A few quick recommendations on Queen West:
Carte Blanche 2.0 & Art Metropole: The Top 100 at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art - The Carte Blanche show, which pulls select painters from a "best-of" coffee table tome of the same name, has been hated by the Globe's Sarah Milroy, loved by the Star's Peter Goddard, and so-so'd by EYE's David Balzer.
For my part, while I heartily agree with Milroy that having dealer and show co-curator Clint Roenisch fill 5 slots in the approximately 30-slot show with his own artists is unethical and gauche [CORRECTION: Milroy got the numbers wrong; please read my correction post here.] I have to disagree with her overall dismissal of the show. For me--a non-painter, and non-painting lover--the show is an excellent introduction to some of the best in Canadian painting. It's also a large space in which to show large works, which because of the usual small-TO-space circumstance just dosn't happen enough. I also think Liss and Roenisch, large ethical qualms aside, did a good job picking prime works--I've actually never liked the work of Shelley Adler or Kim Dorland much until I saw their works here, in context of the painter-exclusive training, history and dialogue that continues to exist whether or not we art critics would rather see painters (and curators) rise to the challenge of positioning painting effectively speaking with other media.
Also, what I think is great about the show at MOCCA is the Art Metropole Top 100 in its smaller gallery. Here you have two traditions: big, exclusive, one-off, luxury, glossy painting show in one space and the small, multiple, mechanically reproductive, mail art, video, photo, performance goddam downright anti-painting show in the other. And it really really works well, I think, both separately and side by side. Should we have instead argued that Art Met archives show painting in their collection or in this show? No. There is a value to media- (or in this case tradition-) oriented shows that, again, will continue to exist whether we generalists (that is to say, journalists) like it or not.
Seth Scriver at Katharine Mulherin/Board of Directors: How does Seth Scriver make such goddam funny art? And how does he keep on doing it? I know I shouldn't ask, I should just be glad that he does, because it makes me happy to be out and about on a cold November day. His digital animations are really terrific, as a projection of past and new works shows. (Love the manual redo of the THX Dolby screen especially! Though the animations based on stories by his Northern Ontario relatives are also hilarious--with the exception of the poodle one... that was a little creepy.) Also an unexpected delight is are the Canuck in-jokes: the spelling in fake-gold corporateese of "Hoseheads, LLP" at the entrance to the show, and a canoe made out of those glued-together layers of posters that build up on big-city construction hoardings. This latter work reads to me both as a great statement on the new urban Canadian reality and as a slight fuck-you to the Canada Council, an agency that defines Canadian content as stuff generally a little more "dignified" (read dry and humor free) than Scriver's work.
Heather & Ivan Morison @ Clint Roenisch: Roenisch really should get a pass after that stunt with Carte Blanche, but the current show is too interesting to miss. For it Wales artists Heather & Ivan Morison present a show "How to Survive (The Bad Days)" "The Bad Years (How to Survive)" that includes a tree like sculpture made out of mud from Roenisch's basement; a hole in the hardwood floor so one can see artist-dug pit in said basement; a wood-burning stove in full operation; prints of isolationist-feeling desert RV's with a threatening golden rock floating in the sky; a large mylar kite reminiscent of both Edison Alexander Graham Bell and Buckminster Fuller, and a film in the basement that riffs on that Desert RV/floating fool's gold theme with psychedelic guitar. It's ascetic and it's good. Get thee to the woodlot!
Also: Michael Merrill's show at Paul Petro Special Projects, presented by collector Steven Smart, has great little paintings that riff on museology and exhibition-making. Never saw Documenta? This show's for you (and me too).
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Recommended: Carte Blanche, Seth Scriver, Ivan & Heather Morrison
The Alaska Pipeline, Artforum, and a case for spending less time on Youtube
So I knew I should have been reading Artforum at the airport, and not W Magazine. After posting on petroleum related art the other day, I finally got my hands on a copy of the November issue, where lo and behold I see a great project by the Center for Land Use Interpretation documenting "prime territories fo the American oil industry: Alaska, California, and Texas." Apparently the Alaska portion is on show this month at the center's HQ in Los Angeles, with shows to follow at the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston and a show next year about the California portion at the CLUI center. The Blaffer Gallery show is called "Texas Oil: Landscape of an industry", and will include public events that are related. I'm excited for them.
Also in the Nov Artforum that's related (if, er, less polished) an ad for a show by Italian-born artist Mattia Biagi called "Black tar" taking place in the artist's Los Angeles studio (?) to Dec 7.
