Ydessa Hendeles’ unusual Toronto art gallery

Showing above is a floor to ceiling video installation by Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist, “Ever is all over” (1997). I walked right into a black-painted wall, dropping my glasses onto the floor of the dimly lit hallway leading toward the exhibit room. Luckily, while I patted around on the floor searching, Donna found them before I stepped on them.

[Hint: if you go, take a little flashlight.] Attendant custodians sit silently in each of the few exhibit rooms, all of which are very, very dimly lit. You might get chided if you shone your light on the exhibits, but there were no watchers in the hallways between the dark rooms. (None I could see, at least.)

Photography of the exhibits was not permitted, except for some stone bench pieces in the lobby and stairwell. At present, most of the pieces showing are Punch and Judy puppets from bygone days. Interesting and a bit creepy at the same time.

They weren’t out of keeping with the little collection of ornately painted and decorated police billy clubs. Bobbies used them on people in pre-taser times. The decorations looked like cartoonish tattoos, but they were supposed to represent symbols of royal authority. Tacky looking things, but I noticed that the paint had not worn off with use. That’s nice.

Among the other artifacts on display (which included a full size Punch and Judy puppet show stage in good nick), we saw a couple of clunky gold charm bracelets, once worn by Joan Crawford.

The gallery is open to the public, free of charge, on Saturdays only, from Noon to 5:00 o’clock. It is at 778 King Street West (just a little west of Bathurst) in a building that was once a uniform factory. Still looks the same.

Sayings you can sit on
An exhibited piece in the stairwell. Click to enlarge.

Translated from all caps for your reading pleasure:

A strong sense of duty imprisons you
Absolute submission can be a form of freedom
Artificial desires are despoiling the Earth
Drama often obscures the real issues
Elaboration is a form of pollution
In some instances it’s better to die than to continue
It’s better to be a good person than a famous person
It’s better to be naive than jaded
Men are not monogamous by nature
Myths make reality more intelligible
Often you should act like you are sexless
Talking is used to hide one’s inability to act
The idea of revolution is an adolescent fantasy
When something terrible happens People wake up
You are guileless in your dreams
Being alone with yourself is increasingly unpopular
Exceptional people deserve special concessions