Neurartic

Mira Godard: 1932 to 2010

2010-09-24T09:48:00.002-04:00

Sad news from the Art Dealers Association of Canada:

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Mira Godard.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, Mira Godard studied Art History at the Ecole du Louvre and Physics and Math at the Sorbonne University. She continued her studies in Canada, acquiring a B.Sc. from Concordia University in 1954 and an M.B.A. from McGill University in 1960. In 1959 she purchased the Agnes Lefort Gallery, which at the time, was the gallery of standing for avant-garde artists, such as Paul-Emile Borduas. In 1962 she opened the Mira Godard Gallery and paved the way for Yorkville to be the hub for Canada’s most respected commercial art galleries. She yet again opened a gallery in Calgary in the late 1980s, which played an important role in bringing contemporary art to the West.

Her contribution to creating an art scene and art market in Canada cannot be understated. The Mira Godard Gallery has shown some of Canada’s most important artists - Alex Colville, Christopher and Mary Pratt, David Milne, the Estate of Lawren Harris, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Joe Fafard, to name a few. She brought groundbreaking International exhibitions, including an important show of late Picasso paintings, and her brief relationship with the famed Marlborough Galleries made great Modern art available to Canadian collectors. She leaves behind a legacy that will be continued under the direction of Gisella Giacalone.

Among her many pioneering contributions was the creation of the Art Dealers Association of Canada. A founding member of PADAC, she was the Association’s first President in 1967. This year she finally agreed to accept the Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, having refused to accept it before, feeling her life’s work was not done. The Art Dealers Association of Canada will proceed with the award at the Annual General Meeting in November with great regret and sadness. We honour her memory and contribution, which is incalculable in the development of Canada’s contemporary art market.

Born on January 31, 1932, she died on Monday, September 20, 2010 in Toronto.

Lead Type

2010-07-30T09:34:00.009-04:00

Connecticut carpenter Dalton Ghetti sculpts pencil leads in his spare time.

(Thanks, Nigel!)

David Garcia: Meaning, Metaphor and the Personal Library

2010-04-26T12:03:00.014-04:00

Copenhagen-based architect David Garcia runs an eponymous studio which he calls "an experimental architectural platform" with an open door philosophy, encouraging collaborations with designers, artists and engineers.

"Archive" is three-part installation which explores meaning, metaphor and the notion of the personal library. was first exhibited at the Royal Danish Art Academy Fall Show in 2005. Garcia calls these installations "investigations on space and books. Its departure point is density and micro spaces, and a series of traditional relationships that humans have to books."

Archive I (midground installation above) is "a weight balance library. The reader's chair is elevated in proportion to the amount of books in the shelves." This is a witty take on the bourgeois tradition of book ownership and display as a signifier of status. The piece is also a commentary on the right to learn, and freely share information. The more books are removed from the shelves, and consumed, the lighter the library becomes. The reader becomes "well rounded" with the weight and importance of imparted knowledge , but paradoxically closer to being "well grounded", if the information is shared and not re-shelved.

Archive III (glimpsed in the background) is a "censored book stand. The books close suddenly if anyone approaches the reading stand." (Take that, DRM!)

Archive II is a "circular library for the nomad book collector, allowing the user to step inside, and walk away with half a ton of books."

"Private collections have existed for centuries, but when this is added to nomadic behaviour, curious contradictions arise; this is the area studied by Archive II. How can an individual travel with it’s own library, given that books are so heavy? This is something we can all relate to when moving house. Archive II is a nomadic library, a transport system and an intimate space. Inspired by ancient travelling libraries from the Far East, which visited courts and cities, Archive II transforms this into a personal space, where walking and reading coexist as refuge and transport." ( Cozy...there's an app for that!)

Garcia notes that in the 9 hours it might take to read an average novel, you'd be able to travel about 43 kilometers, dryly adding "If you read and walk, watch out for traffic." This gives new meaning to the dangers of texting while driving.

Archive II is owned and on exhibition at the University of Roskilde Main Library, designed by the firm Henning Larsen (Garcia is an associate of the firm). Photographs of this gorgeous building can be seen here.

Liz Parkinson's Art Brings Joy to Unhappy Hipsters

2010-04-19T14:45:00.026-04:00

If you appreciate modern residential design you are likely a regular reader of "Dwell" magazine, and enjoyed "From Brown to Green", an inspiring story about the Adams-Fleming residence (an abbreviated on-line version can be found here). Much as I like the magazine, they do have a peculiar slant to their editorial policy: children and pets are photographed as if they are mere fashion accessories, and the home owners appear to be in a state of perpetually disaffected ennui. This makes for easy pickings for the hilarious tumblr/blog "Unhappy Hipsters" which gave the following caption to this image from the Dwell article by photographer Lorne Bridgman:
(click on the photo to enlarge)

His first day in the house and little Alfie was alarmed—even their hobbies were joyless. (He’d be hitting the catnip hard.)

Good One!

Full disclosure: Adams and Fleming are personal friends and clients of A.K. Collings Fine Art. They are both wonderful cooks and generous to their wide and varied circle of friends and students. Their home is made for entertaining and it is at it's best when it is full of people, as it often is. Art makes a major contribution to the sense of warmth and humanity felt by their visitors, a fact which is not captured in the photos accompanying the article. Adams and Fleming have a very good collection of Canadian contemporary craft and fine art, and so it was a pity that none of the artists were properly referenced in the article. (Note to Dwell and other architecture and home dec mags: don't you think it's just as important to credit the artists as it is the makers of faucets and fridges? This same room was previously featured in a Canadian design publication, which saw fit to mention a chunk of wood gnawed by an anonymous beaver, but said nothing about the (human) artists.)

The two large works on the rear wall are gorgeous drypoint prints by Liz Parkinson, from her Copperplate Appellation series. The series presents late-season weeds as oversized specimens. Scale denotes importance: the familiar nuisance is identified and its individual visual attributes championed. In size (48"x31.5"), concept, beauty and technical execution, these prints are a real tour de force.

Parkinson recently had a mid-career retrospective at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. I've shown A Morphology Naturalized (veil) at my own gallery in the past, but to see it hung in the the third floor loft of this former barley mill was breathtaking. Veil is printed on translucent gampi (a handmade Japanese tissue paper). In the iteration for this installation, it measured an extraordinary 16'x16'. With the slightest breath, breeze or motion past, the veil moves as if it were alive. To quote Parkinson: "The veil shifts and sways from tradition to lyric to perhaps thoughtless richness and ruin. It contains elements of a formal morphology transformed into decorative language. It is an enormous print and an ephemeral sculpture. It is a botanical marvel; a familiar setting; a dandelion; a weed."

The exhibition was sensitively curated by Maralynn Cherry, who wrote the following:

"Fair LONCIERA prints the dewy lawn And decks with brighter blush the vermil dawn; Winds round the shadowy rocks, and pancied vales, And scents with sweeter breath the summer-gales.
(Erasmus Darwin The Love of Plants 1789)

Printmaking techniques are steeped in the history of text and illustration as ancient Chinese rubbings transform into intaglio woodblocks, etchings and lithography: skills that reshape the social history of representation. Liz Parkinson uses the art of printmaking to extend the boundaries of natural form and pattern. The detailed layering of her print work runs parallel with her sensitive perceptions of memory as an inherent archive. Botanical illustration and the insights of the naturalist are ever present in the work. Parkinson methodically guides the viewer through an assemblage of floral prints presented in arrays that evoke, at times, the wallpapers and tapestries of the Arts and Crafts movement, early fresco’s or the beauty of Redouté’s lily classifications. Taxonomy weaves an underlying thread throughout the exhibition. Here the act of naming the specimen combines the aura of the field journey with the aesthetic bonding of art, science and nature. Our imaginations are tempered by the poetic and structural composition of these floral patterns. Yet, Parkinson’s sight does not rest here. Rather, she reinvents the gaze of the floral to encompass both the social and historical documentation of a living morphology."

I have had the pleasure of placing Parkinson's work in a number of homes, as varied as the owners themselves. The fact that her art works in such a wide variety of settings is a testament to her skill. The work is simultaneously gentle and strong, and capably holds its own without overpowering, wherever it is placed. The following monoprint will soon be hung in the dining room of a rambling and wonky farmhouse which has had multiple additions (mostly incongruous) over its 150 year history: it is as un-modern and un-designed as can be imagined, and aside from also being inhabited by two people who are also generous hosts, this farmhouse is as different as can be from the Adams-Fleming residence. Derrida's Field is a large 4'x4' monoprint, employing multiple printing techniques, as well as the application of gold leaf, imparting a layered and painterly feel.

Derrida's Field Litho, drypoint, relief, acrylic and gold leaf on wet mounted Japanese paper
48" x 48"

The following two monoprints are from Parkinson's Morphology series, and use drypoint and flocking techniques:

Morphology In and Out, monoprint, drypoint and flocking, 36x48, 2003

That was the Colour, monoprint, drypoint and flocking, 31.5x34, 2003

Parkinson's works are at their best when seen in situ. Here they are in installation at the former A.K. Collings Gallery. The blown glass sculptures in the foreground are by Eva Milinkovic.

Parkinson is a master print maker, and her works are prominent in the well-known Ernst and Young Print Collection. In addition to her many private patrons, Parkinson's works are held in The Canada Council Art Bank, The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Federal Business Development Bank, The Canadian Securities Commission, The Toronto Stock Exchange, The Tom Thompson Gallery and many other public and corporate collections.

She lives and works in a re-purposed circa 1850 fire hall in a small town outside of Toronto.

For inquiries about availability of these and other works, contact akcollings(at)sympatico(dot)ca.
More images can also be seen at Parkinson's website.

David Bolduc

2010-04-11T12:07:00.012-04:00

I am saddened to announce that David Bolduc has died. He was 64 years of age, and died following a short and extremely courageous battle with cancer. He continued painting through it all, producing an entirely new body of work for an extraordinary show at Christopher Cutts Gallery just 3 months ago. His paintings contained an enormous energy and life force, as if channeling the very essence and fire of his soul. Working with David last year for the exhibition of new works he so generously created for my small gallery was a true privilege.

In 2006, Linda Corbett recorded a series of videotaped interviews with David. They are available to be viewed on line, courtesy of the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art Database Project. How fortunate we are to have this important documentary record of a significant painter, poet and raconteur. He will be missed.

UPDATE: Link to obituary in the Globe and Mail

The Future of Publishing

2010-03-30T13:19:00.004-04:00

This video was prepared by the UK branch of Dorling Kindersley Books and produced by Khaki Films. Originally meant solely for a DK sales conference, the video was such a hit internally that it is now being shared externally. Make sure you watch it up to at least the halfway point, there's a surprise!.

Helen Adam

2010-03-08T18:47:00.009-05:00

Today is International Women's Day. I recently spent the afternoon at MoMA wandering through the Tim Burton exhibition. What does one have to do with the other?

Helen Adam (1909-1993) was a poet, free spirit and iconoclast. She wrote in the style of the Victorian ballad. Although much older, and working within a very different creative framework, she counted Allen Ginsberg and the very young Patti Smith among her colleagues, along with many other members of the literary avant garde in New York and San Francisco. I think she would have liked Tim Burton.

In "Apartment at Twin Peaks" she takes the crone stereotype and makes it her own, with characteristic black humour:

"New Year’s Eve, and the moon like a flame.
From as far as Fresno my girl friends came.
I knew my party simply could not miss
Though I served my husband as the principle dish."

Here's an excerpt from Ron Mann's "Poetry in Motion" (1981).

Why You Should Buy Art

2010-03-02T19:14:00.011-05:00

I am back from New York, and this William Powhida print is one souvenir of a wonderful and art-filled trip. You can click on the image to enlarge.
(Actually, I bought the print online at Jen Beckman's "20x200" which is well worth a virtual visit, whether you can get to New York or not.)

I am an erratic blogger, and for that, I apologize. You'd think I'd have plenty to write about, having just spent the last week in New York, in the company of Our Montreal Correspondent. The problem is, I am slow thinker, and I need time to mull before I write...not a trait particularly well suited to the pace of the blogosphere.

While in NY, OMC and I visited the William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton event, "#class" at Winkleman Gallery, and participated in Saturday's Powhida-led "Art Walk" through a range of Chelsea galleries.

And since I am still mulling over that experience, for now I'll leave you with Eva Diaz's description and contextualization of the goings-on at #class, from Artforum:

"Mass education in the post–World War II period positioned pedagogy as a pivot between personal growth and wider sociopolitical transformation. Recent large-scale student protests against fee hikes and the profit-driven campus at the New School and throughout the University of California system can be seen as part of a larger reaction to how the prospect of education was subsequently instrumentalized as a consumer transaction. Similarly, a spate of artist collectives are reassessing how progressive pedagogical models can be employed as consciousness-raising tools. Joining related endeavors such as 16 Beaver, the Public School, e-flux’s Night School, and the Bruce High Quality Foundation University, artists William Powhida and Jennifer Dalton have created #class, a series of public workshops in a classroom setting that, in its eclectic sprawl, seeks to investigate the effects of the economic downturn on the field of art: on its production, reception, distribution, and consumption; on its educational institutions and its institutions of display.
The setup is simple: A room contains several worktables and chairs lined with four chalkboards. Dozens of programs and open-ended brainstorming sessions have been scheduled for the one-month duration of the exhibition, and the artists will be present on a daily basis to use the gallery as a studio space. The “curriculum” ranges from the intentionally hokey (motivational speakers promising to unleash “wild creativity”) to the near heretical (dealers guaranteeing to answer questions about the art market with complete transparency)."

You can follow the events for yourself, by visiting the #class blog, and Ed Winkleman's blog, where you'll find a link to a gallery cam running a continuous live feed during gallery hours.

Pearl Van Geest: A Love Affair with Paint

2010-02-15T19:56:00.019-05:00

Pearl Van Geest loves paint, and in a very literal way, the paint loves her back: the boundary between herself and the canvas could be described as a semi-permeable membrane. She paints with the sort of id-soaked, primary process-driven intensity often associated with "intuitive" or "outsider" art. However, she and her paintings are far from naive: she is a broadly educated, well traveled person, and a highly skilled, technically adept painter.

In the tradition of the Automatistes, she appears to be able to allow her subconscious to free itself from rational restrictions. Her colours are saturated and sensual. The subject matter, and her very technique, is carnal and oral.

Jean Paul Riopelle said: "Painting is an illness. It's a germ you catch one day". I think he was referring to the experience of simultaneously consuming, and being consumed by, the creative process. Van Geest speaks of her art in similar terms:
"Can the boundary or skin between the human and natural world be dissolved or made transparent by the energy of desire, by Eros, by love, by ecstasy and a desire to connect: to be at once subsumed and to possess what we see, feel, touch, taste and hear?" 

