Local Illustrator's unique gallery comes to life

10 artists came together with 10 paintings to collaborate into a unique gallery concept that has been dubbed the re-mix show in the heart of Toronto’s art and design district.
The remix show is a gallery with a twist. An idea concocted by freelance Illustrator, Ty Dunitz. The concept behind the show was to take 10 artists with very different art styles and create 10 unique painting and have the 10 artists go out and recreate and remix the artwork and create new works.
“I started this (remix show) having a very uncommon way of illustrating. As such I quickly realized I wouldn’t have opportunities handed to me. Instead of waiting for opportunities to come to me I went out to create my own,” said Dunitz.
The modest venue over the Gladstone Hotel’s cafe housed 41 pieces from the 10 artists. The artists ranged from Illustration students to long-time professionals. Freelance Illustrator Ty Dunitz hosted the gallery, providing his own art along with Sheridan Illustration student Amanda Sheehan, Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) graduate Karlo Ghokasian, Alena Skarnina, Gracia Lam, award winning Illustrator and fine artist Fiona Smyth, Hugh Langias, Ginette Lapalme, Allan Ryan and freelance Illustrator Tyrel McNicol.
Along with the varied art styles were a variety of mediums ranging from mix media and acrylic on wood to traditional oil paint and water colour to a painted set of Russian nesting dolls.
“It was a lot of hard work but it’s nice to see all the work recognized,” said McNicol one of the illustrators in the show, “it’s kind of surreal seeing the art on the wall after staring at it all day.”
“It was great to see them (the artwork) hanging,” said Smyth, who was pleased to see the show come together, “It’s nice to see such a large group of artists get along.”
On the main wall, seen just as the guest enters the room are the 10 central pieces with the remixes placed around the room for guests to see as they explore the gallery.
“It’s a crafty way to put together a show,” said Shannon King, a guest at the remix show.
Dunitz is considering doing another gallery soon and possibly making the remix show an annual event.
“It’s defiantly something I want to do again, I just don’t know what form it will take,” said Dunitz.
The Remix show will be open 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. every day until Sep. 1 at the Gladstone Hotel on the corner of Queen Street West and Gladstone Avn.
More artwork can be seen here

Local artists to showcase work at remix show in Toronto

Gladstone Hotel will be hosting an art gallery Monday to showcase artists “from all levels of experience.”
Ty Dunitz, an Oakville-based freelance Illustrator, is the organizer of the gallery he is called the “remix show”. The show will be held at the Gladstone Hotel on Queen Street in Toronto. The gallery will open at 7:00 p.m. on Monday and will continue to Sep. 1, from noon to 5:00 p.m.
“I started this project having a very uncommon way of illustrating,” said Dunitz. “As such I quickly realized I’m digging myself into a hole. Instead of waiting for opportunities to come to me, I went out to create my own.”
The gallery is called the remix show because the concept was to bring together 10 artists to create 10 unique pieces. The artist can use any medium they are comfortable with, the only requirement is the piece must have the prefix “re” in mind (recall, revive, remind, etc.). Each artist would then recreate each others artwork in their own style, sometimes combining multiple pieces of art into one new piece.
“I consciously selected artists with conflicting styles,” said Dunitz. “In a typical show everyone draws more or less the same. I’m attempting to broaden the scope.

Project 905 - Oversight is watching

The internet can be an interesting and scary place sometime, a world within a world, yet separate from our own. A place where you can be someone else and it never has to affect the real world. But sometimes the real world and the virtual world inside our computer monitors collide.

Keep in mind that every ounce of this is truth. The legacy of a shadowed individual known as Oversight among the legion known as anonymous.

It all started on a notorious online image bulletin board called 4chan.org. A part of an online community known as anonymous, places where people can post messages and images without revealing their own identity, everyone there is simply anonymous.

The boards on 4chan are separated into topics like paranormal, videogames and delving into other pornographic boards for adult users. This story began on the anything-goes board called random. Each board has a letter code (/v/ for videogames, /x/ for paranormal, etc.) random is simply known as /b/.

