A chamber of imagination: Comic book artistry at Toronto Comicon

May 9, 2023 CanCulture Magazine

Exploring Toronto Comicon’s Artist Alley and its innovative Ontarian creators

By: Cindy Zogu

Fictional media enthusiasts arrive to purchase one of a kind merchandise (Cindy Zogu/CanCulture)

An innumerable amount of books, plushies and posters fill the jam-packed hall that is Toronto Comicon on March 17-19. Fans dressed as their favourite fictional characters come from all over the GTA to meet up with like-minded individuals. Black curtains line an aisle filled with self-made artwork, crafts and books. This is Artist Alley, where creator after creator sits excitedly, waiting to present their works to the attendees. You could meet Archie comics writer Dan Parent or Marvel and DC illustrator Jae Lee. But let’s take a look at some local Ontario graphic novel creators who guested the con.

Ricky Lima

Brampton, Ont.-born Ricky Lima is obsessed with book production. He loves the design process of the physical book. He is also a comic book writer who loves to write weird and strange stories.

Lima attended York University's undergraduate English program and has been self-publishing comics since he graduated in 2012. His first graphic novel, Deep Sea, managed to gain $5,000 on Kickstarter. Ever since, he has continued with his passion and writes regularly.

One of his more recent works is Happily Ever After, a graphic novel about a kidnapped princess who relies on dating apps to find herself a rescuer.

He’s worked at House of Anansi Press for three years, where he was recently promoted to production manager. He also teaches book production at Toronto Metropolitan University and Humber College.

Check out a few of his works here:

Limepress, Ricky Lima’s independent publishing company where you can find all his wonderfully bizarre stories
Deep Sea, written by Ricky Lima and illustrated by D.A. Bishop
Happily Ever After, written by Ricky Lima and illustrated by Nicolas Londeix

Keith Grachow

Keith Grachow is a multi-talented creator living in Burlington, Ont. He began working in the comic book industry 10 years ago as an illustrator. Grachow comes from a background in production design for toy companies. Now he writes, illustrates, teaches and accepts commissions for illustrations.

Grachow collaborates with his mother Amy Grachow to create a series of children's picture books. They are a team – she writes and he illustrates. His mother was empty after she retired from her writing job, so Grachow decided to start the series as a way to keep his mother creatively fulfilled. Children’s fantasy books let them create stories in a world with no limit to what events they can have their characters go through.

Their Up-in-the-Sky series visits different characters and their adventures in the wondrous “Up-in-the-Sky” universe, a world where people with wacky extraterrestrial differences learn to get along.

Grachow also illustrated for the comic series SALTWATER, which tells the story of a 13-year-old boy living in a society on Mars. He decides to turn on the radio in hopes of receiving a message from Earth, a place he thought had been destroyed. The series was nominated for a Joe Schuster award, an award that celebrates Canadian comic creators.

Grachow is currently in the process of creating a graphic novel on his own.

Check out a few of his works here:

“Up-In-the-Sky” series, written by Amy Grachow and illustrated by Keith Grachow
SALTWATER, written by Mitch Cook and illustrated by Keith Grachow

Shawn Daley

As soon as Toronto-based Shawn Daley could walk, he could draw. Many years later, he attended the Toronto Film School for sound technology and design, but quickly switched gears and decided to pursue art as a freelance illustrator.

One of Daley’s first self-published works was the graphic novel TerraQuill. This collection of short stories explores the joys and losses of citizens struggling to survive in a dying fantasy world.

Daley hasn’t completely let go of what he learned in his sound technology program — he found a way to incorporate it into his work. He created an original soundtrack to a graphic novel series he illustrated titled Lost Soul. This piece explores the journey of Princess Casci Capricor in the afterlife. It’s a cleverly webbed story where Casci grapples with death while trying to piece together the circumstances of her mysterious murder.

Daley also accepts commissions for his illustrations. Check out a few of his works here:

TerraQuill, written and illustrated by Shawn Daley
Better Place, written by Duane Marry and illustrated by Shawn Daley
Lost Souls: The Trials of Casci Capricor, written by Easton DeVerna and illustrated by Shawn Daley

Toronto Light Festival: A little light and winter cheer in the Distillery District

February 17, 2020 CanCulture Magazine

By Serena Lopez

On Jan. 17, the fourth annual Toronto Light Festival began in the streets of the Distillery District.

