DANIEL SOLOMON AND DAVID MIRVISH: A 45-YEAR FRIENDSHIP IN ART

David Mirvish (left) and Daniel Solomon (right) in the 60s.
David Mirvish (left) and Daniel Solomon (right) today.

Daniel Solomon, now a painter and professor in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University, met David Mirvish, now a prominent theatre producer, art collector and art dealer, in 1968 back when they were both beginning their careers. The two became lifelong friends. On Tuesday, November 12, in a rare opportunity, the OCAD U community becomes privy to one of their wide-ranging conversations about art. Their talk is presented by the Drawing and Painting Thesis and Advanced Painting classes.

Solomon was an architecture student at the University of Oregon in the early 1960s and relocated to Toronto in 1967. From 1968 to 1970 he worked full time at the David Mirvish Gallery and later went on to exhibit there, as well as at major galleries both in Canada and around the world. He divides his time evenly between his painting career and his teaching at OCAD U. Solomon’s paintings, watercolours, sculptures and stage sets are characterized by intense, vibrant colour and complex pictoral space.

During the 1960s and 1970s the David Mirvish Gallery was regarded as one of the most important venues for contemporary art in Toronto. It was located on Markham Street, around the corner from Mirvish’s father’s landmark discount store, Honest Ed’s in a neighbourhood. As his career evolved and diversified into other areas of the arts community, including theatre production and bookselling, his passion for contemporary art never wavered. Mirvish is one of Canada’s foremost art dealers and collectors and a longstanding donor and supporter of OCAD U. His Mirvish+Gehry development project proposed for King Street in Toronto’s Entertainment District includes plans for the Princess of Wales Centre for Visual Arts at OCAD University, a 25,000 square foot arts education facility. A significant part of the development plan is also the creation of a new Mirvish Collection museum.

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Daniel Solomon
Mirvish Productions

In Conversation: David Mirvish and Dan Solomon

In Conversation: David Mirvish and Dan Solomon
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - 5:00pm

A couple of old friends talk about art

Presented by the DRPT Thesis and Advanced Painting

OCAD U Community and invited guests

Dan Solomon is a painter and professor in the Drawing and Painting program at OCAD University. He worked full time at the David Mirvish Gallery from 1968 to 1970, and exhibited there in 1977 and 1978.

David Mirvish opened his gallery in 1963 and focused on exhibitions of Color Field artists. Since closing the gallery in 1978 he has worked primarily in the theatre and has continued to collect, building on the foundation of artists shown in the gallery. He is currently planning the creation of a museum to exhibit the collection in the Mirvish/Gehry project on King Street West. The project includes the Princess of Wales entre for Visual Arts at OCAD U.

David Mirvish and Dan Solomon have been friends since 1968; soon after, Dan moved to Toronto from Portland, Oregon.

 

Free - Limited to OCAD U students

 

Venue & Address: 
Auditorium 100 McCaul St. Toronto, Ontario