art profiles : In The News

The Fashionista Blog raves about 3 Toronto-based design labels--Greta Constantine, Arthur Mendonca, and Philip Sparks--who showcased their work during Toronto Fashion Week. The Toronto LG Fashion Week, which wrapped up on April 1st, featured both local and international designers in studio and runway show across the city.

"Known as "The Jersey Boys of Toronto," Greta Constantine designers Stephen Wong and Kirk Pickersgill have won the hearts of many who don their draped wonders from the runway to red carpet. This season, the pair ventured out on a global escapade and debuted a collection interwoven with a multitude of inspirations that seemingly reflected the multicultural tapestry of Canada. From Japanese cuts to Tibetan shapes, the label satisfied the taste of those with a nomadic sense of style."

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original source Fashionista

Wired UK writes on "Sword & Sworcery", a Toronto-developed iPad game that has received international praise since its launch last week. Designed through a collaboration between Toronto game company Capy, local artist Superbrothers and singer-songwriter Jim Guthrie, Sworcery is described as "far closer to an experimental, interactive art piece than a traditional game".

"To say anything, of any real substance, about Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, would be wrong. So much of this game -- an evocative, Zen-like fantasy romp for iPad -- is about the sheer thrill of curiosity, exploration and discovery."

"It figures, considering the endless back catalogue of adventure cult classics and minimalistic masterpieces that no doubt inspired the game. There are hints of The Legend of Zelda -- but more bushwhacking through an uncharted Hyrule than epic world-saving heroics -- and PlayStation 2 marvel Shadow of the Colossus. It reminds me of Ico, Prince of Persia and Another World."

"All games that were not afraid to sit back, drop you in a completely foreign space and let you explore with as little handholding as possible. They were games that harnessed the childlike joy of discovery and relished in the unexpected, with few tutorials and no shepherding arrows to push you in the right direction. This game definitely belongs in that exclusive club."

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original source Wired UK

Toronto's music scene got major kudos this week from New York Times arts and culture critic James R. Oestreich. After a recent trip to Toronto, Oestrich praises TSO's New Creations Festival, the annual month-long event that showcases the work of contemporary composers. And, in a second article published the same day, Oestreich also raves about Tafelmusik, the Toronto-based period instrument ensemble that performs regularly at the Trinity-St. Paul's Center.

"Sometimes you get lucky. I came here to see how the Toronto Symphony was faring a decade after its troubled times, and that, it turns out, would have been satisfying enough."

"But the timing also allowed me to catch up with the acclaimed early-music ensemble Tafelmusik at the Trinity-St. Paul's Center, a converted church near Toronto University, on Thursday. And it was a superb evening: a revival of the group's magnum opus, "The Galileo Project," created in 2009 to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, tied to the 400th anniversary of Galileo's development of the astronomical telescope."

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original source New York Times