The Scene: The Canadian Art Foundation hosts its 16th annual Gallery Hop Gala dinner and auction at the Carlu

Entering through a gauntlet of speakers, guests were subjected to the wilderness sounds of the specially commissioned installation by Toronto-based artist Jon Sasaki. This was a relatively tame installation after last year’s spectacle performance piece by John Oswald, which involved a lot of naked performers and red-faced guests (we’re sorry we missed it). On hand to help explain the works of art was a team of red-shirted Student Art Ambassadors who eagerly discussed the pieces with patrons. We were lucky enough to meet one in particular who spent 20 minutes with us discussing Sarah Cale’s technique of using garbage bags as paintbrushes in her work Untitled, 2010 (we didn’t think we could be intrigued by garbage bags, but we were).

Guests were able to bid on works throughout the evening using handy electronic bidding devices (it seems paddles are passé). The pieces presented were  in a variety of media that included paintings, drawings, sculptures and a couple interesting robotic devices. As the wine flowed, the bids started pouring in, and before we knew it, dinner was served—with so much excitement and dollars spent, it seemed apparent, at least to us, that every time a wine glass was refilled, it was an unspoken toast to another successful year in Canadian art. The night came to a close with three pieces greatly exceeding their estimated sale price: Micha Lexier’s Revelation 34 (estimated to be sold for $15,000, sold for $20,000), Sylvain Bouthillette’s Willing, Fearless and Always Ready (estimated to be sold for $3,600, sold for $7,100) and Lois Andison’s Heartbreaking (estimated to be sold for $1,600, sold for $3,500).