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The Side Space Gallery
Category: Arts & Entertainment Art Galleries Shopping Art Galleries Art Galleries [Edit]
1080 St Clair Ave WToronto, ON M6E 1A7
2 reviews for The Side Space Gallery
2 reviews in English
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Review from Stephanie C.
Toronto, ON
11/19/2008
At first glance you might mistakenly assume that you've walked into a tax office. During regular business hours, that fact is indeed true as the little office at the corner of St. Clair West and Lauder Avenue operates as the Liberty Tax Service. However to local artists and art lovers, this space is also known as the Side Space Gallery.
Since opening in early 2007, the Side Space Gallery has organized several art exhibitions that has brought together artists from the neighbourhood and across the city. From photography to sculpture, mixed media to paintings, the gallery adds an artistic homebase to a neighbourhood that is culturally rich but contains very few galleries.
With large windows at the front and side of the building, you can view the exhibits during off hours or when you need help with your tax slips. To see the works up close, try to attend during one of the opening nights or special art events. Earlier this year, the gallery held shows that coincided with the CONTACT Photography Festival and the Jane Jacobs' Walks.
Make the trek north of Bloor or sign up to receive updates on upcoming show announcements. You'll notice that opening nights are not only popular but a friendly affair, filled with people who not only love their neighbourhood but are adding more culture to our city. -
Review from Jimi S.
ON
1/22/2009 9 photos
there seems to be a strange theme running along st. clair avenue between dufferin and bathurst. people seem to think that any kind of business can be combined with filing your taxes. if you wanted to maintain some kind of theme for a days outing you could come here and see some art, file a little taxes, go for mexican food down the street AND file some taxes there too. then perhaps, just to finish the whole experience off by summing it all up at one of the other tax filing places around that, in a stupendously unoriginal way, JUST do taxes and nothing else.
well the whole concept of providing tax service during the day and art shows on the weekend and evenings, seems to me to be the most paradoxical combination of businesses that could ever be, if only for the fact that artists of any sort at the outset get screwed by taxes straight away. (not going to get into it. we can start a thread for that...).
the side space looks like it used to be a patio at one point when this place likely was a restaurant. the floors are covered with blue carpet and something akin to green astro turf. as i was staring at the artwork on the walls, i noticed bricks under each painting. how strange, i thought, until i noticed that the brick is attached to fishing wire which itself is attached to the paintings which in turn are attached to the ceiling by said wire and so you have a virtual wall. this seems to be a good solution for the side space that came first which is all glass.
this particular show i popped in on had what seemed to be neighbourhood painters, photographers and poets all contribute pieces of their own in celebration of a local cemetery nearby that also served as a peaceful place for the neighbourhood to experience. the poems were printed on white bristol board, hanging from the ceiling in the same fashion as the photos and paintings.
there was no particular piece that stood out to me, or that i longed for, and after a short perusal i walked back inside the building, to what looked drearily like a waiting room for a department of motor vehicles office or um, a tax filing office.
i filed out of the establishment only to let in some crazed guy who was headed for the door only to be headed for the ground, face first, moments later when his foot got caught in the door.
(see what happens when two worlds mix?)
