minnow & bass

our fish in a magazine on airplanes.

2009-09-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

Wish You Were Here

Vacant storefronts are blank canvases for these artists at work.

enRoute: August 2009 Issue

http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/wish-you-were-here-9

Los Angeles

Phantom Galleries L.A.

Peer into an unused furniture store in the City of Angels, and you might be haunted by an installation curated by Phantom Galleries L.A. But don’t blink; it might vanish. Disappearing and reappearing spaces are used to stage installations like Kim Abeles’ commemorative plates depicting well-known faces, including Ronald Reagan’s, “inked” out of city smog.

213-626-2854, phantomgalleriesla.com

Philadelphia

Dumpster Divers

In the 1960s, this boulevard bristled with counterculture; now art lovers are bringing South Street back to its bohemian past. A group called the Dumpster Divers turns trash into treasure with street signs, old licence plates and lampshades bursting across the space one day and mazes sculpted out of recycled Styrofoam the next.

732 South St., dumpsterdivers.org

New York

Exhibition 211

Dice are rolled and names are drawn from a hat to determine the space and order in which artists add to or destroy their predecessor’s work in this vacant Elizabeth Street storefront, which explains how paper airplanes became a carpet of multicoloured confetti. Sloppy seconds have never looked so good.

211 Elizabeth St., exhibition211.blogspot.com

Toronto

minnow & bass

When minnow & bass, a nomadic artist-run space, was housed in a defunct store on the edge of Kensington Market, artist Irene Loughlin stopped foot traffic by dancing in the gallery’s window on piles of dirt wearing a striking green dress. But its founder Faye Mullen really made the Kensington store home when she lived in the space for a week, watching passersby watch her.

minnowbass.blogspot.com

we are missed by blog t.o.

2009-07-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

minnow & bass has been tragically added to blog t.o 's "deathpool" along with Mel's, Speedy Burger and Heart on Your Sleeve.

http://www.blogto.com/deadpool/2009/07/its_deadpool_for_mels_montreal_delicatessen_taste_of_magic_somethins_fishy_minnow_and_bass_abstract_tree_speedy_burger/

Just to clarify: we were always destined to move out of the Dundas & Augusta location on May 12th 2009. We are a migratory space and this was scheduled. Currently, we are still looking for our next artist space.

Any storefronts you would like to see inhabited by artists? Please, send us your suggestions.

sincerely,

your fish.

how to catch a bass using a minnow...

2009-06-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

An enlightening article about how to catch a bass using minnow as bait.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4550585_catch-bass-using-minnows.html

minnow & bass wants to wish you a good summer under the sun and in the water.

waving 'goodbye' & sending the moon to 594 Dundas Street West

2009-05-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

photos taken by Sam Catalfomo

The Rock Lottery

2009-05-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

The Rock Lottery. Screening on May 11th, doors open at 8pm and the screening begins at 9pm.

kind passerby...

2009-05-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

A kind passerby from urbantoronto.ca

http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=4983&page=13

Thank you urbandreamer.

urbandreamer

recession proof

"Minnow and Bass really brightens up this intersection. I always thought this corner had massive potential. Hopefully it's not short lived!

A slightly blurry shot I took yesterday (12 April 2009) demonstrating the effect a clean facade has on the area:"

(IN)Animate.

2009-05-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

[IN]ANIMATE. Annie Tse, Mani Mani, Conan Masterson and Bevan Ramsay explore what happens when corporeal boundaries are blurred and recognizable forms are distorted. Curated by Stephanie Fielding. Presented in partnership with XPACE. May 4th-May 10th 2009 in bass. Reception Friday May 8th, 7-11pm. Artist Talk Saturday May 9th, 2-4pm

breathing sculpture by Mani Mani

looped video by Annie Tse

jitterering installation by Conan Masterson

sculpture by Bevan Ramsay

tributary.

2009-05-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

pouch and interactive sculpture by Sebastian Frye.

tributary. Mail-in works of transition by Alexandra Edmonds, Sebastian Frye, Abel Gutierrez, Michelle Lee, faye mullen, Sarah Nichols & Laine Stewart. May 4th - May 10th in minnow. Reception on Friday May 8th, 7pm - 11pm with special dance moves.

painting by Alexandra Edmonds

photography by Michelle Lee

drawings by Laine Stewart

Lost & Foundry

2009-04-30T19:58:00.000-07:00

photos taken by Liam the bandit.

Dear Foundry.

2009-04-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Foundry. An exhibition to celebrate works by students, faculty and alumni that have worked in the OCAD Foundry over the past decades. April 27th- May 3rd. Reception on Thursday, April 30th, 6pm on.

Preserves.