Finally, on my inaugural trip to the "finished" (though really, if the extruded electric plugs and humidity fogged windows be any indication, still unfinished) Art Gallery of Ontario the other night, I was reminded that Mark Dion also has some salient works on this theme. The AGO's got a good one of a stuffed polar bear sitting in a washtub of tar with amazon sounds playing on a bear-embraced boom box. Similar works showed Goodwater gallery earlier this year... I had just forgotten about them. Probably because I've been spending too much time on Youtube. Which I now know is wrong.
Image of CLUI's Texas oil project from the Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston
Gallery picks @ Bloor & Lans: Marc Bell, Mercer Union, MIT's Fuel
This weekend's gallery picks for the National Post led me again to Bloor and Lansdowne, where cheap rent, subway access and west-end gallery district proximity have made for a triumverate of new-gallery opportunity. Granted, the rush on property has slowed since the market crash. But there's still creative fun to be had in the area at newbie Paul Bright Gallery, stalwart Mercer Union, and conscientious Toronto Free. To find out more, click here for the digital edition and go to page O7, or read on after the jump.
Image of Marc Bell's "Life is Life" from Paul Bright Gallery
At the Galleries: West End Pearls
National Post, Nov 22, Page O7
By Leah Sandals
Last time At the Galleries visited the Bloor/Lansdowne area, it seemed well on its way to becoming gallery central. Then the market, art and otherwise, crashed hard. Still, artists and art dealers are pluckish, cheap-rent-loving sorts, and this fall has seen two new venues open in the nabe. Fill up with a dollar-stretching lunch at local fave Dosa Mahal and see for yourself.
1. Paul Bright Gallery 1265 Bloor West
The newest art outlet to join Bloordale Village—opening just three weeks ago—is also the area’s first commercial gallery. Its youthful owner, Paul Bright, has run galleries of one type or another since 1998. Often working out of London, Ontario, Bright connected creative talent from the quiet Forest City to cash-rich collectors in larger metropolises. Now the part-time New Yorker has set up shop in Toronto, and is largely working the reverse dynamic: bringing a swath of savvy Brooklyn and Philly artists to Hogtown eyeballs. (Bushwick-meets-Bonsai artiste Misaki Kawai’s kooky sculptures and paintings, opening at the gallery December 18, are an ideal example.) Bright’s opening show, however, takes him back to his roots. It features another former Londoner, Marc Bell, doing essentially what Bell does best: psychedelic, R. Crumb-flavoured, comic-styled drawings that meld both cheese and cheek. Here, each drawing—originally published as a series in Vice Magazine—illustrates the lyrics for a pop song in a decidedly un-MTV-like way. Whether you’re gazing on Laibach’s “Life is Life” rendered as a series of square-headed portraits or on Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” acted out by a half a corndog, Bell’s flair for absurdity shines through. Definitely worth a look before the December 13 close, even if you only have cash to walk away with a $10 zine rather than a $1000 sketch.
2. Mercer Union, 1286 Bloor St W
Since 1979, the artist-run gallery Mercer Union has carved itself an honourable spot in the Canadian cultural landscape. Now, with a move away from its soon-to-be-condos Queen West digs, Mercer is showing it can carve out another type of honourable spot—this time by transforming a former dollar store at the corner of Bloor and St Clarens into a high-ceilinged art haven. It helps that the building has good bones—it was originally designed by Casa Loma and Old City Hall architect EJ Lennox as a theatre, and still has some of its pressed-tin lining intact. Until November 29, Mercer’s relaunch show is presenting some other riffs on redesign and relocation. In the back gallery, Christof Migone’s installation features a disco ball stripped of its mirrors and record covers revamped to emphasize the circular form of vinyl-trapped tracks. Minimalist versions of strobe lights and fog machines further enhance the uptight-yet-punk-rock feel. In the front gallery, Gwen MacGregor and Sandra Rechico bring different modes of mapping to walks in four different cities. Their goopy, stringy Montreal map is lovely, as are the ultradense drawings that contain some 150 km worth of lines—a reproduction of the distance the artists strode in Kassel, Germany.
3. Toronto Free Gallery, 1277 Bloor St W
Back in March, Toronto Free director Heather Haynes kicked off the Bloor West gallery trend with an opening show on Creative Activism. Now, following a successful show of Black Panther posters in September, the gallery continues its focus on conscientious creativity with Rig, an exhibition on alternative energy. It’s all part of a launch for Fuel, the latest think-piece tome from MIT-TO co-pro Alphabet City. Though the show doesn’t open until Thursday, the book’s now available at across the city. Get a copy and study up to hone some conservation-loving cocktail chatter for the opening, free to all starting 7pm on November 27.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Like, Design is Politics, eh?
