Faculty member Gary Taxali launches The Brain Project

Image of Gary Taxali standing next to a model of a brain
Monday, April 25, 2016 - 4:00am

At an event at City Hall on April 25th, Toronto mayor John Tory unveiled a striking work of art: a brain-shaped sculpture customized by the unmistakable art of illustrator, artist and associate professor Gary Taxali. Taxali is one of 100 artists, designers, architects and celebrities who have been recruited to turn models of brains into unique works of art.

The Brain Project is juried by a team of curators who will choose the designs to be exhibited publicly this summer. The works will be installed at key outdoor spots in the city such as Nathan Phillips Square, MaRS Discovery District and OCAD University.

The public will have the opportunity to vote on the top five works, and at the end of the exhibition, the customized sculptures will be auctioned off with proceeds going to support care and research into Alzheimer’s and age-related dementia at Baycrest Health Sciences.

Confirmed participants include Harold Feist, Jill Greenberg, Robert Marchessault, Karim Rashid and Janna Watson, with more to be announced in the weeks to come. Matthew Bellamy of Muse, Kim Kardashian West and daughter North West are among the celebrities also taking part in the creative fundraising campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gary Taxali's work will be shown at the Lazarides Gallery

Friday, February 12, 2016 - 5:00pm to Monday, February 29, 2016 - 10:00pm

Gary Taxali will be in the 10th Anniversary show at Lazarides Gallery in London, UK (Steve Lazarides was Banksy's first dealer). It opens on February 12th. Here is the press release: http://www.lazinc.com/exhibitions/1316,group-a-decade-of-lazarides

Venue & Address: 
Lazarides Gallery London, England
Website: 
http://www.lazinc.com/exhibitions/1316,group-a-decade-of-lazarides

Letter Rip!: Art, Words and Toronto

Image by Gary Taxali
Friday, July 6, 2012 - 10:00pm to Saturday, October 6, 2012 - 11:00pm

Onsite [at] OCAD University presents "Letter Rip! Art, Words and Toronto," an exhibition exploring the interplay of visual art and literary expression in work by Toronto's cultural community.

"Letter Rip!" samples contemporary explorations of the connections between the visual and the literary, a theme that has engaged Toronto's cultural community for generations. The exhibition features work by designer Andy Callahan and artists Hyang Cho, Michelle Gay and Gary Taxali with an anchoring contribution from Stephen Fowler, proprietor of the eclectic book shop The Monkey's Paw. Fowler will curate a display from his collection of books by niche publisher Charles C. Thomas.

"Literary expression, the letter's materiality, the word's abstractness — these themes have been important in Toronto's art community for generations," said Onsite curator Charles Reeve. "Letter Rip! suggests that the overlap between visual art and literary expression engages cultural sectors beyond visual art, and that emerging generations of artists, designers and literati continue this engagement." Reeve cites OCAD U's recently announced Faculty of Art undergraduate specialization "Cross Disciplinary Art Practices: Publications," to begin in September 2012, as evidence for this continued interest in these relationships.

PARTICIPANTS:

ANDY CALLAHAN A multi-disciplined graphic designer and illustrator with a background in creative print and web design, he is originally from Brighton, England. His work has been featured in various British and, as of recently, international publications. He lives in Toronto.

HYANG CHO holds a BA from Sogang University, Seoul, Korea (1998), a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design (2007) and an MFA from the University of Guelph (2009). Her recent solo exhibitions include being, thing, something at Georgia Scherman projects and That's How It Is, Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, Guelph (2009). Her recent group exhibitions include Permutations, Truck Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary (2011);The Black and the White: An Allegory of Colour, 5th KWAG Biennial, curated by Robert Enright, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (2011); and, Autofunction, curated by Derek Sullivan and Shane Krepakevich, G Gallery, Toronto (2011). She is represented by Georgia Scherman Projects, and lives in Guelph.

STEPHEN FOWLER is proprietor of The Monkey's Paw antiquarian bookshop in Toronto. He is a former poet and journalist, and first explored the intersection of dead print and contemporary media in the mid-1990s with his column Salvage Culture on the seminal webzine Word.com.

MICHELLE GAY studied art and art history at the University of Toronto and received her MFA from NSCAD University. Her work often experiments with the ubiquitous desktop computer, as a site of intimate virtual or digital experiences-teasing out resonant connections between machines and bodies and between digital and actual spaces. She often collaborates with her brother, particle physicist Colin Gay, on these "artware" projects. Interested in the possibilities of touch and poetics within new media platforms, they develop artware designed to play with technologies in non-useful ways. She is represented in Toronto by the Birch Libralato Gallery.

