Art Toronto

The Toronto Star has a preview of The Toronto International Art Fair which opens on Friday the 23. The art fair is being held in the Metro Toronto Convention Center. The fair is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a show dedicated to Canadian art, with the theme being "Heartland".

The Star reports the will be represented by over 100 galleries from over a dozen nations with over 5,000 pieces on exhibit and for sale. The expects to draw 18,000 people to the Convention center. Last year, the show is said to have sold nearly $15 million of art.

The Star states

The Toronto International Art Fair celebrates its 10th anniversary Friday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre with "Heartland," its decisive nod to Canadian art, artists and galleries.

But the flagship exhibition at Art Toronto 2009 aims to be more than just the right nationalist notion at just the right pre-Winter Olympic moment.

For Alberta-based curator Jeffrey Spalding, the all-Canuck showcase goes some way to reconfigure TIAF as an international showcase of Canadian art and not merely an art mart for snappy one-stop shopping. "Heartland's" lineup – including such established newer stars as Shary Boyle and iconic historical figures such as Greg Curnoe – would be any curator's artistic A-list for an international showcase of Canadian art.

"People are busy these days," Spalding says. "The fair is an enormous opportunity for them to come in and drink in a lot of ideas."

But hold on there. TIAF should be about selling art, right? Didn't the fair let gallery owners know a while back that its visitors/buyers were generally a well-heeled bunch whose average household income is "in excess of $100,000?"

To read the full Toronto Star article, click HERE.