17 things about toronto

1) met with colleen in the forrest hill region, one of the things i miss most about TO, is the architechtual diversity, the density of visual signifers, in this neighbourhood, we went thru 150 years of buildings, w/i a block (ie gothic revival, art noveou(sp), deco, classic boxed modernism small scale, classic boxed modernism tower scale, postmodern qouation, etc etc)
2) favourite buildings there, several brick townhouses, cubist in their use of small to large rectangles, a cement and glass box of a cibc, some amazing dual tone mid 50s highrises, in creams, blondes, and turqoises, and grace church on the hill, from 1867, a perfect example of gothic revival, thick oak beams, hand carved statues, wonderful stained glass, but a couple of things that made it stand out, it had some contemparary work, including a first nation tapestry, and a peice called by her own radiant light, based on a work by milton, created by Catherine Widgery, it was a clean, precise inclusion of matriachal mytsticism, in a patrichal instution. Crowning a small entrance door, it contained 12 steel moons, polished or unpolished according to their cycles (so a half moon was half polished), and a miasama of clouds, for its subtlety, it moved me. also, the side chapel, was an intense excerise in geometrical rigour, a slightly rectangluar off building, with very low cellning looking tudor or palladian, painted somewhere b/w wedgewood and cerulean, with the wooden accents a creamed white with elobrately embroidered altar cloths, in corresponding tones
3) found a tight little deco apartment, fourth floor walk up, 1150, could be a bedroom for two.
4) shopped millionare mile, saw a perfectly constructed, jonquil yellow day dress in unwashed silk, looked v. edie, at prada.
5) lunch at jamie kennedy/gardner, venison ossu bucco, niagra region pinot noir, sorbet (plum and sparkling apple for desert, the sparkling apple was a delight, with the tart buzz coming a little after, so there was almost a narrative, the osso bucco was on a bed of potatos the texture of cream of wheat, with 6 ideal tiny brussell sprouts, bread before the meal came with a remixed baba ganoush...brilliant dinner. It was all Coll's doing though, my xmas/bday gift
6) gardner was a mess, not really worth the 6 bucks (or 12 for Col), with some items mislabelled, or not labelled at all, a staff that had no idea what it was doing, the chinese and japanese collections shut down, and no islamic work...the terra cotta manquettes for the battle of britian monument looked like unironic, pure minded rosenquenuists as sculpture, the one ken price was magnaficent, with a wry, drooped shape, and a bright mottled surface, but it was limited by the wall, and they had no idea what they had, i asked about price, no clue (also a medicore woodruff)--some highlights, english hunting plates, a rabbit serving dish in the shape of a rabbit, some inredibly high german/baroque clocks, and some great cermonial meso american ritual ware...
7) went to yorkville, felt fat.
8) a fantastic katz ethcing/h20tint of ava, from 1987, this mirrored shades, red lips, crisp white shirt, im too hot to fuck, formal excercise in female power, might be an ava, stared at it for 30 minutes, just a fantastic formal work, i keep thinking of how powerful i find katz now, there is something so happy about going from hating an artist, to finding an entrance (his landscapes for me), to using that entrance as a fulcurm to getting his ouerve (connect the dots: katz, avery, porter, dove)
9) also saw: a brilliant ethcing by kelly, of a black cube, on a white filed, one of the cubes sides being brilliant yellow, some great 3rd gen cape dorset stuff, including a cute little muskox, a farfard cowboy, a picasso etching of rimbaud i didnt hate, and some other work...(five or six etchings, am i seeing a theme?)
9) worried about ayllson/banff