Arguably the highest-profile gallery in Montreal, this gallery has shown artists ranging from Sophie Calle to Mark Quinn. Director Phoebe Greenberg (who’s credited … with “discovering” sculptor David Altmejd) also runs a foundation that promotes Montreal artists around the world. A second, smaller space sits up Rue St-Jean from the narrow, meandering, four-story main building.
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Built in the late 19th century as a fabrication plant for industrial equipment and heating supplies, the renovated Darling Foundry is now a cutting-edge exhibition space … in the burgeoning hi-tech district of Griffintown. There’s a 5,000 square-foot gallery on one side of the lobby and a smaller room for work by resident artists on the other. In the same brick building, the hip Cluny Art Bar serves breakfast and lunch.
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Once a commercial laundromat, this far-flung gallery has been hosting lively contemporary art shows since 2005. There are two floors, plus a bunker-like space underground … for up-and-coming artists. The neighborhood may seem like frontier territory, but it’s not a bad place to be around lunchtime—the gallery is only a 15-minute walk from top-notch Anglo gastropubs Joe Beef and Burgundy Lion.
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Also a publisher, this destination bookshop in the hipster neighborhood Mile End specializes in graphic novels, from Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) to Canadian cartoonist … Doug Wright. There are also reams of 60's paperbacks and an entire standing shelf devoted to McSweeney's product. (One man’s twee is another man’s cup of tea.) Acoustic performances and readings are held on a little stage in the back.
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Montreal’s only gallery devoted exclusively to design and architecture, this shoebox space in the bowels of a big, drab fortress is run by Hungarian visual artist … Melinda Pap. It’s got a youthful edge, and the attached boutique attached sells quirky knifeholders and t-shirts, as well as bike-tube bracelets, wool mittens, and neon-orange abstract dolls (they’re kind of hammerhead shaped) made by Pap herself.
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This black-floored, black-welled design boutique arranges its displays like a gallery would. It also boasts a whole bunch of exclusives: Nowhere else in Quebec carries … French designer Serge Mouille, and it’s apparently the only retailer outside Japan to sell Muco stationary. Tangled-wire “knitted” lights by Korean designer Kwangho Lee cost a pretty penny, but they’re awfully cool. The upstairs theme changes every three months; downstairs you’ll find Danish chairs made from recycled plastic bottles and inflatable Plopp stools by Oska Zieta.
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