The Finnish art scene is in a divide as Turku gears up to be the cultural capital of the European Union in 2011 (along with Tallin, Estonia). Some are inside, others feel left out. An argument.

Drugs are a well-worn cliche in the art world -- but for psychedelic artist, Timo Vaittinen, it all comes through the walls in a studio that was once a pharmaceutical lab in the 1950s. Welcome to Helsinki, Finland. Enjoy the ride.

Wait, wait. We're not done yet. We interrupt this blogcast to bring you another nugget of news when it comes to our Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson coverage -- his legal fees were paid in art. Here's the back story behind his high-profile lawyer Clayton Ruby till our next time in Iceland.

No heavy news here, honey -- just sweet syrup and sugar. I managed to arrange an interview with famed "ROM Bomb" artist Thorarinn Ingi Jonsson in Iceland on my way to Finland, even if only to gift him. You might remember him from 2007, the Ontario College of Art and Design student caught up in mischief charges for a fake bomb he planted out front of the Royal Ontario Museum during an AIDS fundraiser.

It was the Leaf Girl who threw us off: we *snapped* like the branch she fell from. We snuck into the Power Ball, the Power Plant's annual fundraising gala, last night. But you knew that. We're taking a break for a while—the next time you see us, we'll be on a plane out of here. ArtStars* is going on a world tour, which means we're taking some trips abroad in the coming months. And leaving Toronto alone.

Kern is a pervert -- or so he tells us. The 56-year-old artist who shoots dazed-out, Lolita-esque teenagers has directed music videos for Sonic Youth and Marilyn Manson, maintains a sleazy porn site and has been followed by Vice magazine's channel, VBS. We were told specifically by curator Rafi Ghanaghounian "to be nice" and to "take it easy on this one." We did. We showed him our tits.

This is the episode that never made it to air. Too controversial? Too explicit? This limited-edition gem for the hardcore ArtStars* fan is yours for $20. Snaps! Scandal! And legendary art criticism! Get yours today - ACT NOW! Quick! Before tomorrow is today and they're SOLD OUT in library collections and Newseums alike! Available at Magic Pony and Kid Icarus

There's nothing like a controlled press trip to inspire sandwich stealing and swag selling at BMV Books. For the first ArtStars* Field Trip, we washed up at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in Buffalo. We were not allowed to roam from the long-winded gallery tour and lunch, never mind check out the wings, fat guys, and Target stores in western New York—the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is literally across the street. When we asked the PR chicks to unshackle us, they whispered back: We just dont have time.

The Art Gallery of Ontario's Massive Party draws denizens of Bay Street types impoverished for cultural currency (tickets are $125 in advance, $150 at the door), but when we heard Toronto photographer and installation artist Dean Baldwin (who has a show at the AGO, and reeks of a spy film character) was sneaking in the penniless through the kitchen of Frank restaurant as his alternative art project, we offered our two cents in return.

The Art Gallery of Ontario's Massive Party draws denizens of Bay Street types impoverished for cultural currency (tickets are $125 in advance, $150 at the door), but when we heard Toronto photographer and installation artist Dean Baldwin (who has a show at the AGO, and reeks of a spy film character) was sneaking in the penniless through the kitchen of Frank restaurant as his alternative art project, we offered our two cents in return.

Love him or hate him, Globe and Mail art critic Gary Michael Dault is known for his art reviews—not his art. But that will soon change: news broke last week that after twenty years of being the Globe's go-to city critic—and after the Globe's national critic Sarah Milroy left in February—his column is canned come May 1, which means that Dault might have more time to paint the cereal boxes he is (sort of) known for and update his website.

SCOOP ON NEW PEACHES FILM, IVORY TOWER: Peaches called me on my cell phone (I didn't recognize the number). A few hours earlier, I sent an email to her Hotmail account saying I heard she was in town and asked for an ArtStars* interview. She called and said: Yo, its Peaches! If you want an interview, come on down to Thrush Holmes Empire tonight, and bring some friends because we need extras. Can you act for us?

Rumored to have named the Velvet Underground, and known to play a mean violin concerto at the Electric Eclectics Festival in Meaford, Ontario, Buffalo-based artist, composer and experimental filmmaker Tony Conrad is a less-than-charming interview. Maybe he had a bad experience? We are not CityTV.

