Gladstone Hotel's 2 CONTACT Exhibitions Review

I have been enjoying visiting the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival exhibits across Toronto. My next few Exhibit Posts will be about the many CONTACT exhibits I visit, that will hopefully help you chose which ones you might enjoy. You can read my last CONTACT Exhibit Post here. Last week, I visited the Gladstone Hotel to view the two CONTACT photography exhibits they have on display among their hotel rooms and offices. The difference between each exhibition was quite extreme and delightful.

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival: 40 Years of Hip Hop at The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto Culture, Art, Melanie.Ps Blogger, The Purple Scarf

k-os by Che Kothari

LL Cool J by Janette Beckman

The two exhibits the Gladstone Hotel is hosting is 40 Years of Hip Hop on the second and third floors and Broken Horizons by photographer Becky Comber on the fourth floor. 40 Years of Hip Hop celebrates 40 years of Hip Hop with images of some the iconic and legendary figures that helped shape Hip Hop culture. Photos by several photographers including Jamel Shabazz, Ernie Paniccioli, Johnathan Mannion, and Matt Barnes, among others are on display, with many for sale. It was cool to see some photos of well known artists in a new light, but I found this exhibit a little boring. Maybe because I'm not a Hip Hop fanatic, but I felt like I was just looking at a music magazine spread, with not many interesting photographs.

Beastie Boys by Ricky Powell

Left: Kardinal Offishall by Steve Carty / Right: Choclair by Steve Carty

Drake by Matt Barnes

Broken Horizons is a collection manipulated photographs by Becky Comber. This exhibit displays landscape and nature photos, that Comber physically rearranges and manipulates and then photographs again, to create a whole new image. "Working with these physical documents, gives [Comber] a flexible medium with which to explore notions of the landscape and people's place within it.." I loved this exhibit. It was so interesting to see the different ways Comber manipulated her beautiful photographs to create an image even more amazing! 40 Years of Hip Hop and Broken Horizons are open daily 12pm - 5pm and run until May 31, 2014. For more information of both Gladstone Hotel exhibits, please visit www.gladstonehotel.com