Bookmark this new online store: A.D.F.M. (theadfmstore.com). Based in Vancouver, the name stands for Art Design Fashion Music, and it sells a slick selection of exactly that. Curated by style-loving dj Michelle Wong, it stocks art prints, design tomes and music downloads (creative V-Day gifts, anyone?) alongside fashion lines such as Funktional, Mackage, Eryn Brinié and [...]

Tonight through Sunday, the certified design-conscious Gladstone Hotel in Toronto is hosting their annual alternative design event, called Come Up To My Room. Artists and designers are handpicked by event curators and given free range to go wild in one of 25 rooms and public spaces throughout the hotel. With past whimsical installations including a [...]

Word: Anthropometry Meaning: Literally, it’s the measure of a man or a woman; it’s the measurement of human parts relative to the whole. Art historically, it’s the name used by Yves Klein for some of his more infamous work. Usage: Anthropometry: Princess Helena, 1960, is a good measure of how much an artist can get [...]

Word: Gradient Meaning: In terms of colour, a gradient is a smooth blending of light to dark, or from one colour to another. Usage: It’s a gradient! It’s a double gradient! No, I’m kidding, and also sorry to make that joke, but gradient is a technical way of saying rainbow-coloured. You should know it because: [...]

Word: Cacography Definition: Bad, messy handwriting, from Greek kakos (bad) and graphy (writing). The opposite of calligraphy. It can also mean bad spelling, but you don’t want to get me started on that, f’reals. Usage: “John Lennon had the raddest cacography.” Why you should know it: Because while, in the electronic age, good handwriting is [...]

All ad campaigns are not created equal. Despite their commercial origins, some creep into the realm of contemporary art—particularly when shot by a photographer as singular as Juergen Teller for a client as fearless as Vivienne Westwood. Get A Life (Steidl, $20), based around images from Westwood’s Spring 2010 campaign, features model Tati Cotliar, pop-culture [...]

By Corrine Aberdeen Canadian fashion darling Jeremy Laing has donned a new, but equally creative hat by curating a special project for the Toronto International Art Fair (October 20 to November 1, from $16, tiafair.com). Everything Must Go is a shop within the festival, and was inspired by end-of-season and liquidation sales. It is as [...]

This year, the Magenta Foundation has taken their popular Flash Forward competition, which highlights the talent of up-and-coming photographers from Canada, the U.S. and the U.K, and turned it into a festival. The gallery show has been expanded to six curated exhibits and they’ve added workshops, lectures and panel discussions on such pictorial topics as [...]