Japan Fundraisers

I'm taking place in a couple of auctions for the relief efforts in Japan here is the info:


Time: Tuesday march 29th at 7:00pm - Wednesday March 30th at 2:00am

Location:

The Great Hall

1087 Queen Street West

Toronto, ON

Our heart and minds are with the Japanese people and now its time for action!
The Toronto arts community felt the shock much like everyone else when images first started to appear on the news and stories through friends started to come in

Many of the artists have traveled to Japan as visiting artists or to study its rich culture and its embrace with nature and nurture. We have made many friends and built bridges through collabora...tions and deep friendship

Curator Rafi Ghanaghounian and Artist Daisuke Takeya are organizing a fundraiser event that will bring the arts community of Toronto together to support our friends in Japan both mentally and financially. All artists and performers will give their time and efforts for this very cause

This night will include musicians, artists, poets from both Canada and Japan. As well galleries have donated books and other items available for purchase

Thank you for your support!

Participating groups, sponsors and partners:
The Great Hall, GUU restaurant, K6cards, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Japanese Visitors Association (JAVA), Nihongo Art Contest 2011, Toronto Artists Fund Raising, Orange LLP, Healing Japan, Hardboiledinc for doing our shirts!!

Special Thanks to: Kateryna Topol, Christine Seki

Participating galleries (more coming!):
OBorn Contemporary, Le Gallery, Show and Tell Gallery, Art Metropole, Koyama Press, Narwhal/Magic Pony, OUCHI Gallery NYC, Orbital arts

Participating artists (more coming!):
Howard Podeswa, Laura Horne, Fiona Smyth, Yuriko Kubota, Tomori Nagamoto, Winnie Truong, Nicholas Di Genova, Shigeko Okada, Keiko Tokushima, Ayako Bando, Sonomi, Kobayashi, Bernice Lum, Ron Loranger, Pierre Julien, Richelle Forsey, Jae-hong Ahn, Juno Youn, Miki Shinozaki, Keita Morimoto, Shinobu Akimoto, Yumi Onose, Shinya Kumazawa, Martin de la Rue, Joshua Choi, James Fowler, Martin Ouellette, Patrick DeCoste, Daisuke Takeya, Matt Evans, Martin Reis, Aisha Simpson, Harvey Chan, Peter Chan, Shary Boyle, Akira Yoshikawa, Rie Aikawa, Bud Fujikawa, Laura Adams,Tanya Reed, Dasar, REN, Amy Wong, Risa Kusumoto, Chrisopher Hayes

Participating performers:

Your MC's for the evening:
Rafi Ghanaghounian and Nana Akimoto

music:
Clara Venice and Ken Ogawa
Nobu Adilman: Choir!Choir!Choir!
Rambunctious featuring Michael Louis Johnson
Ashely Ingram

performance:
AKA Dance (Keiko Ninomiya, Amy Hampton, Mike Dell)
Natasha Bailey, Nayeon Kim, Adam Herst, Yumi Onose
VPV (Daisuke Takeya, Ayumi Sawada, Tatsu)

tea ceremony:
Tomori Nagamoto and Mika Sato

poetry by:
Ewan Whyte, Bonnie Bowman

DJ
Luis Jacob
Derek Mainella

Time: Thursday, March 31 at 12:00pm - April 5 at 8:00pm

Location: Gladstone Hotel, 2nd Floor

Narwhal Art Projects, Invisible-Friends and friends are excited to host Toronto Hearts Japan, a fundraiser for our far-away loves. Our hearts have been broken by news of devastated towns and people separated from their homes and families, and we want to help. This event lets all of us who feel a special connection to Japan lend a hand in our own way. All proceeds will be donated to The Red Cross and to helping rebuild the Birdo ...Flugas Artist Centre and Community in Shiogama.

Toronto Hearts Japan is an exhibition, silent auction, and two (count them!) parties at the beloved Gladstone Hotel (with DJ Paul E. Lopes and DJ Jun). Featuring works from local to international artists (and other surprises too), everybody can find a way to offer our hearts to Japan and help them soldier on.

Silent Auction Art Exhibition:
Thurs March 31- Tues April 5th
12-5pm daily, Gladstone Hotel 2nd Floor

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday April 1st
7-10pm

$20 admission (includes raffle ticket)
*Special one night only auction and raffle with art gifts and surprises*
With DJ Paul E. Lopes (Bump N' Hustle) & DJ Jun (Cr8apes.com, Invisible-Friends.com)


CLOSING RECEPTION
Tuesday April 5th 5-8pm
Winners of our silent art auction will be announced at 7pm. Art pickup from 7-8pm.