2009-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Preserves new work by Amanda Rataj in minnow. Amanda Rataj explores a nostalgic desire for the loss of the outdoors through the use of the domestic mason jar. Preserves recontextualizes the ritual of preserving for the 21st century, creating and collecting these exotic and curious souvenirs of a natural experience for an ambiguous future. April 27th- May 3rd. Reception on Thursday, April 30th, 6pm on.

our sweet home.

2009-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

photos taken by Darren Rigo and Colin Rogers.

Home Sweet Home.

2009-04-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

Home Sweet Home. Bass is lucky to have Free North Press. A collection of prints, blocks and sculptures by Justin Labine, Gideon Naf, Colin Rogers & Steve Rollings. Their work will be in our space from Monday April 20th - Sunday April 26th. Reception on Friday April 24th 6pm on. It will be great.

invite printed by Free North Press

possible.

2009-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

It is very difficult to credit all the artists... i truly apologize.

photos taken by Andrea Raymond

As Much As Possible.

2009-04-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

As Much As Possible a one-night assemblage of small, mini, tiny works in a small, miniature space brought to you by ABRAWD aka. Andrea Raymond & Hazel Eckert. On April 24th -April 26th. Opening reception on Friday April 24th 6-10 pm.

jewels...

2009-04-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

i don't know who took these pictures.

Diamonds are Forever.

2009-04-20T18:34:00.000-07:00

Diamonds are Forever solo photographic exhibition in minnow. Curated by Nathan Cyprys & Darren Rigo works by Sara Diamond. April 21st - April 23rd. Reception Wednesday the 22nd from 6 on. Party to follow at the residence of the curator: 126 Denison Avenue (one block away) .

strangers in pairs.

2009-04-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Olivia Cataford

Andrew Quagliariello Brendan George Ko

Darren Rigo

photos taken by Darren Rigo

Stranger & Duets.

2009-04-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Strangers & Duets. A photo based group show in bass. Works by Olivia Cataford, Brendan George Ko, Andrew Quagliariello and Darren Rigo. Currated by Brendan George Ko. Tuesday April 7th - Monday April 13th. Reception on Friday April 10th. 7-10 pm

http://photo-ma-graphy.blogspot.com/

Three Legged House Productions fundraiser

2009-04-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Three Legged House Productions presents their black light-dance party-fundraiser. They have been developing "a thaumatrope" a four minute stop motion film. Come one, come all. Do not fear the carpet-ed windows. Thursday April 9th. 9pm on.

http://www.threeleggedhouse.com/

Rain.

2009-04-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

Rain. abstract painted works by Tim Doiron in minnow. Monday April 6th-Monday April 13th. Reception April 10th 7-10pm.

spotted on Torontoist blog.

2009-04-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

http://torontoist.com/2009/04/kensington_markets_migratory_art_ga.php

Kensington Market's Migratory Art Gallery
by Steve Kupferman
photos by Michael Chrisman

"Faye Mullen led us into the smaller of the two rooms that together make up minnow & bass gallery, a self-described "migratory" art space she opened on March 20 on the southern fringe of Kensington Market, at the eastern corner of the intersection of Dundas Street and Augusta Avenue.

She offered us the tiny space's one and only rickety wooden chair and sat contentedly on the floor (still paint-spattered from the recent renovation), smiling. She seemed almost to relax into these smiles, as if happiness were simply her natural state. Most people would have had a hard time striking this kind of perfect repose while sitting on hard concrete in front of a total stranger in a place that, until a few weeks ago, was a vacant storefront. Faye, meanwhile, didn't seem to be having any difficulty. To be fair, she'd just had plenty of practice.

When we spoke to her this past Sunday, Faye, a sculptress and performance artist, had recently finished living in her still-bare gallery non-stop for a full week as part of her OCAD thesis project, titled the extermities, of the series all or nothing: when I grow up. She watched strangers pass by the shop's windows, and they in turn watched her. Why did she do it? "To know what it's like to be a gallery," she said. "To know its moods."

It couldn't have been easy. Minnow & bass is not the type of plush, hermetically sealed place where fine art ordinarily goes to live (okay, so they're not all perfectly sealed). In fact, from a distance, it doesn't really look like much of anything at all. It's just a few square feet of commercial space on the borderline between Chinatown and Kensington Market, on a two-month lease. After those two months are up, so is the gallery's stay in its current location. "That's the type of work I do," said Faye. "It's sort of ephemeral. You can't revisit it in the same way again."