“Spoiled in Rubies”, 2002. Oil and lipstick on canvas. 72″ × 72″. (Collection of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre)

Above is one in a series of paintings begun in 2001 in which "the canvas is first covered in lip prints/kiss marks; used for their mutable symbolic significance and also for their remarkable morphological similarity to other natural forms, suggesting by implication, in addition to love and sensuality, our essential corporality and connection with the rest of the natural world."

Actual lip prints, actual lipstick.

In 2006 she began her "flower-eating" paintings. These paintings are self portraits, painted from a series of photographs of herself in the act of consuming lilies. Lilies are sexy, with male and female sex organs exposed and unashamed. As the series progresses, these paintings become increasingly disinhibited. In the most recent, the pollen is smeared on her face, a sensual merging of self with the natural world.

“On Possession 1”. Oil on canvas. 48″ × 48″.

I've never met Van Geest, but we have recently had a brief e-mail correspondence. She wrote:
"In the flower-eating paintings I was interested in playing with the lily contrasted with the datura. The datura and its family relative Belladonna, has a darker association in mythology and also pharmacologically, having being been used "recreationally" as a hallucinogen and also apparently having been given to women during labour. Among its active ingredients is atrophine and women used to put drops their eyes to dilate their pupils to appear more alluring. Witches made a "flying salve" which included datura of belladonna as one of the ingredients. The lily in medieval paintings of the Virgin Mary, represented the virgin birth and in some versions of Roman mythology, Juno impregnated herself with a lily."

This seems as a good place as any to mention that Van Geest was originally educated as a scientist, and entered art school after several years of travel and teaching high school Biology and Chemistry. I asked her about her transition from the world of science to the world of art. She wrote: "I love science - the observing, looking closely, inquiry, problem solving, knowing something about the inside of things and how things work and exploration. I like how learning about science makes the world seem even more miraculous. I love grand views and the worlds inside small intimate things like lichen and club moss. I like observing the same things over and over again, seeing the changes. I always drew, painted and took art courses while doing my BSc and also in high school. In grade 13 I received the art award and the biology award so the split (which as you know more than me isn't really as some people make it out to be, science and art both being creative and open endeavors) was always there..I was longing to go to art school. Making art became more and more of an imperative. I wanted to do it all the time. ."

Twenty years after first entering Guelph University to study biology, Van Geest graduated from Ontario College of Art and Design. She enjoyed critical recognition straight out of the gate, with awards and grants, and shows at some impressive Toronto and area galleries. In 2003, she was a finalist in the prestigious RBC painting competition, and in 2008, she was recognized by inclusion in the "emerging artist" category for Magenta Foundation's "Carte Blanche 2".

From Van Geest's website: "I am interested in the intersection of art and science, with questions that arise about the nature of reality and the natural world, our place in it and perception of it. In my paintings I explore the boundary or “skin” between the human and the natural world and ways in which our consciousness, and sensual and cultural perceptions can both facilitate and impede an experience of the natural world."

Van Geest has spent productive stretches of time in residence at Pouch Cove, Newfoundland. The result has been landscape paintings, which begin "as simple pencil line sketches, some done while sitting on the cliffs recording the pattern of the waves on the sea over a period of time ". Here again, her method recalls one technique of the Automatistes, in which paintings emerged from gestural, "automatic" drawings, the purpose of which was to over-ride the conscious influence of the ego and subvert the influence of culturally specific aesthetic judgement.

In Newfoundland, she became "compelled by openings and splits in the world...
The perspective is reversed, the mouth has become a cave".

“Love on the Rocks”, 2008. Oil on canvas. 60″ × 48″.

"Cove" 2010. Oil on canvas, 48" x 48".

The exploration of boundaries, permeability and portals are constant themes in Van Geest's work. This is the common thread through the three bodies of work. In Freudian theory, the individual whose development has been arrested at the oral stage forever struggles with boundary issues. Unable to differentiate between the self and the other, the person remains un-individuated, and forever unfulfilled in the wish for impossible merger and "perfect love". However, the straightforward application of this kind of analysis to Van Geest's work would be reductive, and do a disservice to the subtle complexity of her dance with paint and canvas. Psychoanalyst Ernst Kris used the phrase "regression in service of the ego" to describe the creative life of the successful artist. This is what she accomplishes. She has the ability to go "there", to use her considerable skill and artistic gift to translate the experience, and then to "bring it back". Her paintings are gorgeous celebrations of the most fundamental aspect of being human.

Visit Pearl Van Geest's website for more images, and details of upcoming exhibitions.

Brian Cox, actor, on language development!

2010-02-09T20:35:00.009-05:00

Brian Cox teaches 30-month-old Theo a bit of Shakespeare. (first seen at boingboing)

Added on Feb 11:

I did not have time add comments to this clip when I originally posted it as one of my occasional offerings on creativity, language and memory development.

Theo is a remarkable, natural talker, but I can guarantee you, without ever having met his parents, that he is also benefiting from an environment in which adults speak to him all the time. I'll bet they don't use baby talk, and that they listen to him carefully, and patiently encourage him him to try again when he is not being understood. They don't finish his sentences for him. I'll also bet that there is lots of rhyming word play, nursery rhymes, and songs with gestures. And books.

Babies need to be spoken to from birth. If you watch carefully, you may occasionally have the feeling that even a very young infant is making fleeting attempts to imitate your gestures. You are not imagining this: it is the precursor of speech. By 6 months, it becomes obvious to the adults in a baby's life that babies are very social little critters. They love to imitate hand gestures, facial expressions, and the melodic contours of the language they hear. Older toddlers get joy (and social props) from imitating, as can clearly be seen in Theo's case.

Children do develop at different rates, of course, but they are often smarter and more creative than we realize...we just don't always know what they are trying to express, and sometimes we don't have the patience to truly observe.

If you have a little one in your life, please don't think that Theo's performance is a typical benchmark! I posted the clip because it is inspiring to see a little one and an adult so thoroughly engaged with each other, and mutually enjoying a brief dose of an activity a bit more creatively challenging than "Barney" or "Doodlebops".

If you do have worries that your child is lagging in language development, here is a useful developmental chart.

The Sweetest Little Thing

2010-02-08T14:58:00.009-05:00

Here is an early Valentine from New Brunswick.

The Sweetest Little Thing is an annual fundraising event for The Owens Art Gallery and Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre. You can participate in the auction online. That is a lucky thing for those of us who can't be there, because there are some terrific works on offer. Here is a sampling.

Andrea Mortson, Sackville Souvenir, 2009

Frederick Squire, 7:43:47, 2010

Micah Lexier, I Kept the Board, 2010

Mario Doucette, Soldats Anglais, 2010

Alexandra Flood, Delilah in the Woods, 2009

Happy Birthday, Claire.

2010-01-24T15:02:00.007-05:00

One Claire I know was a toddler when the Rheostatics recorded this.
Always loved the song, and Claire is the best girl's name, ever.

Life is all about beginnings and endings, and this song is all the more poignant to me now, owing to it's connection to Paul Quarrington, who wrote the song for the soundtrack for the movie based on his novel, "Whale Music".

Claire turned 20 on Jan. 20. Happy Birthday!!

Paul Quarrington died on Jan 21, 2010, at age 56.

Norman Rockwell Moment for Jason Wieler

2010-01-22T12:48:00.014-05:00

Toronto media outlets have been abuzz this week with the news of skyrocketing rider complaints at the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). But let's try and take a positive look at the mess: the situation has provided Toronto interactive designer and illustrator Jason Wieler with a Norman Rockwell moment.

He snapped this photo of the fare collector at McCowan station just before 10 p.m. on Jan. 19, and later posted it on Twitpic. He intended it for the amusement of his friends, but an image this good won't stay private for long.

Of course, the photo has exacerbated the storm of righteous indignation that was already circulating in letters to the editor and e-news comment pages (overpaid, ungrateful unionized workers, etc., etc.). The TTC is my exclusive mode of transportation when I am in Toronto, and I truly have very few complaints about it. Sure, I've experienced my share of cranky streetcar drivers, novel-reading collectors, and so forth, but I'm not sure that I would not succumb to the same temptations, given the nature of the job. Admittedly, it is a sad reflection on the state of affairs regarding customer service at the TTC that everyone passing by assumed the fellow was asleep and not unconscious.

My second thought on seeing the photo: "Drop my token in the box or get a free ride?"

My first thought: "What a fabulous photograph!"

The moment, the light, the composition. Those are the three ingredients of a great candid photo, and they're all here.

As reported in the the Torontoist, Weiler says he hopes the photograph doesn't cost the TTC employee his job. "I didn't want to get the dude in trouble … that wasn't my intent of course. I know that this guy's probably got a mortgage and kids. No one wants to take away someone else's work."

You can visit Wieler's website, ogleto.com and take a peek at what interests him. Here's his self-portrait of the artist as a young criminal:

Glad to see you are not the sort to take yourself too seriously, Jason. We wish you all the best in your career in illustration and photography.

Frank Viva, Illustrator

2010-01-13T16:16:00.007-05:00

Canadian illustrator Frank Viva is a lot like his name: straightforward and full of life. I've been a fan of his work for a long time.

Above is his illustration for the Jan. 18th, 2010 edition of the "New Yorker".

Frank always has lots of irons in the fire (or pens in the inkwell). One of his many projects is Whigby, a company producing and selling cards, wrapping paper, posters etc. Here is my favourite Whigby wrapping paper design:

Alarm clocks and aliens. Shaky shaky, wakey wakey!

Boxing Day with Nicola Enrico Staubli

2009-12-26T16:07:00.009-05:00

Nicola Enrico Staubli is a young Swiss independent architect and bike messenger. Giving new meaning to "Boxing Day", his free-for-the-taking designs are a fresh antidote to the frenzy of consumption that marks December 26. Stay away from the malls today, and follow his instructions for making stable, elegant and fun pieces of cardboard furniture for kids. Perhaps you'll be able to recycle the box from that mega-huge flat screen TV you "gave your wife" yesterday. A rare opportunity for redemption, on so very many levels.

Downloadable patterns can be found at foldschool.com

Melanie MacDonald: DO NOT PASS GO

2009-12-19T10:01:00.008-05:00

We had a wildly successful opening night party on December 17th for Melanie MacDonald in our temporary space at 1142 Queen St. West in Toronto. We were also very pleased to receive some nice coverage from Murray Whyte of the Toronto Star, and Mike Landry of "Things of Desire". Altogether, a successful Queen St. West debut for the artist, and for A.K. Collings Fine Art.

DO NOT PASS GO is a one week-only event, and will be dismantled on the afternoon of Tuesday December 22. For those of you who won't be able to attend, here is a sampling. MacDonald works in acrylic, and the paintings range from 24x 24 to 36 x 48.

From MacDonald's artist statement:
"My latest work is a continuation of my series of board game vignettes. Monopoly was the starting point for this series--a suggestion from a friend--and I expanded it to include Trouble, slot hockey, Chinese Checkers, and some more obscure games. With these recent paintings I've returned to Monoploy but I've created chaotic scenes of the board in disarray--the game suspended in a state of disorder before it begins or having come to an abrupt, messy ending."

"These paintings are partly inspired by "Soprano Home Movies" episode 78 of the television drama's final season. In it, Tony and his wife Carmela spend a weekend at his sister Janice and brother-in-law Bobby Bacala's cottage. During a game of Monopoly, and argument ensues over the rules and a fight erupts between Bobby and Tony. The game board is upset in the brawl and Tony loses the fight, ending up on the floor with Monopoly game pieces stuck to his face."

"Even though the structure of Monopoly depicted in these paintings has collapsed. the board, the pewter tokens, the plastic houses, chance cards, and Monopoly dollars all continue signifying as vestiges of order, economics and fair play"

Any questions about MacDonald's work, or requests for appointments for private viewings can be directed to:
akcollings(at)sympatico(dot)ca

Nick Cross: Yellow Cake

2009-10-15T17:32:00.005-04:00

We live part-time in a small town where yellowcake is king. No, not a town with a big bakery...a town with a big uranium processing facility. Which gives us an extra-special appreciation of the latest work from animation genius Nick Cross of Ottawa.

Widening Gyre

2009-07-10T18:50:00.024-04:00

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold"

William Butler Yeats

Here is a stream-of-consciousness spiral-inspired art hop on a theme of the land and the landscape, intervention and impermanence.

Starting here, with "Respect: A Photo Odyssey Celebrating Canada's Boreal Forest" :

Photo Credit: Dan Riedlhuber

According to the press release, "RESPECT takes an innovative and thought-provoking look at Canada's Boreal Forest. Nine Canadian photographers braved weather and time constraints to collectively create a vibrant picture of Canada's North. The sweeping vistas captured digitally convey the fragility as well as the brutality of the Boreal Forest.The Boreal Forest accounts for 58% of Canada's land mass. 70% of it remains untouched. It is also home to two-thirds of the 140,000 species of plants, animals and micro-organisms identified in Canada."

The exhibition runs until October at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.

Next stop: Utah...

Photo Credit: Francisco Kjolseth

Photo Credit: George Steinmetz

...and Robert Smithson's extraordinary earthwork, "Spiral Jetty, 1970", on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah. The work is owned by New York's Dia Art Foundation. "Owned" does not seem to be quite the proper word: I think the idea of stewardship is closer to the spirit of the thing. Spiral Jetty is in a constant state of flux as the natural conditions of the Great Salt Lake change. During periods of drought, it is exposed. It can be submerged for years at a time when the water level is high. Originally black basalt rock, it is now largely white against pink due to salt encrustation and lower water levels.

Entropy and temporality were central concepts in Smithson's work: he wrote at length about mutability and impermanence as it applied to his art. He was killed in a plane crash on July 20, 1976 while surveying sites for his work "Amarillo Ramp" in Texas.

Early in 2008, change threatened Spiral Jetty, and not the kind of change that
would in any way be sympathetic to Smithson's ideals. It was announced that there were plans for exploratory oil drilling approximately five miles from the jetty. There is a sad Canadian connection to the story, in that the company in question is Alberta-owned oil sands player Pearl Montana Exploration. Their application was quashed after effective protests from both the arts and ecological conservation communities. In January 2009, Dia learned that Pearl would resubmit its application.There has now been a reprieve and the company's plans have been put on hold due to a reorganization of the company and falling oil prices.

Just two days ago, Dia reported a new threat to Spiral Jetty: an application has been filed by Great Salt Lake Minerals to increase the number of solar evaporation ponds which they use to extract potassium sulfate for fertilizer. Some 80,000 acres are proposed in the North Arm of the Great Salt Lake where Spiral Jetty is located.