The post on June 15, 2008 from the one who would soon be known to 4chan as Oversight said:

“No doubt you’ve found yourself alone on a weekend.”

“We’ve all felt it. Striving to do something with yourself, and definitely knowing what to do. Of course it’s for some reason or another that you can’t get out and live life; break the umbilical bond with your computer monitor. You don’t have friends, that’s why you spend your days here.”

“What if I presented you with a challenge? Not only a challenge but salvation at the end? A chance to leave your house, to jump head-first into something you don’t fully understand. The first and last time you’ll ever endeavour into the unknown. And at the end of this, you’ll find exactly what you’ve been looking for all along?”

“Your life will flow with the same ease as do the lives of all those you envy. This seems nonsensical, impossible perhaps and nothing I say here will change that, the only way for you to prove me wrong is to find what lays at the end.”

“/b/, I present you with Basin Hills. A gentleman’s challenge. Should you come to solve it, everything I’ve promised will be yours. Your first step is attached; everything you need to know is here. Good luck and I hope you’ve filled your tank.”

That was the first cryptic message by an anonymous poster. People didn’t tend to take notice at first, thinking it was a joke of some sort. Attached to the post was an image of a building and a skyline over a forest.

Interest in the subject heightened, however when an anonymous member found that by opening the image in a text editor the phrase “Oh, do mind the contrast. The desired few mingle with the many.”

Upon adjusting the contrast it was discovered the skyline had been hiding a set of numbers. These numbers were determined to be co-ordinates to what seemed to be a location off highway 905, Miami, Florida.

On June 16 Oversight left another message to 4chan that stated; “The package awaits at the cradle.”

So the cryptic message pointed to a building marked for demolition off highway 905 in Miami, Florida, referred to as the cradle. Furthermore Oversight seemed to imply that there was a package waiting for anyone brave enough to make the trip and retrieve the mystery package.

Almost a month past before Oversight posted a message on Encyclopaedia Dramatica stating;

“The package is still there, Anonymous. I’m disappointed in you. There’re going to demolish it soon. Oh, and before (Encyclopaedia Dramatica) goes down forever, we have a website. Project905.com.”

Project 905 clearly referred to the highway. Also on the website was a contact email; oversight@project905.com. The game master now had a name. Furthermore it also raised the question of who Oversight was. More specifically, was oversight actually more than one person? In the post on Encyclopaedia Dramatica Oversight said “I’m disappointed” but went on to say “we have a website.”

On August 10 a video appeared on youtube.com that seemed to be an eerie video taken with a handheld video camera inside an abandoned building. Images would flash on screen for a few seconds and the video ended. The video was apparently posted by Oversight and the only information attached was the project905 website URL in the subject bar of the video.

View the video here.

On August 13 someone on 4chan claimed to have gone to the cradle. But they also claimed all they found at the location were a few bags of rotting feces tied to a tree. Many people believed it and were willing to call it a day with the whole thing being an elaborate joke on anonymous. However when someone on 4chan sent Oversight an email about it he replied, scorning those who believed the story saying those who believed he went thought all this trouble just to give them a bag of crap would “never be ready for what he was offering.”

Two days later, today, the real package was found, but not without some drama to go along with it.

An Anonymous member who went by the name Floridanon was the one to pick up the package. This was his documentation as he recalled it on the paranormal (/x/) board on 4chan.org:

“Good news and bad news.”

“Bad news: Apparently, some Anonymous thought it would be funny to call in a bomb threat on the package. As I speak, the Monroe county bomb squad is in the process of destroying package #1; there's at least a dozen police cruisers and two bomb squad trucks in front of an alternate entrance to the location. Of course, once they finish their controlled demolition, all they'll find is a lone CD and a note from Oversight.”

“The good news: I got the package! I headed out earlier today around 8:00 a.m., and after braving the bugs (Which were terrible), I found the building specified. If I were in a hurry, I wouldn't have noticed it. Just a small black box placed under some sort of metal apparatus.”

