NOW: A Collaborative Project with Sean Martindale and Pascal Paquette as well as the ‘Gift Shop Gift Shop’ wrap up this Sunday, April 1st. Stop by the AGO’s Young Gallery and share your opinions on the comment wall and pass by GSGS to take home an art multiple as a gift or as an addition to your art collection.

Located at street level at the main entrance to shopAGO, the Gift Shop Gift Shop is a brilliantly coy and clever installation of a gift shop where you can purchase souvenirs of your visit…to the shopAGO gift shop! Featuring limited edition, original artworks — see shop staff for more information.

1. Brushed stainless steel watering can from Born in Sweden ($65)
Stylish and minimal, yet at the same time striking, this innovative design typifies Born in Sweden’s approach; functional, practical and always aesthetically pleasing. It is made of 18-0 stainless steel with a flexible silicone hose. The hose has a built-in magnet that allows it to be attached to the can’s body when not in use. When watering your plants, simply hold the metal cylinder with one hand and the hose in the other. To start or stop the water flow, just move the metal cylinder up or down.

Buy it!

2. Stainless steel ‘Rocker’ garlic press from Joseph Joseph ($20)
The stylish design of this garlic crusher makes the messy task of cooking with garlic much easier. By using downward pressure and a ‘rocking’ motion it crushes garlic cloves quickly and efficiently, forcing the pieces up through the mesh of holes. Once crushed, the garlic pieces are held in the shallow bowl, allowing them to be spooned or scraped easily into a pan. Additional cloves can also be crushed at this stage before emptying.

Buy it!

3. Handmade glass Fishscape fishbowl designed by Aruliden ($153)
If the fish fan in your life isn’t into plastic plants and neon skulls, why not grab them this beautiful fishbowl? The contours of the bowl add an elegant twist to the classic fishbowl shape.

Buy it!

4. Alarm Dock for iPhone or iPod touch designed by Jonas Damon for Areaware ($50)
Remember those faux wood grain GE flip clocks that sat on every bedside table just a couple of decades ago? The Alarm Dock uses a nostalgic product language to meet the progressively thin and disappearing profiles of consumer electronics. It is at once a critique and an accommodation to new technology. Place an iPhone or iPod Touch running a flip clock app onto the dock, and see an iconic and meaningful form return to your nightstand, mantel, or shelf. Your iPhone or iPod’s dock connector can be pulled through it, allowing your device to recharge while docked.

Buy it!

5. The Art Museum by Phaidon Press editors ($225)

The Art Museum is the finest art collection ever assembled between two covers. This revolutionary and unprecedented virtual art museum in a book features 992 oversized pages of nearly 2,700 works of art. It is the most comprehensive and visually spectacular history of world art ever published. Ten years in the making, this unique book was created with a global team of specialists in all fields of art – including museum curators and educators, who have collected together important works as they might be displayed in the ideal museum for the art lover.

Buy it!

6. Faux fur collar + cuffs designed by Heather Campbell ($65-$95)
Superb faux fur lined with geometric printed silk inspired by artist Sonia Delaunay. Help the fashion-conscious lady in your life stay cosy without sacrificing style this winter. Available in red/black, blue/black, grey/black. AVAILABLE IN-STORE

 Buy it!

7. ‘Vessel’ earrings designed by Nervous System ($40-$90)
A fine network of vessels defines the surface of these semicircular earrings and serves as a hollow tube for carrying a loop of sterling silver chain. These 3d-printed nylon earrings hang from surgical steel ear wires.

Nervous System is a design studio that works at the intersection of science, art and technology. They create using a novel process that employs computer simulation to generate designs and digital fabrication to realize products. Drawing inspiration from natural phenomena, they write computer programs mimicking processes and patterns found in nature, using those programs to create unique jewelry.

Buy it! 

8. All Natural Clementine Modelling Dough ($12.95)
Strawberry, lemon and lime – fresh, natural scents in a soft, crumble-free, all natural dough for little hands. Coloured with tumeric, carmine and spinach. Three recyclable 4 oz containers. Lasts for more than 12 months when stored in our airtight containers. Ingredients: flour, water, salt, soybean oil, cream of tartar, natural glycerin, natural scent extracts, natural colours (tumeric, carmine and spinach), calcium propionate.  Other art supplies (pictured) also available.

Buy it!