(Addendum (July 13): Thank you to Michael Buitron for alerting me to his amazing aerial photographs of Spiral Jetty, taken on a trip last fall. Go here to see them, and to read a very interesting commentary on Smithson's choice of Rozel Point as the location for Spiral Jetty. Buitron points out that Smithson chose the location not only for the extremes of the natural environment, but also because of the lengthy history of man's industrial exploitation of the area (oil from the tar pools: minerals from the water). If Smithson were here to speak for himself, would he applaud Dia's preservation/conservation efforts, or would he prefer allowing natural (an unnatural) forces to simply take their course?)

And on to Edward Shalala.

(Look closely: These works are very subtle and do not translate well to the small screen.)

string painting, 2006
documentary photograph
Martha's Vineyard, MA
digital print 11"x14"

raw linen canvas thread painting, 2009
documentary photograph
basketball court, Sara Roosevelt Park, NYC
c-print 11"x14"

Thanks to Joanne Mattera's blog for introducing me to Edward Shalala's work.
Here is his artist statement:

"In 1973-76, while in graduate school at The University of Wisconsin, I began making abstract paintings using pieces of torn canvas in which I would poke holes, rip, cut, glue and assemble. I used aluminum and black paint mostly then, and later because I was aware of the work of Fontana from Italy, I made paintings using no paint at all. Often I used wire, jute, or narrow strips of torn canvas. As my graduate work developed I continued to make work using these materials, and these were included in my MFA show in 1976.

After graduating I moved to Boston Massachusetts, where, in 1977, I made and outdoor painting using only string, I documented that piece with a photograph. That year I moved to NYC where I have continued to work. Today I use raw canvas thread, and raw canvas dust, to make outdoor paintings. I work in NYC parks and grasslands and document the canvas thread paintings with photography. The paintings and pictures are simple and complex. They involve the ground, the sky, the weather, grasses, plants and trees, fences, sidewalks, architecture and people. This is a landscape and arena like no other space for abstract painting. My work suggests a different type of surface for the painting. The painting is 360 degrees around the thread and dust and is involved in an intricate crossing back and forth across the ground creating interior shapes of open space on the ground. The work is different from the familiar warp and weft of the canvas, and is expressed in canvas thread and dust. I am making an effort to add to the dialog after Fontana and the minimalist. My paintings focus also on the idea of flattening the painting. They go to the outdoors and nature. They flatten beyond the gallery and architectural walls.

Being on the ground and vulnerable to the elements, these canvas thread and dust paintings are temporary in nature."

Shalala's work made me think of a beautiful Cal Lane installation I saw a number of years ago:

Cal Lane, Dirt Lace installation at Wynick Tuck Gallery (Toronto, 2004)

Lane was born in Halifax and raised on Vancouver Island. After a brief career as a hairdresser, she became a certified welder. She then went on to an M.F.A. from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. It was there that she developed her highly unusual artistic practice: producing impossibly delicate lacelike sculptures from decidedly macho steel objects, using a plasma cutter. From an earlier series involving earth-related objects such as shovels and wheelbarrows, she has moved to progressively larger and larger works, and outdoor installations.

Over time, her work has become more overtly political:

"I have always been interested in embracing the very thing that repels me in order to understand it: I prefer to make sense of things or in order to suspend (or pass) judgment."

Her most recent work involves drums and tanks used to store or transport oil. The titles of her two most recent series, Sweet Crude and Crude, not only refer to the original uses of the drums and tanks but also comment on the consequences of our dependence on oil.

Lane's next project is scheduled to begin in October, 2009, in Tivat, Montenegro. The object of her affections this time will be a 62 foot long submarine.

Finishing the spiral with work that takes us back to the subject of trees and the land:

Melissa Doherty paints aerial views of trees in settings which are neither wild nor natural.

Doherty presents an imagined suburbia, where man encroaches on nature, retaining and enclosing groupings of trees as captive specimens of beauty. Doherty is a recent graduate of the FIne Arts program at the University of Waterloo. She currently has work in a group show at Edward Day Gallery.

Melanie MacDonald: Home Court Advantage

2009-07-04T07:36:00.014-04:00

Melanie MacDonald is an emerging artist with a remarkable facility for capturing light and reflection. Working in acrylic on canvas, she paints highly realistic, somewhat off-kilter, close-up depictions of everyday objects. Paintings in the current series consist of vintage board games, ceramic figurines, and dishes: images from a pre-digital world of domestic kitsch. Two generations removed from Mary Pratt, MacDonald similarly explores the quotidian and seemingly mundane aspects of domesticity as a means of providing a symbolic allusion to the human condition.

MacDonald was included in Carte Blanche 2 (2008), flagging her as one of Canada's best and most promising emerging artists.

Kitsch, by its nature, undercuts the precious and turns the precious inside out as cheap, all too accessible objects. We can supposedly have it all through kitsch, but the desire to have it all is evidence of an inner void that longs for a kinder, simpler world. (Philipp Blom, To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting, 2002)

Artist Statement:

"I regard my contemporary domestic paintings as visual poems marking the brief, curious, moments that punctuate the everyday. I attempt to realize small particulars within a close-up domestic foreground. In this kind of kitchen-sink realism, objects are isolated, set apart, and gathered together' without any deliberate, overriding purpose. My wish is to see and hold small moments caught on the fly, the fleeting shapes of ordinary living as they shed light on what is constant in our human condition. In the tradition of the still life, my paintings arrest time for the sake of contemplating the transient nature of our lives.

As Dennis Lee has observed in his exploration of Al Purdy's poetry, the everyday physical world can at times seem other-wordly, an alternate galaxy that is both utterly present and wholly transparent, a window into some ineffable dimension where [the individual] is at once lost and at home (Dennis Lee, Body Music, 1996). It is this kind of window that I attempt to realize with paint on canvas."

Melanie MacDonald
"Home Court Advantage"
July 3 to August 8, 2009
A.K. Collings Gallery

Not a Nice Place to Visit, and I Wouldn't Want to Live There, Either

2009-06-23T13:37:00.006-04:00

ROM-ruining architect Daniel Libeskind has just unveiled "Villa", a "luxury" mass-produced pre-fab house that can be shipped and assembled anywhere in the world. For a mere $3 million to $6 million (depending on finishes and location), you can own a cookie cutter home, which may or may not be suitable to the climate, geography, or building site of your choice, and which may or may not leak, but which IS guaranteed to induce a state unease, if not out-right high anxiety, in all who enter (let alone try to eat or sleep in the place).

I tried, I really, really tried, to find something to like about the Libeskind addition to Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum. But: it's not a "crystal", it's trailer-park siding. It's depressing and disorienting from the moment you walk in. It's got little functional exhibition space. The execution and detailing is abysmal throughout ("Staircase of Blunders"?). It sends such nasty feng shui poison arrows at its neighbours on Bloor Street that I don't even want to go to my favourite roof-top bar anymore.

As an architect, Libeskind seems enjoy making people feel uncomfortable in his buildings. There is nothing pleasant, uplifting or humane about the experience. Oddly, he manages to get handsomely paid for designing the same thing over and over. With "Villa", at least the marketing is straightforward: it is a pre-fab. Anyone foolish enough, or status-seeking enough to buy one will have only themselves to blame. Unfortunately, Torontonians who love the ROM can only wonder how on earth this project, literally based on a sketch on a paper serviette, ever came to fruition.

However, the European design and architectural community is not proving to be as gullible. An article published yesterday in the respected online architectural and design journal "De Zeen" has generated 36 comments so far, almost entirely negative. Here is a sampling:

(Some of the respondents obviously are not native english speakers, but their meaning is "crystal" clear)

"This makes me so sad, when architects don’t care if its a museum or a private house, it all looks the same. This is where our bad reputation is founded. Care more about the content DL!"

"And where exactly is architecture here??? Money making machine! You can just order the same house, put it on the beach or in your backyard… North, East, nomether where, it belongs everywhere??? Pack up the house, load the truck, put it anywhere you want just show us the money! That should be the line for seling it! This man cannot be serious!!!"

"I live on Greenland. It will perfectly fit on the climate there :-P
The real good thing in this project that I have finally found out what kind of architect he is. Daniel, please find another job. Please."

"Design Summary:
Stupid shape - [Check]
Pretentious logic - [Check]
Corny symbolism - [Check]
Rehash of unbuilt project - [Check]
Stupid diagonals - [Check]
Immature design rational - [Check]
Sloped wall gimmick - [Check]"

"For $3mil - $4 mil. a wealthy client should expect a unique house that responds to a specific site, a highly personal lifestyle and individual aesthetic goals. Libeskind’s mass-produced, “one-size-fits-all” house, however glorified in the jargonistic buzzwords of the day (i.e. “sustainability”), satisfies none of those ideals. Hence it can never truly be considered high-end design. It will never be more than something for the intellectually insecure to use to try and achieve social credibility. Only a fool would buy into the hype."

"Architectural Masterpieces, I think not!
Emperors New Clothes, anybody?"

Ouch.
You can see pictures, read Libeskind's promotional materials, and read the commentary in full here.

How Young Artists Live

2009-06-23T11:13:00.006-04:00

Photo credits: Jordan Prussky

Whether the economy is good or bad, young artists have always been adept at finding creative ways of supporting themselves and their artmaking. For some, this means leaving the city for a more affordable rural or small town existence. For most, it means a day job, and a live/work arrangement. Robert Malinowski and Erin Glover are a case in point. They share a 900 square foot space which provides both living accommodation, and studio.

The couple lives in a re-purposed mattress factory located in the arts-rich and still (marginally) affordable Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto. In spite of space constraints, and some unusual "architectural" features, Robert and Erin have created a welcoming home and an effective workplace, consisting of a cozy bednook, an all-purpose living room with a galley kitchen, and a separate studio area for each. Their space was formerly the shipping and receiving area for the mattress factory. The freight elevator is still functional. A vaguely menacing industrial sculpture consisting of wheels and turbines hangs over their bed: it is the motor for the elevator. It is conversation-starter to be sure, and , when in operation, also a very effective conversation-stopper. Fortunately, the elevator does not see heavy use, and is not in operation at night.

In addition to their own art, the couple also has found room to display some very fine work by fellow artists. The painting above the sofa is a gift from their close friend, Paul Fortin. (Fortin is an artist whose paintings and sculptures I very much admire. He shows with Patrick Mikhail in Ottawa.)

Malinowski and Glover currently have an exhibition entitled "Ties That Bind" at A.K. Collings Gallery. This is the final week of the show.

Bruno, Saskatchewan Declares June 7 Julie Doiron Day

2009-06-11T11:37:00.012-04:00

This story is tangentially related to the "power of one"/creative contagion theme in the previous post.

I've written before about All Citizen's Gallery, and the two young artists who brought their artistic and creative energies to the tiny farming community of Bruno, Saskatchewan, pop. 590. Julie Doiron recently gave a concert at All Citizens, and was surprised when the Mayor declared June 7 to be "Julie Doiron Day". Ms. Doiron was further honoured by the unveiling of a bench and plaque.

I love this video clip of Tyler Brett and the Mayor making the presentation. A bit of research was required to uncover the Mayor's name: she is Audrey Ludwig. I'll bet she'd have a thing or two she could teach big-city politicians about community-building and the "creative class". Richard Florida might want to consider inviting her to deliver a guest lecture at the University of Toronto.

Click here for a lovely Julie Doiron music video.

Exponential Joy

2009-06-11T11:07:00.005-04:00

Happiness is wonderfully contagious. It just takes one creative person to get things rolling. This clip about fun-gone-viral has itself gone viral. You may have already seen it elsewhere, but I am posting it as my little contribution to cultural probiotics.

Music by Santigold, Sasquatch Festival out on the Left Coast (Cascadia somewhere)

Ties That Bind, Part 2

2009-06-06T14:52:00.017-04:00

Svava Thordis Juliusson is a sculptor who works with zip-ties and other found materials. In "Ties That Bind" she has installed sculpture from the "Svona, Svona" series, and the "Nerve" series. "Svona, svona" is a term of consolation in the Icelandic tongue, the equivalent of saying "There, there", while gently patting a crying child on the back.

The work is as delicate and ephemeral as hoar frost on a window: extremely difficult to capture in a photograph. In some instances, the shadow made by the sculpture is more prominent than the piece itself, giving the sense that the work is at once present, and not present.

Juliusson was born in Siglufjordur, Iceland, immigrating to the Canadian prairies at age ten. She began undergraduate studies at the Alberta College of Art and Design in 1993 and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at NSCAD University in 1997. Juliusson completed her MFA in studio at York University in 2007.

"Svona II" is a larger and more robust work, approximately 6 feet outstretched. It is constructed of heavier cable ties (approximately 3500 of them). Suspended from the ceiling, it has an oddly anthropomorphic quality, and seems to bow in a formal, albeit icy, gesture of greeting. The cable ties glitter and have the property of capturing even the weakest rays of ambient light. The work has a shimmery glow when the lights are turned down.

Two examples of the smaller works which comprise the "Nerve" series are seen below:

Artist Statement

"I am interested in using and manipulating traditional sculpture techniques and various non-traditional sculpture materials to express my concerns and ideas. There is often a blurring of that which locates me as an artist who is compelled to consider for example the pigeon and that which causes me to reflect on rearing children and planting a garden. The studio investigations, which often commence at the kitchen table or the laundry room, tend to oscillate between a curiosity of the methods and materials of object making and the desire to articulate a response to my surroundings and certain events such the much publicized outbreaks of Avian Flu, Hoof and Mouth disease and BSE; which have become illustrative of the beginnings of the 21st century."

"Ideas around transformation are at root of my current studio investigations. After recent move, a recent graduate degree and recent entry into my fortieth decade, I became overwhelmed with my surroundings and specifically the objects, the material or stuff that I have accumulated in cupboards, closets and bins in my home and in my studio. This is not the ordinary kind of clutter; there are containers full of Styrofoam balls and some that contain only shards of plaster; and others that are full of bungee cord remnants and pieces of old linoleum. So rather than taking it all to the landfill as was my first instinct, I have begun to re-assemble, or re-invent the accrual. Some of it has been already configured directly on the walls of my studio, and other works were developed on paper. Simply put however, the project is about recycling – a topical and highly politicized issue that relates to my ongoing desire to respond to current events - and the idea that all of my detritus can become something else."

"tiedwithgreenredyellow" (metal packing straps, coloured zip ties, approx 50" x 40 ")

"Ties That Bind" will be on view at A.K. Collings Gallery until June 27, 2009.

Ties that Bind: Part 1

2009-05-28T21:53:00.013-04:00

June is Wedding Month and in keeping with that, the next exhibition at A.K. Collings Gallery is entitled "Ties that Bind".

