Founder Of the Toronto Art Newspaper, The Artist & The Viewer.
As an artist, immigrant and entrepreneur, I founded in 2018, a much-needed art publication in Toronto. The Artist & The Viewer, Toronto Art Newspaper was a publication for the visual arts community and the general public, with a newspaper printing format but the frequency of a magazine (every two months). It was distributed for free at 65 TTC stations, Galleries, Artists’ studios and Art Schools.
At first, I was pretty much an all-man band. Chief Editor, Writer, Web Designer, Layout and Graphic Designer. I was lucky to work along with my wife who also did editing and proofreading. Likewise, I did the roles of Logistics Manage and Photojournalist. It was an exciting time that I will never forget. By the time of its closure due to the first wave of COVID-19, the publication had many contributors, collaborators, and followers still until today, 3 years later.
In the publication I wrote with the pen name Andrew King, my Spanish last name, Reyes-Andreu, translated to English and switched in their orders.
As a natural-born artist, I also needed to communicate common concerns beyond strokes, colours and the lens. As an immigrant from a 3 world country, I picture Canada with a bit of fiction, particularly after having visited Mülheim, Dresden, Berlin, Sao Pablo, and Panama City prior to coming to Toronto. As it naturally happens when we ignore life elsewhere, we fill the gap with imagination. So I came with higher expectations. Two months after I landed in Toronto, Canada in 2013. A bitter flavour came to my first impressions. I have visited about 80 percent of all galleries and art institutions in the city and concluded that the local art sector was less robust than in my surreal hometown Havana. A city with an Art Biennale since 1984 and with its people breathing Art every day in many forms. On top of this grim picture, immigrants artists like myself only had a few places to get information from. Therefore, 5 years after my arrival, my wife and I started to do something about it.
Chief Editor, Writer, Web, Layout and Graphic Designer. Photographer and Logistics Manager.
I recently solidified my writing skills by undertaking The Economist’s Professional Communication course in Business Writing and Storytelling, completing it with exceptional above-average grades.
Today, no longer in Toronto, I am still writing and working on a book. And will look into ways to continue serving the Art community wherever I am.
Some of the last issues are still available for download.
Photojournalism for Toronto Art Newspaper, The Artist & The Viewer.
