BEST, JUST BEST

I came across Carl Burgess' video for Ratatat's Drugs via The Art Fag and can't get over how wonderfully weird it is for a music-video. I wasn't that familiar with Burgess' work, but I'm now hooked (and on another note, his website is amazing too). Such a subtle and seemingly simple way to play with stock images. The strange Getty collection of zombie smiles and creepy Santas is made weirder against the electro-beats of Ratatat. Moreso, that lighting, the outfits and the backdrop is just all so hyper-generic against the synthetic sounds. Here is an interview with Burgess from Fast Code Design if you want to read more (image courtesy of Fast Code's site).

PS: I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye for my first time and just kept thinking of Holden Caulfield spouting about these phonies.

GIF REAL

I've always wanted to organize an exhibition of the best GIFs. Or maybe something more theoretical and curated, but involving GIFs. It'd be a costly endeavour, but I'd love to walk around a room of flashing digital images. How happy was I then to find Pierre le Hors' GIF CASTLE, a more economical way to present the little moving images?

Here, le Hors translated a collection of demon GIFs onto sticky-notes that were then built into this sort-of castle. The installation reinvents the historical gargoyle as architectural element. It's an interesting process to print the changing images onto a stack of sticky notes. I wonder if he lets you pick them up and flip through them...

MONKEY-SEE

I came across Robin Schwartz's tooth-achingly sweet photographs on Tiny Vices. Besides that they're a more charming rendition of the creeptastic, baby-obsessed Anne Geddes, I like that Schwartz's photographs feel unproduced and thereby retain more innocence. Further, each shot is of her daughter Amelia (right?) and she describes the series as evidence of the invented worlds they explore. The result is sort of auto-biographical, the envy of any family albums. I wouldn't trade my mom for anything in the world, but forming friendships with monkeys and elephants would come close...

If you click through the series the kid totally loses interest 10 shots in.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART

Eric Larson's obsessive collages are my new pieces of admiration. Larson's work is a result of collecting images and information that is then categorized and systematically ordered. The OCD in me is beaming! My favourites are his Lunar Year and Tidal Forecasts. This astrological trend (Jeremy Laing's moon crater dresses come to mind) really resonates with the 9-year old Scientist in me.

Alex Prager Y'all

Alex Prager is everywhere, isn't she? Or is she? I don't know. About a month ago, I went to New York and visited the MoMA in a speedy afternoon. I didn't have too much time, and in hindsight maybe wish I hadn't spent so much of it seeing the Abstract Expressionist exhibit, which is coming to the AGO anyways. I did, though, get the chance to see both the spectacular permanent collection exhibition (*really, it was like an Art History 101 textbook come to life, reminded me of those big names that first piqued my interest in the subject in the first place) and the exhibition, New Photography 2010: Roe Ethridge, Elad Lassry, Alex Prager, Amanda Ross-Ho.

Prager's work, for me anyways, commands a room with its bright colour and heavy stylization. There was a group of MoMa-ers crowded around her video of Bryce Dallas Howard with tear filled eyes, mesmerized by her fiery hair and equally blood-red lips. This display of admiration speaks at large for the whole of her exhibited work. My boyfriend stood longingly at the smoking image below and I think Prager's work is responsible for his recent conversion to photography (he since started a little collection (see TPW post below), that befits me living with him).

I'd maybe be a little less convinced about Prager's work, big colour and fashionable styling can be eye catching fine, but the cinematic, film noir

qualities of the photographs are what keeps your gaze (I'm using the gaze here in less critical terms, because the male gaze and Prager's subjects, especially with mentions of my bf staring, requires a whole other blog post).

I found her nods to other artists, like Hitchcock with the photograph above, particularly engaging. The bright colours, Mad Men clothing and vicious black birds are so hyper realistic, it's nearly made three-dimensional, evidence of her technical skill. And obviously, they're largely inspired by Sherman, with the staging and guises upon guises, but the clear attachment to cinema edges it out from becoming something overly wannabe. Immediately too, Guy Bourdain comes to mind. I had been researching the odd (biographically-speaking) photographer a bit here and there and his popping coloured, surrealist-images have been burned into my mind (MoMA makes these links too in their description of the show).

But, everything I do like about them was interrupted by the disappointment felt when I watched her aloof interview with Roxana Marcoci, curator in the Dept. of Photography at MoMa. Prager is unconvincing and unable to critically engage with her own work, despite Marcoci pressing for discussion. Perhaps it's naive, but I find it bothersome when an artist is inarticulate about his or her work. The interview was met with a chorus of cries berating the young artist, which is an important tangent in itself. Prager is young. Is that an excuse? Maybe, but I'd like to see her at least appear to make a conscious effort to frame her work besides bringing up that she hopes it elicits emotion, which if you read my blog (and few do), you know there are few things an artist or critic can say that irritates me more.

