Early Years – Toronto 1970’s-80’s

A Space, Toronto comes to Hallwalls,1979- photo credit Chrysanne Stathacos

Early years in Toronto – 1970 – 1980’s

My early years in Toronto were marked by a dedication to my art practice and presenting   diverse projects for the community.  I curated and organized   A Space comes to Hallwalls (1979) which resulted in Hallwalls coming to A Space  – the first exchange shows between Toronto and Buffalo,  and  7 Artists, at Artists Space, NYC curated by Ragland Watkins. My first major public art project was   Terminal Building, A Space (1981)—in which artists such as  General Idea, and Rae Johnson  were invited to interact with a building about to be demolished in the Queen West neighbourhood.  In the early 80’s I exhibited with Robert Flack at Chromozone, Toronto  and OKROMAZONE – die Anderen von Kanada in Berlin. (Dec.1982).  My works were also presented  at Yarlow Salzman Gallery, A Space, Mercer Union and Harbourfont. From the  late 1980’s through the 1990’s I exhibited at Garnet Press, where I introduced my alter ego, Anne de Cybelle and her famous Hair Dresses.

Martin Heath, Elke Town, David Buchan, and Colin Lockhead and I formed The Gap, Grange Arts and Performance , which ran in the early 1980’s  in downtown Toronto in the Queen Street West neighbourhood.  Often collaborating with A Space, The Gap combined innovative performance by international and local artists including Randy and Berenicci, Elizabeth Chitty, David Buchan, Min Tanaka Lawerence Weiner,  and Michael Smith.

National Gallery of Canada  Archive link – Chrysanne Stathacos Fonds ..

 A small  history of the Gap, 466 Bathurst and A Space collaborations here

466 Bathurst Street is mentioned in Kathy Acker goes to Toronto in Canadian Art 

Images of my art work can be seen on other pages on the site…

Invitation of Robert Flack and Chrysanne Stathacos for Chromazone exhibition, 1982
photograph©Jorge Zontal, General Idea