Ryan Kamstra

I am an artist, poet and songwriter based out of Toronto. I have published one book lATE cAPITALIST sUBLIME (2002 Insomniac Press) and self-produced two albums (aLL fALL dOWN 2002 and i wANT aN aRMY 2004). Increasingly my musical performances rely on collaboration, elaborate stage shows and multi-media
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlae82Yz_xY).

Currently I write songs and sing for the all gil/1 boy poet gore band Tomboyfriend (http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/article.php?p=525).

Beyond these two main practices I have been also a co-curator for the East Toronto amateur arts space Art at the Union, a critic and art theorist, a producer of agit-prop knickknacks, smut-writer, write a semi-regular column on bisexuality for About magazine, an interventionist/activist staging both street and traditional performances, in non-traditional venues.

Right now I work as Tree Tour Coordinator for the Toronto-based environmental organization LEAF (http://www.leaftoronto.org/), in a joint initiative by LEAF and the Toronto Public Space Committee (http://publicspace.ca/). Here, it is my intent to find and invite community-building and non-traditional artists to take part in projects exploring both urban environmentalism and in specific issues effecting and relating to the urban canopy.