In this paper, the relationship is traced between art and gentrification in the neighbourhood of Yorkville, Toronto, from 1960 to 2007. Following the exodus of artists and the more experimental art galleries in the 1960s, a result of social and economic upgrading, Yorkville was forced to recast its identity, a process that involved reproducing the creative pulse of the 1960s art scene. A set of interviews conducted with visual artists who worked and/or lived in Yorkville during the 1960s is centrally located in the piece to provide a context for the shift from production to consumption. In the remainder of the paper, the role of artistic production in the gentrified landscape is examined through three examples: theming through design, art galleries and sculpture. It is argued that the relationship between art and gentrification must be extended to include the role of the non-visible in the (re)production of place identity.
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