Anyways watch here and judge for yourself: http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2010/11/15/alex-prager-in-new-photography-2010

2 Tumblrs

I think are perfect. Should I be getting a Tumblr or something?

http://youareatoy.tumblr.com/

http://brokennecksfeatherweights.tumblr.com/

TPW: Photorama

I went to TPW's Photorama for my first time and I can't say enough good things about it. First, on the non-art side of things, Union catered it (hello Elk Sliders!). On those more relevant things, the exhibition was a well-curated and really interesting selection of local, old and new guard. Brent and I argued over what we liked best, but in the end took home Danielle Greer's fluffy pink explosion with matching flowers (above), one of Edward Burtynsky's (BP) Oil Spill photographs, and a photograph of a cat blanketed in a variety of plush furs (we haven't picked it up yet and can't find an image online- will post later). My only regret was that we didn't pick up Alex Kisilevich's matronly cousin-it. The image is really on trend with young photographers who are revisiting traditional portraiture, but abandoning the portrait. The absence of the face, be it through obscuring, masking or erasing it altogether, disembodies the subject making it appear almost empty, less real. More on this later (ie: Robyn Cumming and Derek Liddington).

Boyle Boyle Toil & Trouble

I wanted to start the review by saying despite all the vomit and regurgitation, Boyle's Flesh and Blood was a breath of fresh air.... but chickened out. Read the full review of the AGO exhibition here: http://woman.ca/concert-and-show-reviews/3397-shary-boyles-flesh-and-blood

Alex Fischer at O'Born Closing Soon

The exhibition, titled "Smarter Today," closes December 4th and I really recommend seeing it before it's done. The accompanying statement describes the work as futuristic landscapes- which brings to mind the very different work of the Kanye-endorsed Alex McLeod. What stood out, were the ideas of collage/compilation/absorption/assemblage. The statement continues: The subjects and characters of Smarter Today are reflections on the syncretism that created them. Their exterior identities have been extricated to include all of their precursors. They are heterogeneous and intermingled with their environments, yet maintain their subjectivity in the face of a post-structuralist world.

I like anything that reminds me of Bladerunner and conjures notions of futurism, but Fischer's work isn't so much a sci-fi version a la Jetsons, but rather a beautiful, albeit despairing, rendering that is less dependent on technology-like, graphic details and in favour of something more subdued.

Too much Winnipeg

Is there such a thing?

Big ups to prairie-boy Daniel Barrow for winning the very-big Sobey Art Award.

J'ai rêvé New York

New York is booked for beginning of December. MoMA has some goodies: Abstract Expressionist New York (I'm excited for this, but Pollock's always at MoMa no?); On to Pop (ditto, and right on the heels of the big Lichtenstein sale!), and two photo shows- one all female. That show, aptly titled Pictures By Women: A History of Modern Photography, is one I'm particularly excited about since, for one, I've been working more and more with photography and two, my research background has a lot to do with my interests in feminist theory. (Image above is from the exhibited slide installation by Lisa Oppenheim).

What I'm really excited to see though from this exhibition is the inimitable Yoko Ono and George Maciunas' Fluxus bum wallpaper known as Bottoms (1973). The repeated still making up the wallpaper was taken from Yoko Ono's film (from '67), featuring close up bums including that of Carolee Schneeman's, of the same name. It's only about 6 min if you feel like watching.


Yoko Ono has been recorded as saying it was really just some sort of collective mooning at the absurd, but the film corresponds to a period in which technology and art were increasingly employed by Fluxartists as a means of exploring the perceptual experience. In her theoretical text on American fluxarts, Hannah Higgins identified the movement’s characteristic explorations of vision through an analysis of three Fluxartworks: John Cavanaugh’s film Flicker (1966), Yoko Ono’s film Eyeblink (1966), and Daniel Spoerri and Francois Dufrene’s retina-piercing spectacles Optique Moderne (1963). Each- as the titles indicate- is concerned with seeing, perception and/or the visual apparatus; however, the films in particular link how we see with how we move and thereby create a multi-sensory experience. Higgins describes how both Cavanaugh’s Flicker and Yoko Ono’s Eyeblink induce the viewer into a blinking frenzy and expose the limitations of both the “visible (what is seen in the world) and the optical (how humans see these things.)” Bottoms, like Eyeblink and from the same period, really focuses on the tension between the role of the camera and the ways in which we see. While it doesn't produce that same bananas-blinking, the way in which the subjects walk/move away from the camera's viewpoint challenges its typical function to frame the subject and structure space- things that became typical of structural film (I don't think Yoko's part of Sitney's thing, but I think there are a few similarities that can be teased out). Below is an image of a version of Optique Moderne, not quite as good, but by Daniel Spoerri from the same period...

