Community Critique

Artists To Look V

2009-12-05T18:40:00.006-05:00

One artist this month is an old friend of ours.

Jimmy Baptiste
I've probably mentioned him by stopping by to his last solo exhibit 08-08-08, in which I took photos of the vernissage.

I could say he's more than being an artist; he also took on as art instructor, and ran his independent brand of logo design wear in which he kept going once in a while.

His use of graffiti art style in paintings and illustrations shows his own passion for the arts and the distinction of putting creativity as part of its social urban environment.

You should check out his newly-opened artist site, which he has many drawings and artworks that interested slick designs that made more of its uniqueness in graffiti art form.

jimmybaptiste.com

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PIED[CARRÉ]MTL - group exhibition

2009-12-03T21:12:00.010-05:00

I bumped into miss Kirsten McCrea at a café recently and mentioned of a couple of her art pieces in a great local gallery at the heart of the city: the Old Port.

The main purpose of this exhibition is a display of paintings and drawings no more than 12" x 12". Lots of artworks by more than a hundred local artists participating, including miss McCrea.

Each piece is $200.

Check it out; displayed until December 23rd (a perfect last-minute shopping day before Christmas Eve)!

PIED [CARRÉ] MTL (THE SQUAREFOOT SHOW)
December 3rd to 23rd, 2009

at ZoneOrange inc.
410 Saint Pierre, Vieux-Montreal
(between Le Moyne and Saint-Paul, metro Square-Victoria)

PRESS INFORMATION (galeriezoneorange.com)

McCrea's blog post on her group show...

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THE WEDDING - solo exhibition

2009-11-20T17:48:00.007-05:00

THE WEDDING
the second solo exhibition by Mona Sharma

Exhibition: November 20th to December 20th 2009
Opening: Friday, November 20th at 7pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, November 21st at 3pm

at LA CENTRALE
4296 blvd Saint-Laurent, Montréal
(between Marie-Anne and Rachel, metro Mont-Royal)

PRESS RELEASE

A special thanks to Laura MC for the infomation*

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RÉSISTANCE - contemporary dance show

2009-11-20T17:23:00.004-05:00

Check out this one-night only dance performance show this Saturday night!

RÉSISTANCE
from contemporary performance artists Marie-Claire Forté, Lara Kramer, Catherine Lafleur, Sasha Kleinplatz, and Shigeki Yamada
November 21st 2009 at 7pm & 9pm
$12 pre-sale, students, RQD
$15 regular admission

at Studio 303
372 rue Ste-Catherine ouest, Montréal
(between St-Alexandre and Bleury, metro Place-des-Arts)

More info on link:
http://www.studio303.ca/en/events/resistance/

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Open House: Artists' Studios in Grover Building

2009-11-20T17:09:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I was invited to the Grover Building for open house on the artists' studios on the 3rd floor. I was invited by artist Jenny Schades, who does these neo-expressionist paintings; I mentioned her on "Artists To Look" segments - an earlier post...

Yesterday was the first of the four-days open house, so don't miss out. If you're lost inside the building, just follow the red shoes... you'll know what I mean!

Open House
at Immeubles Grover SEC (or Grover Building)
2065 Rue Parthenais, Montreal
(5 minutes from metro Frontenac)

From November 19th to 22nd 2009 (Thursday to Sunday)
Every day: 2:00pm - 9:00pm

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CLEAN HANDS - duo exhibition

2009-10-29T22:06:00.003-04:00

CLEAN HANDS
photographs and paintings by Christie Vuong and Laura Findlay

Vernissage:
Tuesday, November 10th, 7pm - 9pm
at Galerie VAV Gallery
VA building of Concordia University
1395 René-Lévesque (corner Cresent)
metro Lucien L'Allier/Guy-Concordia
gallery site

The exhibition is displayed from November 9th to 20th.
Schedule: Monday - Friday, 9am - 9pm

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OUT OF OUR MINDS - Canadian film premiere at MMFA

2009-10-29T22:02:00.002-04:00

Canadian film premiere of OOOM (Out Of Our Minds)
by Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone,
USA, 2009, colour, 28 min.