GARY TAXALI is an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in many major magazines, galleries and museums throughout North America and Europe. In 2005, he launched his first vinyl toy, The Toy Monkey, which included a special edition along with a silkscreen print commissioned by The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. This led Gary to create his toy company, Chump Toys, and to release his OH NO and OH OH vinyl figures. Gary also teaches at OCAD University and has lectured widely, including at The Art Director's Club of Houston, Dankmarks Designskole (Copenhagen) and Istituto Europeo Di Design (Rome). A Founding Member of The Illustrators' Partnership of America, Gary also sits on Canada Post's Stamp Advisory Committee. The many student and professional competitions he has juried include the Juno Awards (Screening Committee), the Society of Illustrators, the National Magazine Awards, the Dallas Society of Visual Communications and 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Gary created the cover art and inside illustrations for Aimee Mann's latest album @#%&*! Smilers, nominated for a 2009 Grammy for Best Package Design. Major publications include the children's books This Is Silly!, I Love You, OK? and the monograph Mono Taxali. Earlier this year, The Royal Canadian Mint released a special edition of six Gary Taxali 25¢ coins. Gary lives in Toronto.

MORE EVENTS:

Carl Wagan Bookmobile
July 5th, 6:30 to 9 p.m.

Carl Wagan is a traveling gallery, printshop, studio, library, reading room, classroom, and community project-all contained within a 1988 VW Westfalia camper van. Carl Wagan promotes active engagement with book-based cultural activity such as self-publishing, zine-making, screenprinting, and bookbinding. The project creates inventive situations for promotion, distribution and exhibition of self-published materials. Subtitled The Spaceship of the Imagination, this project is partly a loving homage to the radical innovation of astronomer Carl Sagan whose passion for dreaming continues to inspire generations of thinkers. Carl Wagan is a community hub and proactive experiment in radical pedagogy-bringing the strategies, materials, ideas and dialogues of independent publishing to audiences in a variety of settings.

Venue & Address: 
Onsite Gallery: 230 Richmond St. W.
Email: 
onsite@ocadu.ca
Phone: 
416-977-6000, Ext.456
Cost: 
FREE
Letter Rip Poster

Hotel There

Saturday, November 21, 2015 - 5:00pm to Saturday, December 19, 2015 - 11:00pm

Gary Taxali has a Solo show entitled Hotel There, which runs from November 21st to December 19th. The opening reception is on Saturday, November 21st, from 6 - 8 pm.

If you are interested in previewing the works before the opening, please contact the gallery directly at sales@jonathanlevinegallery.com

Venue & Address: 
Jonathan LeVine Gallery 529 W 20th St #9E, New York
Website: 
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com
Cost: 
tbc
Illustration of an airplane with the word 'There' on the side

Rally

Friday, November 6, 2015 - 5:00pm to Monday, November 23, 2015 - 10:00pm

Rally is a group exhibition made up of newly created works and treasures from Yves Laroche’s Gallery vault. It’s the second art show to be hosted at 12 Ossington, a new meeting place and rallying ground for Toronto’s growing creatives and innovators. The show will run from November 6 to 23, 2015

Following a sold out first exhibition at 12 Ossington that welcomed Chicago’s Hebru Brantley for Coffee Makes you Black, a 22 piece show, artist residency and outdoor mural work, comes Rally - a curated show for Toronto by artist Jon Todd, Yves Laroche Gallery and Hermann & Audrey. It’s a showcase of some of their favourite contemporaries and a rare access to Yves Laroche’s vault.

“I was a bit selfish. For Rally I decided to choose my favourite works from artists that I have respected and admired for many years, and in some cases requested new pieces” says Jon Todd, Toronto based mixed media artist and leading curator for this show. “Across geography, these artists share a similar illustrative upbringing and at times draw from similar motivations and inspirations. This is a collection that brings international game-changers and vaulted works to Toronto’s consciousness, a rare occasion.”

The group of artists from across the globe, from Brooklyn, to Berlin, to Paris, to Montreal and Toronto, share a common ground as image storytellers and execute with hyper-rendered detail, folky and at times absurdist sensibilities, all while sharing a fine art focus rooted in illustration. A style of artistic expression that was once regarded as low brow in comparison to museum works, has in recent years emerged with momentum into the contemporary art market, capturing imaginations and paving the way for a new, more inclusive, collector segment.

Art lovers will get to see works from international leading artists’ Jon Todd, Beau Stanton, Gary Taxali, Jean Labourdette, Max Wyse, Lauchie Reid, Marco Wagner, Shea Chang, Other, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo and Miss Van. They will also benefit from the opportunity to purchase a rare collection of artwork that has not been shown together before.

Media preview is being held on Friday, November 6 from 4-6pm, with the public opening from 6-9 pm. The exhibition will run from November 6 to 23, 2015 at 12 Ossington, Toronto, from Monday through Friday, 12-5pm and by appointment by contacting rally@hermannaudrey.com. Free admission to show.