Those looking for an escape from the cold, dreary winter months can visit this exhibit that encapsulates the pockets of light that art gives the public, all in one space and at no cost.

As soon as sundown hits the alleyways of the district, it becomes lit with enormous light sculptures and over-the-top installation work.

Sydmonauts

The first eye-catching piece, located at the district’s main entrance, is called Sydmonauts and was created by Australian artists Amigo & Amigo, whose work focuses on mostly large scale and complex design pieces.

The nine “Sydmonauts” are intentionally placed in different locations of the Light Festival and are meant to be reflective of the “under-appreciated work of astronauts, mathematicians and space travel.”

Shrooms

The Australian duo has a second installation featured in the exhibit called Shrooms. This piece has its own room showcasing playful and eccentric inflatables of everyone’s favourite fungi.

Visitors had ample photo opportunities with the oversized mushroom replicas. (CanCulture/Samantha Jackson)

Shrooms is an interactive piece described by the artists as “being a take on a cultural value that mushrooms are a sign of good luck.” The forest of mushrooms is meant to be a show of signs of good luck for visitors.

Cloud Swing

Another installation of sculptures titled Cloud Swing was brought to life by American artist Lindsay Glatz in partnership with creative designers Curious Form, meant to encapsulate the feelings of wonder.

This artwork first premiered in the United States at the 2019 Burning Man art festival as an official honorarium project, brought to this year’s Toronto Light Festival to encourage engagement with the art from visitors. (CanCulture/Samantha Jackson)

Cloud Swing is a piece that exemplifies the childhood nostalgia associated with a swing set. When the swing seats are left unoccupied, the suspended clouds stay lit under a dim white glow and brighten with a colourful radiance once occupied.

The Palace of Winds

Featured next to the Young Centre for Performing Arts, The Palace of Winds is an 8 by 8 piece created by Toronto-based artist Whyishnave Suthagar, who drew inspiration from Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India. The Hawa Mahal, also known as the “The Palace of Winds” is a palace made of red and pink sandstone that opened in 1799. It also references the mandala imagery of a kolam; a form of drawing that is created using rice flour or chalk. The mandala is also an important spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism representing the universe.

The piece is an intricate mix of laminated plywood, fluorescent thread and black light that brings together an elaborate design into practice exploring themes of ancient myths, dreams, memory and the subconscious mind.

“My mom and my aunt would always make kolams,” said Suthagar in a phone interview with CanCulture. “All the older women around me would always like to make kolams for Hindu festivals and weddings, so then the designs that they used — I guess I studied them as a kid just by looking at them.”

When talking about the root of the inspiration for her work, Suthagar said helping her mom with making kolams when she was younger serves in her present work as a testament to her Tamil heritage and Hindustan upbringing in a reimagining of the pieces that she witnessed growing up.

Submergence

A new spin on your traditional Christmas lights, a UK-based group of artists, researchers, technologists and designers brings an immersive, walk-through experience of 5,000 individually controlled points of light that allows visitors to explore an environment that inhabits both real and virtual components, suitably called Submergence.

In this light piece, the installation is slowly lit in stages to entrance visitors in a mesmeric show of bright lights. (CanCulture/Samantha Jackson)

This exhibit has something for art appreciators of all ages and is just one of many ways to enjoy the Canadian winter while it lasts.

The Toronto Light Festival runs weekdays from Sunday to Wednesday from sundown to 9pm and Thursday to Saturdays from sundown to 10pm until March 1.

29Rooms: The art exhibition where every room has a different story to tell

October 14, 2019 CanCulture Magazine

By Serena Lopez

Placed at the entrance of the exhibit is a 29Rooms sign that guests see as they embark on their journey. (CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

Media company Refinery29 brought their immersive and collaborative art exhibition into Toronto for the first time this September.

For its debut in Canada, 29Rooms was set up as an art park where all inventive dreams can come true, and was a perfect showcase of feminism and activism between Canadian artists, partners, and excited audiences.

