The Culture Club: The top 6 Toronto gallerists to know right now

Works by Brian Donnelly at the Show & Tell Gallery. Photography by Danielle Roach

Gallery owners to curate art for the walls of your dream home.

1. Daniel Faria, co-owner of the Clark & Faria Gallery (55 Mill Street Building #2, 416-703-1700, monteclarkgallery.com) in the Distillery District. He’s loveable and approachable, with a keen eye for curating rock star contemporary art and photography exhibits.

2. Clint Roenisch (944 Queen St. W., 416-516-8593, clintroenisch.com). Roenisch has a quirky personality and a finely-tuned eye for contemporary works, and is the king of the Queen West art strip.

3. Harley Valentine, artist and co-owner with his uncle, fashion photographer George Whiteside, of Gallery One 800 (800 Dundas St. W., 416-779-7155, one800gallery.com). He’s been our photographer since the beginning of his bright career and we’re thrilled to now see him break out on his own. Valentine’s tastes change by the minute, but his quality and detail stay consistently strong.

4. Georgia Scherman, daughter of Canadian artist Tony Scherman, is quickly building the same reputation on the gallery side of the industry with Georgia Scherman Projects (Georgia Scherman Projects, 133 Tecumseth St., 416-554-4112, georgiascherman.com). We love that her exhibits are always a pleasant surprise and have a good balance between art heavy weights and fine arts students.

5. Simon Cole, Show & Tell Gallery (1161 Dundas St., 647-347-3316, showandtellgallery.com). We held one of our Yogart (Yoga in Art Galleries) events in this quirky little space on Dundas West. Cole established the gallery as a vessel to showcase the work of marginalized artists, but also presents works from more established names.

6. Johanna Reynolds and Zach Kellum, The Department Gallery (1389 Dundas St. W., 416-716-8273, thedepartment.ca). With the inclusion of on-site artist studios and a recording/rehearsal space for musicians, this pair have have made good on their desire to create a cultural centre.

Ashleigh Dempster and Amanda Blakley are the co-founders of The Society Global, a social club with chapters in Toronto, New York and L.A. (and coming this month to Miami). For more info on The Society Global, visit their website, thesocietyglobal.com, or follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/culturites.

More Celebrity