This Dionysian art extravorgasm is squarely targeted at that fine layer of society with enough money to burn — those extra people who have extra homes and extra cash — but there is a massive, vital, literate, sophisticated series of critical contemporary art events, surprises and happenings going on as well.

Cristin Tierney sees opportunity in current adverse conditions. On October 28, 2010, she opened her first gallery in a ground floor space in the ultra-important Chelsea art neighborhood of New York City.

While many of us get trapped in whirlpools where our bright ideas get replayed until they grow dull, great artists move from idea to idea, their notions adjusting in interesting ways at each pivot point.

One of the last true Renaissance men, Montreal-born Conrad Black, aka Baron Black of Crossharbour, has experienced high highs and low lows throughout his illustrious life.

The glory of Dalek is in the attention he pays to the details. Every punk-rock song sounds the same to someone who dislikes punk, but to a true punk fan the small differences are the sites of the purest creativity.

Bahen paints like no one else in Toronto, modernizing classical impasto handling and earthy palettes by interpreting the catastrophes of twenty first-century societal conflict.

The important Vietnamese contemporary art blog Viet Art Forum, based in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), interviewed Randy Gladman via email in March 2009. Viet

The works of Ryan McGinness reflect the global and omnipresent reality of this modern system of technologically-aided communication. His works present cacophonies of ideas communicated visually and simultaneously.

Ryan McGinness makes work that occupies the stylish space where art and graphic design collide. Influenced by Andy Warhol and mixing digital technologies with more traditional crafts like silk screening and painting, McGinness is known for his slick, flat, colourful pop works.

One thing all the art dealers in the city will agree upon is that they wish more people visited their commercial galleries. Like a tree falling in the forest, art only makes an impact when there is someone there to see it.