Gary Taxali

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artist: hong hao

When I left China the end of 2007, I could not help but notice the growing contemporary art scene.  Beijing’s 798 and Shanghai’s Moganshan Lu offer a glimpse into China’s art scene as both districts are made up of studios and galleries with dedicated art space for artists.

Hong Hao is a Beijing born artist who graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and has made a name for himself in the China contemporary art scene. He is a conceptual photographer known for his series called “My Things,”(below) where he used everyday objects that he (obsessively?) collected to depict life through art.  The objects are shown in life-size gathered through the artists life.  His work provides a glimpse into consumer culture in China into his laser scanned pictures.  I think his pieces are fantastic and love the repetition of pattern and the colour that each object brings to the shot.  For more info on contemporary art in China, Art Scene Beijing is a decent site to start with as well as ArtZine China.

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artist: jacob hashimoto

Jacob Hashimoto is another artist whose work I am in love.  Born in Colorado, Jacob works with paper to create the most magnificent wall hangings and sculptures. The detail and texture in his work is impressive and is what draws me to his pieces.  For a list of his exhibitions, please click here.

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via the Saatchi Gallery

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via artnet.com

artist: oli goldsimth

I find I am getting to the stage in my life where I am starting to pay more attention to art.  As kids, art appreciation is something part of growing up either via arts & crafts lessons, school trips to the art gallery or art history classes in school.  During university art appreciation, for me, when dormant.  I was no longer drawing and painting, I could count on one hand how many times I set foot in an art gallery and the last class I formally took on about art in school was my third year aesthetics class for my philosophy major.

Now that I own four walls and a roof, my interest in art has been rekindled and I make more of an effort when out and about in Toronto or traveling abroad to visit galleries and shops with art.  I scribble down names of artists so I can research and blog about their work and have started to build my repertoire of what I would like to fill my walls with when I have the budget.  One of my new favourite artists is Toronto based Oli Goldsmith.  His art is chaotic, bust, colourful, graphic, involves the repetition of patterns and is sometimes referred to the genre of pop-surrealism.  I saw his work in a great furniture store, Michael Thomas, in Port Hope.  If you would like to read more about the artist, I found two good bios here and here.

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via torontoist.com

hotel aire de bardenas

This is a stunning hotel in Spain.  Hotel Aire De Bardenas is located in the southernmost part of Navvare in a nature reserve, 3km from Tudela’s town centre and is built on a wheat field.  There are only 22 rooms at this place and some of the bedrooms are located in independent cubes which I have tried to capture below in the pictures.  Truly a building that is at one with its natural surroundings.  It looks so peaceful, I am dying to check this place out.

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sprinkles chicago

Sprinkles cupcakes opened a shop in Chicago last fall (2010) and the facade of the retail store is unreal!  They replicated their signature cupcake style on the front of the building.  How cool is that?  I can’t wait to visit next time I am in Chicago.  Sprinkles, Toronto is calling 🙂

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