THE ONE THING THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING, IN ART COLLECTING

There’s a moment when everything sharpens.
Not because you’ve seen more but because you’ve seen something right.

I kept thinking about this, moving between Toronto at the Artist Project and Montreal at Plural Contemporary Art Fair this month.

Two distinct energies. One ecosystem.

TORONTO

ARTIST PROJECT: A RAW SIGNAL

Artist Project is unfiltered.
Independent artists, direct presentation, no mediation from curators.

The work hasn’t been softened. It hasn’t been institutionalized. It’s still carrying the urgency of the studio.

That’s what makes it compelling.

You feel decisions being made in real time, material, scale, subject, risk. There’s a proximity to the work that’s harder to find elsewhere.

What matters here is instinct. Not consensus. Not validation.
Just the clarity of your own eye.

MONTREAL

PLURAL: WHERE FORM TIGHTENS

Then Montreal.

Plural is distilled. Forty-five of Canada’s leading galleries, each presenting with precision. The booths are considered. The works are resolved. The conversations are deeper.

It’s intimate in a way that allows for focus.

This is where the market articulates itself, quietly, but with confidence.

This year, a few acquisitions stood out:

The National Gallery of Canada acquired a major installation by Elizabeth Perrault (Galerie Pangée Pangée)—an artist I collected last year, and one that demanded I build an entire room around the work. More on that later.
The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal acquired work by Eve Tagny (Cooper Cole)—also part of my own collection.

There’s a different kind of energy here.

Less about discovery.
More about definition.

The talks, the programming, the density of perspective. It all contributes to a sense that you’re inside something fully formed.

WHAT TO WEAR: ART FAIR EDIT

Dressing for art fairs is part of the language.

Opening Night:
There should be tension.

Something unexpected. Slightly off. A piece that interrupts.

A few of my favourite designers include:

Vaquera — for attitude
Courrèges — for line
Pushbutton — for contrast
Prada — for control

It’s not about excess. It can be a high-low, but it needs to have precision with a point of view.

Daytime:
More restraint. Still intentional.

This is about movement, proportion, and a quieter kind of confidence—pieces that carry a point of view without announcing it.

Darkpark — for tailoring that feels slightly undone
Coperni — for clean, directional silhouettes
Maison Margiela — for conceptual detail and subtle disruption

The look should feel considered, but never overworked.

AFTER THE FAIR

The real conversations shift elsewhere.

TORONTO
The bars feel like extensions of the fair itself. Art-adjacent, slightly chaotic, full of overlap between artists, collectors, and the people who orbit them.

Cry Baby Gallery — part exhibition, part scene, always unpredictable
Cossette Bar at The Gladstone — dim, buzzy, and exactly where artists go

It’s less about where you go, more about who you run into.

MONTREAL
Montreal does it differently. After the VIP, it’s about settling into classic rooms, impeccable service, and the kind of meals that stretch.

Gibby's — old-world, generous, built for long conversations
L'Express — precise, timeless, one of the best wine lists in the country

Here, everything slows down. The food is exceptional, the service exacting, the wine always right.

RELAX

If you’re moving through the fairs with intention, this is part of the program.

Toronto
Begin at Fortides Pilates. Precise, controlled, corrective. This is where you reset your body before the day begins.
Then: Othership. Heat, cold, breath. A full system recalibration, necessary before stepping back into the noise.

Montreal
Book EN Core Pilates Studio directly through the hotel. Minimal, focused, quietly exacting.
And then, always: Bota Bota, spa-sur-l’eau. Floating in the Old Port. Move slowly through the circuit—this is where the weekend settles into itself.

FINAL THOUGHT

Between Artist Project and Plural, you can feel the full range.

From immediacy…to resolution.

But it always comes back to the same thing: The work that holds. Everything else falls away.

SPRING ART FAIRS: The Canadian edition