9. Mini speaki speakers by DOMA ($18.95)
He may be small in size, but there is nothing small about the sound performance of the MiNi SPEAKi. Simply charge him up with your computer and he’s ready to be your sound companion wherever you go! Ideal for iPods, MP3 Players, computers…anything with an audio jack.

Buy it!

10. POP phones designed by David Turpin for Native Union ($40)
Styled by French designer David Turpin, the POP handset combines classic style with a contemporary edge and is finished with a luxurious soft-touch texture.
The handset has been manufactured with a high quality speaker and microphone and can be used with all mobile phones when fitted with the correct adaptor (sold separately) and when fitted with a USB adaptor (sold separately) can be used for VOIP computer telephone calls (Skype, Google Talk…). This product is fitted with a 3.5mm jack (compatible with the iPhone)

Available in 6 colours

Buy it!

Jeanne Beker wants to answer your questions

Jeanne Beker is an internationally recognised fashion guru, but did you know she is also an avid art collector? It makes sense that a great eye for fashion translates into a great eye for art, but aren’t you curious to know more? This week we’re accepting your questions for Jeanne via Twitter and Facebook – find out how and why she fell in love with the art world, delve into her personal collection and discover which artist she’d pick as ‘one to watch’.

Beker herself is a huge fan of Twitter, you can follow her at @jeanne_beker.

She is currently curating a special exhibition for the AGO’s 2nd Annual Collectors Series. The exhibition in offers a rare glimpse into Beker’s private art collection including paintings, photography, and sculptures. Opening Tuesday, Nov. 29, the Collector’s Series runs until Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 at the AGO’s Art Rental + Sales Gallery, located on the ground floor of 481 University Ave. The Collector’s Series shines a spotlight on the personal art collections of notable Canadians, offering rare opportunities to share their own treasured pieces, as well as to select favourite pieces from the holdings of the Art Rental + Sales Gallery to be featured in the space. These selected works are available to the public for purchase or for rent.

Those wishing to take part can tweet @AGOToronto with their questions using the hashtag #NTTY (nice to tweet you) from now until Sunday, November 27 at 9pm. The top questions will then be selected and put to Beker. Excerpts from the full interview will be shared via @AGOToronto and a complete version will be published on the AGO Art Matters Blog.

About Jeanne Beker:

Born in Toronto, Jeanne Beker began her career in show business at the age of 16 and since then has never looked back. A mother of two teenage girls and fashion guru extraordinaire, today, Jeanne Beker is one of the most iconic and influential women in the fashion industry both here at home and around the world.

Jeanne helped pioneer fashion on the Internet with American communications giant MCI, when she became editorial director of @fashion in 1995 – the web’s first fashion site. And with FashionTelevision.com hitting the one million mark of podcasts downloaded per month, people around the world now have 24-hour access to Jeanne and episodes from Canada’s leading fashion series. For more information, visit www.FashionTelevision.com.

To find out more about the interview please contact Holly Knowlman via email, Twitter or call 416 979 6660 (ext 426)

Gary Taxali will be joining us later on this evening at ShopAGO to meet with fans and sign copies of his two new publications, Mono Taxali and I Love You, OK? Taxali is an award winning artist, illustrator and toy designer who has exhibited in North America and Europe and appeared in countless publications.

Random Taxali fact: He was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for his work on Aimee Mann’s album, @#%&*! Smilers,

All last week you’ve been busy tweeting us your questions for Gary. We picked a couple (and snuck in one of our own) to put to him. Read on to find out what he had to say…

@AlanaArmstrong Gary, what are you doing when you’re procrastinating?

I don’t know what procrastinating means!  I only say that because I always have so many projects, shows, etc that I am working on so procrastination is a luxury I cannot afford.  I also think that the more one works on something, the more ideas are bound to surface.  Therefore, my issue is more a shortage of time and what ideas shall I pick from a bottomless well that are worthy of exploring.  I imagine that all working artists go through this.

@MiriamFitting Is there a show in the future?

I have a solo show slated for next spring. It opens on April 26th at The Outsiders Gallery in London, UK.  (It’s also known as Lazarides Greek St)

@AGOToronto You have been called both a fine artist and an illustrator. Do you have a preference for how you are described, or do you find labels like these to be prescriptive?   

