work. To me, these nights represent something big. The air always feels potent. I think this has been a missing piece in the Toronto art scene.
- Houndstooth & Rosa Branca Sports Bar (Combination Mix)
One major street away from the lower Ossington strip, you will find these two neighbouring – and I mean neighbouring – bars. One is a DIY “artist” type bar that promotes independent performances and events. But don’t be fooled. Marketing bros can be spotted here on occasion. Directly beside it, you will find the Euro-Portuguese Rosa Branca Sports Bar often sporting a more earnest crowd. In the past few years, however, as more normie types encroach onto Houndstooth, the artists have started to move over to Rosa. I suppose they feel the most ironic thing they can do is be an honest hardworking kinda guy. What confounds me about the duo is their proximity and now overlap, which seems to perfectly represent where post-gentrification visual culture currently seems to stand.
- Google Pixel 6a
I couldn’t do a list of my top five without mentioning the one who got me through it all. My Google Pixel 6a made all my Instagram/blog posting possible. She passed not two days ago, but will forever live on.