Best gallery in the city. Hands down. They know what they are doing here. The space rules, the…read morepeople who run it rule, the openings are of cultural importance and are a good example of what is happening in Toronto at the moment, while the art, which seems to focus on post street art, is a good example of what is happening in the world of art today. This is place that is beyond lovely, pleasant, or fun. Words like crucial, challenging, and pioneering are more appropriate. Go to every opening you can.

Cooper Cole is a lovely Art Gallery located on Dundas at Ossington. The gallery is bright, clean,…read moretasteful, unpretentious and welcoming. The space features stark white walls, hard wood floors and a paneled ceiling. The inventory of artists and work showcased at this gallery is rather varied and interesting. I look forward to future exhibitions at this gallery.

the most interesting thing about this gallery is not its art, in my opinion, but its space. the…read moremain room in which you enter from queen street east has old hardwood floors and white walls like most galleries in the vicinity. in the centre of this space rest two archie bunker chairs that face slightly askew from each other for a cozy gander at the artwork. it is these chairs that seem to be the archetypal objects in this place. they give you a rural feel; as though the need to make the surroundings pretty were paramount (versus making it chic or cool lets say). home is where the heart is. and indeed this feels very much like someones home. once youve perused the work, all paintings or drawings this time around, you can slip through the kitchen, out to the backyard where there is a patio with a bench or two that feels quite, well, mexican. that sounds weird, i suppose, but i think it has something to do with the colours and finish on the outside of the buildings. i think this is probably the perfect place to lounge on an opening night of an exhibition, especially in good weather. now the reason for going out back, is that there is a converted garage that houses other artwork. there was, for example, a one man handmade canoe made of birch bark that was pretty lovely. a look at the current and previous exhibitions seems to offer that elizabeth russ, the owner of the gallery, favours landscapes and other subject matter of nature, as well as mixed media. now of course, it would be foolish to narrow it down any further, as the exhibits are always changing, but it seems like she provides a warm venue within which artists of many different style and mediums can show their work. so though this time around the artwork i saw didnt hit me in a strong way, i wouldnt hesitate to keep peeking inside for something that just might do so.

Among the many art galleries along Queen West in Parkdale, the buildings housing the Katharine…read moreMulherin Gallery tend to blend in a bit. But inside is an interesting mix of "emerging" artists (art-speak for people you've never heard of). Like any gallery, what's on exhibit (and sale, since these guys gotta eat too) changes frequently. While not everything here is my cup of tea, some of the sculptural works on display right now are very cool. There's Alissa Coe and Carly Waito's technically stunning Porcelain Jellyfish (formerly of the Magic Pony down the street) and a neat little piece called "Black and White" by John Dickson.

Carefully curated and exhibit of modern contemporary art & photography. Strong supporter of rising…read moreand prominent artists. Also available for space rental catering to events. Spacious without overbearing emptiness imitate the gallery Cosy and intimate feel with the structures and walls placement. Great discovery of such a nice gallery on the West end.

This lovely little gallery recently moved into a new home, and I'm really feeling it. If you're on…read moreDundas West this winter (you know you will be, how could you never be?), get out of the cold and check out an exhibit here. I really enjoyed the Dawoud Bey photography exhibit, and I'm excited to see what's next. Such a peaceful place to take in a bit of culture.

the parts gallery in leslieville is among my two favorite galleries in the east end. never am i…read morenot intrigued at the sole piece that hangs in their window on a half wall that faces outside. the space itself is simple with white walls and aged yet glossy hardwood floors. every time ive been in, theyve featured many different artists, mainly painters using various mediums. theres something about the style of artwork that is there that is very bold, colourful and aware without being messy or caught up in its own execution. here are a couple examples: when i went the other day, there were these large watercolours that were very simple in their compositional arrangement. one of them was a picture of a large commercial passenger plane. the other a family portrait, yet it seemed as if it was a painting of a photograph of a family. the plane painting, because of its size, simplicity in colour and wateriness/bloodiness of the paint instantly (with the help of world history) invoked the threat of danger - whos in the plane? wheres it going? the other painting was of a family standing there to take a picture. even though each family members face was non specific and washed out, you could sense how each member felt about the experience just by their stature and positioning. it was great. one major lesson in life and art is to have the awareness when to step back and let it be and the artwork here feels like it has that innate sensibility. the staff is very nice and not pretentious at all; its artist run. also if you want to do a layaway, you can and youll get 4 months to pay it off interest free.

A lovely selection of work by emerging artists. The owner is pleasant, patient, well-informed and…read morewelcoming, and the art is always fascinating.

