Everything you always wanted to know about art, but were afraid to ask (for fear of looking, ahem, uncultured)

 
Well now, folks, if I never asked a question for fear of looking either uncool or uncultured, you'd be getting a whole lot of white column space from me. Cue the snickers from the local design/decor cognoscenti, who are wondering if that might be a good thing. Do I care? Mais non!! Try it yourself. Let those insecurities go and start working on your self-actualization.

This week’s Hot Home Products column touches a bit on that, as it's all about art – the choosing, buying and collecting of it. For those of you who are timid about all that, here are some tips from the organizers of  Art Toronto, a four-day event running at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where you’ll see beautiful works like the piece shown above, called Bed, Crosses and a Fan by Olga Chagaoutdinova.

The first step to starting your own fine art collection is to educate yourself and get in touch with your tastes (see self-actualization above). How to do that?

Visit as many art galleries as you can

If you know art collectors, pick their brains about what and why they collect

Attend art fairs, where you’ll see a great selection from top galleries in one place

Conduct follow-up research on artists to whom you are drawn

Read books, art magazines such as Canadian Art, Border Crossings, C Magazine, and Magenta

Read newspaper reviews of local galleries and openings

Attend openings

Visit  local art museums (better do this one quickly, just in case our new City Council shuts them all down as cost-cutting measure)

For more tips, visit the site for Art Toronto

Events are taking place at other venues, including the Gladstone Hotel, which is showing, among other things, an exhibition of hand-tufted carpets by Bev Hisey. Saying Hisey makes carpets is a bit like saying Matisse did some drawing. I may not know carpets, but I know what I like. And I really like Hisey’s work. Check it out.

And remember, dear reader, you are the King, or Queen, of your own cultural landscape. So there.