Words from the Founder

I started artverb* in Toronto in the fall of 2003. My vision then was relatively simple: provide an affordable art transportation and installation service dedicated to serving the needs of Toronto’s visual arts community.

Currently artverb* has 3 large commercial trucks and our home base is still downtown Toronto. My vision now is focused on providing the highest level art installation and transportation services, and offering regular shuttles to New York City, and Montreal. Art fairs are also a major part of our business. We are the experts in North American art fairs. No other Canadian art handling company has more experience with the fairs than we do. We believe the future is in art fairs, so we regularly service all of them across North America, with special attention given to New York and Miami.

My vision for an art services company in Toronto looks different than others. For example, the reason why our trucks look different is because they reference New York City art shipping companies. Being in New York regularly for many years now, our business is now a reflection of their standards and processes for fine art handling. Our newer trucks were custom made to fulfill the high requirements of New York City art delivery. Of course, we have brought those standards to Toronto now. I strongly believe in Climate-controlled, air-ride suspension, high-security trucks. We currently have two trucks with these high standards: “Yoshi” and “Hiro”. When I first introduced “Yoshi” to Toronto, it raised the bar in Toronto, by having a superior inner-city art transportation service in a compact package. Our latest truck “Hiro” was also custom built for fine art transportation and in my opinion is arguably the best temperature-controlled and secure truck in New York & Toronto. I incorporated never-before concepts that improve temperature consistency and security that I believe sets us apart.

Trucks are just trucks though, our people are also what sets us apart.

I pride myself on having talented, smart guys that are personable and always professional. I have implemented high standards for safe art handling and installation, and we always use the best in art hanging tools and hardware available. Every job has at least one Lead installer/art handler present. Our Lead guys are the red blood cells of the artverb* blood stream. With at least three years of experience they are the best at leading a team and finding solutions for fixing your art emergency.

Some things haven’t changed though; we are still primarily an artist-run business, and we continue to focus on Toronto and its growth in the global art world. Also, being quirky artists ourselves, we have a deep understanding of the art world, but we also have a fun attitude towards it.

artverb* continues to grow and evolve organically, with changes of improvement happening constantly. I hope you will purchase a ticket and be part of the “green team” experience!