The place feels small but cozy. Just make sure you don't arrive too early, but if you do, there are…read moreplenty of bars around that you can wait in. The Two Hours Traffic concert was dry, but the gallery sometimes gets a liquor license. Even if it's a dry night, the bar right underneath the gallery can be of great help! It's a good place, the sound quality isn't bad though they had a few mic/sound-check problems when I was there. There is no coat check but there is plenty of space to drop your coat off and it's safe enough for that.

This is one of the best places in Toronto. I don't know why I've taken so long to review this…read moreplace. It's the most amazing mixture of fine art and music art. The place is cozy but not too cramped, and you are forced to mingle. I think I even like the tubular powder room. I really enjoy going to this venue and seeing artists, and getting my drink on.

I visited the Angell Gallery recently for the launch of Canadian Art's fall issue. Apparently this…read moreis a new location for it - it used to be on Queen? Anyway, now it's on Ossington just north of Queen. The gallery space is quite nice - one large room and three smaller ones (including a perfect little film-screening space) on two levels. The layout is kind of interesting without being anything exactly special - it's a nice place to wander, and there's lots of wall space - there were probably three or four exhibits going on at the same time without anything feeling crowded. It was completely packed for the opening, and there were definitely bottlenecking problems with that many people trying to circulate (and get at the open bar), but I imagine that under most circumstances that wouldn't be a problem.

This gallery is located a hop, skip, and jump from Queen St. W. on Ossington. If you haven't…read morestopped by, you should check it out. Not that I'm a little biased or anything, but seriously, Jamie Angell always has interesting art on display. And the gallery itself is very spacious, so the work has adequate breathing room around it. If you can, come on an opening night and enjoy the mix of artists, art lovers, and random socialites.

I stumbled into this gallery while at the Toronto Christmas Market and am so glad that I did. They…read morehad some great art work. I really enjoyed and have become a fan of Mathieu Laca's oil paintings. The gallery is edgy and fun. I really loved the feel of the gallery. Bricks make everything better.

My wife and I went to Canada from the US to the November 2019 show for Mathieu Laca at Thompson…read moreLandry Gallery. The show was great and Mathieu and the gallery owner were very kind. We ended up buying 2 Van Gogh pieces and 1 flower piece. I've purchased other pieces from Mathieu before the show. He is a talented artist, taking many of his portraits from existing pictures you can find on wikipedia and using lots of impasto. A few weeks later the crates arrive here in the US and the 42x48 Van Gogh is perfect! The 16x20 flower painting is perfect! The larger Van Gogh pic that was 72x60 ended up being too big for any of the areas we were trying to fit it in once we saw it in person inside our home. This is where things turn bad. I sent a very kind email to the gallery letting them know the situation and that I will need to send the painting back, as the size does not work. I offered to pay all shipping and handling costs on my end. I get a nasty text from Mathieu the artist asking "WTF" (not really the way to speak to a customer). I then get a nasty email from the gallery, who told Mathieu I was wanting to return the piece. At this point my wife and I were very surprised. Mathieu was all about peace, love and acceptance....until a piece didn't work out. As long as people were flattering him and the gallery about how wonderful and talented they are, (feeding their ego's) they were the nicest people around. But the exact second something didn't work out, we got to see their TRUE nature. I ended up still sending the large piece back even though the gallery at first said they would refuse shipment. I paid ALL costs to ship and even paid $600 for some made up admin/disposal/restocking fees. We spent over $6K at the gallery on works that we kept (Not to mention over $1,000 travel to the show from the US) and all combined we've spent about $20K on pieces from this artist. In fact 11 pieces we bought from this artist and when ONE piece didn't work out, everyone got nasty. From the very beginning I said to the gallery that this piece will sell fast once I send it back, but Joanne and Mathieu were horrible the entire time. And the funny part is within a few weeks of the piece being retuned, it sold. So all this drama, ruining 2 customer relationships who will never return to do business with them, all for nothing. Imagine you have a business and a buyer buys 3 items. 1 doesn't work out and that customer offers to pay ALL associated return costs plus any restocking fees, and you being horribly rude to them, all for the piece to sell a few weeks later. Pretty myopic on their end if you ask me. I honestly really don't even want to display any of his works in my home any longer. Each time I look at a piece on my wall, I think "What nasty people" instead of appreciating the beauty of them. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't have ever contacted him or the gallery to begin with. And I recommend you don't either. The only reason I am giving a 2 star and not a 1 is the employees there were fantastic to deal with, but not the gallery owner Joanne who controls everything and was nasty with me. Lastly, Mathieu's husband, when he noticed I had written a negative review, THREATENED me online. I took a screenshot of it and reported it. I'm also considering legal action.