Presented by both Auf der Maur and Stone,
following a screening and question period
Saturday, October 31st, 1:30pm
free admission (first come, first serve!)

Maxwell-Cummings Auditorium
Level S1
Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Part of Garden of Enchantment: John William Waterhouse exhibition
(October 2nd 2009 - February 7th 2010)

Cultural Activities - MMFA press (PDF)

OOOM - film site

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RÉVÉLÉES, À UN DÉTAIL PRÈS... - exhibition and vernissage photos

2009-10-29T21:43:00.008-04:00

Révélées, à un détail près...
An exposition by Sylvie Latulippe, Marie-Luce Maupetit, and Ashley Miller

October 26th - November 28th 2009
at Vieux-presbytère St.Mark
340, rue St-Charles Ouest, Longueuil, Quebec
(metro Longueuil/Université-de-Sherbrooke, bus route 8/28/88)

gallery schedule link

Stop by there also for the great atmosphere of St-Charles street in Vieux-Longueuil for those who wonders what's outside of the city!
- Willy the Bum

Photos of the vernissage (October 28th)...

photos by Willy the Bum

A house I want to live in until I die...

2009-10-25T22:23:00.005-04:00

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Not just any house. A TREE-house.

Now, you may think I'm being childish, but I guess I wanted to be a child my whole life.

I got the idea when I browsed around the books at a Renaud-Bray bookstore moments ago, when I noticed a book on treehouses of the world (or actually most on the States). I flipped through the whole book, just awed at not only photos of interiors and exteriors, but the architectural designs and the styles created for the owners' interests (one such treehouse was influenced from Art Deco).

I figured, by the time I'll grow old, I hope for my life to live in a relaxed treehouse with two dogs on my side, away from society and to be peaceful in mind.

Check out these links and enjoy...

Treehouse Workshop, Inc.
www.treehouseworkshop.com

Pete Nelson - co-founder of Treehouse Workshop, Inc.
petenelson.wordpress.com

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A little news on the side I...

2009-10-14T21:16:00.008-04:00

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...from the Montreal Gazette today (October 14th)

Artist Glen LeMesurier and the fight against city bureaucrats on civil art (full article from the link below):

Sculptures deemed 'dangerous'

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FROM CHINA TO QUÉBEC - Les Journées de la Culture

2009-09-22T23:33:00.006-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Journées de la culture 2009 at Studio XX:

From China to Quebec
Saturday, September 26 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
at Studio XX, 4001 Berri, Suite 201

In collaboration with Studio XX and Chinese Family Service of Greater Montreal, artist Christine Brault initiated this co-creation project in 2008 with a group of Chinese women now living in Montreal. The From China to Quebec Collective draws from Chinese traditional arts integrating them into contemporary art.

In celebration of the Journées de la culture, the collective will present a performance where cultural blending unites singing with human weaving. Artist Pei-Lin Aryll will accompany the collective with her GuZheng, a traditional chinese musical instrument. To learn more about the project, please visit
http://www.studioxx.org/en/node/2035

Impassioned by Chinese culture, in May 2008, Christine Brault realized an artist residency in Beijing and participated in an international event in Shanghai.

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Founded in 1996, Studio XX is Montreal's foremost feminist digital resource centre. Through a variety of creative activities and initiatives, the Studio works with women to demystify digital technologies, critically examining their social aspects, facilitating women's access to technology and creating and exhibiting women's digital art.

www.studioxx.org
______________________________________

To schedule an interview with the artists, or to obtain further information, please contact Annie Briard, Director of Communications, at com@studioxx.org or 514-995-6098

Thank you,
Annie Briard
Studio XX

SPEED LIMITS - CCA exhibition

2009-09-11T13:22:00.006-04:00

I'm sorry if this exhibition has already opened in the beginning of summer and forgotten about mentioning it to you, but I just recently noticed once in a while and I just had this obsession in everything retro and streamline style. Futurism shows a great deal in architecture presenting on this exhibition, so catch it while you can!