Too good not to share--from the prolific arts community designer Lisa Kiss. Discovered via Simpleposie, Impolitical & Design For Obama.
Vancouver: Burlesque, and not Ski-bum, Central?
Vancouver is often thought of (and marketed) as more Gore-Tex than glamour. But a new exhibit, "Juliette and Friends" at the city's Presentation House Gallery aims to show that Vancouver does have a history of outrageous nightlife that's just as significant as its reputation for outdoor activity.
In the process, the show digs up tons of campy retro pics--from two little known and one just-discovered collection--that entertain whether or not you lose sleep over things like Vancouver as Vegas of the north. (It happened!)
Today's National Post has my Q&A with exhibit co-curator Helga Pakasaar. Click here for the paper's digital edition (go to page M12) or read on after the jump to discover the louche in left-coast history. (If you like it, and live nearby, you might want to check out the opening--older burlesque stars will be in attendance.)
Dick Oulton image from www.presentationhousegall.com
It was once Las Vancouver
National Post, November 21, 2008
British Columbia is often thought more granola than glamourpuss. But as a new exhibit about Vancouver in the 50s, 60s and 70s aims to show, the West has a longstanding urbane underbelly. Here, show co-curator Helga Pakasaar tells Leah Sandals how to find the luxe and the louche in Left Coast history.
Q This show is filled great, campy retro photographs. What ties them all together?
A The general theme is Vancouver history from the 50s through to the mid 70s, particularly looking at nightlife. These are not photographs of the streets of Vancouver, which is commonly the case with city-themed shows. Instead, we’re focusing on interiors, on people dressing up for the camera, on how people imagined glamour. The photos come from three collections: the CBC archives, the Penthouse nightclub’s collection, and the life work of commercial photographer Dick Oulton. Overall, it’s a view of how Vancouver society presented itself at the time.
Q Why the title “Juliette and Friends”?
A We titled the show after a TV program that everyone watched in those days. Its star, Juliette, kind of summarizes that era in terms of cultural memory--a strong, feisty personality who started working as an entertainer when she was 13.
Q So this presents a pretty different view of Vancouver than the nature-oriented “Super, Natural British Columbia” stuff, doesn’t it?
A Well, outdoor recreation is certainly a part of the image of this place. But I don’t think it has fully represented what the city is about. It’s also about people needing to be entertained, and being very insular and indoors.
The scenes in The Penthouse nightclub, the parties, the dining rooms, the very lively jazz scene, even scenes of nightlife on the local CBC station at the time—they’re not often thought of, but they’re very important to the city’s history.
In other words, I don’t think that every Vancouverite is a hiker. The great outdoors doesn’t always beckon. It’s like any other city in that sense. And overall this a portrait of the city with its ambitions to be cosmopolitan, at a time when the city was imagining itself as more than a small town.
Q Right now Vancouver is imagining itself again—this time around the Olympics. Did that influence this show?
A We absolutely do see the Olympics as a link; it’s prompted so much discussion about what the city is. Is it global, or is it Canadian? What kind of growth is needed? Do we need this rapid transit line? Where is the Olympic money being invested?
The 50s to 70s were another time the city imagined itself in a certain way. And this show explores just how societies do that. It’s not only in building monuments and grand structures, but also putting ourselves in environments—in the way we decorate a supper club, in what kind of fantasy we demonstrate to ourselves. Vancouver as an idea is very much on the table right now.
Q You’re having a lecture during this exhibit about the history of burlesque in Vancouver. Were there really many burlesque clubs around town in 60s?
A Quite a few, all in different parts of town with different kinds of clientele. There are certain clues we’ve gotten from these photographs. For example, we have a 1950s image of someone called The Great Pretender who was an early transsexual entertainer. And Vancouver had very strong links with Las Vegas. Often the same entertainers came here as performed there. It was a pretty lively, interesting place.
Q Is it true that many of these photographs have just been discovered?
A Yes. The CBC material has just been sitting in their basement; they’ve occasionally put them up in the hallways, but there has never been an exhibition of this scope. Some negatives have never come out of their envelopes before. The Penthouse collection was discovered just when the club was renovating recently; they were stuck in boxes behind a wall. And commercial photographer Dick Oulton’s material was donated to us in a large archive. It’s really just the tip of the iceberg.
“Juliette and Friends” has a free public launch today at 8pm and continues to January 11 at Vancouver’s Presentation House Gallery (www.presentationhousegall.com).
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Trade Secrets Report & Extras
Today www.canadianart.ca posted my report from the Trade Secrets curating conference at the Banff Centre.
Like any report of such an information-swappin' event, there was a lot I left out. That's partly because I'm still processing it, I think.
