Illustration: Jenny Chen
IN THE EXHIBITION:
In Praise of Voice Notes and Penguin Pebbling (part of Mourning Microcosmmutes)
m. patchwork monoceros
ARTIST TALK
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Indebted to the words and thinking of disability justice educator Mia Mingus, wherever you are is where i want to be offers access intimacy as the un-structuring logic for our collective queer and trans crip futures. Refusing the loudly eugenicist mapping of isolation and disposability upon our disabled queer-trans-crip bodyminds, the multi-disciplinary practices platformed here speak with a loved urgency to the ways in which embodied experiences of access intimacy have the capacity to reconfigure time, space, and relation. Spanning installation to textile to video, the work of these artists proposes the act, experience, and feeling of crip kinship as a means and model of radical future-making.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Sarah–Tai Black (they/them) is an arts curator and critic born and (mostly) raised in Treaty 13 Territory/Toronto whose work aims to center Black, queer, trans, and crip futurities and freedom work. Their curatorial work has been staged at Cambridge Art Galleries (Cambridge, ON), Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina, SK), MOCA (Toronto ON), PAVED Arts (Saskatoon, SK), and A Space Gallery (Toronto, ON).
CINNAMON
Wen Tong
Cinnamon is a series of paintings which, like the spice, is mundane yet leaves an experience that invigorates the senses and has a magical quality. Ideas for the paintings came from everyday experiences in a suburban setting yet, a fantastical theme is constructed throughout the series.
This reflects the artist’s own sensitivity and yearning for what is beyond daily life, where she experiences flashes of inspiration through living her life. These may be the unexpected consequences of meditative practices of a state of mind that carries over to everyday experiences. Regardless of origin, these visions are triggered by the world around her and they reshape moments into a fresh perspective. The artist’s work aims to share the knowledge gained from these experiences.
Wen Tong was born in Jinan, China, before immigrating to Canada at the age of 2. She received her HBsc from the University of Toronto in 2021, studying Biotechnology and Computer Science, but also took studio art classes at Sheridan College in both painting and printmaking. Wen is an award-winning contemporary artist that creates cinematic oil paintings in the style of magical realism. She has shown in a number of exhibitions across Ontario and has artwork in multiple private and public collections. Wen works from her studio in Oakville, Ontario.
Artist Website: wentongart.com
Keywords: BIPOC Experience | Youth, Teens and/or Children
#RWMFest #MoreThanRebellion
This year, the exhibition in the Rendezvous With Madness Festival will be presented in-person throughout the festival from October 27 to November 6.
VENUE:
The exhibition is held at Workman Arts Offsite Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Unit 302, Toronto.
&
Special feature of work from Cinnamon by Wen Tong will be shown in the Tangled Gallery vitrine space at 401 Richmond St W, Suite 124, Toronto
DATES:
October 27 to November 6, 12 – 6 PM.
EXHIBITION OPENING & ARTISTS TALK
October 29, 1-4 PM, Talk at 2:30 PM
After the opening reception, engage with the artists of kind renderings as they delve into their work and practice.
TOURS
Please join us for a guided tour on Thursday, November 3 at 5 PM
ACCESSIBILITY
If in-person access is a barrier, please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_lauenteguene@workmanarts.com.
Visit the Accessibility page for further festival information and wayfinding.
AN IN-PERSON EXHIBITION
Kindness is not an act of weakness. It is an act that resists societal expectations of doing and saying nothing. This form of rebellion is evident in this year’s Rendezvous With Madness visual art exhibition whereby the six exhibiting artists address within their work personal experiences that challenge what mental health and wellness looks like. Action is apparent through frameworks of compassion, thought-provoking imagery and considerate storytelling.
IN THE EXHIBITION:
CHAINS & CROWNS
Stéphane Alexis
THE THINGS WE CARRY WITH US
Twinkle Banerjee
LOSING IT
Boozie
MULTITUDE OF FISH - ACENSION TALES
Jenny Chen
MY LEFT-HAND IS TALKING AND
MY RIGHT-HAND IS NURTURING
Jessica Field
CINNAMON
Wen Tong
This year, the exhibition in the Rendezvous With Madness Festival will be presented in-person throughout the festival from October 27 to November 6.
VENUE
Workman Arts Offsite Gallery, Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street, Unit 302, Toronto
GALLERY HOURS
October 27 to November 6, 12 – 6 PM
EXHIBITION OPENING & ARTISTS TALK
October 29, 1-4 PM, Talk at 2:30 PM
After the opening reception, engage with the artists of kind renderings as they delve into their work and practice.
TOURS
Please join us for a guided tour on Thursday, November 3 at 5 PM
ACCESSIBILITY
If in-person access is a barrier, please contact Raine Laurent-Eugene at raine_laurenteugene@workmanarts.com
Visit the Accessibility page for further festival information and wayfinding.
WORKMAN ARTS MEMBER ARTISTS JURY:
Sylvia Frey, Visual Artist, Toronto
Sylvia Frey is a Mad, Queer, BIPOC Visual Artist based in Toronto. Her artwork explores the intersection of Madness, Healing, and Art. She is an interdisciplinary artist, working in the mediums of painting, drawing, writing, and performance. Most currently, she has started to explore film and photography. Her artwork can be found in various private collections in North America and Europe.
Esmond Lee, Visual Artist, Researcher, and Architect, Toronto
Esmond Lee is an artist, researcher, and architect based in Scarborough. Lee explores long-term, intergenerational experiences of migration in peripheral spaces. He holds a Master of Architecture and is pursuing a Doctorate in Critical Human Geography. Lee draws from these seemingly diverging backgrounds to examine identity, belonging, and nuanced cultural and political borders in the built environment. Recent works include installations for Nuit Blanche Toronto, developed during his time as the Doris McCarthy Artist-in-Residence, and at Malvern Town Centre for CONTACT Photography Festival. Lee’s current projects include two photobooks: ‘Below the City’, recognized by the Burtynsky Grant, and one for Woodside Square Library as the TPL Artist-in-Residence.
Laura Shintani, Visual Artist, Toronto
Laura Shintani is a multimedia multidisciplinary artist who’s curiosity leans into learning, leadership and making friends with the interior monologue of the mind. Having a Japanese-Canadian ancestry, she directs themselves to create work that re-connects a disconnected past to the present. She lives with and embraces neurodiversity.
Her work has been shown at the Royal Ontario Museum, Campbell House Museum, Tangled Arts + Disability and Workman Arts. She helps to facilitate CAMH’s client “Art Cart” through Workman Arts and has received grants from and has been on juries for the Ontario Arts Council. Her most recent skill is trying her hand at taiko drumming!