Artist Jason McLean, who recently moved to Toronto after 18 years in Vancouver, has a pretty interesting practice. As I've mentioned here before, he works in drawing as well as sculpture and multiples. Particularly striking are his reworkings of sports equipment, such as those seen above.
Since McLean is having a show at Jessica Bradley in Toronto right now, it seemed an opportune time to sit down and have a chat. Today, a condensed version of same was published in the National Post. Here's an excerpt:
Q Often you paint on old photographs or used sports equipment. Why?
A Sometimes I enjoy the awkwardness between sports and art. I'ma closet sports fan, and I like the way a recognizable object opens up to a larger audience.
The photos partly started when I worked for Adbusters. They wanted me to work over 40or 50 pharmaceutical photos. Book art by people like Marc Bell influenced me, too.
But sometimes, there's so much age in an object you can't go wrong working with it! It's kind of like an older person who has all sorts of stories. It's so much more interesting than someone new, in a way.
...
Q In addition to making art, you collect it. Why?
A It's like an addiction, I guess. In my early years, I liked to collect sporting cards, trading them and getting deals.
Art collecting is sometimes about remembering people when you leave a city. Sometimes it's about wanting to make a home feel different. Sometimes people inspire you, so if you can acquire something of theirs, it seems magical.
I'm really into trading art, too. We've traded art for wholesale fruit, birthing doulas, house tiling and law work. It's like, what can't you trade? I've never traded for a car, but then again, I don't drive.
Image of one of McLean's works (not in the Bradley show) from StyleServer
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Storied Objects: Q&A with Jason McLean
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Best things seen and unseen today
Here's where I went today: Radiant Dark, Mercer Union, Toronto Free Gallery, Olga Korper, Christopher Cutts, Peak Gallery, Fine and Dandy, Industrees, Jessica Bradley, Show & Tell, MKG127, Xpace, Hunter & Cook, Paul Petro, Heavy Metal, Clint Roenisch, Angell, Pari Nadimi, Open Studio, A Space, Red Head, Red Bull.
Here's where I did not go today (sadly): the big anti-prorogue protest in downtown Toronto.
Nonetheless, here's the best things I saw today:
Pictures from the anti-prorogue protest. Estimated 7,000 turnout in Toronto, thousands more across the country. Frequent updates and more images available at http://noprorogue.ca/ (Particular image above via http://www.twitter.com/helenspitzer)
Jon Sasaki's video of trying to run up an unsupported ladder in front of the "Better Living" building. Entertaining, sad, funny, all of the above. At Jessica Bradley. (Image from canadianart.ca)
Jessica Johnston's Recession Bling, which are copper cent-symbols necklaces created from--you guessed it--melted-down pennies. Sadly, I don't have any photos of these. But Anneke van Bommel's gold versions of disposable-fairground cutlery and Erin McCutcheon's "community vessels" (which require the joining of two pieces to be functional, pictured above) were also great. All at Radiant Dark. (Image from BlogTO)
Lead image of prorogue protest from http://twitter.com/ipauk
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Recommended: Will Kwan @ the Barnicke and more
In today's NOW, I was glad to see my colleague David Jager's review of the Will Kwan show at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery.
I personally really liked this show—more than I think David did in the end, actually. What came across to David as alienating was more uncompromisingly hardassed in my own experience.
Does this mean I'm plenty alienated already? That I'm happy to revel in Kwan's (equally) bleak view of the world, aka the capitalist economy and its worldwide impacts? Perhaps.
In any case, the show closes this weekend, and I recommend catching it — sometimes it's just Kwan's lifting of capitalism's existing ephemera to the surface that's so effective. This is most apparent in an array of photographs of bank-branded money-gifting envelopes--a traditional Chinese ritual object mashed up with acronym-happy financiers. Methinks it rocks. The neon sign spelling "weapons of mass destruction" in military shorthand actually leaves me a bit colder, but yes, overall, good. If you can't make it, try Kwan's website -- of if you're in Dublin, check him out at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, where he's artist in residence this winter.
Also worth catching if you can is the more exploratory and enigmatic pairing currently on at Loop. I'm not quite sure about it but it sort of delighted me and stuck in the mind a bit. The show matches scrappy sculptures from Audrea DiJulio with large round paintings by Suzanne Nacha. I think it's the sculptures that kind of delight with their resourcefulness, and the paintings that add a touch of weirdness--they conjure eyeballs and mine shafts. I guess I also like that both artists come from a scientific as well as an artistic place—Nacha is involved in geology, while DiJulio has some experience in civil engineering. Both artists are going to chat with Pete Smith on Sunday the 20th at 2pm, the last day of the show.
Just up the street from Loop is a show that's been pretty roundly praised and that I've enjoyed a lot. It's Ben Reeves at Jessica Bradley and it closes December 20. I'm not a huge painting gal, but part of what I love about Reeves' project here is the way he plays painting of photography. He makes his really nice lumpy, blobby paintings as usual, then he decides on one part of that painting to "zoom in" on and "enlarge". This enlargement--usually just one massive blob that originally represented, like a head in a crowd or something--is even rendered on a "larger grain" canvas. It's kind of absurd, like a totally unhelpful CSI-episode technique or something, but it's also really fun. As I may have indicated here before, I find some of the maxi-painting/painting as sculpture practitioners kind of of aggressive or grotesque in mood; Reeves takes it to a much more fun and accessible zone.
Finally, I feel duty bound to note one show that I do not really recommend--though its heart is often in the right place, "Fashion Forward" at the OCAD Professional Gallery is disappointing. The best/most promising parts address different ways that Toronto designers try to use their skills to the benefit of special needs or populations. In fact a show solely on this theme likely would have succeeded better. Where it falls apart a bit is the mishmash of general-fashion stuff it includes. On that general fashion end it's unclear, for example, why Comrags, however awesome, is present and new stars like Jeremy Laing or Greta Constantine are not. Maybe I just missed something in the curatorial premise, but it seems like there's two good small shows potentially here (one on special-function fashion and one on mainstream Toronto fashion design's history and present) or one huge one (on both, or more angles). But none of these really reach fruition.
Image of Will Kwan's art from Now Toronto
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Recommended: Jason McLean, Adrian Norvid & more
Some quick hits: I recommend the current show at Jessica Bradley. Montreal's Adrian Norvid provides more sad rock and roll references than you can shake a Helix LP at and Toronto's Jason McLean brings the colour with large-scale text and abstraction paintings. (His cardboard watches upstairs are also fun.) Tis indeed a no-brainer.
Also recommended: Julie Beugin & Gretchen Sankey at Paul Petro (impressionist mishmash in development and humorous ghost-inpired sculptures), Leopold Foulem at David Kaye (ceramic witticism to accompany a show at the Gardiner), Jon McCurley at Gallery TPW (anti-anti-urbanist performance, high-concept comedy, and low-concept silliness in sculpture), and Stripmining for Creative Cities at Toronto Free (a small but thoughtful look at gentrification, and prevention thereof).
Jason McLean, Hello Ruby in the Dust (top) Adrian Norvid, No Brainer (middle) from Jessica Bradley Art & Projects,
