New in 2022 Toronto Art Events and Exhibitions on Display This Year

A new year has begun, and with it, many fresh and exciting new Toronto art events are schedule to open throughout 2022.

Toronto is a central hub for arts and culture. Despite the many delays and closures related to the pandemic, many exhibits and art events in the city persevered through alternative means, such as outdoor, online, or limited entry showings (like the creative media used in The 2021 Luminato Festival).

While Toronto is still navigating through the struggles of the pandemic, art is still very much alive and well in the city in 2022.

Here are just some of the many great exhibits, shows, and art events scheduled for this year.

Upcoming Art Events in Toronto

Gallery 1313 25th Anniversary Exhibit

Gallery 1313 has acted as a cultural hub in the Parkdale neighbourhood since signing its lease with ARTSCAPE in 1997. They had a clear mandate when their journey began: support new emerging artists within the city. Since then, the gallery has grown and flourished to have over 60 members who display their exhibits within the gallery and help curate its revolving content and programming.

2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Gallery 1313, and to celebrate, they are hosting a 25-year milestone art event in Toronto to display the works of their member artists.

The celebratory exhibit runs from January 19-31, 2022. Wednesday through Saturdays from 1-5 pm, and Sundays between 1-4 pm.

The Eco-Art Exhibit

More than ever, environmental awareness is a concern to us all. In this exhibition curated by Phil Anderson, artists are encouraged to display their works that tackle issues such as climate change, urban sprawl, energy, and water quality…and what these concerns mean for our planet.

The art displayed at this exhibit will feature a range of media, from paintings to photography, mixed media, or videos.

Some of the many artists participating in the ecologically conscious exhibit are Paul Kilbertus, Kamille Cyr, Anne Winter, as well as Edmonton artist Natalie Jachyra, and Vancouver artist Emma Windsor–Liscombe.

Join this show between February 16-17 and reflect upon the many ways we impact our earth.

I AM HERE: Home Movies and Everyday Masterpieces

While the AGO’s 2021 exhibit Picasso: Painting the Blue Period is closing on January 16th, an exciting new exhibit opens near the start of spring and runs until the middle of summer.

I AM HERE is an AGO exhibit that reflects on the creative ways that humanity documents themselves and their journeys.

From prehistoric cave paintings to TikTok trends, this exhibit takes an in-depth look at human’s universal desire to capture and share ourselves for the enjoyment of ourselves and others.

Celebrated artworks from artists like Patti Smith, Claes Oldenburg, Annie Pootoogook, David Hockey, and more, will utilize various media such as personal snapshots, television clips, and landmark social media moments, historical letters, and even grocery lists. One such artwork on display will be a digital collage from the AGO’s 2021 Portraits of Resilience, which utilizes over 3000 user-submitted photographs.

The exhibit will also feature several formerly lost “home movies” from the Prelinger Archives, a collection of films that relate to the cultural evolution of the American landscape and everyday life, which was founded in 1983.

I AM HERE will run from April 16th, 2022 until August 14th, 2022.

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair

The Toronto Outdoor Art Fair was founded in 1961, and in the 60 years since its creation, has been instrumental in launching many careers for artists in the GTA. This annual art event in Toronto has previously featured over 350 visual artists, both formally and informally trained, whether they work in photography, painting, sculpture, textiles, jewellery, and more.

The event attracts 130,000 every year to Nathan Phillips Square. To help keep the art show alive during the ongoing pandemic, the TOAF created an extensive and engaging online platform for their programming, which featured 1.1 million page views annually from people all over the world. This digital platform will also return in 2022, alongside the in-person event.

Art Events and Exhibits to See, Right Now!

Several art exhibits opened during the tail end of December 2021. In case you missed the start of these exciting events during the holiday hustle and bustle, here are some that you can see right now!

Maureen Gruben: Moving with Joy & Annivik

The Bentway, located at 250 Fort York Blvd, is a public space that runs underneath the Gardiner Expressway, and is home to community events, skating, and art exhibitions. Currently on display at the Bentway are two exciting exhibits by Inuvialuk artist Maureen Gruben.

Hailing from the Inuvialuit hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories, Gruben’s work often uses a combination of organic materials such as polar bear fur, seal skins, and beluga, and combines them with industrial materials like resins, bubble wraps and metallics.

The first exhibit, Moving with Joy, opened on December 22nd and featured large-scale outdoor art installations that run along The Bentway Skate Trail, and displays installations such as sculptural sleds and photos and videos depicting daily life in the North.

Meanwhile, Gruben’s sister artwork, Annivik, opened on December 29th for display at the Bentway’s studio space, and is a photographic installation that shares a raw look at images captured from the landfill in Gruben’s home in Tuktoyaktuk.

These art installations will both run until February 21st, 2022.

Esery Mondesir: We Have Found Each Other

Esery Mondesir is a Toronto-based artist and filmmaker who describes his artistic impulse and drive as a “search for kinship.”

Having left Haiti, his country of birth, at the age of 28, this exhibition, which opened December 18th, is a reflection of his migratory experience. Utilizing personal archives, music, oral histories, film footage, passport photographs, and more, the exhibit aims to chart and connect people to Haiti.

This reflection reveals the extended family that Mondesir has found in his pursuit for kinship, connecting stories between Toronto, Montreal, Havana, Ghana, and Port-Au-Prince.

This exhibition runs at the AGO until April 18, 2022.

Jorian Charlton: Out of Many

Out of Many was scheduled to open way back in February of 2021 at Gallery TPW in the Bloordale Village area, just off of Lansdowne station. Due to closures related to COVID-19, this art event was forced to become an online project. However, the event has found its new home at the AGO, opening for the first time to in-person viewing and running until April 18, 2022.

Out of Many was conceived by Toronto-based photographer Jorian Charlton after she received a collection of 35mm slides from her father. These included photographs of Jamaica, New York, and Toronto from the late ’70s and ’80s, Charlton was inspired to create an exhibit that showcases her family lineage, pairing her own portraits alongside her fathers, creating a narrative that explores Jamaican-Canadian culture in the past, present, and future.

Beyond Monet

See it before it’s gone! The exciting art exhibit Beyond Monet is on an extended display until February 27th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

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