“Inside the box was a plastic bag containing two identical blank CDs, and a note from Oversight congratulating me on finding the package. I took one of the CDs, put the note back in the bag, closed the box, and booked it. The place seems to be under demolition, so there were work crews around and I didn't want to get caught.”

“As I got into my car, I saw the first of several police cruisers blow past me with sirens blaring towards the alternate entrance (Which I assume was used for the demo crew). I went to get something to eat, and on my drive back past I saw all the cop cars and bomb squad.”

Floridanon discovered that on the disc was a video with a set of math equations, most of them incorrect, in rapid succession.

The video can be viewed here.

When Oversight caught wind of the package being retrieved project905.com was updated. In the address bar was a massage “Hope you don’t mind getting wet” and a black screen. If you highlight the screen with your mouse hidden in the page is the message “It’s in the math.”

Upon breaking down the video it was discovered that there was an image hidden in a single frame between 0:02 and 0:03 on the video. It seemed to be some boiler room that was flooded.

Amazingly the members of /x/ managed to break down the math puzzle and found more co-ordinates, again to an abandoned building off highway 905, this time in a national park. However there was more to come.

Three images were uploaded to 4chan’s /x/ board. One of a blue car and two of a young man walking by the highway. Just after the images were posted an anonymous member explained, in expected surprise, that those were his friend, and the one who picked up the first package at the cradle.

He was being watched. And photographed.

The photographer revealed themselves to be Oversight. Oversight knew when he was going to pick up the package. And oversight was there when he did.

Someone from Anonymous plans to go to sight #2 either tonight or tomorrow morning. More updates to come as the plot thickens. Surly, Oversight will be waiting and watching.

Horror on Greyhound 1170

Yesterday the Globe and Mail, along with a number of other new sources, reported on a horrific encounter on a Greyhound charter bus in Manitoba.
"He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. he seemed totally normal," said Garnet Caton, a passenger on bus 1170, in an interview with the Globe and Mail.
According to the Globe and Mail, Caton served five years in the Canadian Forces and was the closest to the attacker at the time of the murder.
the suspect was relieved to be 40 year-old Vince Weiguang Li. He was charged with second-degree murder yesterday. The National Post reports he may have been going though marital problems at the time.
The man was described by Caton as being "totally normal" and waring sunglasses.
"About a half hour later (from the time Li sat down on the bus), we heard a blood-curdling scream and turned around and the guy (Li) was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly," said Caton.
The Globe and Mail reports that the victim was Tim MacLean, a young aboriginal man, no older than 20 years-old.
All the witnesses claim there was no confrontation of any kind between the suspect and victim. The Globe and Mail reports that the victim even offered the suspect his seat when they both arrived on the bus.
The victim was stabbed "40-50 times in the neck and in the chest area", Caton told the Globe and Mail.
"When he was attacking him, he was calm as like, it was like he was at the beach. He (was) totally calm, he didn't say anything. There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy," Caton told the Globe and Mail.
After the initial attack the driver pulled over and opened the door to let everyone else escape. But this was only the beginning.
A trucker stopped nearby to see what was going on.
"Everybody got off the bus. But a few of us, me and the trucker and one of the Greyhound drivers went back on the bus to go see what was going on and that's when we saw," Caton paused, "he (Li) had the guy (MacLean) on the ground, he was cutting his head off and pretty much gutting him."
According to the Globe and Mail, Caton, the trucker and the Greyhound driver attempted to keep the killer on the bus with tools from the trucker's truck, like crowbars and hammers. Caton told the Globe and Mail they kept him on the bus by holding their bodies against the doors.
"He went back and brought the head to the front and pretty much, you know, displayed it (MacLean's head) to us like that and then dropped it on the ground in front of us. Very calmly, all very calmly, he was wearing sunglasses and like, you know, it was no big deal to him," said Caton.
The National Post reported that Judge Rocky Pollack order Li to be held in custody until he speaks to a lawyer, pending a court ordered psychological evaluation.

www.godsavethepress.com coming soon...