Venue & Address: 
Yves Laroche's Gallery vault. 12 ossington
Email: 
rally@hermannaudrey.com
Cost: 
Free

Here and Now: The Art of Gary Taxali

Gary Taxalie prints
Friday, July 17, 2015 - 4:00pm to Monday, September 21, 2015 - 12:00am

Here and Now: The Art of Gary Taxali

Exhibition: July 17 – September 20
Joint Friday Night ART Live Summer Party: Friday, July 17, 7 p.m. with SHOW.15, Queen’s Square
Idea Exchange | Design at Riverside, 7 Melville Street South, Cambridge, ON

Seats available on bus from Toronto to Cambridge for opening night on Friday, July 17!
Departing from the Drake Hotel (1150 Queen St W, bus parked on Beaconsfield Rd) at 5:30 p.m. sharp.
Returning to Toronto at the Drake Hotel at 11:30 p.m. (Departing from Cambridge at 10 p.m. sharp).
RSVP to Cherie Fawcett, Gallery Assistant at cfawcett@ideaexchange.org.
Seats are $5.

Internationally renowned artist Gary Taxali brings his colourful, poignant paintings, books, objects and installations to Design at Riverside for the summer and early fall. Gary’s work incorporates humour and well observed social commentary in his personal drawing style that references depression era typography, packaging and advertising, but which is firmly planted in the here and now. The exhibition showcases a wide range of Gary’s artwork and object/product designs including apparel, toys, books, wine labels and commemorative coin designs, alongside paintings, assemblages, limited edition prints and a salon style display of hundreds of drawings. Gary will create a one-off artwork for the five exterior facing windows of the gallery and the short documentary film Gary Taxali: the Art of Whimsy will also be on view.

Here and Now: The Art of Gary Taxali marks the first comprehensive exhibition of his work in Canada.

Image: Gary Taxali. Serigraph Assemblage #3 and #7, mixed media, 2012. Images courtesy of the artist.

Venue & Address: 
DESIGN AT RIVERSIDE 7 Melville Street South, Cambridge, ON N1S 2H4 T: 519.621.0460 Tues – Thurs 12:00 – 8:00pm Fri 12:00 – 5:00pm Sat 10:00am – 5:00pm *Sun 1:30 – 4:30pm *Closed on Sundays from May 17 – September 6
Website: 
http://ideaexchange.org/art
Phone: 
519-621-0460
Cost: 
Admission is Free

Buy a limited edition GradEx 100 print!

Gary Taxali poster with special characters and red numbers
Gary Taxali poster with special characters and gold numbers
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - 4:00am to Sunday, May 3, 2015 - 4:00am

Buy a limited edition GradEx 100 print!

You can purchase a limited edition, signed and numbered silk screen print of Gary Taxali’s GradEx 100 poster starting Tuesday, April 7 at the OCAD University bookstore.  The bookstore is located at 51 McCaul Street in Toronto.

One hundred copies of the ‘red’ version are available for $100 each. These silk screen prints are signed and numbered. Ten copies of a gold wash version, each with a unique Gary Taxali illustration, are available for $1,000 each.  

You can also purchase the original promotional poster for $20 ($10 student price) 

Venue & Address: 
OCAD University Bookstore 51 McCaul St. Toronto, ON
Cost: 
$10 + tax (original promotional poster - student price with valid ID)  $20 + tax (original promotional poster - public price) $100 + tax (red limited edition)  $1,000 + tax (gold limited edition)

Gary Taxali creates OCAD U’s 100th GradEx poster

Poster for OCAD U GradEx 100
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 - 6:45pm

Award-winning illustrator Gary Taxali’s work is featured on the poster for GradEx 100, the centennial edition of OCAD University’s annual exhibition of graduating students’ work. Taxali is an OCAD U alumnus and associate professor of Illustration in the Faculty of Design.

More than 600 promising young artists and designers will be exhibiting at GradEx 100, displaying their final thesis work to more than 25,000 guests from Wednesday, April 29 to Sunday, May 3. The exhibition will fill all six storeys of 100 McCaul St., including the landmark Sharp Centre for Design, and will be open to the public.

Taxali’s signature pop culture imagery is infused with retro/vintage graphic style. His fine artwork has been exhibited in galleries in the United States and Europe as well as museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Contemporary Art Museum in Rome. In 2011, two books of his work were released:  Mono Taxali, published by 279 Editions, and I Love You, Ok? published by teNeues. In 2012, the Royal Canadian Mint released a special edition of six 25-cent coins, which feature Taxali’s artwork.  

