So this weekend I did something kinda fancy. I went to the opera, namely "La Bohème" performed by the Canadian Opera Company.
Now I've heard that admitting to like this crowd-pleasing opera is, for highbrows, kinda shameful. But I really liked it—in addition to being a major visual spectacle in this production, there was plenty of material therein for one to consider the portrayal of artists in popular culture.
For one, the portrayal of artists—like painters, poets and even lady-textile artists—in La Bohème, written in the 1890s, pretty closely mirrors the way that artists are often portrayed today in film and television. That is to say, poor, passionate and living lives of sometime scandal. (Can it really be all that long aways from Rodolfo's Bohemian garrett to Rufus's Brooklyn loft on Gossip Girl? OK, so he's not burning his guitars for heat, but the idea is there.)
I know "Rent" basically updated this opera to the 1990s, but it would be fun to see it adapted today onstage, everyone running around with laptops and cellphones. Of course, I'm also well aware of the fact that according to recent studies, many Canadian artists are dirt poor. That came to mind too, as well as the fact that poverty in one's present day is never perceived as quite as romantic as poverty of the past eras.
Also, I really enjoyed thinking during the performance about the way "low" arts become "high" over time. Oh, it's an old old critical chestnut, that one, but it's one that's still incredibly powerful in terms of class and cash. Back in the 1890s and prior, the opera was a form of popular entertainment. Now it's mega-highfalutin and costs megabucks. As the exhibition Surreal Things at the AGO details, even to work for the ballet was considered artistically selling out, perhaps just as much as creating custom graphics for Microsoft or Wal Mart might be today. But now the ballet signifies discernment and elevated aesthetic taste.
I do wonder, for instance, if a century from now the upper classes will pay big money to see reruns of Lost and yes, Gossip Girl, or perhaps to see related plays or exhibitions. Or if owning an early millennium No Frills bag might be considered in prestigious.
If you've got any aesthetic-sociological predictions to call dibs on, I look forward to hearing 'em.
Image of players from the COC's La Boheme from its website
Monday, May 18, 2009
Back to the La Bohème Future
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What Makes a Masterpiece? Q&A on Vermeer exb in Nat Post
Also out today -- a Q&A related to the Vancouver Art Gallery's new blockbuster, "Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum." The interview was with the gallery's senior curator Ian Thom and it's in today's National Post, with some nice pics of the work. An excerpt:
Q This show is framed as an exhibition of Dutch masterpieces. What makes something a masterpiece?
A I guess the painting would be universally recognized as an extremely fine example of its type. It may have been recognized as accomplished in its own day, but also now. Also, the word "masterpieces" is in the title of the show because the Rijksmuseum wanted us to include it.
Who knew the Rijks could do something like that? You learn something new every day. If you're interested, there's a good image portfolio from the show at the Vancouver Sun's site.
Image of Aelbert Cuyp, Portrait of a Young Man, c 1651, Copyright Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam from the Vancouver Sun
Out today: Contact Reviews
Contact soldiers on and today three of my micro-reviews of its shows appear in today's NOW. An excerpt:
A few standout works make [Still Motions] a must-see.
The first is Quebec artist Gwenaël Bélanger’s print of a mirror shattering as it hits a concrete floor. The second is his remixed video of a similar, spectacular scene in his studio. It’s got a climax worth waiting for.
And the third is Vienna artist Jutta Strohmaier’s video of what seems to be natural light changing in an empty room over the course of a day. It’s an exercise many artists have undertaken, but Strohmaier makes it quite beautiful – a meditation to balance Bélanger’s mayhem.
Image of Gwenaël Bélanger’s Le Grand Fratras from his website
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
My Cannibalistic Homicidal Maniac Kid Could Paint That!
How can I pass this one up? Anthony Hopkins, better known to scared-shitless early 90s teens as Hannibal Lecter, is soon opening a show of his paintings in suburban Toronto at Harbour Gallery. Based on a persual of Hopkins's harp-music-filled art website I'd say there's no rush to get to the opening. But whatevs. As long as he proves himself to be more of a class act than that other recent "I ain't no actor! I'm an artiste!" visitor to town, Billy Bob Thornton, I'll let it be.
Open Letter on Photo Museum Debacle: Artists Refuse Consultation
Just received this in the ol' inbox - an open letter to the National Gallery of Canada on the closure of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. Note the parts in bold (emphasis mine)
Open letter to Mr. Michael Audain, Chairperson, Board of Trustees,
National Gallery of Canada, and Members of the Board.
We the undersigned, including both photographic artists chosen to
participate in the National Gallery consultation on the future of the
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP), and other
distinguished practitioners not chosen, have been struggling with the
implications of the consultation as designed by the National Gallery
of Canada (NGC). We have decided not to participate in the
consultation, unless it can be reformulated as open, public, and
national.
