A few weeks ago, Joe Fiorito wrote a column for the Toronto Star addressing the gap between one artist's intentions and the result. While everyone is entitled to freedom of speech and expression, I have to say I agree with his assessment.
Jason Kieffer, the young man who wrote that awful little book lampooning this city’s street people, was at a symposium a while back, the purpose of which was to allow him to explain himself.
He seems a nice kid; if only niceness were all.
The cartoons are hurtful; the people lampooned are defenceless; worst of all, each caricature is accompanied by a map indicating where the person depicted can be found. Given that these men and women are already vulnerable, it seems to me they are now at greater risk.
I recommend reading the whole column here. Other reviews of Kieffer's work (some positive) can be read here.
Monday, May 31, 2010
When Good Artistic Intentions Do Not Equal Good Results
Friday, May 28, 2010
Cutely Creepy: Electronic Rabbit Opera coming to Luminato
Luminato remains a bit of a cipher for many in the visual arts community. But I can't resist posting this video of Nabaz’mob, an electronic-rabbit "opera" that's just been announced as part of the fest. It won the Prix Arts Electronica Award of Distinction Digital Musics in 2009 and will run from Saturday, June 12 - Sunday, June 20 in the Distillery, for free. More vids of the work can be viewed here.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Noticed: Still no Museums Day for Toronto... or Vancouver... or Calgary...
Earlier this week, a notice about Montreal Museums Day--a day of free admission to and transportation between museums--landed in my inbox. Once again, this annual event (happening May 30 this year) prompted me to wonder, why no event like this in Toronto? Or Vancouver for that matter? Or Calgary? Though Montreal Museums Day has lost a couple of participants along the way--the Montréal Insectarium and Montreal Botanical Garden are not offering MMD this year--the access-focused event still outshines initiatives (and/or highlights a lack thereof) in other parts of the country.
What's more, this event further highlights the general lack of action (as far as I know, feel free to correct me) around International Museums Day in our other major cities. MMD is inspired by IMD on May 18 of each year, which "provides the opportunity for museum professionals to meet the public and alert them to the challenges that museums face if they are to be - as in the International Council of Museums definition of museums - "an institution in the service of society and of its development"."
I know Toronto has Doors Open this weekend, which has strongarmed the ROM into actually providing a free Friday evening, but that event has an architectural focus. We need to bring this type of access initiative into the gallery and museums realm as well.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Will Munro Remembrance Tomorrow Night @ Gladstone
The news that artist Will Munro passed away on Friday is very sad. I just wanted to post that a remembrance event is set for tomorrow night at the Gladstone Hotel. According to a release from Paul Petro Gallery,
A memorial service/celebration for Will Munro will be held on Wednesday, May 26, at 8pm at the Gladstone Hotel's Melody Bar. All those who have loved and been loved by Will are welcome to attend. The theme is TRANSCENDENCE.
Also, instead of flowers and gifts, we will be asking people to make a charitable donation. The details of this are currently getting sorted out and we will provide you with all the information on Wednesday.
More information is available on Facebook. Eye Weekly and many other outlets and blogs have posted remembrances about Munro as well.
Image from Munro's final exhibition from Paul Petro Gallery
Upcoming: Talk at the Art Gallery of Mississauga May 29
What happens when an artist wants to shift gears in a big way? That's one topic I'll be discussing at the Art Gallery of Mississauga this Saturday, May 29, at 1pm. The occasion is Andrew Morrow's exhibition at the gallery, which uses the space to make quite a significant leap, I'd say—though Morrow is best known as a painter, this show uses his painting solely as a source for an animated projection that in turn is part of an installation. Other things we might discuss: music vs. "silence" in the white cube, historical figure painting vs. porn, and more (viewers are welcome to bring interpretations and questions). Fun times! It all starts at 1pm at the AGM, 300 City Centre Dr, Mississauga.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Contact Reviews and Ratings Blues
Victoria Day signals the home stretch of the Contact festival, and there's still plenty of good stuff to see.
