A day in Toronto (the Pikto Gallery and such...)

[Seb]

Last week end I was in Toronto, mainly to pay a visit to the Pikto gallery and see Michael Reichmann current Bangladesh series from my own eyes.

After having spent the morning at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) in the Chinatown, I headed down in the Old Town where the Pikto Gallery is. The Old Town clearly is my favorite area in Toronto with its genuine architecture of the 19th century and its preserved industrial/commercial buildings.

The Pikto gallery is both a gallery and a photographic center with its rentable Apple workstations, printing facilities and various services. This is one place of a kind and being there was a true pleasure. www.pikto.ca

The Pikto gallery is part of The Distillery District, a complex of fourty victorian industrial buildings pefectly preserved. The whole District is dedicated to galleries, studios and such. This is literally Disney World for art enthusiasts. I have never seen anything like it. www.thedistillerydistrict.com

About the exhibit, it was great but it was also smaller than I assumed it would be. 20 photographs were on display moreover. People who are familiar with Reichmann work via the Luminous Landscape know that he have a great sense for isolating elements and creating images with strong graphic qualities. That being said, I was most impressed with the craftmanship of the pictures themselves. It's no secret that Reichmann use state of the art gears and that he knows how to push them but I perceived the exhibit as a bold testimony of the beautiful possibilities of an 100% digital workflow. It seems to me that the argument that digital haven't reached film can't hold. By that, I don't mean to start a debate and I fully respect people who prefer the look of film (it does look different). However, I hare rarely seen that kind of clarity, subtle nuances and color gamut. The few b&w's on display where impressive too.

For those interested, I'll be submiting few picture from this past week end in the critique forum.

best regards to all

Seb

[another view]

Thanks for the update, wondered how it went. I'll have to keep that place in mind - Toronto isn't that far from here, maybe I'll make it up that way some time.

I think the print I have was scanned Provia 2-1/4", and it was done a few years ago (probably about the time the Epson 2200 came out, which it was printed on). The print quality is excellent and I have to believe that his newer prints are even better.

You didn't really say it this way, but it kind of reminds me of a recent local show I went to. The print quality was great, even with 30x40 (and larger) prints. The latest and greatest equipment, and used well. But I didn't see any prints I would have bought...

[Axle]

The Distillery District

Toronto is just an hour or so drive from my home town (Milton, west of Toronto) An Aunt of mine has a studio in the Distillery.

[Seb]

Toronto is just an hour or so drive from my home town (Milton, west of Toronto) An Aunt of mine has a studio in the Distillery.

This is great! How is her studio called and what is she doing? I might go back there in late may during the Distillery jazz fest.

Seb

[Seb]

Thanks for the update, wondered how it went. I'll have to keep that place in mind - Toronto isn't that far from here, maybe I'll make it up that way some time.

I think the print I have was scanned Provia 2-1/4", and it was done a few years ago (probably about the time the Epson 2200 came out, which it was printed on). The print quality is excellent and I have to believe that his newer prints are even better.

You didn't really say it this way, but it kind of reminds me of a recent local show I went to. The print quality was great, even with 30x40 (and larger) prints. The latest and greatest equipment, and used well. But I didn't see any prints I would have bought...

Hello,

Actually, I guess that I focused too much on the technical side of things in my previous post. Perhaps, because I expected the photographs to be artsy but didn't expected the level of craftmanship. I would be proud to own most of the prints that were displayed on the show and there are actually three of them that I found truly striking.

regards

Seb

[Axle]

Her studio is Payne/Luijckx, they do clothing/fasion.

[Seb]

Her studio is Payne/Luijckx, they do clothing/fasion.

I'll keep this name in mind and make sure to pay them a visit the next time I go there.

regards

Seb

[gahspidy]

Seb, thanks for your sharing your experience at the exhibit. I'm curious as to what size the prints were on average and if you know what they were printed with and on what type of paper. also, were they all framed or just matted?

[Seb]

Seb, thanks for your sharing your experience at the exhibit. I'm curious as to what size the prints were on average and if you know what they were printed with and on what type of paper. also, were they all framed or just matted?

Hello Gary,

All prints were framed and matted. A dual layer matte (so to speak, there are two depth in the material) was used everywhere. This was a thick white matte with visible fibers. The frames (which varied in shape yet they were all identical design wise) surprised me. They were in thin metal which looked like anodized aluminium to me (it was clearly anodized, they were of a darker grey than any metal). I am not 100% sure about the actual size of the prints. Most of them appeared to be 13x19 prints which mean something like 19x25 (my raw approximation) considering the mattes and the frames.

I would supose that Reichmann printed them himself with his Epson 4000 but this wasn't specified anywhere. It was clearly stated that they were ink jet prints on archival matte paper though.

regards

Seb

[gahspidy]

Seb, sounds like the frames I have used. They are made of anodized aluminum as you said and are easily cut to size and put together with simple hardware. They have a simple clean appearance and are not too expensive.. And pretty good quality. Thanks for the info