SPEED LIMITS
May 20th to October 12th (*now extending to November 8th)
at
Canadian Centre for Architecture
1920 rue Baile (metro Guy-Concordia)
tel 514 939 7000
fax 514 939 7020
free admission for students; $10 otherwise

Link from CCA.qc.ca

Press Release (PDF-original version)

Press Release (PDF-new version)

Willy's Q&A - with artist Jeremy Mayer

2009-08-14T20:14:00.007-04:00

Bust II (2004) - Jeremy Mayer

While browsing on the photo gallery of Mayer's work on the site www.jeremymayer.com, I send a little Q&A to him and was generous of sending back with anwsers the very next day. Recognized for his sculptures of human and animal anatomy forms made entirely of typewriter parts, I asked if there's more to his works and may have any significance to each one of his pieces.

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Willy the Bum: Who or which of the sci-fi or any inspirations you had that affected you to make these sculptures?

Jeremy Mayer: My mechanical drawings have to do with two big influences- first, Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law of prediction posits that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Second, the impossibility of many of the inventions DaVinci proposed in sketches and drawings has always been very interesting to me- he knew they were almost possible. I think DaVinci was the first sci-fi/fantasy artist. Trying to mate those two ideas of hidden or esoteric technology and mechanical potential in natural forms has been endlessly fun for me, and though I don't draw as much any more, I've found that the typewriter stuff has a lot to offer me in that vein of interest.
I like robots and the aesthetic, but I don't purport to try to make robots at all. I'm just concentrating on making compelling figurative sculpture. A lot of what you see written about me online has to do with robots and sci-fi and such, but I said a lot more in those interviews that had to do with traditional sculptural and painting influences. I guess it's hard to escape the fact that these things look like Terminators.

Do you think your sculptures has serve any purposes or meanings to the world now?

I would hope that the work would compel people to think more about what's lying around not getting used around them, and to look at things more closely in general. People often say that I recycle, but really, all of these machines could be fixed and used, so to say that I'm recycling isn't accurate. I think there's a place for my work right now, but I don't need to say it. I think the work does. But I can say that I'm an agent of entropy.

Are most of your works more personal or eye-candy to the public?

The cats and bugs and such, the little whimsical things, those tend to be a product as opposed to a creative challenge. The human figures are definitely personal- I take as much time as it takes to put them together without concern for the bottom line.

If selling, what is the price range for each sculpture?

The last human figure was on sale at Device Gallery for $25,000, and the smaller pieces range from $2000 to $6000.

Any Canadian dates for exhibitions? (that question is the most cheesy I've come up with...)

I have a friend who is pitching a museum show in Calgary, but nothing concrete. I have no work left to show right now, so I'm starting from scratch, and I see little possibility of getting together enough work to do any kind of solo exhibition any time in the next year or two. Things seem to sell as soon as I finish them. Can't complain!

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Artists To Look IV

2009-08-13T20:01:00.006-04:00

Haven't done this post segment for a while, but I like to make word to everyone about two artists with exceptional talents.

Jenny Schade
I just can't help myself, but everybody was talking about the recent show FRESH PAINT AND NEW CONSTRUCTION at Art Mûr, especially the works of one Miss Schade. The paintings took over the space with its dark realism and almost monochromatic colours. A sight to see on each of her paintings!

"...gorgeous, haunting images truly speak to the degree of talent..." art critic Stacey DeWolfe
(read the article in the July 23rd issue of Montreal Mirror.)