The National Post (online today, in print tomorrow) has three of my Queen's Park-area reviews: The Brothel Without Walls and Probing McLuhan at UTAC and Creative Commons at the ROM. An excerpt:
The Brothel Without Walls at University of Toronto Art Centre
15 King’s College Circ.
Philosopher Alan Watts said “trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.” Sometimes, this limitation also applies to art that tries to define itself through art. Fortunately, Contact’s keynote exhibition The Brothel Without Walls overcomes these challenges — it’s a photo show that capably shows how photography has altered our relationships, both to each other and to ourselves. Stefan Ruiz’s pics of Spanish soap-opera sets unfold like a grown-up hall of mirrors, while Evan Baden’s prints of online sex acts — a different form of fantasy — are backdropped by the mundane: reams of gold gymnastics medals and Scotch-taped collages of friends. Christopher Wahl’s photos of journalists at work hint at the information industry’s frantic dependence on image collection, while Marina Gadonneix’s pictures of TV news sets complement the “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” vibe. Susan Anderson’s portraits of tiny, heavily made-up Barbie wannabes at child beauty pageants resonate in a fresh way, particularly because Anderson asked each girl to create her own pose. (Their choices reflect how deeply ideas of photographic glamour are ingrained at a young age.) Each artist’s insights build upon the others and result in a critical picture of the way photos affect us — a difficult and admirable achievement for a celebration-toned fest. To May 29.
Yesterday, NOW also published my capsule reviews of three public installations at the festival: David LaChappelle at MOCCA, Barbara Kruger at the AGO and Hank Willis Thomas at Front and Spadina.
I think I realized more than ever in writing these NOW reviews that I'm pretty bad at rating art on an "out of 5" scale, unless it's indubitably great or indubitably awful. I envy the Entertainment Weekly folks with their letter grades, which are a little more nuanced. At the same time, I realize if I took that approach I would give the LaChappelle an A/A-, the Kruger and Thomas a B+ at least. But 3/5, which I ended up with on the latter two reviews in NOW, is more like a 60% C/D, much lower than reflects my views. Getting these ratings right (at least in terms of the reviewer's perspective) is part of a reviewer's job, though, and I basically just wanted to admit that I haven't been doing a great job on it of late. That's my long-weekend truthiness, folks.
If you have any views on these shows or others--or commentary/advice on the business of rating art by stars, Ns, grades or what have you--feel free to share in the comments.
Christopher Wahl's image Jennifer Lopez, 2009, © Christopher Wahl, from the National Post
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Cats, Colour & Candour: Q&A with Elizabeth McIntosh
For a few years now, I've been a big admirer of Elizabeth McIntosh's paintings. Though she's been exhibiting her abstract works since the mid 90s, for some reason I only got to see them relatively recently. In any case, she's debuting new works at Diaz in Toronto tomorrow, and I took it as an opportunity to ask her more about her work. Today, the National Post published a related Q&A. Here's an excerpt:
Q When you look back at your childhood, can you see any connections to your art today?
A Yes, I did lots of drawings about pattern when I was a kid. I actually titled one of the paintings in this show Cat because I got the idea from a drawing of a cat that I did as a kid. My mom had it framed on the wall, which is why I remember it so clearly. Back then, I divided the cat's body into shapes and coloured each one in a different pattern. I guess abstraction is something that's been personally fulfilling to me for a long time.
also...
Q Vancouver is best known for photography and conceptual art. How does it feel to be a painter there?
A I think Vancouver is a really interesting place, and it's a great place to live and be an artist. But my work doesn't fit within the dominant dialogue that people hold onto. And that's not just because I'm painting; it's because my art is more based on process than on research. At the same time, you can't say painting isn't conceptual, because painting is a way of thinking--it's just not within the "tradition" of conceptual art.
I don't think I suffer because of any of this, though. I teach at Emily Carr University and I'm surrounded by faculty and students who are interested in painting and in questioning painting. I have a place to pursue what I want to do. But y'know, stuff does come up. I'll get the odd super-clever student who starts taking a class at UBC, and then argues with me about the validity of painting.
The rest of the interview, including McIntosh's comments on feeling a bit ashamed of painting at first, here.
Image of McIntosh's The Brute 2009 from Diaz Contemporary