Taxali’s clients include Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Fast Company, Reader’s Digest, Business Week, McSweeney’s, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Converse, Levi’s, Sony, MTV and Coca-Cola.

OCAD University’s annual Graduate Exhibition is generously supported by Presenting Sponsor Mercedes-Benz Financial Services. Other sponsors include: C.A. Delaney Capital Management Ltd., First Capital Realty, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, CP24 (Media Sponsor), NOW (Media Sponsor) and Steam Whistle Brewing (Event Sponsor).

This event has been financially assisted by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, a program of the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, administered by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund Corporation.

Gary Taxali teaching at the National Institute of Design, Bangalore

Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - 5:00am

Assistant Professor Gary Taxali is in Bangalore this month teaching at the National Institute of Design (NID) as part of OCAD University’s exchange agreement with the school.

Taxali’s workshop “Drawing Your Personal Voice” is part of NID’s two-weeks of open electives, and works with twenty students from various disciplines.

While in Bangalore, Taxali will give a talk about his work and creative process at the INSIGHT 2015 Design Research Symposium hosted by NID and organized by the Design Management Institute.

For updates on Taxali’s experience in Bangalore, follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Put Art in Your Pocket: Launch

Put Art in Your Pocket: Launch
Saturday, November 2, 2013 - 8:00pm

Harry Rosen collaborates with acclaimed artist and OCAD U alum Gary Taxali on Canadiana-themed pocket square collection

This fall, Harry Rosen introduces a new collection of five special-edition
pocket squares designed by Canadian artist Gary Taxali.

The 100% silk pocket squares, created exclusively for Canada’s premiere menswear retailer, Harry Rosen, will be available in select stores across Canada and online at www.harryrosen.com
on Saturday, November 2, 2013. The collection will be launched with a special in-store signing by the artist at Harry Rosen’s flagship store in Toronto at 82 Bloor St W from 4 to 6PM.

Celebrating the culturally-rich heritage of Canada and featured cities – Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, each of Taxali’s unique designs plays off of the character, culture and landmarks of each city. The result is a colourful and comical, yet highly wearable, collector’s item.

“I was inspired by how diverse our Canadian cities are, and I tried to capture the different moods and stories of Canadian life in a playful way,” says artist Gary Taxali.

Each piece of artwork is reproduced on high- uality Italian silk, with hand rolled and stitched edges creating a fluid canvas that Gary says “shows that fashion is art and art can be fashion.”

Gary Taxali is an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared in GQ, Esquire and Rolling Stone. He visually blends now with then, drawing influence from vintage comics and advertising art to communicate the ironies and comical essence of pop culture.

“We’re passionate about pocket squares,” says Larry Rosen, CEO, Harry Rosen Inc. “It’s important for men to inject some playful elements into their wardrobe, and these unique artistdesigned accessories pack a lot of personality.”

The Gary Taxali for Unfamous Pocket Square will retail for $95.

About Gary Taxali
Gary Taxali is one of North America's foremost contemporary artists. His work consists of retro stylized characters, iconography and symbols reminiscent of the 1930s rooted from an award winning illustration background. His art has a lowbrow/highbrow appeal and hence can also be seen not only in galleries around the world such as The Andy Warhol Museum but is also instantly recognizable in magazines, products (such as the Royal Canadian Mint Coins), designer toys and fashion. Gary has upcoming exhibitions at Waddington’s (Toronto) with Concrete Contemporary Art on January 29, 2014 and at Jonathan Levine Gallery (New York) on February 22, 2014. The Unfamous brand was founded by Gary Taxali and his sister, Vandana Taxali. More information can be found at www.garytaxali.com.

About Harry Rosen Inc.
Harry Rosen Inc., Canada’s leading quality men’s wear retailer, is celebrating its 59th year in business in 2013. Founded in 1954 by the man whose name the chain still bears, Harry Rosen Inc. has grown from a single 500-square-foot store in Toronto to become a powerhouse in Canadian retailing with 15 stores across the country, accounting for 40 percent of the Canadian market in high-end men’s wear, as well as an ecommerce site at www.harryrosen.com. Harry Rosen stores offer extensive collections of the world’s finest men’s wear labels including Tom Ford, Brunello Cucinelli, Dolce & Gabbana, Etro, Armani Collezioni, Brioni, Canali, Ermenegildo Zegna, Versace, Hugo Boss, Cole Haan, Salvatore Ferragamo, Loro Piana and J.P. Tilford by Samuelsohn.

For more information, photography, products samples, or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Tim Gallant
Public Relations Manager
416-935-9224
tgallant@harryrosen.com

For Gary Taxali/Unfamous:
Vandana Taxali
416-865-0800
vandanat@rogers.com

Venue & Address: 
Harry Rosen’s flagship store 82 Bloor Street West Toronto, Ontario

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