The other day, I did a studio visit with the young artist and very recent OCAD grad (2010) Hugh Scott-Douglas.

I had seen his ceramic sculptures at a collectors home and fell in love with them. They were mid-sized, off-balance ovals and loopy shapes that were roughly modeled but heavily and sophisticatedly glazed. Some, he showed at Clint Roenisch’s gallery in a 3-day exhibition this spring, had working light bulbs in their ends.

Hugh. Image: VoCA

I was expecting to see sculpture when I arrived, but Hugh’s tiny studio room was hung with paintings, which he was preparing for an upcoming show in L.A. (One of many shows this year, a testament to his ambition and social networking skills, but that’s another post, coming soon.)

Some ‘bad’ paintings by Hugh Scott-Douglas. Image: VoCA

He explained that while he studied in the sculpture program at school, he now worked in other media, mainly since he could stack more paintings together than he could store his extremely fragile, unfired clay sculptures.

A sculpture by Hugh Scott-Douglas. Image: verykunst.com

We spoke at length about his practice, mostly about ‘bad’ art, and the ‘willful idiocy’ that some young (and less young) painters have been bringing to their practices in recent years and which he is himself investigating.

I’m also interested in the idea of ‘bad’ art – in fact, what I loved about Hugh’s sculptures is the dichotomy between the off-kilter shapes and rich, heavy glazing. I love how much ‘bad’ art looks wonderful inside a white walled gallery. I love how clumsy execution is magically balanced by the artist’s intention. Of course, when artists make ‘bad’ art, it’s a deliberate move, a way of investigating new possibilities, or, as Raphael Rubenstein mentions in THIS article (that Hugh sent to me) a way of ignoring the ‘impossibility’ of painting.

His inspiration wall. From Mark Rothko to Tonya Harding - that’s kinda great. Image: VoCA

His tools. Image: VoCA

I feel it’s also a reaction against the market. From THIS article “Waxing Durr” in the quarterly publication Art Lies, on what they term “retard art”: “Posed as an act of passive market resistance, this recent slackerdom ultimately occupies a position of privilege and luxury, highlighting the market’s ready recuperation of any production, even the most retarded.”

Another of Hugh’s ‘bad’ paintings, soon to be shown in L.A. Image: VoCA

Check out Hugh Scott Douglas’s website HERE.

I think he’s definitely one to watch.

Since I haven’t been away - yet - this summer, my favorite summer show is in Toronto, at one of my favorite galleries.

Flavio Trevisan, The Three Dales, 2010. Image: flaviotrevisan.com

With the mayoral debate gearing up and the fact that Torontonians seem obsessed with urban issues and how to evolve our ward-centric patchwork quilt of a city, this show is particularly relevant.

Flavio Trevisan: Studies of a New Past
Diaz Contemporary
Through August 14, 2010

Hurry - don’t miss it, it’s definitely worth seeing in person.

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I just - finally - got the press release announcing the world premiere retrospective of El Anatsui, the African artist whose shimmering, decadent textiles made from metal bottlecaps are stunningly beautiful.

The artist El Anatsui. Image: ethicarts.org

This is going to be THE exhibition to see in Toronto, if not Canada, this fall. I’m sure of it.

El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You about Africa
October 2, 2010 to January 2, 2011 at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

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Ryan Van Der Hout, Slide 17, 2007, Chromogenic Print

I got a lovely email from a young artist Ryan Van Der Hout, a recent graduate of the Ryerson photography program in Toronto. He calls his phot-based work, which doesn’t involve the use of a camera, “photographic sketches that highlight the possibilities of the medium.”

He’s got an exhibition on at Toronto’s Lonsdale Gallery from May 26- June 27, 2010, with an artist’s reception this coming Saturday.

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Check out my article in this month’s issue of Azure magazine, on the incredible Emu feather concoctions by Colombian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso.

One of Maria Fernanda Cardoso’s Emu Wear pieces. Image: ifoundsometreasure.com

Cardoso decided to investigate the Emu - the Australian, ostrich-like bird - as a way of relating to her new homeland, Australia. She began with feather sculptures and ended up with sculpture-like cloaks and hats that work as a kind of camouflage for the wearer.

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Last week we posted HERE part one of our conversation with Douglas Coupland. In this post, Coupland talks about his collecting habits, coming from a “guns-and-ammo” family, his interest in nuclear culture and his new TV mini-series, among other things.

Douglas Coupland’s tiny cubes of 100 stamps. Image: VoCA

Coupland brings out a bowl filled with small cubes of 100 stamps, held together with a band of paper.

VoCA: Wow, did you make all these?

DC: Oh God, no. I collect stamps, I collect Japanese stamps.

VoCA: See, you do collect! You collect tons of things!

DC: Ok, the thing is, there’s a show on A&E called ‘Hoarders’, have you seen it?

VoCA: I’ve heard of it. It’s about people who obsessively collect things.

DC: No, no. I collect. These people don’t get rid of shit. (laughs) These are people who use a paper towel and don’t throw it out thinking it might be useful in the future. People who hoard have almost always had a huge, catastrophic loss in their life, a family member usually and it’s almost impossible to get rid of once you’ve got it. It becomes for them, ‘something you can’t take away from me,’ kind of thing.

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Last week at his beautiful, art-filled Ron Thom designed home in Vancouver, VoCA sat down with artist-slash-writer Douglas Coupland to get his views on everything from Warhol to techological obsolescence to City of Toronto love.

“All young artists secretly think they’re the next Warhol,” says the Generation X author.

Douglas Coupland. Image:anthonygeorge.com

Here are some highlights:

VoCA: Douglas Coupland, are you more artist than writer or vice versa?

DC: I don’t differentiate. I don’t see a real difference. Is cooking different from roasting?

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Stay tuned for an interview with Douglas Coupland, author, artist, fan-of-Warhol and recent author of a book on McLuhan.

Some of Coupland’s recent artworks.

Often, the spotlight eludes excellent artists who aren’t showing with the right galleries, or for that matter, any gallery. So…here’s an off-the-radar artist who is doing lovely, sensitive work about place and memory.

All photos courtesy Sandra Hawkins.

We met Ottawa-based artist Sandra Hawkins M.E.S., B.F.A., C.F.A., B.A. soc. through Facebook, and have been interested in her work for some time.

Now she will be showing an installation and series of prints @Reference, on Queen Street West in Toronto next door to the Drake Hotel, for three days from Tuesday, March 30 until Thursday April 1.

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This weekend, VoCA paid a visit to the studio of Toronto artist Dennis Lin.

The installation, no. 1 – 60, currently on view at 47 Gallery. Image: forty-seven.ca/Derek Flack

Another view of no. 1 – 60, Image: VoCA

Lin, who works mostly with wood, creates huge installations, many commissioned by the likes of design firm Yabu Pushelberg for their hotel and condo interiors around the world. He is just back from installing a piece in Quebec City, and another in China.

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