Who knew that returning art supplies to Home Depot involves faking a marital breakdown? Here at the 50 Light Fixtures from Home Depot opening at Mercer Union, Toronto conceptual artists Daniel Young and Christian Giroux show a short film of a white room with light fixtures that change every few seconds and the different colours those fixtures cast on the walls.

ArtStars* 31 - Ex-stripper Christian Aldo is a big talker with bigger plans (and swears like a sailor)—the painter, sculptor, and figurine-maker, who is the subject of a NFB doc series and moved to Toronto in November, is starting an avant-garde nudie magazine, filming an elaborate sci-fi short film, and launching a new art gallery in a Roncesvalles shoe store. Team Art Stars* dropped by his house party to learn that hes doing a secret series of guerrilla cardboard spaceships on west-end rooftops in the coming months. You heard it here first. *snap*

What happens when ArtStars* host Nadja Sayej in a Snuggie! takes on an artist who disses the media? We hit up Double Take at MKG 127 on Jan. 9 for an artspeak-meets-newspeak interview disaster with Kriistina Lahde. This is the first in a series of The Three Worst Episodes, a series ArtStars* is showing at Peak Gallery until Feb. 27.

This is what happens when ArtStars* pushes things too far.

Our very first party happened January 27, 2010 at Double Double Land. Thanks to all those that made it out!
Photos by Carl W. Heindl: http://www.eroder.com

Bruce LaBruce! First interview! Never-seen-before stills! Score. LaBruce chills out for a second from a photo shoot with Miguel Jacob in Toronto to chat about his new alien zombie flick, L.A.Zombie -- on a white leather couch.

ArtStars* takes a vacation to Queen and Bathurst for Alternative Fashion Television circa 1996.

David Waldman -- Kid With Camera -- may be Toronto's foremost music photographer, but at his opening on Dec. 4, 2009 at Whippersnapper Gallery, we learn he is a bit of a rock star himself.

Ellsworth Kelly might be rolling over in his grave -- that is, if he isn't into Green Day. Wait, he's not dead yet.

Two spring chickens meet two art dinosaurs for a group show in Toronto at the Clint Roenisch Gallery on November 25, 2009, only to learn that opposites do attract, even if only for a fortnight -- and the results?

A cloud of smoke.

ArtStars* exposes the Art Fag -- but is it really him? You decide.

Americans? Apologize? Sneak into their back room secret party and watch Wham City, a Baltimore-based art collective, play Canadian.

Five abandoned bungalows, 23 artists, one boring academic - a hell of a time. Oct. 31, 2009, Toronto.

Joseph Drapell was ousted by the Toronto art scene when he first arrived from Prague in the late 1970s -- and has since founded his own museum in a Queen West alleyway. An art scene outsider with an insider's perspective.

Before heading out to Toronto's Nuit Blanche, we visit former art critic RM Vaughan for a psychic reading, which includes running into drunk assholes at 3 a.m. That, and Jeff Koons. But can they pull it off?

TORONTO - Isn't it time we get critical of the critics? AA Bronson tells it like it is (gasp!). Watch the AFTERSHOW of the Art Gallery of York University General Idea opening, Sept. 15, 2009... for the real scoop.

Attention all shoppers... Massive Sale @ YYZ Mall is an art mall by artists Daniel Borins + Jennifer Marman at YYZ Artists Outlet in Toronto, Sept. 11, 2009. But what happens when a fight breaks out at their opening? We go Jerry Springer.

Rev up your race car engines! ArtStars* whizzes through the Drake Hotel as the hosts of a recent Quick Fix party on Sept. 10, 2009. Wait a second. We're not that cool.

We check out the launch of the latest issue of Bad Day Magazine and learn about why it might be a bad idea to print your mom's face on a bath towel.

HOLLA! ArtStars* TV host Nadja Sayej tracks down infamous Toronto artist Pascal Paquette after his tres-controversial art show at Le Labo for some meaty intellectual art discussion. Get ready for our deepest show ever! June 2009.

When a milk crate and metal rod sit in the middle of the floor, some think its art -- and others walk into it. July 30, 2009. Diaz Contemporary. Toronto, Canada.

Vice magazine show featuring Dana Goldstein and Jamie Taete at Lennox Contemporary in Toronto, July 23, 2009.

ArtStars* ventures into the heart of darkness to uncover Extermination Music Night, July 17, 2009.

ArtStars* host Nadja Sayej talks to - tries to - talk to Jon Sasaki at his opening on July 8, 2009 at Red Bull Projects but one thing stands in the way: The bar.