Hosted at Queen Elizabeth Theatre in downtown Toronto, each session ran for 2.5 hours to give guests a chance to view what each room had to offer.

Feminism

Audiences were given writing prompts to help brainstorm their own female character that they would like to see on the big screen and were invited to attach their character to the writers room board. (CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

Throughout all of the rooms, certain themes were presented. This room in particular showcased the extreme creativity of the event and the need for a feminist perspective.

Designed in collaboration with Shatterbox — a series of short films created by female storytellers — this room, appropriately called "Now Casting: Female Storytellers,” included a faux movie set inspired by the lack of female representation in the film industry to shine a light on women and voice a female perspective in Hollywood.

In this room, guests were given a notepad to write into existence their own lead female movie characters as part of the writers room experience. Viewers got to decide their character’s passions, motivations, and goals to be added to a vision board.

The designer of this exhibit set up what is meant to be a mosaic of black female culture. Guests had the opportunity to have their fortunes read in an Ancient Egyptian practice. (CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

While taking a stroll across the art park, guests would find an installation, which, at first glance, looked like a fairytale version of the aesthetics exhibited in Beyonce’s “Homecoming” Coachella performance. This room — called “A Long Line of Queendom” — was a celebration of all black women and black empowerment across the world.

The room was brought to audiences by Refinery29’s Unbothered platform — an online community specifically dedicated to Black millennial women and their stories.

The exhibit gives the viewer a glimpse into the cultural and historical belongings which are a part of and are synonymous with black culture. Included are displays of bamboo earrings, golden bonnets, and a powerful encapsulating display bringing to light particular aspects of the black female experience.

Nostalgia

A large fridge of milk and cookies that depicts a flowing carton of milk straight into the glass. This installation was accompanied by a milk carton that had made sounds for audiences to create their own musical beats. (CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

Got milk? This room takes the audience on a trip down memory lane to the simple times where a big glass of milk and chocolate chip cookies were relied on for an adequate calcium intake. In this showcase, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario have remodelled and resized their #whatcantmilkdo campaign — which educates Canadians about all the benefits of milk — to recreate those nostalgic feelings by building a room with a large white glass of milk made out of milk cartons and a gigantic fridge with cookies.

Canadian Influence

The “Be You” wall showcasing the exquisite portrayal of a retro-dance party. (CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

As an art gallery would feel empty without the sound of music, Toronto-based DJ, Bambii, brings the party to a room that shares similarities with a high school formal.

The room, entitled “Dance Break,” was set up as a party within an intimate myriad of streamers, neon-light signs, and booming bass beats. It came together to create an atmosphere that felt so wholesome and personal that guests may have contemplated dancing as if nobody was watching.

Canadian artist, Hanski, a.k.a Hannah Epstein, collaborated with 29Rooms to create an interactive two-sided piece that viewers can actually spin like a coin.

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(CanCulture/Serena Lopez)

In a phone interview with CanCulture, Hanski described her work overall as being, “lowbrow, folk-craft, that’s presented in a high art context.”

The use of traditional rug-techniques in her work is inspired in part by her East Coast upbringing in Halifax.

"It wouldn’t have been enough just to have a large 3-D structure in an art-park space and not have it be interactive,” said Hanski.

The piece represents the notion of choice and the different ways in which one decision can create a multitude of possibilities.

From Covergirl’s “Lash” playground to Shoppers Drug Mart’s all-pink workshop class, outside-the-box ideas came together to create a selfie-utopia that were both thought provoking and modernistic.

Other rooms included giant vending machines where real people cooked food in a slot where guests could see it being made, a mock Parisian diner decked out with golden french baguettes and macarons and a pilates room to sweat it all out and rid any guilt of giving into the temptations.

The 29Rooms: Expand Your Reality tour is an experience that encapsulates the magic that comes from collaboration in art and design. It had something for everyone — both artists and art appreciators alike — and also didn’t compromise on the photos for Instagram opportunities.

The 29Rooms tour stop in Toronto commenced from Sept 26 to Oct 6. For those that are in for an adventure, the event will be heading next to Washington D.C. from Oct 18 to Oct 27, Los Angeles from Nov 8 to Nov 17, and New York from Dec 6 to Dec 15.