The opportunity for Toronto to become an example to the world in promoting an evolving, relevant, and multicultural art scene is real. There is a diversity of culture and talent in this city that is perhaps unmatched anywhere else in the world.
Art is very much alive in Toronto, yet it maintains a sense of inaccessibility to many independent, non-mainstream, and maturing artists. There is an art clique in Toronto that can be intimidating and exclusivist; the trendy hipster galleries of Queen and Dundas West, the fashion show like opening nights of their exhibits, and the in-the-know nature of where and when cool things are happening in the city can make Toronto a demoralising place for artists looking to enter the art world not because of the scene, but because of a love of culture and a need for expression.
Toronto is the business capital of Canada, and unfortunately the nature of art in Toronto is that it is very businesslike. Business is cut-throat; the purpose of competition is generally to win, not to encourage mutual growth. This kind of cut-throat competitiveness is not in the best interests of art. Art is sensitive and personal, and as such must be encouraged in a sensitive and personal way.
One of the greatest things Toronto has going for it is its’ youth. There is energy in the city that comes not from a reverence for our past, but from a belief in our future. The future is evolution. For art to have a future in Toronto, it needs to evolve.
There has been a push in recent years to move street art into gallery spaces, supposedly legitimizing the art and the artists. This is the business mindset of Toronto. For the sake of a few gallery owners and a few artists, street art has effectively been illegitimized and turned into the same kind of business it was initially meant to protest. A great example of the disrespect for and the ignorance of street art in Toronto is the speedy removal of a work by Banksy in our city. If this is the direction art is evolving in Toronto, a speedy intervention is needed before art turns into advertising, promoting a chosen few ideas instead of freely communicating the sentiments of the city.
The advantage many older cities around the world have over Toronto when it comes to the arts is that there is simply more visible public art. The very nature of most historical cities is the art and artisanship of their buildings, their public statues, the works of art in their places of worship, their feeling that the artists in their past have left a mark equal to that of their politicians and businesspeople.
The evolution of art in Toronto must be towards a more publicly visible and diverse artistic presence. Let Toronto be known for sharing not owning art, and including not excluding artists. Business should not be gobbling up art, it should be supporting it. Multiculturalism should not be sufficient as a tagline, it should be a framework in which cross cultural exchanges of ideas, experiences, and talents are encouraged via the arts.
Toronto needs a strong, representative art scene to balance its’ businesslike nature or else risk losing its’ identity to the type of corporate world that sees companies and interests change hands as casually and uninterestedly as a five dollar bill.
The mark of business is tattooed all over our city in corporate logos and advertising campaigns, but art is quite a bit more elusive and faces many more challenges in being accepted as a free means of public expression.
