MACDONALD BLOCK, WELLESLEY AND BAY...AMAZING ARTWORKS IN GOVERNMENT BUILDING

November 15th 2017, morning, I left  office to pick cash from the bank and as usual, I cut through the  Macdonald block at Wellesley and Bay. I have walked through this building at least a 100 times in the last decade plus years and every single time I have loved looking at the massive artworks on the walls. This time, I had my cellphone and decided to photograph these amazing works and share them . (I am one of those rare breed of folks who never had a cellphone until now(Sep 2017)). 

These arts are unbelievably underexposed and under-appreciated... It's like those artworks hidden in the vaults of billionaires...no one gets to see them and enjoy them except the billionaire.

I  believe very few people enter this building and these amazing pieces are seen by less than a few thousand people in a year...and a majority of those numbers are people who work there. People visit museums and art galleries to see art...I don't think many people consider visiting a building full of government departments in search of art!

Today, for the first time, I walked on the second floor too and wandered around, clicking photos of the arts. At one point a police officer came up to me and asked what I was doing. He said that governments buildings are not to be photographed but it's okay to photograph the artworks. Whew!

Thinking back about my brief pleasant encounter  with this officer, I realize that this might have played out differently and unpleasantly in countries with a paranoid police-force. Thank you God for these understanding and non-zealot police officers of Canada!

I wonder if there were artworks in floors above the second. I did not see stairs going to the third floor and I did not have the courage to go up by getting into a lift! I had discovered a few years ago that in these sort of buildings one needs some sort of key to key in, once you enter the lift, in order to get off  at your floor. Since I had no 'real' business, in the floors above and as I did not have the courage to ask someone, I simply left, after taking these photos on the first and second floors. I hope you enjoy them. I hope you realize that these works are all quite big...10 feet or more by 12 feet or more. They are made of a range of materials. ..clay, metal, glass, fabric, wood, etc. Many are 'more than 2 dimensional', if you know what I mean (not 'fully' three dimensional...i.e. almost flat but not fully flat). You have to see the actual works as these photos don't do justice to their full beauty and complexity.

The  art work above is a bit naughty dont you think?

This blue-green-gold tapestry sort of thing is one of my favorites. This photo simply does not do justice to it's vibrant, brilliant beauty.

This metal piece above reminds me of a mural done by M.S.Murthy...don't know why

This one above reminds me of some of Picasso's works.

I have not yet figured out, how to cut out the bits outside the art work before uploading the photo. For example, the above photo has a bit of the floor and a bit of the ceiling above the art work.

Above art on a massive wall seems dystopian to me...is it because the colors seem dystopian or is it because the row of cubic things remind me of skulls?  Or it it those collection of holes ?

The above art made of glass and maybe metal is so intriguing to me...mysterious lives behind those glowing glass windows? what is happening behind the unlit ones on the other side?

Above is comprised of thousands of nails, painted white and nailed in...with different lengths jutting out. The idea of nails in art is amazing....there is a  nail art in the Toronto city hall also.

Light falls unevenly on some of  these artworks. The lights are above the art work and so they appear overly bright at the top and too dark at the bottom.  Some of these are in corridors with relatively dim lighting.

If you want to visit this building (in Toronto, Ontario, Canada)to enjoy these artworks, get off at the Queens Park  subway station and walk east on College Street and go north on  Elizabeth street, walk through women's college parking lot and find this building on the north side of  Grosvenor street. If you get off at College Park subway station, walk north on Bay street and  the building is on west side of Bay, one block north of College Street. There are massive sculptures outside this building. If you cycle, there is plenty of cycle-parking space. 
If you are in the area, you could also go to Queens Park and attend a Legislative session and see how our Ontario province government works. Queen's Park is 5 minutes walk from Macdonald block, to the west. You could also wander around Yonge street and check the shops, eateries or go west and check out the university area. You could walk further north on Bay and visit Indigo, a book shop and browse. Continue further north and you will be in Yorkville, an upscale area full of  interesting stores(expensive!) and resturants($$$$$). Walk about a kilometer from Macdonald block north on Bay and then east on Cumberland St or Yorkville Av  and you will reach the amazing Reference library of Toronto on Yonge st. You can spend some time here too.