I just bought a new URL for www.godsavethepress.com. unbelievably it wasn't taken already so I bought it while I could. I'll continue to blog here for now, but as soon as the website is up and running I'm going to redirect my blog onto the website.
Both my blogs will be moved when the site launches.
More information closer to the web site's launch.

El Mocambo music show: Art needs more focus

Doppleganger, held last Saturday, is the second part of a series of events created by Ali Malik, a Toronto music and art promoter. The series is known as elZOO, named after the venue, the El Mocambo, a nightclub in Toronto, north of Chinatown.
“I called it Zoo because it’s a zoo of a bunch of different art forms,” said Malik.
Doppleganger featured three bands a DJ and six artists last Saturday. The show was a non-profit event collecting food donations for the homeless and those in need in Toronto. At its peak the El Mocambo housed approximately 150 guests and collected more than 200 cans of food, according to Malik. Money raised during the event went to the bands that performed.
The six artists featured in the gallery were freelance illustrator Ty Dunitz, who had four digital paintings on display; illustrator Tyrel McNicol, who used a method of ink transfer onto wood, called acrylic polymer emulsion transfer; concert photographer Pete Nema, who had large prints including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nicole Atkins and Brant Bjork; Krista MacFarlane, who had two multimedia pieces on display; graphic designer, Anfrei Fortier and Eric Ealer, guitarists of the Isosceles Project severed a dual role by providing paintings for the gallery and performing with the rest of his band during the music portion.
The doors opened at 9:00 p.m. admission was $10 or $5 with a can of food to be donated. DJ Illicit provided music when the doors opened and between bands sets. Originally the narrow lobby was going to be empty and the gallery was going to be in the back room on the higher level of the El Mocambo. The art was moved to the front lobby so now guests would be exposed to it as soon as they came in. However the lobby may not have been the ideal place for artwork to be displayed, even if it was better than the back room.
“We lost one sub-par venue and gained another,” said Dunitz, who added the front room was “not fit for hanging art.”
Most of the walls were brick and Dunitz said there were only half a dozen nails already in the wall. Adding more nails was difficult since the walls were brick. The lighting was not ideal for showcasing paintings and prints, but did not hurt the show.
“(ElZOO is) a wonderful event,” said Dunitz, “but it’s a concert, not a music/art show.”
Over the front desk hung paintings by Eric Ealer, inside the lobby area Dunitz and McNicol`s art was on display together to the right with Nema, MacFarlane and Fortier on the left. Artist’s names and websites were posted with their work. Individual prints were labelled with the names of the piece, or in some cases, the sale price, including some mock prices like “$...”
The night started out slow with DJ Illicit playing music while the bands set up for the later shows. A number of the artists were in the lobby, talking with guests. The artwork was all fantastic and fit in the mood of the music show with edgy subject matter and photos that fit in with the garage band feel of the music. However one with an interest in the artwork can’t help but wish there was more too see.
Music started at 10:30 and as the night went on the event picked up with a full concert space. The night opened with the Harold Wartooth, a local garage band with a heavy rock sound. The band featured Omri Horwitz on vocals, Mike Mikocic on guitar, Brent Fagan on both guitar and vocals, “Emon” on Bass and Spencer Linton on drums. The band sounded great and with a sound system that could be heard all the way into the street and bass that you could feel in your chest.
The Isosceles Project followed, featuring Euler, the dual artist (whose work was on display in the gallery) and served as the band’s guitarist, Scott Tessier on bass and Justin Falzon on drums.
The night ended with Zuku featuring Brandon Kennedy on guitar and vocals, Matt Felske also on both guitar and vocals, Chris Chartrand on drums and Jordan Beard on bass.
The three bands all had a very hard rock sounding garage band style. Malik chose them to complement each other and it worked well.
Doppleganger was a great show, featuring great artwork and music, but in future elZOO shows they need to mesh better. The gallery felt like an after-thought with the music taking priority. It was a great event to showcase local talents in both music and visual arts. The event left attendees wanting more, which may work in Malik's favour, since he plans on holding more elZOO events, monthly.