More info and art preview at: www.torontoheartsjapan.com

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PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Sonja Ahlers, Paul Aloisi, Nicholas Aoki, Stephen Appleby-Barr, Andrew Remington Bailey, Ashley Barron, Marc Bell, Diego Bergia, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Shary Boyle, Mat Brown, Robin Cameron, Tyler Clark-Burke, Trudie Cheng, Mark Connery, Robert Dayton, Taku Dazai, Brett Despotovich, Yuri Didrichsons, Nicholas DiGenova, Brian Donnelly, Dave Dyment, Shayne Ehman, Matthew Feyld, Melissa Fisher, Brendan Flanagan, Theo Gallaro, James Gardner, Shannon Gerard, Dana Gils, Heather Goodchild, Adrian Hayles, Sachi Hirano, Derrick Hodgson, Jay Isaac, Melinda Josie, Nathan Jurevicius, Adrienne Kammerer, Patrick Kyle, Christy Langer, Tessar Lo, Amy Lockhart, Jamiyla Lowe, Derek Mainella, Chris Martin, Derek Mainella, Megan McKenzie, Jason Mclean, Alex McLeod, Julie Moon, Jennifer Murphy, Alicia Nauta, Tibi Tibi Neuspiel, Noel Middleton, Luke Painter, Roula Parthenou, Sandy Plotnikoff, Brad Phillips, Katherine Piro, Andrew Pommier, Lauchie Reid, Tony Romano, Kathryn Ruppert-Dazai, Tania Sanhueza, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino, Seth Scriver, Emiko Sekiguchi, Germa Shible, Lisa Smolkin, Jordan Sonenberg, Jennie Suddick, Derek Sullivan, Team Macho, Jon Todd, Michael Toke, Celeste TooGood, Karen Tracanelli, Howie Tsui, Lara Vincent, Andrew Waite, Meichen Waxer, Jacob Whibley, and Balint Zsasko.

RAFFLE PRIZES FROM:
The Arcade Fire, Art Metropole, The Beguiling, Cabaret, Carte Blanche, Coupe Bizarre, Dark Horse, Fieldguided, Films We Like, Honeybea Designhive, Hunter & Cook, Jayna Corbett, Kid Icarus, Klaxon Howl, Koyama Press, Living Face Photography, Liz Milkau, Magic Pony, Ministry Of the Interior, Monster Factory, Robber, Sweet Bliss Baking Company, Sydney’s,The Ten Spot, Turning Point Training Methods/SBG Toronto, Warriors, (and the list keeps growing!)


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Drawing Now in Paris, Maclean's Magazine, and more stuff.

Here are a bunch of things I consider noteworthy. I should be making smaller posts more often, but I tend to forget to update my blog, until I have a bunch of things piled up...

The first thing is that I'll be participating in Drawing Now, a fair in Paris that is centered on contemporary drawing.

I'll be represented there by my gallery in France, Dukan et Hourdequin. The fair runs from March 25th -28th, you can check out more information here. Below is one of the pieces I'll be exhibiting, its pretty large, 24" x 24"...


If you click it it gets bigger, but I guess every knows that because computers have been around for so long.


The next bit of news is that I was mentioned, along with a picture, in an article in this week's Maclean's Magazine. The article revolves around the rising importance of an online identity in the art market. My friend Alex McLeod was mentioned as well, his art is fantastic. I was really happy to be included, there is something really legit feeling about being included in a magazine with such history here in Canada.

Here is the article online.


The next thing is that Jamiyla and I are now selling our prints through a really nice print shop in Paris called Sergeant Paper. You can check out our, and many other people's, prints there. They have some really nice stuff available.



Awhile back I posted about The Dazzle, a group show at Narwhal Art Projects that included myself and a bunch of my friends. The people at Narwhal just released a book containing much of the work in the show, you can purchase it at Magic Pony.



Ok, just two more things and then that's it. My friends Adrienne Kammerer and Jesjit Gill just released a book of Adrienne's drawings, its fantastic. Adrienne drew it and Jesjit printed it. I asked Adrienne how people should go about buying it, and she said to either contact Jesjit or get it from Magic Pony. It's an extremely limited edition, so if you want one, you should get it soon. Adrienne's going to take off soon, so it will probably be worth a lot of money in 10 years.


Ok, very last thing. My good friend Stephen Appleby-Barr has a solo show up at Nicholas Metivier Gallery here in Toronto. If you are in the city, you should check it out. It's a really great show. Stephen's a great guy, when I had nowhere to live a few years back, he let me sleep under his ping pong table for $50 a month. He lets me come to his studio sunday nights and we draw together. Well, we did last week, but I'm going to come every week from now on. Anyway, check it out, I was really impressed with the show, and apparently the public was as well, it sold out opening night.

Anyway, that's it, thanks for reading.