Will Munro

Will Munro
Born
William Grant Munro

(1975-02-11)February 11, 1975
Sydney, Australia
DiedMay 21, 2010(2010-05-21) (aged 35)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
EducationOCAD University
Known forartist who made Assemblage, silkscreens, collage, and wearable art

William Grant Munro (February 11, 1975 – May 21, 2010) was a Toronto artist, club promoter, and restaurateur known for his work as a community builder among disparate Toronto groups.[1][2][3] As a visual artist, he was known for fashioning artistic works out of underwear;[4] as a club promoter, he was best known for his long-running Toronto queer club night, Vazaleen.[5]

Born in Australia, Munro grew up mostly in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and moved to nearby Toronto to study at OCAD University, graduating in 2000. Influenced by such artists as General Idea and the queercore movement, he received critical attention for his work with men's underwear, a medium he used eventually to create collages of colourful performers he admired such as Klaus Nomi and Leigh Bowery. He created silkscreen posters to advertise Vazaleen—his monthly nightclub party that was unusual for being a queer event where punk and other rock music was prominently played, and for being one of the first to exist beyond the confines of the gay ghetto. The party was known for attracting a diverse crowd, and at its peak brought in such performers as Nina Hagen; international "best-of" nightclub lists took notice.

Munro died of a spinal cord infection caused by brain cancer in May 2010. Posthumous exhibits of his art work included a 2010 show at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and in 2011 he was the first male artist to be featured in the feminist Montreal art gallery La Centrale.

  1. ^ Whyte, Murray (August 5, 2010). "Will Munro: Force of culture: Toronto's one-man cultural hub was many things — DJ, restaurateur, promoter, knitter — but most of all an artist Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine", Toronto Star, p. E1. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  2. ^ Micallef, Shawn (May 21, 2010). "Will Munro, 1975–2010: Toronto has lost a great city builder Archived 2012-11-20 at the Wayback Machine", Spacing. Retrieved September 10, 2010.
  3. ^ Berman, Stuart (May 21, 2010). "Will Munro, 1975–2010[permanent dead link]", Eye Weekly. Retrieved September 11, 2010.
  4. ^ Perry, Stephe (March 2002), "Vaseline", Maximum Rocknroll (226), archived from the original on 3 April 2016, retrieved 7 August 2014
  5. ^ (October 27, 2005). "Cover story: Will Munro Archived 2012-10-15 at the Wayback Machine", Now 25 (9). Retrieved September 8, 2010.