#ArtOfTheNorth Raptors Art Gallery - Live Nation Lounge in Toronto, Canada

Hey Raptors fans, NBA fans or perhaps art enthusiasts, the Toronto Raptors are hosting an art gallery show called “Art of North” right now (January 10, 2019 until this Sunday, January 13, 2019) at the Live Nation Lounge (2 Snooker Street, Toronto), which is located inside the Liberty Village area (very close to downtown Toronto).

This is a collaboration between the Toronto Raptors and Conscious Basketball that features a number of local and global artists who are passionate about their love of creating unique art pieces, particularly related to basketball. I was able to speak with the Founder of Conscious Basketball, Vince Chang at Art of the North, he told me that his organization began showcasing art galleries in Taiwan. Due to popular demand, they began to move the show on North American soil by hosting a show with the Golden State Warriors and now making its way to the Toronto Raptors.

Over 100 of art pieces that showcase the Raptors players are at the Art of the North. From Kawhi Leonard to Kyle Lowry to Vince Carter, Tracey McGrady and other players who had played for the Raptors. The Live Nation Lounge was transformed into a nice NBA art exhibit and in particular, I really enjoy the big Raptors mural located at the entrance of the gallery, that features some of our current Raptors player along with our Raptors Global Ambassador, Drake.

A second piece that I really like is the “hard stare” of Kawhi Leonard. The focus in his eyes is what I think is missing from our players from past playoffs. I hope the focus, concentration, mental toughness would show up in the eyes of our entire current roster comes playoff time.

And the third piece that I really like is an art piece that was made from different materials, along with a real basketball plugged into the creation and showing a 3-D design in this artwork. And this piece was made by the brother of President of the Toronto Raptors, Masai Urijri. His brother, Aijiri Urijri is an interior designer/architect.

Although the art gallery is not super massive but it does its job and I just couldn’t keep staring at all these wonderful pieces. I kept coming back in circles and looking at all these artwork over and over again and I didn’t get bore at all. There was a TV screen showcasing some of the past highlight moments from Vince Carter slam dunk contest to highlights from Damon Stoudamire rookie season and more.. It really flashback all the great memories. There was also a section where artists were painting their designs into the Adidas shoes. And if you want a fake tattoo with Raptors designs on them, the staff will put them on for you.

This art gallery is definitely very interesting and unique, I have not seen anything like this in Toronto and it’s amazing how basketball and art & culture can come hand-in-hand. I wish they can transfer some of these murals and artwork back to the Scotiabank Arena and create an unique Raptors VIP Lounge or something so people can feel the vibe, check out these art work while at the game. You never know, nothing is impossible!