"The Garden of Hedon" at Dollirium

On March 18th I went to the opening of the latest exhibit, titled "In the Garden of Hedon", at Dollirium Art Doll Emporium.  The exhibit celebrates the studio's one year anniversary and the work on display features more sculpture and fewer dolls than previous exhibits.  The works are also more risque in theme and the show is advertised as not suitable for younger viewers.  There may well be some older viewers who find some of the works somewhat disturbing, but then again, the shows at Dollirium are generally a bit unsettling, which is part of their appeal.  Unfortunately, this limits the number of images I can post on my blog, as I try to keep things "family friendly" here, but there were still some very cool stuff to look at...

including Jacqui Gallant, who always wears something fabulous to her exhibit openings.  She found the skirt, and the hoop beneath it at Goodwill.

This young woman (my apologies for neglecting to get her name) sang during the opening.  Her voice was quite lovely, but I was more intrigued by her hair, which was done up in braids woven with feathers (see closeup below).

One of my favourite local artists, Anthony Veilleux, has a number of sculptures in the show, including the woman's torso in the photo above.

This sculpture, by artist Nefer Kane, is titled "Seven Deadly Sins" and is approx. 8" in height

One of the few dolls in the show was "Corpse Bride", created by Kamla Mlynarczyk that was a much more realistic and therefore creepy-looking version than Tim Burton's.  The detail that Mlynarczyk put into the doll was quite amazing, as seen in the photos above and below.

To see the doll in its entirety, you'll have to go to the exhibit

One of artist Tom Taggart's three dimensional paintings

Dollirium is carrying bags, comics and t-shirts that feature drawings by London artist Sarah Legault.  I love the finely detailed dark "cartoons" that Sarah creates and I think they look amazing on the black handmade bags.  Check out Sarah's website for more details.

The exhibit, "In the Garden of Hedon" continues until April 22nd.  Dollirium is located at 1 Cliftonvale Ave., behind True Love Tattoo, and is open Tuesday - Saturday.