Shades of Toronto launched its inaugural art exhibition at the University of Guelph-Humber featuring the work of Justin Minister, a Toronto-based photographer with his dubbed A Monochrome Extravaganza.
“It’s great. I feel very honoured by it— very nervous, it was my first show,” said Minister.
Minister’s artwork can be seen on display throughout a section of the gallery where people gathered to closely examine it. He said the monochrome theme came from his experience as a graphic designer and his likeness to monochrome.
“Not only do I like the medium of monochromatic photography but, I also find that it showcases the detail and the structure of the light and shadow a lot more than colour,” Minister said.
The event was curated by the Event Management program at the University of Guelph Humber where students worked alongside Minister on putting the show together. The planning began only two months before, which gave Minister enough time to gather his work.
Professor Aida Memisevic who teaches event management and ran the ad said Minister’s work stood out the most out of all 30 applicants and decided to extend an invitation.
“I put out a call for artists once or twice a year and then Justin was one of the artists that was selected,” Memisevic said.
“This is his first solo exhibit. So we like to promote not only well-known works but new people, new up-and-coming people— so we’re really happy to have him,” said Memisevic.
Justin Minister, a Toronto-based photographer, is displaying his black-and-white photography collection, capturing the city's urban landscapes, Photo credit: Ayesha Barakzai
Praising Memisevic, Minister said that after responding to an ad on Facebook, share excitement took over as he’s excited to work with students so this was an opportunity he jumped at.
“For me, this was just a great opportunity to have my work, you know, seen by the public and hopefully people enjoy it,” said Minister.
For Beverley Fretz, assistant program head of Business at the University of Guelph-Humber it was the Fairmont Smoke piece which stood out the most for her.
“It’s the play between the fact and fantasy — so you have the person at the bottom right corner who’s smoking, but the vast majority of the photograph is sort of a distortion of shadows and light. It looks like you can see faces in that” Fretz said while critiquing her favourite piece from Minister’s collection.
Chatter and music filled the gallery as scores of people who attended the show could be seen perusing Minister’s work which hung on walls throughout the gallery. Along with music and art, food was also a part of the production which many people were excited to partake in.
For people interested in attending the gallery, Minister’s work will be on display until the end of the month.