The opening reception will be on Sunday May 31, from 2 to 4.

Robert Malinowski and Erin Glover are two young artists who will be departing for their honeymoon in Paris on the weekend following the opening. They have produced a series of delicate drawings which are romantic and just a tiny bit odd...capturing the truth and intensity of married life.

Svava Thordis Juliusson is a sculptor who works with zip ties and other found materials. She will be installing sculpture from the "Svona, Svona" series. (this is a term of consolation in Icelandic, roughly meaning "there, there"). Juliusson's work and the Glover/Malinowski collaborative drawings relate thematically, and her work will be discussed in my next post.

Artist statement for "Ties That Bind": collaborative drawings by Erin Glover and Robert Malinowski:

"In our most recent work, we have staged small vignettes that unveil personal encounters in public spaces. The mixed media pieces sew together delicately rendered drawings and gem – like photo based images onto the same surface. The work is intended to hold conversation between the two of us as artists, as well as tell an intimate story as you travel through each image. We have both carried solo artistic careers in our respective media for the past seven years, but relish an opportunity to work together on collaborative projects. Our duet work has grown to hold a history of its own."

"Robert’s drawings depict moments excerpted from every day. The figures are shown overwhelmed by thoughts or emotions or both. Rendered as pencil drawn portraits, the characters are perfectly composed except for their heads which appear to fragment and float away from their bodies. Replaced by hearts, letters, numbers, or a variety of combined symbols, the identities are lost in an eruption of penciled markings."

"Erin’s work paints a series of domestic tokens. A gathering of garments that wrap, cover, and protect; and furniture pieces that shelter and embrace. Each item is shown empty, but carrying shapes and forms that reference the body. The collected personal objects and furniture are all worn from use and tend to adopt grand and layered personalities when planted into the new compositions. These works are small pockets of private space."

"In our collaborative work, the space is a shared landscape between the domestic tokens and the story book portraits. Sometimes, through the process, the negative space becomes more important. Large expanses of unclaimed white allow for tension and connection to grow between the figures and the objects in each piece. In our newest pieces, the figures and the household items will be shown close together, often overlapping. Robert will draw people huddled on a sofa and Erin will carefully paint a quilt over and around them. Erin will paint patterned sheets on a bed and Robert will gently pencil lovers sleeping underneath."

"It is critical to our development as artists to continue working together as an artistic team. In the process of producing collective artwork there is an natural critique that occurs. With each artistic mark, a partnered response. We are each others art community, critic, and collaborator. It is an invaluable experience to have the opportunity to work so closely with another artist to develop an ever growing series of pieces."

A.K. Collings Gallery
Hours:
Fridays and Saturdays, noon to 5
(Sundays, by invitation, for Artist Receptions)
otherwise, by appointment

Never Too Early

2009-05-22T15:17:00.010-04:00

One more installation in my series of posts pertinent to arts education, this time from the tenderest end of the spectrum (age-wise, anyway). In a fabulous send-up of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", Maggie Simpson, whilst pursuing her studies at "Mediocri-Tots Daycare Center", gets punished for being creative. It all works out in the end.

I Wish I'd Written This...

2009-05-22T14:53:00.005-04:00

....but I am glad Paddy Johnson (Art Fag City) did.

"Dear Arts Canada, Your Website is Broken.
Canadian art websites in the Toronto area seriously need to kick it up a notch. A survey of search results found when preparing for my visit to Toronto today. The result: exasperation."

Taken to task for their crummy websites are ROM, AGO, MoCCA, PowerPlant, and for good measure, The Globe and Mail.

Thanks! Toronto always listens when a New Yorker notices.

Neurodevelopment of Drawing Ability in Children

2009-05-15T14:17:00.009-04:00

I have had a long standing interest in the development of drawing skills in young children (from a neuropsychological perspective). Of course, children vary widely in talent, creativity, willingness to take risks, and so on, but there are some very interesting and predictable developmental stages which can be tracked through children's drawings, and which reflect what is going on at the level of brain development.

The Canadian Society for Education through Art maintains an archive of school children's art produced between 1930 to 1995, some examples of which are available in an on-line gallery. The documentation supplied is not the best (ages, dates, names of the young artists are often missing, the wrong captions are attached to some images, and the archive seems to have come to a crashing halt in 1995). Nonetheless, the archive is a potential treasure trove of data for researchers interested in cognitive development, in trends in art education, and the impact of arts education on subsequent academic achievement and vocational attainment. In a previous post, I wondered about what influence the "Kate Bush experience" had on the kids in a 1981 "Razzmatazz" studio audience, and similarly, I wonder about what has become of some of the students whose art is documented in the CSEA archive. Much of the work is wonderful, and reflects not only nascent talent on the part of the children, but the influence of dedicated and inspiring teachers.

Art produced by children between the ages of 6 and 12 provides a window into a very interesting period of neurological and cognitive development. Of course, drawing ability improves developmentally along with eye-hand co-ordination, fine motor skill, kinaesthetics etc., but what is most fascinating is the way in which children's drawing ability shows us something about the developmental progression from a "modular" brain to an "integrative" brain, as the frontal lobes develop and as interhemispheric and intrahemispheric connections are reinforced and refined.

I've pulled a few examples from the CSEA archive to illustrate.

Peter, age 6, 1976, British Columbia. (felt pen)
Peter's drawing is schematic and very verbal/analytic in nature. His drawing represents what he "knows", not what he "sees". Element by element, he documents what is important to him in the scene, as if following a list of key words or concepts. Drawing at this stage seems to be a very language-mediated activity. In the scene as he saw it, for instance, the electrical outlet would have been behind the presents and hence, not visible. But to Peter, it is a very important element, and so he includes it in his drawing.

Ken Kranrod, age 8, 1977, Alberta (pencil)
Ken's drawing is very accomplished. The detail is fantastic, and each element in his drawing is a little masterpiece. However, he is not fully out of the schematic stage. While the detail is rich and far more developed than that of the 6 year old above, Ken has not quite crossed the threshold of drawing what he sees: rather, he is representing what he knows and what is important to him when he thinks about a circus. (I love the swishy action-marks he's put in to give a sense of motion to the bear's dumbells!) Perspective, size of the elements, depth of field: none of this is developed in the overall composition. In fact, the elephant appears to be standing on the bear's head. The elephant and the hippo are also drawn in a very different, cartoon-like style, and demonstrate foreshortening in a manner that is not evident elsewhere. I wonder if these were copied from one of those "how to draw animals" books that are so beloved by children at this age, as their desire to produce representational and realistic drawings for a time trumps their joy in unfettered self-expression. By way of anecdotal finding, most kids seem to go through such a stage, although I am not aware of research specific to this observation.

Lynne Dunsmuir, age 10, 1970, British Columbia (oil pastel)
At age 10, Lynne is starting draw what she sees in a more realistic, representational manner without resorting to cartoon tricks and techniques. Her drawing is less about the disparate elements of what "makes a dog", and more about integrating categorical knowledge with real experience. At age 10, she is on the cusp of a period of tremendous frontal lobe development. She's really captured "dogness" in this drawing, because her brain now has far greater integrative capacity. Stated simply, she is more able to integrate what her left hemisphere "labels" with what her right hemisphere "sees".

A. Wallace, age 12, (Year?) New Brunswick ("paint")
A.Wallace has talent, no doubt about that. She (or he) is entering a much more mature stage of neurocognitive development. Those frontal lobes are really starting to work for her! She is in a watershed period for the development of abstract thinking, flexible problem solving, and increasing capacity for empathy, delay of gratification and moral judgment: these are all related to frontal lobe maturation (which will continue on through her late teens and even early twenties). These are all highly complex and integrative cognitive functions, and are more or less unique to humans, as is the making of art.

My apologies to colleagues and readers who may object to my oversimplification of the neuroscience involved. The point I want to make overall is that between the ages of 6 and 12, a great deal is happening in a child's cognitive and neurological development, and it is happening very rapidly. Opportunities to make art, and to be taught skills of "looking" as well as "making" should not be considered a mere recreational frill or therapeutic outlet for kids in school (although that's good, too!). Evidence is mounting that training in visual literacy and in making art may literally change brain development, by promoting and enhancing connections and feedback loops between various brain regions. (This has been studied fairly extensively in the case of music). The child's neurodevelopmental stage affects their art, and conversely, the practise of art may well affect brain development.

(related posts here, and here and here)

Kate Bush Talks to Kids About Making Art

2009-05-14T14:09:00.004-04:00

Another post on the general topic of art and education. Here is a clip from the early 80's British TV show "Razzmatazz" featuring a sweet and sincere Kate Bush talking to kids about the art, music and choreography involved in making a music video.

"I'm very lucky because my interests are actually my work, and in so many ways, any interest I have can become a part of my work...that's the wonderful thing about art...anything you do can then become your work... just keeping your mind open for all these things. It's really fun. Life becomes work."

I wonder what these children went on to do in their lives. They seem so attentive, and I cannot help but think that this experience must have been influential.

Speaking of which: Kate Bush's work would appear to have been an influence on Marcel Dzama and his skating ghosts as well. And a good influence, it is.

(video clip via, via)

Last Chance to Vote for Grange Prize.

2009-05-14T12:51:00.005-04:00

There are only seven days left to vote for the Grange Prize in Photography. As I indicated in a previous post, I was torn between Lynne Cohen's intellectually compelling and vaguely unsettling photographs of uninhabited spaces, and Marco Antonio Cruz's supremely humane and textured black and white photographs of blind people. I have avoided voting until now, but have gone back to look at the photographs a number of times. In the end, Cruz's photographs are something I'd like to have on a shelf, in a portfolio or book, and look at when the mood strikes. On the other hand, I could live with Cohen's photographs. They are so ambiguous that they would bear looking at everyday, and they'd tell a different story every time. My vote goes with Cohen. You can see her work at Olga Korper Gallery in Toronto until May 30.

Art School Advertisement

2009-05-11T15:30:00.005-04:00

Don Novello's circa 1980's TV ad for the San Francisco Art Institute, from a time when not taking yourself too seriously was considered a virtue.

Artists, Art Education and the Academy

2009-05-08T08:59:00.012-04:00

(AP Photo/The New York Times, Ruby Washington)

NY Times art critic and recent Pulitzer Prize winner Holland Cotter published a terrific article this February titled "The Boom is Over: Long Live Art". With characteristic optimism and genuine passion, he argues that the economic downturn may in fact be good for art and artists, who can take the opportunity to slow down, think more and take greater creative risks: "...adjust the rate of production to allow for organic growth, for shifts in purpose and direction. They can daydream and concentrate. They can make nothing for a while, or make something and make it wrong, and fail in peace, and start again." In other words, since not a lot is selling anyway, why not do as the spirit moves you, rather than bending your creative agenda in the attempt to produce work that is "sale-able". There is much truth to this argument. It is easy enough to think of artists whose work has become stale, or worse, under the pressure to produce and reproduce sale-able product.

Embedded in the article are a couple of paragraphs in which Cotter suggests that art schools might also reconsider how they teach:

"Art schools can change too. The present goal of studio programs (and of ever more specialized art history programs) seems to be to narrow talent to a sharp point that can push its way aggressively into the competitive arena. But with markets uncertain, possibly nonexistent, why not relax this mode, open up education?
Why not make studio training an interdisciplinary experience, crossing over into sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, poetry and theology? Why not build into your graduate program a work-study semester that takes students out of the art world entirely and places them in hospitals, schools and prisons, sometimes in-extremis environments, i.e. real life? My guess is that if you did, American art would look very different than it does today."

Of course, he is talking about something which would operate on a deep and systemic level, beyond simply tacking a few liberal arts courses onto a program of studies so that art schools can grant bachelor's degrees instead of "mere" diplomas. The transition from art school to degree-granting University status has been a painful experience for several Canadian art schools in recent years. I have friends on faculty in some of these schools. These teachers tell me that by far their best students, and often those who display the greatest talent, are students who have done a couple of years or even a full undergraduate degree in science, liberal arts, whatever, before coming to art school. They also tell me that generally, kids attending art school fresh from high school dislike the liberal arts courses they are required to take, because they fail to see the relevance, or because they lack the academic preparation needed to make productive use of their exposure to a larger world of ideas.

"Multidisciplinary" and "interdisciplinary" are not the same things. It is enormously challenging to create a truly interdisciplinary atmosphere in an academic institution. It requires open mindedness, a setting-aside of ego and territoriality, and a willingness to take chances (*see footnote). It also requires an ability to communicate in plain English, rather than discipline-specific jargon. These qualities are in as short supply in art schools as they are in any institution. In an ideal future, perhaps we'd see not only greater interdisciplinarity within a given institution, but greater inter-institutional co-operation and collaboration. It would it be easier for students to transfer credits between institutions (and not only credits for matching courses), and there would be structures in place to facilitate cross-institutional collaboration in research, and a sharing of resources. Currently, this exists in mostly nascent form as special events or conferences, for example the Toronto's annual Subtle Technologies festival, or in superstar think tanks such as the Perimiter Institute. Hardly the stuff of everyday experience for the average undergrad, let alone grad student or even faculty member.

Buy-in to the interdisciplinary notion is made all the more difficult when it is perceived that studio hours, and entire studio programs (ceramics? glass?) are being slashed to make way for lectures in anthropology. Graduate programs in fine art can leave their participants feeling drained of all creative energies, if verbosity is rewarded over tangible productivity and development of technical skill. Allow me a deliberate non sequitur: raw Derrida is already pretty hard to chew, and it doesn't get any more nutritious when mashed up and added to art stew. It is difficult to get the recipe just right. (**see footnote)

It is curious that arguments for interdisciplinarity in art education take on a one-directional, one-sided character. Even in Cotter's essay the suggestion seems to be that artists would make better art if they had more exposure to liberal arts, science, etc. Is this is a reflection of artists' unconscious participation in creating and maintaining their own underdog status in western society? Let us frame the issue in the opposite direction, and promote the value of education in the arts for the betterment of other disciplines. Wouldn't visually literate scientists or engineers have a leg up on their more narrowly focused, less educated colleagues? Making sense of the ouroboros might only be possible in the context of a visually enriched and broadly educated psyche. I know of few concrete examples of taking interdisciplinary education in this direction, but here is one. At Harvard med school, students spend an hour a week at local museums undertaking guided study and discussion of major works of art. Improving their visual literacy is seen not only as a culturally enriching experience, but as a cognitive exercise which contributes to the development of greater powers of observation and visual discrimination, thus improving basic bedside diagnostic skills.