Yet there was a whole sector of discussion at Trade Secrets around building museum collections that seems particularly relevant right now; I'm sorry I left it out. What makes this oft-dry topic particularly topical is that although the Art Gallery of Ontario's new reno has been generally well received architecturally there have been complaints of the gallery showing/acquiring weak works, particularly in its contemporary sections.
At the conference, New Museum chief curator Richard Flood, for one, encouraged the type of approach that won him and his colleagues raves at the Walker Art Center--to paraphrase, when you can't afford the works everyone wants, or of works in the central art historical narrative, look to the left or the right of that.
The Walker followed this dictum. So instead of chasing after lower-priced, lower-quality works from MoMA-collection, MoMA-endowment-level modernists like Picasso, Mondrian, Matisse, and Pollock, the Minneapolis-based institution focused on a quality collection of "alternative modernisms" in the form of "Japanese Gutai, Viennese Actionism, Italian Arte Povera, the international Fluxus movement" with artists including "Alighiero Boetti, Bruce Conner, David Hammons, Yves Klein, Marisa Merz, Hermann Nitsch, Nam June Paik, Hannah Wilke" and many others.
Also informative was an emphasis by some at the conference on successful regionalist collecting approaches. Sabine Breitwieser, for instance, built the hugely respected reputation of Vienna's Generali Foundation by showing and collecting Austrian artists like Valie Export, Rainer Ganahl, Peter Friedl, Ernst Caramelle, Peter Weibel, Dorit Margreiter and many others.
Breitwieser did note at one point the downside of popularizing regional art--namely, that auction prices start to rise to the extent that museums can no longer acquire the work!
Nonetheless, artist Ken Lum, responding to the discussion, observed wistfully that in Vienna, the curators "stuck up for their local artists" whereas in Canada there was almost a feeling of apologizing for them. Lum didn't extend this attitude solely to curators, far from it, noting that many north-of-the-49th artists seem resistant to the idea of being placed in a "Canadian collection" at a museum. The implication, he said, is that if work is designated to the "Canadian collection", it is of lower calibre than if it is deemed to be able to stand in the narrative of "the international collection." Subtle differences, to be sure, but ones that affect our perceptions of what should and shouldn't be collected using public funds.
Western Front exhibition director Candice Hopkins also touched on the positive power of regionalism during her closing remarks, when she summarized her learning that curating is best viewed as a function rather than a profession, and functions best, at times, in a context of the "ultralocal."
Worth thinking about, for certain, even as Gehry's building, and others across the country, dazzle.
Photo of White Columns director Matthew Higgs and Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal director Marc Mayer courtesy of the Banff Centre
The Big Three Killed my $25-Billion Baby
Ever since I read about the auto industry's bailout request, I'm having problems getting this tune out of my mind:
You gotta hand it to the White Stripes for rhyming "my baby's my common sense" and "so don't give me planned obsolescence", dontcha now?
In terms of other artists addressing the auto industry and related topics, I must say that for some time I've wished--and wished hard--that someone in pipeline-rich Alberta would do a show on the oil industry.
Admittedly, this would be in the vein of potential insanity for any Alberta-based curator. The bulk of the people in Alberta are employed one way or another by the oil industry, and while gas prices are dropping at the pumps, there's still a major labour shortage there as a result. (Every shop and restaurant I went into during my past weekend there was hiring.) Though the show I'm thinking of would include criticism-free historical pics and paintings of the industry, it's likely any such show might be perceived as too critical of the business that keeps cash in Albertans' pockets.
Also, I realize from my time at the Trade Secrets conference that such an exhibition would likely be considered too didactic and "cur-auteur"-ial. Yet if the oil industry is something many are connected to and concerned with, and there are artists making relevant work (Ed Burtynsky, Rita McKeough and Terence Koh just to name a few), where's the harm in doing topical exhibitions?
Granted, some of the reluctance to do such a show in Alberta, is, as I noted, politically and funding oriented. In the east, we've already seen "1973: Sorry Out of Gas" at Montreal's Canadian Centre for Architecture, and next week will see a show called "Rig: Designs for the Fuel Transition" open at Toronto Free Gallery. (It's related to the launch of the latest Alphabet City book bridging art, design and politics--this time around the topic of "Fuel".) Interestingly, artists working around the oil-rich area of Aberdeen, Scotland, have exhibited works on the oil industry that fall along the length of the political spectrum. (See here, here and here for a few examples.)
One day, whether it's considered "good curating" or not, I would hope for a similar exhibition in Calgary or Edmonton to spur public conversations on this "invisible hand" of Alberta life. With many museums being encouraged to reposition themselves as "community hubs" what could be more relevant?
