Inside the private art collection of landscape designer and filmmaker Joseph Clement

Landscape designer and filmmaker Joseph Clement’s art collection is spread across the three-storey Victorian near Trinity Bellwoods he shares with three roommates: it includes nameless vintage works scooped up from garage sales and thrift stores, expressive furniture and relics rescued from dumpsters. “People can be too precious. It’s possible to curate to the nth degree until everything feels soulless, overwrought and over-thought,” Clement says. “It’s not always about it owning a really important piece of art, it’s about having fun.” Here, we asked Clement to tell us the stories behind some of his favourite pieces.

Here’s a corner of the living room:

This is the sitting area:

This corner is a mix of Ferris Bueller and Francis Bacon:

The fireplace isn’t functional, so Clement uses it as a photo shelf:

This section of the living room is filled with mirrors:

Clement says this wall is always changing:

Here’s the study. The abstract wall hanging was done by Toronto-bred artist Jeremy Jansen, who burned and dodged photo negatives:

Here’s a better look at Clement’s collection of old house sketches, which he’s picked up from various antique shops and thrift stores over the years. “When I was a kid, I wanted to have a house and fill it with photos and paintings of other old houses,” he says. “I like imagining what it would be like to live in those spaces.”

Here’s the dining room:

There’s more art on the other side of the dining room:

Clement says he wrote his thesis while staring at this Niall McClelland tapestry: