Flirting with Bling is a delightful and thought-provoking exhibition that explores representations of culture, beauty and fashion through contemporary and historical artworks. It provides an opportunity for viewers to question how we create and celebrate culture through photography, painting, and installation.
Flirting with Bling offers an array of accomplished and provocative artists, some of whom are widely known here, and others who may be new to Toronto audiences. The inspiration for the show was Set of Calabashes, by contemporary Brazilian artist Marepe. This 24-piece installation of abstract calabashes made of aluminum exercises a magnetic pull on the viewer, as does Iain Baxter&'s inflatable signature Ampersand, rising and falling in the centre of the Gallery.
Other fascinating works include Ramón Serrano's Horizonte drawings, which evoke the skyline of utopia as seen from his native Cuba; paintings by automatist Françoise Sullivan and Natalie Munk; text and pixel-art video work by Sharon Switzer, photography artists such as Frank Mädler, Lori Newdick, Grit Schwerdtfeger, Roxanne Lowit, Barbara Astman, Sarah Moon, Erwin Blumenfeld, George Platt Lynes, Edmund Kesting, Horst P. Horst and Irving Penn.