* David Bolduc is one of Canada's most sublime contemporary painters, and his bio provides a wonderful example of how interdisciplinarity can flourish outside the academy. Would he be the painter he is today if he had not dropped out of art school in the late 60's, taking his bedroll and camping out on Stan Bevington's sofa at Coach House Press? Would "Brick" be the same without Bolduc's contribution?

** For a fascinating thread on the worth of an M.F.A., go to this recent discussion on Joanne Mattera's blog. The discussion is relevant to the Canadian state of affairs, although thankfully, the costs of higher education are far less a factor in Canada than stateside.

School's Out for the Summer

2009-05-06T15:34:00.006-04:00

I have been on trains and planes for the past week, shuttling between Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, attending to some important beginnings and endings in the life of my family. For a full week, I've been too preoccupied to look at art, read about art, or even open my computer. However, I had the pleasure of encountering many university students from across the country, heading home at the end of their school year. So, in honour of them, I plan to spend a bit of time this week on the subject of education in general, and art education in particular...starting with one of my favourite Pinky Show clips. It features some familiar school architecture, combined with classic Ivan Illich passages read in voice-over by a Japanese schoolgirl. Weirdly appropriate and very funny. Somehow, his commentary on the state of our educational institutions seems even more appropriate today than it did 40 odd years ago. Large class sizes, too many classes taught by sessional instructors and grad students, and graded by multiple choice rather than essay: it must be hard to keep a sense of creativity and curiosity alive for those students and professors who have a passion for knowledge, and are not afraid to learn from failure and risk. I celebrate those students who have that passion, and want them to know that in ten year's time, nobody will care or remember that they got a B- rather than an A in Art History 101.

Blog Break

2009-04-30T10:30:00.002-04:00

I've been called away on family business, so there will be a bit of a break in blogging. I'll be back at it by the middle of next week. See you soon!

Save the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography !

2009-04-30T09:41:00.003-04:00

The Government has announced that the CMCP building at 1 Rideau Canal in Ottawa will be taken over by Parliament for office space and meeting rooms. The CMCP is the only museum in Canada devoted to the photographic image. It was created in 1985 after intense lobbying by the photographic community and opened its $16M state-of-the-art facility in 1992.
We are firmly opposed to this arbitrary decision, delivered by the Government and National Gallery without warning or consultation. This is not just a photographic community concern. The loss of this public art space concerns us all.

To join the fight to save the CMCP, please take a moment to sign the petition:

www.ipetitions.com/petition/CMCP/

For background information on this announcement, please visit:

www.savecmcp.ca/

Please circulate this petition through your network with apologies for cross-posting.

Michel Campeau: "It is imperative that the CMCP be returned to its former status among international institutions dedicated to photography. The building that was designed for the CMCP when it was founded must house it once again. To accomplish its mission, it is urgent that a francophone curator be hired to fill a vacant post. An increase in the budget is also needed for the CMCP to maintain its operations, acquisitions, and influence."

Donigan Cumming: "The loss of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography has sparked a national effort to stop this government's systematic erasure of Canada's cultural heritage. As established Canadian creators, we need to send a strong message to Ottawa. The CMCP was created by artists coming together and making their views known. We can do this again. We owe it to the next generation."

Vera Frenkel: "The Harper government's appropriation of CMCP premises for routine office use follows on its grab for party receptions of a beautifully renovated building designated for the Portrait Gallery of Canada. Colonizing cherished and hard-earned cultural resources for bureaucratic bumph on the one hand and private parties on the other signals that the fog is rolling in. What is it that these jokers don't understand about this sentence: 'Canada's most powerful ambassadors are its artists.' Or this: 'Every citizen is entitled to experience Canada's visual history.' The collections of the CMCP and the Portrait Gallery are being hidden from view; a criminal deprivation, in my opinion, of a citizen's right to know who we are through the inspiring work of our great artists, many of whom are internationally admired photographers. This extraordinary double blunder is already embarrassing Canada elsewhere and together with other foolishly destructive decisions will cost this government the next election."

New Paintings: David Bolduc

2009-04-25T19:29:00.009-04:00

I hardly know what I can add to the discussion of David Bolduc. A masterful artist, who loves to move paint around on the canvas. Rigour, repetition of form, mathematical precision, colour field influences: lyrical abstraction with an increasing level of texture and intensity as the years have gone by.

Click here to see Linda Corbetts's documentaries/interviews with Bolduc, done for the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art Database project.

Some of the luscious paintings now showing at A.K. Collings Gallery.

Jay Wilson: New Sculpture

2009-04-25T15:08:00.017-04:00

You Can Do It! (wall installation approximately 65" x 27": Toothpicks, safety matches)

You Can Do It! (Detail)

I love this Wilson installation for its quirky Boy Scout humour, and equally, for the obvious patience and process. Viewed close, the work brings to mind a polynomial equation graphed in 3-d. In fact, mathematics and modularity are important underlying concepts in his practice. His first degree was in mathematics and biology, but at the age of 26, an encounter in Toronto with a large scale temporary architectural intervention by Tadashi Kawamata had a profound impact.

Kawamata's Colonial Tavern Park installation, Toronto, 1989.

A few years later, Wilson left his position as a zookeeper, and enrolled at Ontario College of Art.

Wilson made art, but primarily worked as a graphic designer for a number of years. The art he created during this period was concerned with letter forms and print. The influence of his design background remains obvious in "You Can Do It!". However, his encounter with Kawamata remained as a strong subconscious motivator. The urge to create conceptual work led him to an M.F.A at York U., which he completed in 2008.

In his new three-dimensional pieces, Wilson's diverse interests and expertise come together in a a beautiful and astonishing way. These biomorphic forms are constructed of modular 6-point elements, which aggregate in a random yet predictable fashion. They are temporal and fragile, but as sturdy as the Golden Gate Bridge. The obsessive hands-on process requires the contribution of other artists and friends to bring each work to completion.

"mediumorangeyellow": toothpicks, flocking approximately 16"x 21"

The more time an artist spends in the digital world, the more the desire to work with the senses, and with a co-operative, actual, real-time social group of like-minded souls.

Jay Wilson's words:

"Lately I’ve been working on labour-intensive works that involve hand-gluing thousands of toothpicks together. I invite assistants to come and help me in the studio. We chat, build and listen to music. I like to engage in one thing so that I can think about another.

My process-based practice uses convenience, play, mistakes, logic and intuition, pattern and colour, and juxtaposition. The work is complex in arrangement, involves changes in composition, scope and tempo of process. It is both highly structured and developmentally random. It is complexity and the lack of hierarchy that is the work’s thrust and provokes questions as opposed to declaring answers, definitive statements of central themes."

These works are on the cusp of something. I do not know what. But I am determined to follow Wilson's career. Watch and wait.

Jay Wilson: New Sculptures
A.K. Collings Gallery
April 23 to May 17, 2009

Own Art

2009-04-21T22:57:00.005-04:00

Why not in Canada?

Arts Council England's Own Art scheme celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. Own Art operates "to make contemporary art affordable and accessible to all" by offering buyers interest-free loans from L200 to L2000 to spend on contemporary art. The loans must be repaid over 10 months, and may be applied to a range of artworks, including paintings, photography, sculpture, glass and more.

The program was established for the following reasons:
-to encourage new buyers and audiences for the visual arts
-to develop the visual arts economy by encouraging an increase in the sale of work by contemporary artists
-to support a breadth of practice from traditional to the innovative, by artists at all stages of their career

Since its launch five years ago, the program has generated L6.5 million in income for artists through more than 12,500 loans.

Playing For Change

2009-04-18T16:22:00.005-04:00

Playing for Change is a charitable organization founded by Grammy award-winning producer and engineer Mark Johnson. The foundation's mission is to "connect the world through music". The bricks-and-mortar part of the mission is to build music schools and art schools around the world. Two projects are well underway in South Africa, and the foundation has also been supporting Tibetan refugee centres in India and Nepal.

This music video produced by Playing for Change is an inspiring demonstration of the internet's creative commons philosophy at its best. "Thirty seven musicians from five continents assemble together to create one unified track. The musicians have never met in person and connect through their music. Each track is added to the song as the musicians are recorded live outside across the globe. The end result is a remarkable human connection and a powerful song."

All Citizens Shop

2009-04-14T16:08:00.011-04:00

I hear that there is a new breed of pioneer settling the Canadian prairies: avante-garde artists. I've always believed farmers and artists have a great deal in common: they are entrepreneurial and independent, they have an appreciation for beauty, they persevere against all odds, and if they won millions in the lottery, why, they'd just keep on doing what they do until that money ran out, too.

Tyler Brett and Serena McCarroll are two graduates of Emily Carr University of Art + Design who fled Vancouver to settle in the town of Bruno, Saskatchewan, population 590. They have opened a gallery on main street: "All Citizens", which as you can see, is next to the senior's clubhouse. I confess that I am not familiar with Serena McCarroll's work, although I have seen Tyler Brett's work at Clint Roenisch Gallery in Toronto, where he exhibited with Tony Romano as part of T&T .

You can visit www.allcitizens.org to see what's happening in Bruno, browse the gallery and buy something from the on-line store:

Billy Mavreas: "YESbunny" poster

Cole Johnson: "Friends" block print

(thanks to Cliff Eyland for his akimblog post )

Marcel Dzama: Department of Eagles

2009-04-11T09:44:00.002-04:00

Marcel Dzama: Even More Calamities (storyboard for "No One Does It Like You" video). 2008. Ink, root beer base, water color, and paper, 22" x 14"

This beautiful video for "Department of Eagles" premiered at MoMA on March 24, 2009. Produced by Directors Bureau. Direction: Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama. Costumes and Sets: Marcel Dzama.

I have tried in vain to discover who was responsible for the choreography. Please post a comment if you know.

If you click through to the MoMA site, you'll note that Dzama is identified as a New York City-based artist...of course, we know that he's from Winnipeg.

Cultural Universals in Music and Emotion

2009-04-09T09:30:00.011-04:00

Earthenware pot: contemporary Mafa culture
Photograph by maremagna

Dave Munger at "Cognitive Daily" has a fascinating post today on the cultural universality of the perception of emotions as conveyed by music.

"The Mafa people, who live in the far north of Cameroon in the Mandara mountains, are one of the most culturally isolated groups in the world. Since many of their settlements lack electricity, there are some individuals who have never been exposed to western movies, art, or music.

Because of their isolation and very different musical tradition, they can help answer a question that has perplexed music scholars and psychologists for generations: are there musical "universals"? In other words, do the emotions conveyed by music depend on what we've learned through our culture, or can anyone perceive the emotion intended by a composer of a given musical work? Does "good" or pleasant music have cultural boundaries?"

Click through to read the entire article, if only to listen to the audio clips of Mafa music, which to me felt like a spring-time riot of buds and shoots bursting out of the ground. A little more web research revealed that the Mafa only use music as a celebratory medium, primarily around planting and harvesting. Curious about Mafa art, I was able to find the above example of an extraordinary hand built earthenware vessel, with human teeth.

The Grange Prize: Cast Your Vote!

2009-04-07T12:36:00.006-04:00

The art world could hardly be described as a democracy, being filled as it is with experts and academics ready to pass judgment on what does or does not qualify as "fine". Here is a rare opportunity to have your say, and make your opinion count.

Now in its second year, the Grange Prize recognizes the work of Canadian and international contemporary photographers, awarding $50,000 CAD to a winner chosen through an online public vote from among two Canadian and two international artists. The Art Gallery of Ontario works each year with a different partner museum in a country other than Canada. The partner museum for 2009 is Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City.

The four photographers in the running this year are:

Jin-me Yoon: "Her photographic and video-installation works pivot on explorations of identity and place that the artist links to her autobiographical experiences of moving to Canada from South Korea at the age of eight."

Lynne Cohen: "The extraordinary places photographed by Lynne Cohen are perplexing environments. Uncanny and devoid of human presence, these spaces are yet complete with tell-tale traces suggesting imaginative if, at first look, troubling narratives."

Marco Antonio Cruz: "Cruz understands documentary photography as the exercise of a point of view that is ethically and politically engaged, yet aspires to an aesthetic clarity."

Frederico Gama: Photographs of young immigrant labourers in Mexico City who "use fashion to break away from the stereotyped figure of a passive Indian sprung from an idyllic past."

Both the Canadians in this contest present work with a certain creepy flatness that I found extremely compelling intellectually. Disengagement, anomie and isolation are strong thematic elements in both Cohen's and Yoon's work. Many of Yoon's images are stills from video installations, which does not to my mind technically qualify as "photography", so she seems an odd choice in this short list. The two Mexican photographers could not be more different from the two Canadians. Gama's images would be at home in National Geographic, and are more editorial than artistic in nature. It was Cruz's black and white photographs of blind people which really grabbed me, for their technical skill, humanity and Arbus-like capture of moment and gesture.

What do you think?

Take a look at the Grange Prize website to read more about each photographer, to see many more images....and to cast your vote.

Sweaterbones: Peggy Mersereau

2009-04-03T20:13:00.016-04:00

Peggy Mersereau is an artist with a passion for beauty, skill and fibre. For Mersereau, the smallest possible footprint is a moral and aesthetic imperative. I recall our first meeting. She was concerned about the post-opening-party bottles which littered the back room of the gallery. Specifically, and politely, she was concerned that I might toss them in the garbage. She quietly gathered them up and took them home, for proper recycling.

Mersereau collects sweaters and shirts from thrift shops, friends, wherever. She seeks out garments which have not been made by children or exploited workers, and which are made of beautiful, pure, wools or silks. She has literally hundreds upon hundreds of these, stored and sorted by colour, pattern and fibre, in bins in her studio. These garments and carefully dissected, so that the large pieces, or "sweatermeats" are reclaimed. The sweatermeats are sliced and rolled to make beads, which themselves are re-constituted as sculptural pieces to be worn or displayed:

or recreated as non-functional vessels:

The remaining seams, cuffs, hems and plackets are the "sweaterbones": the structural exoskeletons of what was once a covering for the body.

In the gallery installation, these sweaterbones fly, lift and gather, like a flock of birds, bats or flying squirrels. A rocking chair invites a knitter. But how many more sweaters does the world really need?

The sweaterbones collect and fall into a heap in the corner.

These remnants become the sweaterballs: solid, through-to-the-core authentic. What Donald Judd is to steel, these little Mersereau sculptures are to fibre, only on a huggable, very human scale.

Silk shirts are cut into components for handmade lace collages:

"Sweaterbones": Peggy Mersereau
A.K. Collings Gallery
April 2 to 21. 2009

John and Yoko in Montreal: 40 Years Later

2009-04-02T09:55:00.010-04:00

Opening today at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts:

"In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s famous Bed-in, held in Suite 1742 of Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel, made headlines around the world. Forty years later, from April 2 to June 21, 2009, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts celebrates this legendary event with Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko, organized in collaboration with Yoko Ono. Rekindling the philosophy behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s commitment for today’s world, this comprehensive exhibition will provide a picture of the historical and political context in 1969 that formed the backdrop to the Bed-in. To enable the widest possible audience to understand, be moved by and perpetuate this still-topical peace message, admission to the exhibition will be free at all times."

