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.

“Maximillian?…No, Maximultimillion” is the response attributed to Lord Beaverbrook, a.k.a Max Aitken, when he was once asked his name.  It gives you a sense of the grandeur with which the Canadian media baron must have swirled about London social circles in the early 20th century.

Lord Beaverbrook. Image: photobucket.com

I noticed, the other day in the Art Newspaper, THIS article about how the UK-based Beaverbrook foundation is having to sell Cherkley Court, the former home of Lord Beaverbrook, for whom the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in New Brunswick, is named.

Cherkley Court, in England. Image: exclusiveheritageavenues.com

As you probably know, the Foundation and the gallery have long been locked in a bitter dispute over which paintings belong to whom, and the Foundation needs the money from the sale of Cherkley Court to pay its legal bills. Read more about the ongoing battle, HERE.

For What? One of Frederick Varley’s excellent war paintings, made in 1918 while with the CWMF. Image: warmuseum.ca

While reading an advance copy of Ross King upcoming book Defiant Spirits, about the Group of Seven, I discovered that in 1916, Lord Beaverbrook founded the Canadian War Records Office and the War Memorials Fund, through which many of the Group - A.Y. Jackson, Frederick Varley, and Arthur Lismer - were commissioned to record the war.

The brilliant novelist Evelyn Waugh. Image: blogs.guardian.co.uk

Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop. Image: finebooksmagazine.com

I also discovered that as owner of the British papers the Daily Express, the Sunday Express and the Evening Standard, Beaverbrook employed the novelist Evelyn Waugh (one of my favorites) and then lampooned him in one of my favorite films, Scoop, as Lord Copper and as Lord Monomark in both Put Out More Flags and Vile Bodies.

A note: I also found out, in Ross King’s book, that former Prime Minister Mackenzie King loathed the work of the Group of Seven - he thought they were far too outlandish, despite their desire to create a Canadian style of painting.  Plus ca change…

Curator William Huffman of the Toronto Arts Council has, in collaboration with the Art Dealers Association of Canada (ADAC) organized some 200-odd Canadian artworks to be displayed to foreign dignitaries during the G8 and G20 summits.

After the fake lake brouhaha, this comes as a better bit of G20 art news, as my fellow blogger Leah Sandals acknowledges in her post HERE.

Gershon Iskowitz, Midnight No. 3 (B244), 1986. Oil on canvas. All images courtesy of ADAC.
Image courtesy Miriam Shiell Fine Art and the Estate of the Artist.

The works, which include one of Brian Jungen’s hockey masks and a sculpture of bears – front and back – by Dean Drever hanging in the Prime Minister’s Office, have been specially chosen by Huffman and a crew of 12 people to represent the breadth of contemporary Canadian artistic practice. Also on display in the PMO will be 2 landscapes by Winnipeg painter Ivan Eyre. There will be a stunning Riopelle in the leader’s lounge, and work by legendary Quebecoise artist Francoise Sullivan. Alongside these will be works chosen by the Ontario Crafts Council.

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His highness the Aga Khan, with his Order of Canada. Image: archive.gg.ca

1. His Highness the Aga Khan will participate in the Foundation Ceremony to mark the beginning of the development of the Ismaili Centre, the first-ever Aga Khan Museum for Islamic Art and Culture, and their Park, in Toronto’s Don Mills area.

Read more HERE.

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From London, UK: A charity called Art of Giving is launching their National Art Competition in October 2010.

The Saatchi Gallery, London. Image: piclondon.co.uk

It’s an open competition for artists working in painting, drawing, sculpture and photography. Ten finalists in each category will be given the opportunity to exhibit their work at London’s Saatchi Gallery on October 7 - 9. How many categories? It’s unclear, but you can read more HERE and apply HERE.

The winners receive a cash reward, and lots of publicity, which in the U.K, means something.

Paintings on view at the Saatchi Gallery. Image:contemporaryartlinks.com

Artists are invited to submit up to five works of art. It costs 20 Pounds per work, which is $30, which is not bad for the incredible exposure that your work could receive. And Art of Giving will be donating a minimum of 10% of the proceeds from the competition entry fees to the Red Cross Disaster Fund.

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Check out my piece on artist Kent Monkman’s home and studio in the current issue of Design Lines magazine. The studio, a former factory, was re-done by Jason Halter of boutique design firm Wonder Inc.

You know Monkman for his traditionally painted landscapes into which he inserts contemporary figures of First Nations people, often doing rather unconventional things…

Kent Monkman, Achilles and Patroclus, 2008. Image: kentmonkman.com

Or for his drag performances as Miss Chief Eagle Testickle…

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Click HERE for a questionnaire with Vancouver artist Jeff Wall in this month’s issue of Frieze magazine.

“I get so much from looking at great works, but some days – or even some months – I get more from not looking at them. You experience the art also by being away from it and not seeing it.” - Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall, The Destroyed Room, 1978. Image: tate.org.uk

Also, HERE in Art + Auction, Souren Melikian writes on the shifting perceptions in the Old Masters market, where mediocre works are achieving great prices, thanks to scarcity of the real gems.

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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.

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Well.  Last night I did a “Face the Critic” at the Drake, with Leah Sandals and Richard Vaughn and it was…interesting, to say the least. I didn’t feel able to properly articulate my views - there were some big personalities in the room. But I learned a lot, and it’s always good to have your foundations shaken a little.

Brendan Flanagan, Reflective Pool. Image: brendanflanagan.ca.

The idea was that each critic would bring two works – one we ‘love’ and one we ‘loathe.’

Richard began by pointing out that he doesn’t subscribe to the idea of ‘loving’ or ‘loathing’, which is fair enough. Then he went on to talk at length, and very interestingly, about how much he loved an Allyson Mitchell work – one of her large, fun-fur covered Sasquatch sculptures.

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In the midst of promoting the Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival, which opens this Wednesday night, Feb 24th with a big gala screening and then to the public from Friday Feb 26th to Sunday 28th in Toronto, there are three under-the-radar highlights that you should know about:

A wallhanging by El Anatsui at the Venice Biennale. Image: artradarasia.com

1. Fold, Crumple, Crush: The Art of El Anatsui is the world premiere of a film on the amazing African artist whose wondrous metal wallhangings took the Venice biennale by storm several years ago. He will also have the world premiere of a retrospective of his work at the ROM in Toronto coming up later this year.

Click HERE for more info on the film.

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