Last night over a hundred artist types descended on the crew of good blood bad blood, a small retailer in Kensington market, promoting the works of the local emerging art talent. The night, like the store, was packed; the line up featured over 11 artists working in performance, video and installations. From the web cam confessions of Bita Joudaki to the camp fire stories of Joele Walinga and Alicia Nauta each artist brought something new exciting for the masses. Setting the mood of the night was the soft guitar of Matt Dunn and the raging beats of local drumming sensation Romo Roto. This is the first series of planned events to take place at this fledgling collective over the next few months. Collective organizer Reid Jenkins wants the space to create dialogue among Toronto’s young artists, “everyone that pays rent gets an equal say in what happens at the store, if 4 out of 8 say they don’t like something we won’t do it. Its really a democratic system”.

The store itself was created out of a need to create a voice for emerging artist, outside of the already established institutions. The group is fighting to create something that is dictated by their terms, at their level. The store operates by artist for artist; prices are kept fair with the customers mostly existing below the poverty line, which is the realm of the young artist. The collective hopes to continue to operate as long as they can, constantly updating their stock and personnel, creating an open and diverse network of people that connects emerging artists with their peers.

“Last night was a terrific success for me. We didn’t make much money (success number one) and lots of people showed (success number two) and it was disorganized enough to be an honest humble gathering of people who just want to sit down and listen to some things, or watch a tiny video.” – Joele Walinga event organizer