Yoko Ono is 76 years of age. She continues to be controversial and attracts scorn and admiration in equal measure. As a performing artist and musician, her practice has not always been easy to understand, and so it has been easy to mock. This continues to the present day: one of our national papers published an exceptionally mean-spirited and shallow article attacking Yoko Ono personally and attacking the original Bed-in and the Bed-in redux currently at the Beaux-Arts in Montreal. There was also a shameful mock-obituary in a N.Y. art blog on April Fool's Day. My sense of humour can be pretty dark, but the obit was not even remotely funny. I won't dignify either of these journalistic efforts by providing a link. If you are interested enough, I am sure you can do some digging and find them for yourself.

Do we judge artists by their lives as lived or by the art that they produce? When both the life lived and the art produced is hard to categorize, and defies expected norms, the artist and the art work are open for attack. The unfamiliar makes people feel uncomfortable, or worse, worried that they are being taken advantage of in some way. Nobody wants to be made to feel stupid, or to feel they are being conned, and a hostile reaction is often the result..

What it is that has made Yoko Ono such a lightning rod ? Beyond her art, and the "she-broke-up-the-Beatles" complaint, I would argue that the more hateful of the personal attacks have been energized by elements of racism and gender bias. Among other things, she was vilified as a bad mother because she "abandoned" her daughter Kyoko. The wrenchingly sad truth is that the child was abducted by ex-husband Tony Cox, who changed the child's name, and hid her away in a far-right apocalyptic Christian cult based in California known as "The Walk". When Yoko Ono's husband John Lennon chose to allow himself the pleasures of a home life and hands-on parenting, this was taken as further proof of her inadequacies as a real woman and her status as a controlling bitch. Years later, her husband was murdered before her eyes. I am sure there are those who blame her for that, too.

It is hard to imagine a life which has at once contained such privilege, and such personal tragedy. Through it all, Yoko Ono has continued make art. Whether you like it, or understand it, is not really the point. The point is that there has been a continued drive and passion to create, and to communicate. That's what makes an artist.

The original Bed-in was a piece of performance art. It was intended to be thought provoking and ambiguous. The interpretation of the piece was left to the discretion of the individual. There were no dissertations or explanatory speeches or catalogues to indoctrinate the audience. When pressed, Lennon and Ono gave statements which in isolation sounded obscure or inane. Yoko Ono in particular has never been a very gifted verbal communicator. That is not her metier, and so I do not judge her art by the words she uses. Recalling the advice of Peter Schjeldahl, let us start with the assumption that the artist is sincere, and has something interesting to say. Look, listen, and allow the experience to percolate. After that, if you feel that you are being scammed, or conned, then walk away. Maybe it is just not your cup of tea.

Cybele Young: You won't find it here

2009-03-31T09:57:00.007-04:00

Cybele Young has now posted one of her stop action videos on YouTube. She tells me more are to come in the near future.

Previous related post here.

Big Blue Brain

2009-03-29T15:17:00.009-04:00

Chris Christoffels and José Roland's giant inflated polyester brain, installed atop the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, for the exhibition "InstruMENTAL"

"A giant human brain will hover above the museum’s roof-top terrace with its panoramic view of the city. Like a symbol of thought, the installation will be visible from near and far, and will reinforce the listed building’s physical presence. At night, it will resemble a large luminescent blue cloud."

Click here for an interactive web page mapping the various brain regions involved in the perception of rhythm, melody, pitch and timbre. Slightly oversimplified science, but the supremely goofy soundtrack makes up for it.

Nobuo Kubota Accepts Governor General's Award

2009-03-26T10:11:00.009-04:00

Please note: the following video is NOT Nobuo Kubota's GG acceptance speech (but wouldn't that have been fun!).

The above is a clip from Kubota's sound poetry performance at Proposta 2001 in Barcelona.

Kubota was born in 1932 in Vancouver, and came to Toronto as a young man to study architecture at U of T. He practiced architecture for 10 years before turning his attention to sculpture in the early 70s. Most of his sculptural works have been installations which focus implicitly or explicitly on sound and language.

Kubota played saxophone as a member of the Artists Jazz Band, but ultimately had to abandon the instrument when he developed a painful auditory sensitivity. He later joined the CCMC (Canadian Creative Music Collective, formed in 1975 by Michael Snow and featuring a revolving group of artist/musicians over the years). As a performer, Kubota uses a range of extended vocal techniques which explore the boundaries of the human voice. Influenced by Kabuki and Noh theatrical traditions, his facial expressions are deliberate, exaggerated, and made all the more humourous by the maintenence of a neutral, deadpan deportment in the interstitial silences of his performance.

Kubota describes himself as an practitioner of Intermedia: the movement of an idea from one form (e.g., sound) and continuing into another form (e.g., sculpture).
Here is a clip of work created in collaboration with fellow Intermedia artist and poet Mark Sutherland. The oval voiceprint of Kubota's vocals is a real-time spectrogram: no manipulation or animation is involved. (see the post re: June Callwood Park for a fascinating use of the voiceprint in landscape architecture).

2009 Governor General's Award Winners (Visual and Media Arts)

2009-03-24T16:51:00.016-04:00

The winners of the 2009 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts have been announced. The laureates are, from left, Tony Urquhart, Raymond Moriyama, Robert Morin, Kevin Lockau, Gordon Smith, Nobuo Kubota, Rita McKeough, Kim Ondaatje and John Greer. (Photograph: Martin Lipman)

The awards have recognize the following contributions to artistic life in Canada:

  • Kim Ondaatje and Tony Urquhart, recognized jointly with an Outstanding Contribution award for their work on behalf of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens).  

• Toronto architect Raymond Moriyama, designer of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Toronto’s Bata Shoe Museum and Science North in Sudbury, Ont.   

• Video artist Robert Morin of Montreal  

• Glass artist Kevin Lockau of Bancroft, Ont., who wins the Saidye Bronfman Award for fine crafts  

• Ninety-year-old Vancouver painter Gordon Smith  

• Zen-inspired Toronto sculptor and musician Nobuo Kubota 

• Calgary-based installation and performance artist Rita McKeough

• Nova Scotia sculptor John Greer 

As a gallerist , I am very very proud to have shown the work of Tony Urquhart as well as Kevin Lockau.

Urquhart is absolutely one of my favourite Canadian painters. His self sufficient and wise attitude toward the artistic process is both grounding and inspiring: he is fond of saying that the great thing about never having been in fashion is that you never go out of fashion. (As I've noted previously, however, I believe really good painting will be very much in fashion again soon, as we generally tire of excess, vanity and greed as guiding principles in both the art world and the financial world.) Urquhart's career has spanned more than 50 years and he has received many awards and honours for his painting and sculpture. However, his GG, which he shares with Kim Ondaatje, is an Outstanding Contribution award for their work on behalf of CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation / Le Front des artistes canadiens).

It is the award to Kevin Lockau which I believe will generate the most gossip within the art community... or certainly within the craft community. The GG for craft (aka the Saidye Bronfman Award) typically has gone to an artist for whom technical prowess is as important, and sometimes more important, than concept. Lockau is certainly capable of virtuosity when it comes to technical matters; however it simply is not what drives him. He played an important role in developing the glass studio at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, where he taught for 20 years. Over his career, he invented three hot glass casting techniques, producing an unique material which he incorporates in his sculpture with carved granite and welded or cast metal elements. His work is raw and urgent, combining animal, natural and human forms. Lockau has largely eschewed the gallery "system", and has never been persuaded that saleability is a suitable motive for artistic creation. He chooses to live and work in relative isolation, on a plot of land outside Bancroft, Ontario. This rugged region, where rural farmland gives way to wilderness, has been his muse. The making of glass leaves an unfortunately large carbon footprint, and this is a conundrum for Lockau. He has been driven to reconcile his love of glass-as-matter with the fact that the process of creating this material is far from ecologically sound. This conflict is embodied in the raw and energized nature of his sculpture.

Lockau was nomnated for the GG by Lafreniere and Pai, his Ottawa gallery. Hats off to them: I am one of this gallery's many admirers. They support a roster of artists who consistently challenge and push traditional boundaries in the "art v craft" debate.

I Believe in Kindness: June Callwood Park

2009-03-21T12:43:00.020-04:00

(Readers outside Canada may not know the work of activist and journalist June Callwood. Please click here to read about this gracious, generous and inspiring woman.)

A new park in Toronto to honour the memory of June Callwood is scheduled for completion in 2011. Before she died in 2007, Callwood knew that such a memorial was in the works, and she requested that the park be made with young children in mind. She loved babies: "I think that they're so perfect… They're just full of God, if God is your goodness and your decency and your capacity for affection." She believed in children: "Most people will do anything to help a child and that's the way the human race is meant to be. We're meant to be a tribe. And when it works, it just makes your heart leap." She was spiritual but not religious: "I am missing a formal religion, but I am not without a theology, and my theology is that kindness is a divinity in motion."

The international design competition for the park was awarded to the architecture and landscape design firm "gh3". The the result is a proposal so beautifully, brilliantly appropriate that it moved me to tears. Partners Pat Hansen and Diana Gerrard give credit to architecture student Joel Di Giacomo (remember that name!) for the idea which became the conceptual key to the design.

"The design starts with a simple desire: to physically embody June Callwood's voice in an intensified urban forest."

To achieve this, a digital voiceprint was made from a vocal sample taken from the last interview Ms. Callwood granted before her death. Responding to a question about her religious beliefs, Ms. Callwood said, "I believe in kindness."

This voiceprint provided the "map" for the park, which will be situated on a narrow and neglected greensward adjacent to old Fort York. The voiceprint itself will be physically rendered in granite strips, and the spaces between intensely planted with trees. The park is divided into 6 evocative zones, each engaging different aspects of a child's sense of play: imagination, contemplation, movement and exploration.

The elements include a Puddle Plaza , a bright pink rubber Puzzle Garden, a shiny, curvy stainless steel Maze, a Pink Field (also of rubber), Tree Strip Gardens, and Ephemeral Pools.

The Puzzle Plaza, perfect for climbing, jumping and balancing.

The Maze, and the granite strips which record the voiceprint.

The Pink Field.

Park benches will be translucent and contain LEDs with motion detectors, lighting up when someone sits down, and glowing at night.

The Ephemeral Pools will have a geo-thermal heating system to create a low-lying fairyland mist in winter, and providing an above-freezing micro-climate.

Absolute perfection.

(related post: Play is Child's Work)

Angry Artist #2: Julia Roberts doing Christian Bale doing Jorge Zontal

2009-03-19T08:24:00.014-04:00

Thirty years ago, the f-word was reserved for "special" situations. Now it is sprinkled around like salt on a tortilla chip. Too bad: it has lost much of its expressive value as a result of overuse. Did you see Julia Roberts getting all Christian Bale-ish on Letterman? Poised, demure and ladylike. What a waste of a good word.

Back in 1979 when "fuck" had more meaning, Felix Partz, Jorge Zontal and AA Bronson of General Idea made a video taking on the artist's relationship with mass media and the marketplace. In the process, they neatly skewer art critics, art prizes, and popular cliches of the artist as wild child. Then, Jorge Zontal delights with what is, and probably always will be, the finest artist rant ever to be recorded. Very, very funny, but also a serious and prescient commentary on the uneasy relationship between art and fame.

Angry Artist #1

2009-03-17T13:15:00.010-04:00

I usually find myself getting peevish and cranky around the Ides of March. It is not that I feel sorry for Julius Caesar. It has to do with Daylight Saving Time and the weather in southern Ontario. Daylight Saving Time: a brutal and senseless exercise in mass sleep deprivation resulting in traffic accidents, medical errors, spousal arguments, etc., etc. The weather in southern Ontario: looks like spring, but it's a trick. Do not put your boots away and do not get your bike out of storage. Trust me. Another blizzard is just around the corner. Not even the prospect of green beer at my local pub can make me feel better today. No. That makes me feel much, much worse. Add it to my mid-March list of annoyances.

Best to channel that aggression by posting the following:

A man presented to the emergency room of a Vancouver hospital complaining of headache six hours after having been punched in the eye during a fight. A CT scan revealed the presence of a 10.5 cm long paintbrush, which had entered the brain through the left eye (bristles first, I might add).

The case was reported in a 2005 issue of Acta Neurochirurgica by four surgeons at the University of British Columbia (Drs. Mandat, Honey, Peters and Sharma).

"The authors report a case of penetrating head injury that presented with a deceptively mild complaint. To our knowledge, it is the first report of a paintbrush penetrating the brain. The patient reported being punched in the left eye and presented with a minor headache, swelling around the left orbit, a small cut on the cheek and slightly reduced left eye abduction. After radiological evaluation, a penetrating head injury was diagnosed. Under general anesthesia, through a lateral eyelid incision a 10.5 cm long paintbrush, which had penetrated from the left orbit to the right thalamus, was removed. No post-operative infection was seen at six months follow-up. This brief report serves to highlight that penetrating brain injury can occur without neurological deficit and that a minimally invasive surgical approach was successful in avoiding any complications."

Do not annoy, belittle, pester, or otherwise piss off an artist, at least not while he/she is wielding a paintbrush.

That was cathartic. I feel better already.

(This case has also been blogged within the scientific/medical community here and here.)

Bookbinding, Letterpress and Engraving

2009-03-12T09:46:00.033-04:00

Anstey is a village in Leicestershire, England, where 19th century textile factories are now being converted to chic condos. It is also the birthplace of Ned Ludd, who lent his name to the Luddites; the radical, machine-wrecking protest movement of the Industrial Revolution.

To a select group of top designers and artists in Canada, the U.S. and abroad, Anstey is also known as the 127 year-old Toronto-based company that has found renewed success in preserving and adapting "obsolete" technologies such as hand bookbinding, letterpress printing and steel die engraving. Anstey was rescued from bankruptcy in the early 1990's under the stewardship of artist and designer Neil Stewart. He recognized that many of the artists and designers who had most fully embraced digital technologies were beginning to experience the sense that something was lacking in their work: the full-on engagement of the senses. Far from being a luddite, Stewart believes that digital and analogue technologies can be used to compliment one another. Anstey produces books, packaging, stationery and papergoods which are spectacularly beautiful. Two examples are below: a page from a project for Gagosian Gallery
and a book for AA Bronson.

Behind the scenes at Anstey is an environment which is as tactile and as visually rich as the end product itself.