Kensington Market is a neighbourhood that knows a lot about ephemerality. The 1999 conversion of the former George Brown College buildings on Baldwin Street into condos might be the single biggest change still fresh in the neighbourhood's collective memory, but a walk through the Market in April 2009 makes it obvious that the transformation is ongoing. The produce stores and bric-a-brac shacks that dominate the heart of Kensington are beginning to die of old age, and they're steadily being replaced by a new breed of business. (This was most evident during the great Starbucks scare of '08.) There are "for lease" signs all up and down Augusta Avenue. There's even one in the window of minnow & bass, the ultimate signal of its temporary status.

Faye, like so many other business owners in the area, has one foot out the door. The difference is that this was always her intention. She needed an affordable gallery space in which to stage her thesis, and two months was the absolute shortest lease the storefront's owner would allow. "This hopefully won't be the last," Faye told us, when we asked her if the gallery would move to another place at the expiration of its lease. Where will minnow & bass go next? "Different parts of the city," said Faye. "Different storefronts that need help."

The storefront at Dundas and Augusta was in need of help. A year and a half ago it was a little corner shop called MILK STORE (it was capitalized like that on the sign). You wouldn't have wanted to buy any actual milk from MILK STORE. At least not without checking the expiration date first. When MILK STORE's dubious dairy and dusty chewing gum–based business model finally proved not to be a viable one, MILK STORE shuttered up for good. It was replaced, shortly afterward, by DJ's Clothing Store, whose owners made the questionable decision to paint the entire interior of the place the color of grimy traffic cones. They went out of business late last year.

The store sat empty for a few months. During that time, some graffiti artist, either incredibly hopeful or with an incredible sense of irony, wrote the word "patience" in orange letters below one of the shop's south-facing windows. In March, patience was rewarded: that's when Faye stepped in.

On the day we visited minnow & bass, the gallery's next art installation was underway. Irene Loughlin (pictured), another performance artist, was busy pulling found items (from her mother's Hamilton basement) out of a bag and arranging them strategically throughout the space, in preparation for a day-long piece dealing with notions of diaspora. The dirty-traffic-cone walls were gone. Faye and her helpers had rolled over all of it with eggshell white. "Everything was done really poorly when it was worked on," she told us.

Seeing how bright and beautiful the space had become and how much interest it was bringing to the corner (Irene, in a green dress, had begun step dancing in piles of black soil, while passers-by stopped at the windows to gawk), it was beginning to feel difficult to relinquish minnow & bass. We were starting not to want to see it go. Not an ideal state of mind for Kensington Market, where only the "for lease" signs stay the same.

minnow & bass gallery will continue to operate in its current location (594 Dundas Street West) until May 11, 2009. Until then, it's open from Thursday to Sunday, 12 to 7(ish)."

disasporic dreams.

2009-04-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

Green dress, dirt, lucky charms and Irene. A one-time performance lasting 2 days.

disasporic dreams. An ongoing performance by Irene Loughlin in bass. Sunday April 5th 1-6 pm and Monday April 6th 3-8 pm. There will be a pecial evening performance on Sunday from 8-9 pm by Irene Loughlin & Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa, together.

http://ireneloughlin.com/main.html

the extremities.

2009-03-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

photo taken by Brendan George Ko and Stan Krzyzanowski

http://brendangeorgeko.com/

http://www.ocadstan.ca

a tight squeeze.

2009-03-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

in the news...

2009-03-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

the extremities.

2009-03-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

faye will be literally living behind the gallery walls for the duration of the exhibition with the hope to understand what it is to be a gallery. While empathizing with the space, she will reading in the window, sleeping in the storage space and speaking to you through the vent.

the extremities. of the series all or nothing: when i grow up.

works by faye mullen in bass as well as minnow gallery. from Friday March 20th at midnight until Friday March 27th at noon. Reception Thursday March 26th, 7-10 pm beer and strawberries with be served through the vent.

invite printed by Nicholas Kennedy, Trip Print Press.

http://www.tripprintpress.ca/

cleaning up the joint.

2009-03-05T07:57:00.000-08:00

minnow & bass wants to thank it's supporters who gave so much of their hands' strength to the space: mom, dad, April, Melanie, Stacey, Steve, Amanda, Nathan, Colin, Clare, Gideon, Sophia, Brendan, Wayne, Aviv, Justin, Tim, Joel, Greg, Craig, Carol, Jaclyn, Nicholas, Derrek, Serena, Stephanie, Christina, Andrea, Hazel, Rob, Peter, Sit, Ginette, George, Ian, OCAD SU, Colette, Pépère, the man who returned the drill, David, Stan and the list goes on and on...

faye cutting 2x4's

clare with her mask

gideon & steven

nathan , wayne & melanie

dear 594...

2009-03-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

after a lot of convincing I'm proud to announce that

594 Dundas Street West is our new artist run space : minnow & bass.

The old MILK STORE and DJ's will soon be the host of, a long list of, art shows throughout the next 2 months.