Jeremy Mayer
California-based artist whose sculptures was created with the unusual material: typewriters. I was googling for a mechanical guide to building a typewriter when I stumbled on his site - a gallery of his sculptures - the human and animal anatomy forms completely made from typewriter parts. And the end result surprised many critics and audience alike. His explanation for the machines as a natural resource affected to these sculpture with life of its own.

See for yourself:
www.jeremymayer.com

- Willy the Bum

SCENES OF MONTREAL - photography exhibition

2009-07-28T19:01:00.005-04:00

Avenue Art presents

Scenes of Montreal - A Photography Exhibition
July 16th to August 21st

Avenue Art is proud to welcome the public to our photography exhibit! This exhibition will feature photographs taken exclusively in and around Montreal to showcases its beauty and uniqueness. The selection of iconic landmarks as well as images that depict Montreal’s unique Joie de Vivre are certain to please tourists and Montrealers alike!

View this breathtaking collection by both emerging and established photographers!

10% of all sales will go to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada!

Avenue Art (Multi Media City)
10 King Street
Montreal, QC
H3C 2N9
Telephone: (514)489-4888
Email: galeriecanal@hotmail.com

www.AvenueArt.ca

Hope it'll turn into a sex blob... - another random post

2009-07-27T18:02:00.018-04:00

"I suggest a Clark-Nova Portable. It has mystic resonance."

- a Mugwump; from the film Naked Lunch (1991)

I heard of Beat author William S. Burroughs mentioned about what tools use for writing.

He was quite fond of using a typewriter.

Just as long as he doesn't use long-hand.

Somehow this film adaptation of his definite novel got to me - not just the twisted storylines or Peter "RoboCop" Weller - but also of director David Cronenberg's love for the writing machines and blessed to display an array of typewriters on screen.

Which made me want to have a typewriter (although I have one in my studio but I had to stamp down keys forcefully only with my fore fingers, to which both always dislocate every time - thanks very much Enzo!)

I am surprised - on an unexpected sunny day - to stumble on a great antique store and actually bought one; a 1948 "Clipper" Smith-Corona Portable (*photo above).

The antique store is called RÉTRO VILLE, owned solely by the sweetest lady around the Centre-Ville area.

RÉTRO VILLE
2652 rue Notre-Dame Ouest (metro Lionel-Groulx)
Montréal, QC
H3J 1N7
Telephone: (514)939-2007

...and now, I'm back to typewriting again!

Re-post: Check out two sites devoted to classic typewriters:

www.machinesoflovinggrace.com

www.mytypewriter.com

-Willy the Bum

PAPIRMASSE - vernissage photos I

2009-07-24T17:13:00.004-04:00

Note to self: Buy a new digital camera.

PAPIRMASSE - vernissage photos II

2009-07-24T17:09:00.006-04:00

photos courtesy of Willy the Bum

PAPIRMASSE - Montreal Launch

2009-07-16T19:52:00.006-04:00

Artist Kirsten McCrea is launching locally of her super project PAPIRMASSE, a monthly subscription of the artist's hand-made limited edition artworks (that's right... with a "S") being given to you - the consumer - by mail.

She enjoys this project as a way for people to have real art instead of cheesy art posters and dollar cardboards, and given to everyone who can afford her quirky great art ($5 monthly; $60 a year only!)

The launch will include an exhibit of current prints, a raffle for an original McCrea painting, cheap drinks, and live DJs. And if you join the launch this night only, you will get a 1/2-off shipping discount if you subscribe!

The Montreal Launch of Kirsten McCrea's PAPIRMASSE
July 23rd 2009, 6pm - 11pm
at
SNAP! Salon
4064 blvd Saint-Laurent, suite #1
(between rue Duluth and Rachel)

The exhibit will go until the 28th, so e-mail info@snapme.ca for opening hours.