A Kindle (or some other electronic book gadget) may be in my future, although I suspect that software designers will learn to "set type" legibly and beautifully around the same time as the moon turns blue. Even then, an e-book will never do what this does:

(Photography by Ron Baxter Smith.)

Previous related posts on renewed interest in: Painting, Old-School Photography

Ted Amsden: Untended Spaces

2009-03-09T11:19:00.010-04:00

Amsden is an "emerging artist" with two decades of professional experience. He lives and works in an idyllic village in southern Ontario. There, he has been staff photographer for the local newspaper for years, his usual subject matter being kid's hockey games, sweet couples celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, brainy scholarship winners, leaf-raking in the autumn... all that is personal, important and uniquely newsworthy in the life of a small town.

Interesting, then, that when Amsden goes on vacation, he trolls the urban brownfields and rustbelts of Canada and the U.S., finding and shooting abandoned industrial spaces with results that are beautiful, poignant and oddly redemptive. Over the years, he has built a strong body of work, privately sharing it with friends and fellow photographers, only occasionally and without fanfare exhibiting it in local photography festivals.

Given the undeniable timeliness of his images, it seems fitting that the work is now reaching a wider audience.

"I like to go where I'm not invited.. looking for beauty in all the wrong places.. got bush wacked by Poison Ivy.. lost in corridors fit for fright night movies.. loving/disgusted by the mess of it all... the disease of unkempt surfaces.. the nasty trails of vandals.. surfaces everywhere mutating, melting, rusting, chemically on the go with those nearby.. the creep of Nature coming first to touch, then twine, finally cover.. I tiptoed, crunched, stumbled, climbed over living breathing museums that off gas, mutate, expand and shrink according to the rules of entropy."

"...and as always... the beautifully invasive, quietly swarming hands of Nature reaching into shadowy untended spaces, a constant reminder of who really owns this planet."

Ted Amsden: Untended Spaces
March 12 to 31, 2009
A.K. Collings Gallery

Huh? Wow!

2009-03-06T08:50:00.007-05:00

This week's final post on the twin topics of collecting and taste.

Peter Schjeldahl is an art critic and educator whose writing is grounded in scholarship, yet is accessible and a sheer delight to read.

A couple of weeks ago, New Yorker magazine online published a series of questions about art posed by members of the general public, with Schjeldahl's answers. Here is one of my favourite exchanges:

Q: Modern and postmodern art is often a subject of ridicule. How can the amateur make inroads into the somewhat opaque traditions of twentieth-century art?
Logan Longbourne
Auckland, New Zealand

A: Start anywhere. Look. Wonder why any given art is the way it is and not some other way. The artist made certain choices, producing certain effects. Walk back the cat, as they say in espionage. Perhaps read art historians and critics for clues—but not solutions. Your own pleasure must be your goal and guide. A great deal of art, of any period, is ridiculous. But you won’t be a fair judge unless you consent to regard each work as sincere and intelligent until proven otherwise. (Developing taste speeds up the process, but it’s still a process.) If you hate a work on first sight, fine. That’s an authentic response. But stick around. Keep looking. You will have further responses. You might end up hating the work even more, but with an enriched understanding of both it and yourself. Very often, our judgment evolves the other way: what we think we like, at first, disappoints upon contemplation. The artist Edward Ruscha promulgated a handy rule in this regard: “Bad art is ‘Wow! Huh?’ Good art is ‘Huh? Wow!'

(photo credit: Alex Remnick, courtesy Thames and Hudson, via)

Next week, the topic will be "Obsolescence". (click to see a previous, related posting)

Overheard in the Gallery

2009-03-05T08:17:00.008-05:00

"I may not know much about art, but I know what I like."

If I had a loonie for every time I've heard this, I'd be able to buy....maybe not a Peter Doig, but I am sure you catch my drift.

I think what many people mean when they say "I know what I like" is "I like what I know". The real rewards come from exploring the edges of what you know, and then stepping beyond those edges. Contrary to the conventional image of the "unapproachable gallerist", most are very happy to talk about their passion to anyone who expresses even the slightest interest. So, when you visit a gallery, ask questions: you'll have more fun!

E.H. Gombrich ("The Story of Art") approached the question of taste in a characteristically gracious manner:

"The old proverb that you cannot argue about matters of taste may well be true, but that should not conceal the fact that taste can be developed. This is a matter of common experience which everybody can test in a modest field. To people who are not used to drinking tea one blend may taste exactly like the other. But if they have the leisure, will and opportunity to search out such refinements as there may be, they may develop into true 'connoisseurs' who can distinguish exactly what type and mixture they prefer, and their greater knowledge is bound to add to their enjoyment of the choicest blend."

(If Gombrich had used 'scotch' as his example rather than 'tea', then I'd have succeeded in mentioning 'scotch' twice in this blog in less than a month. There now, I've done it!).

By the way, a loonie is currently worth about three quarters of a U.S. dollar, and a little more than half a Euro.

Gertrude Stein, Collector

2009-03-04T08:15:00.004-05:00

Gertrude Stein lived a fabulous life, choosing to direct all her financial resources to the purchase of art, and to the sustenance and support of an extraordinary circle of friends. Art, literature, companionship and really good food were her priorities, through thick and thin.

Asked by one visitor how she had managed to build her famous art collection, she replied, "My dear, look at how I am dressed!".

Herb and Dorothy Vogel

2009-03-03T11:11:00.017-05:00

Megumi Sasaki's award winning documentary, "Herb and Dorothy" was a hit this weekend at the Reel Artists Film Festival in Toronto. Click on her name to see a trailer of the documentary.

A photo of the Vogels has been the inspirational screen-saver on my laptop for some time now. Theirs is a story of obsession and commitment, and proof that "you don't have to be a Rockefeller to collect art". He was a postal clerk. She was a librarian. With their modest means, the couple managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history.

The Indianapolis Museum Of Art has been one of 50 institutions to receive works from the Vogel's collection:

Sasaki's comments on the making of her documentary:

"From the beginning, my intention was to make something other than a so-called "art film." I wanted to capture how these two ordinary people accomplished the extraordinary in the field of art collecting. The film is about the power of passion and love, and a celebration of life.

The story of Herb and Dorothy Vogel is unique not only because of their avant garde vision and discernment as collectors, but also their love and dedication. It is through their loving partnership that the viewer truly experiences this remarkable story.

The Vogels' message is also about access. Art is not limited to the elite few. You don't have to be wealthy or an art school graduate to enjoy art. If you are interested in collecting art, you don't have to follow trends or others' advice, just listen to your own voice. Trust your eyes and instinct. Simply take the time to look, look and look.

In today's world, where art is treated as another commodity and a work's investment value takes precedence over its artistic value, Herb and Dorothy offers us an important question: What is it to appreciate and collect art?

My fortunate encounter with these beautiful people has changed my view of, and appreciation for, art and life."

Dearly Departed

2009-03-01T17:04:00.015-05:00

David Mirvish Books has passed over to the other side. The end is now official, and so I give you three final offerings on book related art.

1): Barbara Balfour at Art Metropole

Luminous photographs of themed bookshelves.
Also, for a mere $15, an accordion-fold booklet that documents the 7 prints which constitute the installation. (refer back to on the benefits and virtues of collecting artist books). The booklet does not record the bookshelf titles, but the staff at Art Metropole will cheerfully print them out for you. Do ask: the titles are an explanatory essential to getting the full gist of Balfour's work.

Barbara Balfour: "Ex Libris, 2008"
Yellow Shelf
Writing Shelf
Characters
Doubles
Place and Time (Proust)
Everything
Death Shelf

2): Novel Ideas : Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square
(opening later this week) 7 March 2009 - 31 May 2009.
Featuring works by Adam David Brown, Ian Carr-Harris, Brian Dettmer, Paul de Guzman, Alexandre Itin, Nicholas Jones, Georgia Russell, and Robert The.
This group exhibition--including key works from Oakville Galleries' permanent collection--celebrates a fascination with the bound page and its inclination towards artistic re-interpretation.
Some examples of Adam David Brown's altered books:

3) Book of the Dead of Amen-em-hat
Royal Ontario Museum: Feb 28 to March 10, 2009
The ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead has been conserved and will be displayed in its full beauty for the first time in over 2,300 years. It contains a collection of hymns, spells and instructions for the after-life.
Perhaps it also contains some advice for independent bookstores.

Two From Winnipeg

2009-02-27T09:36:00.014-05:00

I was born in a small city which occupies the longitudinal centre of North America, aka Winnipeg. My family did not stay there for long, so I cannot (unfortunately) claim much connection. It as a place of extremes: it is either really, really cold or really, really hot. There are two seasons: Snow and Mosquito. It is not a place that suffers wimps gladly. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. And so, it has become Canada's most unlikely and fresh cultural incubator.

Continuing my homage to Toronto's David Mirvish Books, here are two bookish offerings from Winnipeg:

1): "The Winnipeg Alphabestiary"

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, Border Crossings magazine commissioned twenty-six wacky, wild, and wonderful works from some of Winnipeg’s most accomplished artists. The "Winnipeg Alphabestiary" includes full colour illustrations of the twenty-six original works, a foreword by noted American artist and Weimaranerist William Wegman, and contributions by Meeka Walsh and Robert Enright. From Wanda Koop’s A for Ape to Shaun Morin’s Z for Zebra, the animals that dwell in the pages of the alphabestiary challenge, conjure and inspire.
Viva la W!

The artists, from A - Z:
Wanda Koop, Aganetha Dyck, Shawna McLeod, Erica Eyres, Doug Melnyk, Kim Ouellette,
Janet Werner, Tim Schouten, Simon Hughes, Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Andrew Valko, Drue Langlois, Daniel Dueck, Jon Pylypchuk, Eleanor Bond, Dominique Rey, Diana Thorneycroft, Neil Farber, Adrian Williams, Sarah Anne Johnson, Alison Norlen, Bonnie Marin, Cliff Eyland, Melanie Rocan, Shaun Morin.

2): Cliff Eyland

"Bookshelf File Cards"
Feb 21 - Mar 21, 2009
Leo Kamen Gallery

Cliff Eyland grew up and was educated in Halifax. He is a practising artist, curator, writer, and Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba School of Art in Winnipeg. Since attending Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the early 80's, he has made paintings and drawings exclusively in a 3"x5" index card format. Eyland believes that the library is the most important of all art institutions. Libraries should be the key to what is shown in art galleries, he insists, whereas the galleries should illustrate what is in a library.

His systematic devotion to the file card format began with a Fluxus-inspired student project, when he cut a copy of H.H. Arnason’s "History of Modern Art" into 3 by 5 inch rectangles and surreptitiously inserted them at random in the NSCAD library's file card system. He has since done many other library installations and interventions, including an invited project spanning a number of years at the Fogelman Social Science and Humanities Library at New School University in New York, in which he placed file card-sized drawings in books throughout the library.

In "Bookshelf File Cards", Eyland reengages his lifelong obsession with books and art by creating abstract images of books on shelves. These works begin life as digital illustrations on paper, which are then mounted on blocks the thickness of a package of file cards. Some of the images remain as digital illustrations, some are painted over in whole or in part. These little gems want to be displayed in groups of 3, 6, 9 or more, making a miniature library. Eyland is a master of colour theory and human colour perception: the highly saturated combinations tickled my visual cortex in a delightful way. I wondered what might happen if the work was on a larger scale. My curiosity was satisfied, as he reproduced a number of pieces in the show as posters. However, the larger format simply does not work, proving that 3"x5" is just right.

Roula Partheniou

2009-02-26T09:40:00.009-05:00

Ceci n'est pas une livre.
Roula Partheniou delights in books as objects, and loves the look of print. In 2005, she began her series of "Handmade Readymades", stretched canvases of the same dimensions as books, painted to replicate particular books.

These individual paintings of books evolved to loose sculptural stacks of paintings, wherein the books relate according to particular themes:
Partheniou's work was also featured in the series of three one-night exhibitions entitled "On Painting: History, Surprise, Restraint" curated by Richard Rhodes at last fall's Toronto International Art Fair. Partheniou's library-like installation held the "Surprise" spot in the series.

The work is indeed surprising, and witty, and attractive, and very collectible. But, like all good art, it can be read on several different levels. Initially the work appeals as a cheeky nod to the importance of language and punning humour in contemporary conceptual painting.

However, Partheniou has begun screwing her canvasses together, in order to create permanent sculptural piles. Now, not only are these books you cannot read, they are paintings you are are not allowed to see. She explains that the act of screwing the canvasses together has a queasy sense of finality for her, in that the paintings have now been defaced and further, will never be fully available to the viewer.
There is something about this rescinding act that reminds me of the twin myths of Pandora and Lilith. In Greek and Judeo-Christian mythology respectively, Pandora and Lilith were each first-created human women who were reviled and punished for their intellectual curiosity and strength . In the common versions of the myths, they were disobedient, and as a result, unleashed evil in the world. In other versions, what they did was to change human nature by acquiring and sharing the power of language. Partheniou's permanently unreadable sculptural stacks reminds me that language and literacy changes everything. Once emancipated by literacy and a free press, the only means of imposing absolute control upon social groups is through brutality or complacency... and in the latter case, we all get just what we deserve.

A small collaborative installation by Partheniou and Micah Lexier "Works, Works 1, Twice" can currently be seen at "Queen Specific", a vitrine gallery next door to (and sponsored by) Dufflet Pastries at 787 Queen St. West, Toronto.

Tom Phillips: A Humument

2009-02-24T11:20:00.008-05:00

Thr grand-daddy of altered books would have to be British artist Tom Phillips' A Humument . In the mid-1960s, Phillips took a forgotten nineteenth-century novel, W.H. Mallock's A Human Document, and began working over the extant text to create something new.

" I plundered, mined and undermined its text to make it yield the ghosts of other possible stories, scenes, poems, erotic incidents and surrealist catastrophes which seemed to lurk within its wall of words. As I worked on it, I replaced the text I'd stripped away with visual images of all kinds. "

The revealed text on the page reproduced above reads as follows:

a door opened
on a glitter of fanciful
passages and rooms.
on the net (the net)
his mean
mosaic and
suite of
night
routine

Over the past four decades, Phillips has continued to revise and re-work A Humument. A version of it can be had as a paperback book, and as a small hardcover miniature.

Phillips also maintains a blog, in which he writes about his creative process. Here is a passage that is fascinating from a neuropsychological perspective:

"At art school we worked in silence. When eventually I graduated to independent studio life it occurred to me that listening to music would enhance the day: my LPs of Beethoven and Bartok string quartets could be just the thing. I was wrong. If I listened I stopped painting and if I painted I failed to listen, hearing just the first few familiar bars but only becoming aware of the piece again as the final cadence gave way to the hiss of needle on vinyl.

