VANCOUVER SCHOOL
PHOTOGRAPHERS at Monte Clarke
Gallery (752 Queen West) to October 20.
416-703-1700. Rating: NNNN
don’t stress out if the phone’s giving an out-of-service message. Toronto’s brand-new Monte Clark Gallery, an offshoot of the Vancouver space, couldn’t get Bell to hook up the line in time for their opening, just nine days after they took possession of the leased space formerly occupied by Pure (whose sign is still up). Phone service or no, MC is very much in business, launching with A-list Vancouver photographers including international art star Jeff Wall, Roy Arden, Scott McFarland, Howard Ursuliak and Stephen Waddell.
Obviously, the tantalizing lineup is intended to make the T.O. location’s opener a must-see. The work lives up to expectations (after all, photography tends to reproduce rather well). The true find here, though, is the one surprise: little 8-by-10 black-and-white works by Wall that are refreshingly unlike his trademark mural-sized staged, backlit colour scenes.