SNAP! PRESS RELEASE
OFFICIAL SITE OF PAPIRMASSE - HELLOKIRSTEN.COM

PARTICLES OF REALITY - DHC/ART exhibition

2009-07-16T19:23:00.003-04:00

I stumbled into an unnoticeable two-building gallery at the Old Port called DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, located in the mix of pebble-road streets. The spaces are surely modern for contemporary works, and the employees are quite friendly, including the security guards(!)

Check out the gallery for yourself (indeed placed with MMFA and MAC), especially this current show, the first-ever solo Canadian exhibition PARTICLES OF REALITY by Israeli artist Michal Rovner. Carefully yet incredibility blends of projections and objects to describe narration without the use of language and story.

PARTICLES OF REALITY
a Canadian solo exhibition of Michal Rovner
May 21st - September 27th 2009
at
DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art
451 rue St-Jean, Vieux-Port

PRESS RELEASE / OFFICIAL SITE OF DHC/ART

FRÉDÉRIC BACK/KEN MONKMAN - MMFA exhibition

2009-06-26T16:57:00.007-04:00

This collection of beautiful animated cels by Montreal artist/filmmaker Frédéric Back is part of the bigger exposition EXPANDING HORIZONS that just recently opened. Much caring with the environment and its living animals, Back created these wonderful yet truthful animations of the urgency of the natural world today and understand the importance of life on Earth.

Frédéric Back: One With Nature
in part of Expanding Horizons/Grandeur Nature
June 18 to September 27, 2009

Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion
1379 rue Sherbrooke ouest, downtown
Level 2
free admission

PRESS RELEASE - FRÉDÉRIC BACK

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Feel free to also check out another exhibition Dance to the Berdashe by Toronto-based contemporary artist Ken Monkman (most famously for his iconic painting above). A great exhibit not to be missed!

Ken Monkman: Dance to the Berdashe
May 6 to October 4, 2009

Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion
1380 rue Sherbrooke ouest, downtown
Level S2
free admission

PRESS RELEASE - KEN MONKMAN

INFRINGEMENT VERNISSAGE WITH... - group exhibition

2009-06-23T22:17:00.007-04:00

I never really knew this local festival has been running for six years now, and I just found that out from one of my acquaintances I bumped into on a hot summer day.

This festival was created to opposed big-time corporations who use art as a business opportunity and branding art as their own; instead a group of artists must take action by creating this fest of alternative events to seek out that art is accepted to the audience by artists themselves and not the corporations.

I was invited by the unexpected stranger on the streets, this adorable artist Kayla Williamson of her vernissage down on Barfly this Thursday, along with four other amazing artists. I was quite surprised that when I did not heard of this festival, that now it is on its sixth day of the eleven days of "infringement". So join in on the fun of screwing corporations!

Infringment Vernissage With...
Alexandra Cuellar, Stephanie Laughlin, Mr. Saad, Kayla Williamson, Chirs Zacchia
at the Barfly
4062A St-Laurent
June 25th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
free admission
http://www.infringementfestival.com/montreal/2009/eng/25.html

Or check out the whole thing:
http://www.infringementfestival.com/montreal/

simple drawing by William Mak

2009-05-28T16:32:00.009-04:00

Ivy Howard - solo exhibition

2009-05-13T00:36:00.003-04:00

For more info:
www.avenueart.ca

Support the artists! Two sites to check out...

2009-04-09T23:46:00.010-04:00

PAPIRMASSE
Kirsten McCrea's own highly-awesome art magazine with real artworks made by the artist herself and deliver onto your own hands. The first monthly issue of Papirmasse has 1,000 copies, so buy right now by going to this site below and find the info for subscription:

hellokirsten.com/papirmasse
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INNOVATIVE MOTION
"Creativity shall see no END!" That is the motto for the trio of artists "K", BRICC Skerritt and C.R. Dubé, to support the growing art communities in Montréal. Support them by getting handmade T-shirts; you can buy one (or two if you`re giving one to a friend as a gift) by call or e-mail. Info is on the official blog below (official site will be up soon):

innovativemotion.blogspot.com
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