Julian Schnabel - Iron Man

I haven't seen the Julian Schnabel exhibition at the AGO (maybe yet? I don't know)... but I've read a few recent reviews on this particular show and a few older reviews/profiles of the oft-pyjama-clad artist. Most feature words like over-hyped, obnoxious or tasteless, but, in my humble opinion, the good reviews are even more cringe-inducing. I don't know why, but I hate when art writers base their reviews on the imaginary ability of an artwork to produce "raw and brutal emotions." If you're going to get in the Schnabel-corner, at least lend it a little theoretical credence. I mean, is something art if a critic hasn't (properly) written about it?

(Take this with a grain of salt, I haven't visited the show but have seen his work; also this has nothing to do with his film-making. I don't care about that for the purpose (haha) of this post.)

Schnabel is kind of like Iron Man. Not the superhero, but rather his artwork is like the blockbuster movie. It's glossy, big-budget, bloated and rather meaningless. To be honest though, I liked Iron Man; it was good vacuous fun and Robert Downey Jr. is a charmer in the role of the millionaire, weapon-maker. Did I give the film much thought after the credits started? Nope. And I think the same could be said of Schnabel's ginormous blah-paintings. I kind of like checking them out, I like that they make me think of this wonderfully decadent and vapid period in art history (the 80s).... but the giant canvases seem more well-suited for the studio set belonging to the artist from 'A Perfect Murder' that Gwyneth Paltrow cheats on her Wall St. hubby with.

I really hope between this and the Tut show the AGO brings in something more well, substantial (and I mean this is non-economical terms). It's uplifting to think that this will almost certainly be found in the upcoming Jack Chambers show, at once significant and subtle. Can't wait!!

Toronto International Art Fair

It's over! Like a nightmare, I saw Damien Hirst's everywhere and don't remember much else. Better blog posts to come...

It's bad that I like Hirst's 'All You Need is Love' (above) right?

Cabin Fever in Winnipeg

Coming from the sprawling and icy prairies, I've always had a particular affinity for Northrop Frye's analysis of the Canadian psyche, or as he named it, 'the garrison mentality.' Frye's whole thing depended on his chilling description of our geography- flat, open landscapes and a frightening climate. This was some sixties madness (he wrote it in '65), but has stuck ever since with everyone from Atwood to Coupland elaborating on it. And it's true, no? There's this pervasive boredom felt in the prairies, which I'll argue is extra-Canadiana... but it has a silver-lining. A symptom of this boredom is this incredible cultural and artsy side. Winnipeg, I think, is like a secret fort of imagination.

Anyways- this was an all-too-wordy introduction to my post on Platform Gallery's current exhibition, 'Cabin Fever.' Curated by JJ Kegan McFadden, the statement reads: The prairies offer a paradox of being isolated by its so-called land-locked geography and climate of extremes, yet its denizens are recognized for their creative productivity. What is it about being isolated that stirs creativity among us? Further into the statement, my favourite little section suggests that the exhibited artists offer suggestions, even exit strategies to deal with this stir-craziness. I love that, exit strategies.

I know participating photographer Zoe Jaremus here in Toronto (the gallery I work for reps her), and I knew I loved her Strange & Awkward Conversations pieces immediately (above). It's the exit strategies in it. The females display this domestic ennui, this absolute fucking boredom and are slumped over and defeated in their daily, banal duties.

Seriously, those in Wpg should see this show, and tell me about it. It also includes Terence Koh and Jon Sasaki. You can read the show concept on the iCi website too: http://ici-exhibitions.org/index.php/ci/twocp/cabin_fever - so Winnipeg.

Ps: Telling that this show and the FF Canadian show shared some thematic parallels...

Ravi Shukla/ aka Bill Beso

(This image is probably the size of a penny... )

My very good friend Lisa Kehler, who now lives with her family on the East coast, curated an exhibition of Ravi Shukla's illustrations in Winnipeg at the Semai Gallery (run by Takashi Iwasaki who is represented at Le Gallery).

Titled "Bombs & Wombs," Lisa had installed Ravi Shukla's (also known as Bill Beso) very fine, detailed illustrations along the long and skinny hallway which makes up Semai, meaning 'narrow' in Japanese. A perfect space for exhibiting these teensy drawings made up of tiny, metamorphic creatures.

From the exhibition statement: His creations vary from the simplest of figures to the most mystical and fantastic beast-like forms. It is Shukla's use of space within the border of each surface, perhaps best described by Semai Gallery Director Takashi Iwasaki as the "anti-gravitational aspect" that reinforces each drawing's ability to urge the viewer to recall those youthful memories of awesome possibilities. We are unable to decipher the exact orientation of who is climbing and who is falling; or even what is what is up and what is down.

These hybrid, grotesque little beasts are closely related to ideas of transmorphism and are nearly illustrative versions of Odilon Redon's strange beings. One of my past profs had been researching transmorphism in relation to the spiritual. She seamed together these brilliant links between Redon, Galle- namely his tadpole vase and other French symbolists. This, of course, made me love these drawings even more and now I have a wonderful shadowbox installed in my living room!