Art Jam Part 1: Success

I wanted to post some of my work now with my comments. Anything written in bold (like this paragraph) are my added comments. The first few pieces I am going to post will be a series that spans November 2007 to March 2008.

"Sheridan's creativity in spotlight at Art Jam" published in Sheridan Sun on November 29, 2007

For the first time the artistic community at Sheridan College came together for one of the biggest and most successful events in the school's history.

I learned about the event because, as it happened, one of the organizers was actually my roommate, Amanda Sheehan. While I am sure she was expecting the project to be as much work as it turned out to be, I don't think anyone really foresaw how big an event it would turn out to be.

The ConneXion was lit brighter than it had ever been when the event started at 8 p.m. last friday. Easels, mounted walls of plywood, canvases and other surfaces were on display. Other tables had objects ready to be custom-painted like vinyl records, wooden clocks, lamp shades and even the side-panel of a Ninja Motorcycle.

To add some context, the ConneXion was the new campus pub. The old pub was known as the Cage. I covered a story about the renovation. 1.2 million dollars went into the renovation and the school ended up with a very night club-style pub. Many people perfered the Cage.

The Liquid Lounge upstairs had paper sheets for dry media like pencils and graphite.

Farther context; the Liquid Lounge was, as the name emplys, a lounge area on a balcony level of the pub, which featured a bar and seating area.

The TV monitors located around ConneXion were used to play stop-motion art films. Hand-picked DJ, Tyson Dunitz, played music from the stage's corner as the Table of Elements (break dancing team) entertained onstage.

One of the reasons the renovations cost so much was a number of large LCT screens around the pub.

Tyson Dunitz provided the music, although really he is an illustrator. His work can be viewed at his website, here.

"I think the turn-out was a lot better than Tyrel (McNicol) and I could have ever hoped," said Amanda Sheehan, co-organizer with McNicol, "And I think, seeing the numbers like this will enable us to have another one next semester confidently."

A respectable number of people started making their way into the free show when it began, but by the end of the night more than 300 people had arrived making the event more successful than anyone had expected.

Ty Dunitz was part of the Art Jam team, but was, infact, not a Sheridan student, he was from OCAD (Ontario Colege of Art and Design) and he was not alone. Quite a few of the atendees, both contrigutors and guests, were actually OCAD students. The event was completely open to anyone who wanted to atend.

"I think it's fantastic. It's a great collaboration and a wonderful chance to meet tonnes of other artists," said Lauren Rowlands, a second-year illustation student.

Lauren Rowlands is another friend of mine in the illustration field. her art blog can be viewed here.

Students were not the only attendees at the event as several professors and guests in the illustrartion field came to collaborate with the young artists.

"I think Art Jam is absolutly amazing. It is an incredible experiance and beyond expectations," said Joe Mores, the illustration program coodinator, "They bring the community together. they show how relevant the arts are to our daily life."

Aside from being a respected professor of illustartion, Joe Mores is also a respected professional illustrator.

The artwork produced at the Art Jam was auctioned off on the following monday to fund the fourth-year illustartion graduation party. No word yet on the exact amount raised by the auction.

"I think this is the beginning of a new thing and it is certainly a tribute to the organizers that this is such a success," said Morse.

Although a success, the Art Jam seemed plauged by drama. Many of the pieces created at the event went missing when the artists took them home, and so much of the possible profits that could have been made from auctioning it off were lost.

Also Art Jam was the last pub event Sheridan held because of a secuity issue. The Art Jam was supposed to have a secuity staff for 200 guests, but they recieved none. A confrontation occured outside the pub that resulted in all pub events being canceled for several months, and a new bar manager being hired.