On 8 April, 2009, it was announced that the NGC Board of Trustees had instructed the personnel of the NGC to conduct a national consultation with the photographic community. It was anticipated that this
consultation would be open and public. Many interested members of the community, including artists, curators, researchers, educators, critics, and members of the public, contacted the NGC to ensure that
they would be informed when and where the consultations would be taking place. Instead, the NGC decided to conduct the consultation on an individual basis, by invitation and by telephone, and to present its findings to the Board without attribution. The list of invited artists is confidential.
We understand that the invitation list includes artists who have exhibited their work at the CMCP or the NGC during the last five years, as well as those with scheduled exhibitions forthcoming. We note that the CMCP has been closed for renovations due to a leak in the roof for nearly three years, during which time all CMCP exhibitions were temporarily housed at the NGC. We note too that budgetary restraints and administrative changes had severely restricted the CMCP's autonomy for several years before the temporary closure of the building at 1 Rideau Canal. It is impossible to evaluate the performance and potential of the CMCP from this period of physical upheaval and institutional hardship.
We believe that a public consultation has to involve more than the artist/photographers whose work has been exhibited at the gallery over the past five years. A national consultation of the photographic
community also has to include other professionals in the field: curators, collectors, dealers, researchers, educators, critics, and the large public that has an interest in the CMCP.
We are asking the Board of Trustees to ensure that an open and public process of national consultation is conducted before any further decisions are made about the future of the CMCP.
We would be happy to participate openly in a public consultation.
Signed:
Raymonde April, Benoit Aquin, Richard Baillargeon, Marian Penner
Bancroft, Claude-Philippe Benoit, Phil Bergerson, Karl Beveridge, AA
Bronson, Michel Campeau, Bertrand Carriére, Serge Clément, Carol
Condé, Linda Covit, Marlene Creates, Donigan Cumming, Stan Denniston,
Jennifer Dickson, Evergon, William Eakin, Janieta Eyre, Vera Frenkel,
Richard Fung, Wyn Geleynse, Lorraine Gilbert, Don Gill, Rafael
Goldchain, Adrian Gollner, Pascal Grandmaison, Sunil Gupta, Toni
Hafkenscheid, Ted Hiebert, David Hlynsky, Richard Holden, Thaddeus
Holownia, Holly King, Thomas Kneubuhler, Susan McEachern, Robert
Minden, Shelley Niro, Sylvie Readman, Henri Robideau, Jayce Salloum,
Sandra Semchuk, Cheryl Sourkes, George Steeves, Gabor Szilasi, Jeff
Thomas, Diana Thorneycroft, Eve K. Tremblay, Richard-Max Tremblay,
Justin Wonnacott, Andrew Wright, Jin-me Yoon
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
From Dreamscapes to Dining Rooms - Surreal Things Q&A
Earlier this year, the Victoria and Albert Museum's "Surreal Things" exhibition -- on surrealism in design -- was slated to appear at the Dallas Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts. But according to V&A curator Ghislaine Wood, the recession has since ruled out those venues. That makes the Art Gallery of Ontario the sole North American venue for the exhibition, which opened in Toronto this weekend.
Recently, I sat down with Wood at the AGO to chat about the show. Today the National Post published our condensed interview. Here's an excerpt.
Q Dali was really into creating fantasy worlds. What do you think he and his colleagues would have made of the Internet, a place where millions of people construct elaborate fantasies on sites like Second Life?
A I think Dali would have jumped to take over the Internet and make it Dali-Land. ... I also think that audience participation in the Internet would have intrigued Dali, because the Surrealists introduced those ideas. Dali once made a jacket with glasses all over it. And what you were supposed to do was take the glasses off the jacket, fill them with creme de menthe from a bottle nearby and get drunk in front of an object, therefore having a relationship with the object that's entirely subjective and personal. Participation in art [today] is a major idea, and that was Dali in 1956.
Image of Dali's Ruby Lips from the AGO
Monday, May 11, 2009
Update: Toronto Artist's Contract Ended due to View on Israel
This weekend, there's been much to-do over a Toronto gallery's surprising decision to renege on an artist's contract due to the artist's views on Israel. The gallery, the Koffler, is part of a Jewish cultural centre and the artist, Reena Katz, who is Jewish, was part of the Koffler's scheduled programming for May and June. Katz has been associated with Israel Apartheid Week, a group which questions Israel's actions in Palestine.
On Friday, the Koffler issued a statement dissociating themselves from Katz. Facebook uproar and articles in the local media (here and here) have since followed.
In my opinion, this is quite a bad move for the gallery. The Koffler has in recent years tried to open and hip-ify their image by doing more downtown programming (their actual gallery is located in the suburbs). Katz was to be part of that initiative. This decision goes right against that kind of open and flexible image.
Further, it's almost certain that artists who've exhibited at the gallery in the past--like BGL and Blue Republic--are not Zionist in identification.
So what's the problem here? It's that the artist is open about their non-Zionist views? That the information regarding same is available on her Facebook page?
Also, if the political views of artists was so important to the Koffler in the first place, they should have scoped all this out beforehand--before months of press material and hype have gone out on their part.
Photo of Reena Katz from the Star