But priorities are priorities and I was always able to pay attention to the Test Match commentaries. Far from hindering concentration the spoken word seemed to take up the slack of a brain that would otherwise have inwardly burbled on about money and quotidien anxieties. When rain stopped play it was a double blow, although, as in winter, there was always BBC drama to look forward to after lunch. "

I cannot resist adding this tidbit: In the 60's Phillips taught at the Bath Academy of Art, where one of his students was Brian Eno.

Artist Books from Art Metropole

2009-02-23T07:17:00.009-05:00

This week, all posts will be bookish, to honour the final days of David Mirvish Books.

Collecting artist books is an interest of mine, and since these books are often fabulously inexpensive, it always surprises me to find that some of my favourite editions are not sold out.

I have three books to suggest, and you can own them all for less than the price of a very cheap dinner out. Eat at home, and buy some art!

All are available at Art Metropole, itself a landmark institution in Toronto. They celebrate their 35th anniversary this year. Visit in person, or online.

Book #1:

Stephen Andrews, Three Hundred Sixty Five Pictures, 1998
$40.00
"A beautiful and thoughtful collection of the artist's works frm 1994 to 1998. 17 b/w tipped-in images plus one unique Fingerprint portrait included with every copy. These drawings reflect on the resilience of the human spirit undaunted by the challenges of time, love and loss. Includes "Sonnets", "Album", "Fingerprints", "Personals" and "Crosswords" pieces. Essay by Cheryl Sourkes."
(Update: No longer available at Art Metropole)

Book #2:
Barbara Balfour, M, 1998
$10.00
"Artist's book bringing together the psychological and somatic states of skin cancer and melancholy, linked etymologically to the word melanin. Includes autobiographical texts written by the artist. English and French texts with b/w images printed on sandpaper and mushroom speckled paper."

Book #3:
Katie Bond Pretti, Sonority of Words, 2007
$15.00
"Three chapters designed to develop a narrative as the drawings progress from beginning to end. Though not containing any literal message, the lines and shapes which form each drawing direct the viewer through a sequence of events. Similar to way in which the letter-symbol elements of sound poetry necessitate that the viewer forms their own associations, this story depends upon handmade marks to express dynamics and intonation. The format of the book echoes the linear theme featuring fold-outs to accommodate larger and continuous images, while its scale maintains intimacy."

David Mirvish Books

2009-02-22T08:59:00.010-05:00

Seven days and counting. On February 28, David Mirvish Books will close its doors forever. For 38 years this Toronto bookstore has been the place for books on art, design, architecture and related fields. As independent bookstores often are, it has also been a community hub, a place for surprise encounters with art, books, ideas and people that made you think.

To honour that history, for the next week, posts to this blog will be bookish.

A wonderful Frank Stella has graced David Mirvish Books for years. I hope we will be lucky enough to see it on public display elsewhere in the future.

To visit the David Mirvish Books website, click here.

Dave Dyment's Long Term Memory

2009-02-20T00:50:00.016-05:00

Earlier last year, Fluxus-inspired Toronto artist/writer/curator Dave Dyment was selected for the prestigious artist in residence project at the Glennfidich Distilleries in Scotland.

The result of his three month residency is "A Drink To Us (When We're Both Dead)"

A reinforced barrel, filled with uncut spirit was buried in Warehouse 8 at the Glenfiddich Distilleries. It will be excavated in 2108. This whisky is being pre-sold now, though it will not be available to drink for 100 years. Buyers will receive an empty sapele wood casket for the future bottle, a map of the warehouse, a small diary in which to document the experience, and a contract to pass on to their descendants.

Dyment says the work is about trust, history, patience, investment and mortality. I am charmed by the sense of generosity, hope for the future, and utter lack of cynicism in this work. Absolutely refreshing!

"A Drink To Us (When We're Both Dead)" is available in an edition of 25. I understand that the edition is not yet sold out. For more information, go to Dyment's website.

Play is Child's Work

2009-02-18T08:54:00.003-05:00

Related to yesterday's discussion of the serious play underlying Cybele Young's art, I've posted this video clip, because it vividly illustrates how important it is to a child's development to have freedom to explore and play on his own terms. I know the creators of the clip intended it as a bit of humour, but when I watch it, I feel as if I can literally hear this infant's neurons clicking, grinding, firing and connecting as he gets busy with his work. As it turns out, the infant in this video is the son of a young Quebec photographer, Francis Vachon.

via

Cybele Young at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington

2009-02-17T06:04:00.003-05:00

The Visual Arts Centre of Clarington is another public gallery that we love, and that loves us back. Located in Bowmanville, about 40 minutes east of Toronto, it is situated riverside, in the 100 year old Cream of Barley Mill. Do not underestimate this gallery based on its suburban location and small size: director Richard Toms and curator Maralynn Cherry manage to deliver very sophisticated programming while still fulfilling their community mandate.

It is well worth the drive from the city to see Cybele Young's exhibition, which opened Sunday and runs for the next four weeks.

Young is a Toronto artist who exhibits and is collected nationally and internationally. Her miniature and poetic sculptural works are made of Japanese papers with copperplate etchings. She depicts quotidian objects in odd juxtaposition: Chestnut husks on a milk carton, a shopping cart rising skyward courtesy of a hot air balloon, a view camera pointing at a circa 1975 office chair on wheels.

These are familiar tactics to the mnemonist who is able to remember long lists of unrelated items by making visual images that link them together a very personal and idiosyncratic fashion. The artist is building and rebuilding an internal lexicon. We viewers are invited to read along with her and make our own connections. The work comes from that place where where episodic memory meets semantic memory.

Young hints at this process in her artist statement/poem:

"I knew a lot when I was sixteen,
quite a bit at twenty two
some at thirty
but now, honestly, I know very little.

I know the smell of the yogurt container in which I housed
my grade four caterpillar collection.
I know the cat-like shape of shimmering metal near the train
tracks down the street.

Memories and impression inspire me and I know that if I
Don't harness them, and others that jump out at me from the
neighbour's garbage or the bottom of a soup pot, I lose them
and all the knowledge they might hold for me.

So I make art as a way of building a personal dictionary.
I have faith that by creating new words from abstract and
familiar forms, they will compose their own sentences, and
make up new stories."

The wall installations and the groupings of multiple sculptures in large shadowbox frames are impressive. However, I find the smaller works containing two or three elements to be the most engaging. They are haiku poems, dense with interpretive possibilities. These pieces resonate deeply, and while they are lovely and tiny, they are neither twee nor precious. The artist's sincerity and astonishing skill allows the work to be simultaneously playful and serious. Anyone who has spent sufficient time with small children knows that play is in fact serious work. As an artist, Young seems able to tap that unfettered creativity that most of us sadly have lost somewhere around the age of ten.

Young has also extended her practise to the production of stop-action animation. The videos are mindlessly mesmerizing. That is not an insult: it was a tonic to move away from the consciously analytic and sink into the process and the gesture of her work. She tells me that she may put one or two of her films on youtube. If she does, I'll download and post them here in the future.

We Love Museums...Do Museums Love Us Back?

2009-02-16T09:38:00.005-05:00

Pinky, you are very funny! Please come visit us in Toronto. We love the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Art Gallery of Ontario loves us back. The new curatorial approach is fresh and engaging, and Frank Gehry's architecture makes our spirits soar.

Belgian Chocolate

2009-02-14T06:45:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!
Yesterday, roses. Today, Belgian chocolates, with Wim Delvoye looking as dapper as an ad agency creative director. No more on this, I promise.

Roses for Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T07:27:00.006-05:00

Kelvin Britton: "Roses 8", oil on canvas, 48 x 60".

Kelvin Britton was born at the Covered Wagon Trailer Park in Fort Garry, Manitoba. He was educated at the University of Victoria and Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where he studied painting under Gerald Ferguson. He collects, repairs and rides vintage motorcycles. He paints roses.

"I choose to paint roses because of the universal recognition of beauty inherent in them as subject/object. The roses are an entry point into what is an essentially abstract painting. The paint handling is a visceral experience and can take a very long time to evolve, sometimes years. I paint one or two roses on a painting, and then move on to the next one, rotating the paintings themselves.

The act of painting takes the form of a conversation, a unique experience, a journey. A new dialogue is engaged in with each new approach to the work, new layers of discovery are revealed, realms of consciousness, otherwise inaccessible become apparent.

The different stages/aspects/ layers of the painting represent a record of a dreamlike encounter. Looking at the evolution of the paintings feels like an archaeological expedition through time and space, through interior and exterior realms, through form and feeling.

I have a need to engage in the process where the canvases evolve through various stages, some overtly messy, even ugly. I add the many layers until the beauty is revealed. It is not a complex process to recognize a rose, or to assume its beauty. The complexity lies in the process of discovery, journeying beyond the obvious to reveal what may lie hidden, the surprises that are revealed in the interaction between painter and subject /object. "

...but is it art?

2009-02-12T08:30:00.013-05:00

More on Belgian artist Wim Delvoye.

(The highlighted article "An Inedible Meal on Ottawa's Tab" clipped from the National Post will give you the background on the current installation at la Galerie de l'UQAM in Montreal. There has been a fair amount in print and on the web about this exhibition over the past month, most of which has been sensational and misses the point. If you are not familiar with the work, take a look at the National Post article first.)

Cloaca No. 5 is Wim Delvoye's latest in a series of machines which duplicate the digestive system. This new iteration of Cloaca is more elegant, and anthropomorphic, than the earlier versions. It is beautifully crafted and imposing, displayed solo in the serene and windowless lower space of the gallery. Delvoye has also refined the science, in as much as the machine's "artistic output" was solid and well-formed, and hardly stank at all. When I was there, a group of children was attending as well. We had fun watching the art student top up the glass vats containing digestive juices, and we all giggled at the "potty humour". The cafeteria scraps which were fed to the machine had been modeled into sculptures by Montreal artists. So, the machine was fed art, but the "value" was in the turds.

In our society, we consume a lot, and we place high monetary and social value on things that aren't really worth very much... Delvoye's message is quite transparent and not at all deep or complex. Very easy to grasp, and from what I saw and heard, the kids pretty much "got it". Just in case it was not clear enough, Delvoye hedged his bets by appropriating familiar corporate logos and fonts: Coca Cola's for Cloaca, Walt Disney's for Wim Delvoye and so on.

It was an enjoyable gallery-going experience, and it was gratifying to see children engaged, having fun and thinking through some "big issues" all at the same time.

Kurt Schwitters said, "I am an artist. If I spit, it is art". Change the letter "p", and you have Wim Delvoye. However, in my opinion this work falls more comfortably in the area of design/marketing/semiotics. No doubt, Delvoye is brilliant at marketing.

The exhibition closes on Valentine's Day. It would be a great outing for you and your honey, if this year your gift is a Hershey Bar instead of Godiva. Worthwhile family outing, too. I do not really think this is "Capital A" Art, but I also do not think it is nonsense, or insulting to taxpayers. Cloaca No. 5 is an interesting, beautifully engineered object and the gallery-going experience was fun. It provoked conversation, got kids engaged and thinking, and may even have saved a few relationships. Art or not, I think this small, publicly funded, university gallery delivered good value with this exhibition.

Wim Delvoye on painting: the artist, conflicted

2009-02-11T09:37:00.005-05:00

.... a passage from the Border Crossings interview with Wim Delvoye (issue 96, November 2005).

(If you are not familiar with Delvoye's controversial and provocative work, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to read about his more traditional "art creds" first. His installation at la Galerie de l'UQAM in Montreal will close on Valentine's Day. I'll post more about that tomorrow.)

"BC: You like to draw?
WD: It’s very strange but, unlike most artists I admire, I'm a product of an art school. I went to art school, I learned to paint, for example, and I know how to draw. I also know how to draw in an academic way. The drawings are getting important now. They weren't when I started. I had Neo-geo guilt when I was a young artist. It’s only been in the last five years that I have been able to show my drawings without any embarrassment. It's funny because I never had any embarrassment doing the concrete mixers and other things. But I had a lot of difficulty showing my drawings. I was hiding those skills. That was against the zeitgeist. If you were an ambitious German artist in 1986 or '87 and admitted you liked to draw, you would be regarded as one of these dumb painters who were getting dropped everywhere. So I certainly was not betting on painting. I have nothing against painting, I just didn't see much for myself in it. I just thought I had more important things to do as a young artist. Ambitious art in those days was not about drawing skills. But basically I'm a painter. I've always been one but I never dared to paint, maybe because I value it too much or something."

Last One Out, Please Turn On The Lights

2009-02-09T17:57:00.012-05:00

...a survey of London's remaining professional darkrooms.

Richard Nicholson's series of photographs and brief essay seems a very appropriate follow-up to the previous posts.

Darkrooms are disappearing. Polaroid film: going, going, gone. Yet, an increasing number of young photographers are interested in working with these analogue technologies. They are intrigued by the hands-on craft of darkroom work: the engagement of all five senses in the art making process. Something similar accounts for the recent resurgence of respect for painting at art schools in this country. Ditto, the massive interest in DIY and "upcycling" amongst young designers. The zeitgeist is evident at the cutting edge of other academic disciplines as well: ideas like "embodied cognition", and the flourishing of research into mirror neuron systems are two examples from cognitive science and neuroscience, respectively. These ideas have taken off in the context of a society-wide paradigm shift in the technologies we use, and in how we think about communication (Web 2.0, for instance). In a recursive fashion, the technology itself has given legitimacy to areas of exploration which previously were considered "infradig". It has become OK in art, and in science, to seriously explore affect, intuition, empathy, and to give the body it's due. Our embrace of digital technology has left more space around the edges for different sorts of creative thinkers, and that is a good thing.

I'll be returning to this theme over the course of future posts. But for now, let me leave you with this thought:

Obsolescence is a terribly over-rated concept.

Kertesz, by Maggs

2009-02-08T17:32:00.027-05:00

Above, a portrait of Andre Kertesz, by Arnaud Maggs. And below, one from Maggs' series on Joseph Beuys.

Maggs won the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2006. He is 83 years old, as productive and creative as ever, and well worth collecting.

Must-See Exhibition

2009-02-07T11:42:00.025-05:00

This child is lost in the quiet, personal, and tactile, act of reading. He's made a nest of his newspapers, and is absorbed in a way that can never quite be achieved with the digital "equivalent". This series photographs (by the incomparable Andre Kertesz) was made between 1915 and 1970. The photographs were also published as a book ("On Reading") which has recently been re-printed.

Andre Kertesz: "On Reading"
Stephen Bulger Gallery
Feb 7 to March 7, 2009