The Sophisticated Party Crowd at the AGO

This museum is cashing in on the under-entertained people of Toronto, and it looks like they are on the right track.
There was a party there last night, amidst the various galleries, winding stairwells, art works and life-drawing opportunities with nude models on different floors, live music in the main hall, and many young and beautiful people eyeing each other and assessing their possibilities for an evening of culture and maybe sex. Yes, the level of sexual frustration in the gathering crowd was screaming at you even louder than the music, which was so loud the bartenders had earplugs securely installed.
However, despite the perfect surrounding, the people felt a bit paralyzed, to me. No one danced, even though there was enough booze, and they all looked all and all conservative and a bit intimidated by something.

Art consumers and artists are not quite the same material, when it comes to parties, it seems. I would have expected things to get a bit more heated. Instead, when the music ended, everyone dispersed. Hmmm. Why didn't we burst into dancing?

It was a good opportunity to explore new territory I have not been to before, on the top and bottom levels of the building. Climbing the beautiful wooden staircase was a considerable aerobic effort but it was worth it. Like climbing a temple of art.

There were interesting modern art pieces up there and we were happy to discover them. One favourite was a replica of a NYC bathroom made entirely, and very accurately of sewn material - brilliant. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Then there was the disturbing exhibition of the three dimensional portraits of people made of silicone, so life like yet distorted in grotesque ways I couldn't bare looking at for long:

And here is my beautiful friend sketching some lines in the live drawing hall:

All in all, a good place to spend Thursday night.