CONTACT 2013 / week 3 and 4

Opening Receptions – the third and forth week of  Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, 2013:

Norman Wong x Arts & Crafts
Opening Reception: May 23, 2013,  8 – 10 p.m.
May 23 – June 15, 2013
A&C Pop-Up
1093 Queen St W Unit 2

Artist Norman Wong at the opening reception with his portrait photo of Kevin Drew

In celebration of Arts & Crafts Productions’ ten year anniversary, Norman Wong x Arts & Crafts includes an iconic black-and-white portrait series featuring artists of the Arts & Crafts roster, as well as a photographic retrospective on the record label. Wong, a Toronto-based fashion and celebrity photographer, is a longtime friend of Arts & Crafts and has had a unique opportunity through the years to document and work with musicians associated with the Arts & Crafts label.

“I am tremendously excited to present the body work that represents my start as a photographer, and at times has been one of the reasons I kept going. These are photographs of people who mean a lot to me. They are my friends, family and heroes and it’s a special honor to finally show this private collection as part of AC10 celebrations” – Norman Wong.

Walls covered by photographs of celebrities

Photo: Celeste Ringrose

InSight Part II
Opening Reception: May 16, 2013, 7 p.m.
May 16 – 26, 2013
Gallery 1313
1313 Queen St. West

Another didactic exhibition by members of Gallery 44 opened on May 16 . The warm weather encouraged a large visitor presence boosted by artists.

In this two-part exhibition, 30 members of artist-run Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography use a variety of styles and approaches, including digital and chemistry-based processes, to share their conscious and subconscious understanding of the world around and within.

Dennis Duncan, Shifting Number 3, 2013

Whether seeing into underlying truths or perceiving new associations, the artists in InSight share a unique range of vision.

Visitors with Keith Davidson’s work, Untitled

Staff from Gallery 44 also showed up to help celebrate the reception for these 15 photographers.

Text and photo: Phil Anderson

Banal Baroque by Elizabeth Zvonar
Opening Reception: May 15,2013, 6 – 8 p.m.
May 15 – June 15, 2013
Daniel Faria Gallery
188 St Helens Ave

Banal Baroque is Vancouver-based Elizabeth Zvonar’s first solo exhibition in Toronto, featuring prints of the artist’s collage work, as well as her sculptures.

Elizabeth Zvonar with her work

Blending content from contemporary fashion and science magazines with themes and imagery pulled from historical lifestyle monthlies, Zvonar alters her source material to make images that are strange enough to invite closer contemplation.

Elizabeth Zvonar, Blind Love, 2012

The exhibition engages a conversation about daydreaming and history, the future and metaphysics, light humour, sex, and other complications. Zvonar continues to explore themes of the unknown and the possibility of something more.

The most interesting abstraction leaves room enough for metaphor; or maybe the most interesting metaphor leaves room enough for abstraction.

Photo: Fox Martindale

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