Sunday, June 21, 2015

bike paths and Luminato's penises

Heavenly day - really summer, on the Summer Solstice - hot, bright and breezy. The city is exploding with festivals and activities, so it was a good day for a long bike ride. I went down to Harbourfront, where the new road and bike path has at last been finished; I started my lakeside ride at the new Sherbourne Common, where there was a dog show and where I was happy to see this sign, celebrating my friend Paul Quarrington, writer and musician, who died much too young.
Then I rode west on a safe new bike path all along the lake, with people singing at various intervals and many other riders. I'll be able to go as far as my daughter's, near High Park, but today I just went to the Ex and then north to Trinity-Bellwoods Park, where there was a Luminato event.
A spontaneously generated, never-ending montage sequence, drawing upon tens-of-thousands of discarded images, creating a compelling visual and auditory experience, from Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer, presented in collaboration with the AGO. Free.

A lovely idea, to have a kind of collage/film in a park on a beautiful afternoon. I sat against a tree to watch. However, after these colourful images and many others, suddenly we were watching glistening male torsos and penises. I do not know if Mr. Farmer is gay, but my guess is that he is, or else perhaps he's not very well endowed himself and a bit obsessed. I found it irritating to be in a park, surrounded by families having picnics on the grass, watching a series of penises masquerading as art. Though I liked all the photos of Rudolph Nureyev. Clothed, but magnificently bulgy.

So then I rode home, stopping at the wonderful indie bookstore Type on Queen West and then down to the bike path on Adelaide, which almost took me home. Our benighted city somehow has managed to come up with many bike paths, more all the time. On today's long ride, I only feared for my life a few times. SCORE!

PS
Just checked Wikipedia about the award-winning Geoffrey Farmer. Below is what it says. Well, good to know - though if it were in English, that might help.

Farmer’s work begins with this idea of the art gallery as a site of phenomenological experiencePostminimalism represents a refinement of minimalism in the way it emphasizes the role the gallery context plays in creating the meaning of an artwork. Farmer adds to both traditions by focusing on the contingent nature of meaning itself, especially emphasizing its fragile and elusive nature. Contingency in Farmer’s art extends to the strategies he devises to foster a self-reflexive engagement with his work. 

What it means is: he likes pictures of penises. LOL.

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