Thursday, June 14, 2012

"Gateway"

This sculpture is part of the Pole Colonnade that is along the right-of-way of the Spadina Ave streetcars. It was selected in 1997 by the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) to mark the main intersection in Chinatown at Spadina & Dundas St. The artist Millie Chen has configured fiberglass casts of mythical creatures (phoenix, dragon, monkey king & unicorn) along with the 20' poles to spell out the Chinese characters for 'gateway'.  And the nice flash of red is a welcome sight even in this very colourful area!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice :)

Kay L. Davies said...

Fascinating forms.
K

LĂșcia said...

A little piece of Asia in Toronto. I love the dragon. ;-)

Deb said...

Looks a dramatic sculpture

ArtandArchitecture-SF.com said...

Love this! Hard to photograph with all that is going on in the background, but you did a great job.

Regina K said...

For some reason this reminds me of Chicago's Chinatown, maybe it is all the color - well done.

Lowell said...

A tribute to Chinatown and its inhabitants and a testimony to Toronto's vitality. Now, if the city could put all those pesky wires underground... :-)

Halcyon said...

I love those kinds of gates. Makes you feel really welcome. :)

RedPat said...

Lowell - actually all the wires in the pic are the overhead wires involved in running the streetcars/trams since they run on electricity. They are anchored onto the streetlamp poles for stability.

Paul in Powell River said...

Chinatowns are so neat to walk through, no matter the city.

Randy said...

Too bad it's been tagged.

Melbourne Australia Photos said...

Great photo of this fantastic structure, Pat!

Anonymous said...

VERY colouful!

Mildred said...

Very nice and original!
Thanks for sharing;o)

***
Happy day****

Michael Rowland said...

Back in the old days when I did the OOAK show a large group of us would go to Lee Gardens near this corner. They had large round tables, we would order almost everything on the menu. Thanks

Gringo said...

Fascinating piece of sculpture....I always love going to China town wherever I am....Have a good weekend Red Pat!

Crafty Green Poet said...

what a lovely archway!

Sharon said...

I have to agree with Regina. It does look a lot like the Chicago Chinatown in the background. Interesting art.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

I love that nearly all cities have a Chinatown, such fascinating place to visit. this shot looks so good when you bring it in closer to check out the sculpture in more detail.