Three artists – all women – have been awarded prizes by the City of Montreal.

Alana Riley, At the Blackwatch, 2004-2007. Image: redbull381projects.com

Alana Riley is an artist whose work I’ve been keeping an eye on.  She has won the Prix Pierre-Ayot, which is presented by the city in collaboration with the Art Dealers Association (AGAC), to an artist under the age of 35.

Riley, who is represented by Joyce Yahouda Gallery, receives $5000, plus $500 to go toward an exhibition of her work, and the City of Montreal will acquire one of her works.

Continue reading →

Is fashion art? Or ‘only’ craft?

The Montreal fashion designer Denis Gagnon. Image: bestioledemode.com

It’s a discussion that comes up every once in a while, usually when an exceptionally talented fashion designer comes onto the scene. And it presumes that craft is somehow lesser than fine art. But I don’t think it’s any less relevant or important, it is just different. Craft relates to objects which have a use, while visual art is the pure transformation of emotion or thought into a language. But why shouldn’t artists or craftspeople be able to use the language of craft to express an artistic sentiment?

Consider Japanese Living National Treasures, who preserve the tradition of such crafts as ceramics, textiles and lacquerware at the very highest levels. I believe fashion is a craft that can become art. It certainly did in the hands of Alexander McQueen.

Continue reading →

Here is another example of how art and life – through design – are drawing closer together all the time. Mirror has a long history in art going back to at least the Renaissance and of course more recently the wonderful pieces by Michelangelo Pistoletto and Michael Snow, David Altmejd and Jeff Wall, among many, many others. Over the past few years, I’ve been predicting the return of mirror as a material in art, and now it’s seemingly everywhere.

Sweden’s Tree Hotel has a room called Mirrorcube. Image: geeknewscentral.com

I came across this awesome hotel room that looks very similar to one of Michel de Broin’s sculptures, his Superficial from 2004, which is essentially a large mirrored rock that he installed in a forest in Alsace, France and then documented. I love the idea of using mirror to create camouflage.

Continue reading →

Lady Gaga’s meat dress. Image: highsnobiety.com

Well, ok not exactly.

But Lady Gaga definitely channels Montreal artist Jana Sterbak, who made a huge splash when her piece Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic (1987) was first displayed at the National Gallery of Canada.

The Vogue cover was shot – big surprise – by fashion provocateur Terry Richardson and styled by Nicola Formichetti.

According to THIS excerpt, Sterbak’s installation, originally shown on a hanger for emphasis, was aiming to “emphasize the contrast between vanity and bodily decay.”

It’s quite interesting to think of that idea in relation to Lady Gaga, no?

Continue reading →

The Walrus has a good interview with Simon Brault, author of No Culture, No Future, the new book that exploresthe fact that the arts are a necessity, not a luxury.

As he puts it, the book is a “call to action” – for Brault, it’s up to everyone to communicate with one another to promote and encourage the arts.

Image: cormorantbooks.com

Here is some of what Brault has to say in the interview:

“When you look in the papers, the conversation around arts and culture is reduced to the economy or to presenting a particular cultural product. It’s not a broad conversation about what arts and culture bring to people — to children, to people who are lonely, to people who have a need for expressive life.”

“Every human being has a relationship with the arts. The fact that we are ignoring that — and trying to lecture people as if they are completely ignorant, as if they are completely disconnected from everything we believe in – is a big problem.”

“I read, I think, I write, but mostly I act. And I try to act with people around me. I still believe that ideas can change the world. I know it can sound like a very romantic vision — but it’s not so romantic because things are changing… ”

Author Simon Brault. Image: cormorantbooks.com

I haven’t read the book, but I’m looking forward to it.

If you want to know more on Brault’s thoughts vis a vis the arts in Canada (and the world), buy the book HERE.

The finalists for the 2010 Sobey Art Award were announced today. The artists, selected by a jury from each region of Canada, are competing for the Award’s $50,000 top prize. Bendan Tang may be the newest kid on the block, but our money’s on Duke & Battersby or the excellent Daniel Barrow, who was passed over in 2008.  Do we have wonderful artists in this country, or what?

The 2010 Sobey Art Prize shortlist:

• West Coast and Yukon: Brendan Lee Satish Tang

A work by Brendan Lee Satish Tang. Image: illusion.scene360.com

Continue reading →

There’s so much happening in the Canadian art world, it can be difficult to keep up with it all. Here’s a reminder of some places you can hear excellent talks, watch videos and read thoughtful commentary.

On OCAD’s website, check out videos from their excellent speaker series, including talks by the critic Hal Foster, Jamelie Hassan and Vandana Shiva.

Jamelie Hassan, Wall with Door, 1977. Image: canadianart.ca

Also, Filip, the Vancouver-based art publication, has some excellent podcasts, including THIS one from last year by the writer Diedrich Diederichsen on Judgment, Objecthood, Temporality.

Continue reading →

We returned from Vancouver to the news that Brian Jungen has won the $25,000 2010 Gershon Iskowitz award at the AGO, and that the $50,000 Sobey Art Prize longlist has been announced.

Vanessa Paschakarnis, Shield for a Human, 2009. Bronze. Image: erhard-metz.de

Most regions have a pretty clear shortlister for the Sobey (I’m thinking either Isabelle Pauwels or Jeremy Shaw from the West; Daniel Barrow from the Prairies; Diane Borsato or Jon Sasaki from Ontario and Duke and Battersby from the East) but Quebec has a tough choice between Pascal Grandmaison, Patrick Bernatchez, BGL, Adad Hannah and Karen Tam.

Continue reading →

Ok, ok people, you pummeled VoCA for THIS post, with many comments…

Tell VoCA what you want. Image: smh.com.au

Some agreed, saying “I feel like this this revulsion I’m experiencing is the desired effect: Trecartin would endeavour to highlight contemporary culture’s more outlandish aspects by combining them all into one loathsome beast” and “bad taste, as well as bad technique are the point! Maybe that’s the case here.”

But most blasted my “poorly poorly argued and supported judgments,” my “impatience with the work’s rigor, (that) shows a complete misunderstanding for the medium, and is lazy criticism,” suggesting that perhaps “sometimes aggressively queer work makes (me) feel uncomfortable.”

There have also been numerous suggestions and comments from readers sent to me off the blog.

So, I want to say that I hear you.

I welcome your comments on what you’d like to see in a critical art blog, below.

Thanks!

WE LEFT THE WARM STABLE AND ENTERED THE LATEX VOID (WLTWSAETLV) is an artist residency, lecture series and project space located in François Lemieux’s Montréal apartment.

Michael Pohl, This Will Get Better, 2008. Image: michaelpohl.de

We love the format – it’s somewhat like VoCA, except for the ‘last only 20 months’ bit.

• It is run collaboratively by exhibiting artists.
• It presents talks, interviews and workshops.
• It has no program.
• It has no board of directors.
• It has no government funding.
• It lasts for only 20 months.
• Its activities question current conditions of visual arts production and presentation in Québec.

Click HERE for more (somewhat cryptic) information on current and upcoming artists, including the German artist Michael Pohl, who, like Lemieux, operates an independent exhibition space, CLUB69, from his apartment in Munster, Germany.

If you’re in Montreal this Saturday, you can swing by to hear more at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery this Saturday. While you’re there, definitely check out Magnetic Norths, a project by artist Charles Stankievech.

Continue reading →