Eyes to SEA: A Curious World
John Simone's Photographic Voyages

A Feature Artist Presentation:
Nuit Rose Festival 2026: REWILDING

Opening June 18th - until July 5th
Youngplace Art Centre - 180 Shaw St, Toronto

Exhibition Statement

This show is what happened when I left the nightclub
and stepped out into the world.

In the 1980s, I was photographing New York nightlife—celebrities,
club kids, beautiful chaos, and the theatre of people being seen.
Decades later, I set sail, travelling to over 80 countries with a
camera in hand—having never photographed a landscape or even a flower.
I had to learn how to look all over again.

What I found was a curious world:

A vast treasure chest where the sacred and the strange sit side by side:
the intense hues of a single, gem-like bloom; a cornucopia of local goods,
proudly displayed and closely examined; fleeting connections made through
gestures and expressions that transcend language. Images that feel both
familiar and completely unexpected.

Eyes to SEA: A Curious World brings together 300 carefully selected photographs
from an archive of over 90,000—created during a five-year journey across five continents.

People, places, animals, objects, and moments meet in a dense, immersive installation
that invites wandering, noticing, and second looks. Meaning doesn’t sit in any one image—
it emerges through the relationships between them.

I’m not interested in “capturing” the world. I’m interested in connecting
with it—in the glance, the joke, the coincidence, the odd detail that
says more than the obvious ever could.

This is a show about perception—about catching the world in the act of being itself.
Finding humour, beauty, and meaning where you least expect it.

The installation is curated by Kelly McCray, whose linear arrangement
allows the work to unfold with clarity and intention while
leaving space for discovery.

[Tableau of curated images on this page are Artist's Layouts and
NOT the Curator's Installation to be presented]

Art and Sculpture Tableau by John Simone:

Biography

John Simone is a Toronto-based photographer whose
career spans more than four decades of cultural documentation, portraiture,
and global travel photography.

After graduating from the University of Toronto, Simone moved to New York City in 1987,
where he quickly embedded himself in the city’s nightlife scene as a photographer
Beginning as a Polaroid photographer in major Manhattan clubs, he went on to document
the rise of late-1980s club culture, capturing both emerging personalities and international celebrities.

His work appeared in Details magazine, and he served as chief photographer for Project X Magazine.
Simone’s photographs from this period have been widely exhibited, including in
The Last Party: Nightworld in Photographs at the Serge Sorokko Gallery, as well as
exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario and Edward Day Gallery.

His images remain an important visual record of a defining era in New York’s
cultural history and continue to be featured in documentaries, exhibitions, and publications.

In Toronto, Simone was also widely known as “Johnny Paparazzo,” the photo-social columnist
for Xtra magazine, where his witty and energetic coverage of queer community life reached a broad audience.

Later in his career, Simone joined Princess Cruises as a senior photographer, travelling
to over 80 countries across five continents. This experience marked a significant shift
in his practice, expanding his work to include landscape, cultural, and observational photography.
He has taught photography to thousands of participants through his “95 Easy Tips” program while
on ships and continues to develop extensive visual essays through his ongoing project.

Eyes to SEA: A Curious World brings together this global body of work,
reflecting a practice grounded in curiosity, humour, and an
enduring interest in how people see—and are seen—in the world.

Orange/Red Tableau by John Simone:

John Simone Interview - Glossi Magazine

Click to view RuPaul:

Click to view Sister Dimension:

Click to view Leigh Bowery:

Click to view Lady Bunny:

Click to view Michael Musto:

Click to view A Files:

Click to view B Files:

Click to view C Files:

Click to view D Files:

Click to view E-F-G Files:

Click to view H-I Files:

Click to view J Files:

Click to view K Files:

Click to view L Files:

Click to view M Files:

Click to view N Files:

Click to view R Files:

Click to view S Files:

Click to view T-Z Files:

Click to view James St. James:

Click to view Susanne Bartsch:

Click to view It Twins:

Click to view Nanzi Zipkin:

Click to view International Chrysis:

Click to view Julie Jewels:

Click to view Michael Alig:

Click to view Larry Tee:

Click to view Goldy Loxx:

Click to view Miss Perfidia:

Click to view Joey Arias:

Click to view:

Click to view Denise Stoughton:

Click to view Downtown People:

jetsetjohnny.ca
Exotic World Travel
John Simone Photography

Simone spent 5 years traveling
to over 80 countries as Senior Photographer
and Photography Teacher on Princess Cruises

These are the first Forty-four cities posted - with more to follow

Click to View any city to visit on John Simone Photography's jetsetjohnny.ca: