A while back we featured two brothers who broke into a TIFF party, made some contacts and ended up selling their small budget film to Hollywood for over a quarter of a million dollars. One of the brothers, Jeff Campagna, has since been busy writing a blog which he explains as an, “expressive outlet [with] quite the motley farrago of entries here; Poems, Thoughts, Insights, Ideas, Short Fiction, Rants, Complaints and Selfish Promotion.”

Each year Jeff publishes the entries from his blog in book form found HERE and has recently started taking excerpts from his poetry and creating visual art pieces which can be previewed HERE. His ability to tie in every medium of self-expression makes him a true artist.

Jeff will be featuring his art  at GalleryWest so make sure to go check it out!

When : Nov 22 – 30, 2011

Where: 1332 Queen St. West

Opening Receptions: Nov 24 @ 7pm 

www.art.awriterundertheinfluence.com

xoxo,

lowe

Stephen Wiltshire did not fully speak until he was nine years old.  Diagnosed with Autism at three, teachers focused on his interest in drawing and by the age of seven he had already sold his first piece and by eight had been commissioned by the British Prime Minister to do a rendering of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2005, a twenty minute helicopter ride over Hong Kong was all he needed to commit the Victoria Harbour to memory, which he then beautifully recreated on a ten meter long drawing that he donated to the citizens of the city.  He has since done cityscapes of Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Jerusalem, London and Rome – getting them exactly right, even down to the number of columns at the Pantheon, all by memory.

Stephen uses exclusively uses Staedtler pens, listens to 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s pop, funk, rock and rnb while he works and has also been recognized by the Royal Conservatory as one of the few people to have perfect pitch and outstanding piano skill.

Further to my point on perfection, Stephen says: “Do the best you can and never stop”

*inspired*

See more about Stephen HERE

xo,

coco

If you ever thought embroidery was lame, Daniel Kornrumph just might change your mind.  Portraits so detailed and with so much depth hand embroidered onto linen.  Pretty awesome.

There isn’t much info on the interwebs about this artist/professor but his work is totally mind blowing, I just had to post.

See more HERE

Elle Decor had staged some units in my condo building for the last little while and they were exquisite. So many beautiful combinations and ideas. But what I was absolutely captivated by were the paintings and drawings by Ana Teresa Fernandez.

It is said to take Ana Teresa Fernandez months to finish one painting and from the above samplings, that much is abundantly clear.  The paintings have this super realistic quality that takes the viewer on a visual voyage – I didn’t want to walk away.  The paintings included above address the traditional role of women’s work through an interesting lens.

Check out her site for more of her work and more information: anateresafernandez.com

xo,

coco

As you know from Lowe’s previous post (HERE) the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival is going on in Toronto and yesterday I went to check out Fall & Implosion  at Alliance Francais.  Unfortunately for me, I went by when they were getting ready to put on an event in the room that the exhibit was in so I had to look over people and dodge movers and organizers….  Not exactly the best way to take in art, but the shots were impressive regardless.

The exhibit brings together the works of two photographers -Denis Darzacq and Mathieu Pernot – who are both from France.  Together they explore human tension and its relationship with the surrounding environment.  Dennis Darzacq’s shots of dancers and athletes performing jumps are beautiful, juxtaposed  against drab backgrounds.  Amazingly, the shots of the jumps were caught with no special effects, Darzacq wants the viewer to “witness a fleeting moment”.

Pernot’s work is the ‘imploding’ part of the show where the artist explores destruction of architecture – in this case full apartment blocks in French suburbs.  The impact of the crumbling buildings was intense and made me think about all of the building that is going on in Toronto and it’s future fate…

If you’re like us, and you’re staying in town this long weekend, I highly recommend going to check out some of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival. It’s free and there are so many different exhibitions, you can literally fill up your whole weekend looking at art!  The website has a really useful calendar and the Mobile App is the business.  Head on over to their site to check it all out HERE!

Have you been to any Contact exhibits?  Let us know what you thought and if you recommend us checking it out too!

xo,

coco