I don’t like to get hung up on labels but in terms of being an accurate descriptor for my vocation, most of time is spent working on gallery shows so “fine artist” would be an accurate term.  That said, I am in love with illustration and if the project is something that I would enjoy doing, I’ll certainly take it.

Many times, there are crossover projects like the time I did a Converse ad and they essentially asked me to do whatever I wanted and would print it no matter what.  Since my name and short bio was on the ad, it was more of a fine art application under the guise of illustration.  A very ideal situation, really!

Find out more about Gary Taxali’s appearance at the AGO.

To find out more about the interview please contact Holly Knowlman via email, Twitter or call 416 979 6660 (ext 426)

‘Mini Speaki’ portable speakers, $18.95 each  (purchase online here)

‘Mini DV’ digital video cameras, $49.95 (purchase online here)

‘Mini Torch’ LED mini flashlights, $14.95 (purchase online here)

Shop online or visit us in-store!

Download 25.8 MB MP3

Recorded: Saturday, April 16, 2011 @ AGO Art Rental + Sales Gallery
Duration: 56:24

In conjunction with Merge, an annual exhibition showcasing emerging artists, Pamela Chang recently spoke with three Toronto based arts professionals about what you need to know to stay on top of the rising stars in the art market. This year’s exhibition featured works by Tristram Lansdowne, Jenn Law, Bogdan Luca, Amanda Nedham, Meryl McMaster and Alex McLeod.

ArtSpeak Participants:
Wil Kucey, owner/director, Le Gallery
Bill Clarke, Executive Editor of Magenta and art collector
Trish Boon, artist, arts educator, and arts writer

About the ArtSpeak Series

AR+SG host a series of FREE intimate discussions on the 3rd Saturday of the month, at 1:00 pm. Jennifer Bhogal, Coordinator of AR+SG, sits down with 3-4 prominent figures in the arts community to discuss an issue related to the exhibition on view. Everyone is welcome.

About the Art Rental + Sales Gallery

Since 1965, The Art Gallery of Ontario’s Art Rental + Sales Gallery (AR+SG) has consigned artwork from Toronto’s top galleries and independent artists, including Olga Korper Gallery, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Bau-Xi Gallery, Georgia Scherman Projects, Feheley Fine Arts, Diaz Contemporary, and many more, totaling over 40 galleries, and more than 50 independent artists. Our entire rotating inventory of over 500 works is available for rent to AGO members (memberships available at AR+SG) and for purchase to everyone.

The Clementine Story (courtesy clementineart.com)

Once upon a time there was a teacher who loved art. She was wild about colours, from paint to pom-poms; she was thrilled about children, with so many good ideas; and she was especially ecstatic when children and art frolicked together at Clementine Studio, an art space for children in Boulder, CO.

Those creative children at Clementine Studio often got just a wee bit messy. They got paint in their hair, on their hands and feet, and even in their mouths! This made the teacher (named Diana) wonder what was in those art materials. The label only said the materials were non-toxic.

Is non-toxic good enough for these marvelous and magical children?” she wondered. She fretted about what chemicals, dyes and additives were in the art supplies that she didn’t know about.

So she rolled up her sleeves and began to make play dough and paint from natural ingredients in her kitchen. She used simple items like flour, earth colourings and water to make recipes. Today, Diana and Clementine Art are proud to introduce a full line of natural paint, glue, modeling dough, crayons and markers that are simple, natural and real.

An Italian village on a hilltop near the Adriatic coast, a decaying palazzo facing the sea,

and in the basement, cobwebbed and dusty, lit by a single bulb, an archive unknown to scholars. Here, a young graduate student from Rome, Francesca Cappelletti, makes a discovery that inspires a search for a work of art of incalculable value, a painting lost for almost two centuries.

The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn’t alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.

Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others–no one knows the precise number–have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy.

Prizewinning author Jonathan Harr embarks on an spellbinding journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ–its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

Told with consummate skill by the writer of the bestselling, award-winning A Civil Action, The Lost Painting is a remarkable synthesis of history and detective story. The fascinating details of Caravaggio’s strange, turbulent career and the astonishing beauty of his work come to life in these pages. Harr’s account is not unlike a Caravaggio painting: vivid, deftly wrought, and enthralling.

description courtesy of randomhouse.ca

The Lost Painting is available to purchase at shopAGO,  $17 or online here