Raymi Meets Christian Aldo At Super Wonder Gallery
On Friday July 25th I went to Super Wonder Gallery at 876 Bloor St. West, Toronto, ON to take in a group exhibition of contemporary art inspired by the old tyme circus acts. It was fantastic and filled with all sorts of crazy people and weird art; it really felt like live theater at times.
Step right up, Ladies and Gentlemen! The whole event had a circus feel to it.
Just after we entered, and paid $10 per person cover charge, we were accosted by a heckler who demanded an additional $2 each to show us into a separate tent in which there were bell jars filled with natural anomalies, shrunken heads and strange misshapen animals. It was a museum quality display of real life oddities & circus artifacts from the private collection of Mysterion the Mind Reader.
The show brought to life all the nostalgia surrounding circuses in the late 1800s, and how they invoked era of wonder that society had for anything different or ‘magical’ in any way possible, and that includes strange inventions, people with mystical powers and horrible deviants.
The exhibition featured hundreds of new works from ninety contributing artists.
And best of all there were live performers wearing clown suits and doing amazing things
Check out this girl juggling glass balls,
Was she a paid performer? or an artist in the exhibition? or was she just an art patron inspired by the theme to come out to the show.
Here is Irving and I with some art fans
The bar drinks in the back were $5 each and the night’s activities were frequently interrupted by one spectacle or another.
At one point some clowns were twerking
It was hard to tell which folks were patrons and which were employed by the gallery as strange skits broke out
There are more pictures in my Flickr gallery
Christian Aldo, Toronto Artist and Curator
Christian Aldo is the brainchild and art galleryist most responsible for the Super Wonder Gallery. Approx five years ago the Windsor-born artist came to Toronto and converted an old shoe store on Roncesvalles Ave into an art gallery. His paintings caught my eye because they were entirely in bas relief which means they were 3d and fetching… but I don’t see them anymore? Check out his website, Christian Aldo Art com
When I got my two minutes with man, all Christian wanted to talk about was his next show, a big war theme extravaganza he’s putting together in Sept – shouldn’t it be for November? you know, Remembrance Day? nope its Sept to showcase the hypocrisy of war by hosting the event on the 11th of the month. In bad taste? or perhaps again, that’s art in real life?
The Super Big Top show was amazing and I saw things I will never forget. Look here in these pictures and in my photo feeds there are two-headed rabbits, strongmen, and mesmerizers .. yes that red and black target thing on the wall in the photos spins, and so its a truly interactive installation. That’s the artist who stood nearby all night and invited patrons to give it a whirl and behold how the circular object spinning against the stripes plays tricks with your brain.
It was a big-top filled with circus art and it had a great vibe – I was so happy to attend this party and will definitely be going back.
The next art party will be on September 11th so do not miss it! Check out the action below.
The Super Wonder Gallery is a good time.
