As some of you probably know, I do the publicity for the Reel Artists Film Festival, which is put on each year in Toronto by the Canadian Art Foundation.

Shooting the film Picture Start, showing artist Rodney Graham. Image: courtesy Helen Yagi.

This year, four days of films on art and artists take place at Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox, and will feature some of the world’s greatest artists, including:

Sol Lewitt – Canadian premiere
William Kentridge – Canadian premiere
Wanda Koop – WORLD premiere
Carl Beam – Toronto premiere
Shuvinai Ashoona
Ai Weiwei – North American premiere
Pipilotti Rist – Canadian premiere
Jenny Holzer – Toronto premiere
Olafur Eliasson – Toronto premiere
Damian Ortega – Canadian premiere
Christian Boltanski – Toronto premiere
Nam June Paik – WORLD premiere
The Chinese art market – Toronto premiere
John Baldessari – Canadian premiere
The Vancouver School (Picture Start) – WORLD premiere
Andreas Gursky – Canadian premiere

Last night, I previewed William Kentridge: Anything is Possible, about the famous South African artist. It is a must-see for artists, particularly anyone interested in drawing, animation, theatre or opera.

The film offers incredible insight into Kentridge’s artistic process, which is complex and encompasses many different approaches and ways of working. He also describes how his childhood experiences and the history of South Africa have influenced his art.

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I wanted to do a blog post about contemporary dance, partly because I love dance and see a lot of it in Toronto.

The water scene in Un peu de tendresse, bordel de merde. Image: accel21.com

But also, because the other night I saw Montreal choreographer Dave St. Pierre‘s company performe Un peu de tendress bordel de merde, the second in a triology whose most significant characteristic is that most of the performers are stark naked.

The ‘corps de ballet’ from Un peu de tendresse. Image: artandculture.com

Actually, it’s not the most significant characteristic. I was reminded of orgiastic paintings from 17th century Europe, like Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents, which is in the Art Gallery of Ontario. The show had other interesting artistic references and some genuinely touching moments.

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Winnipeg artist Daniel Barrow has won the 2010 Sobey Art Award. The prize awards $50,000 to a visual artist under the age of 40. I had a feeling he’d win, having been passed up for the award in 2008.

Daniel Barrow, Flaying, 2010, from his show at the Art Gallery of York University. Image: livewithculture.ca

Daniel Barrow at work giving a projection performance. Image: livewithculture.ca

Daniel Barrow, Kiss Me Before I Die, 2010. Image: jessicabradleyartprojects.com

Please see more of Daniel Barrow’s work on his website, HERE. He shows with Jessica Bradley Art & Projects in Toronto, where he will have an exhibition from November 20 — December 23, 2010.

Some thoughts on the role of women in the visual arts: American artist Barbara Kruger makes the cover of W magazine’s Art issue, via the famous-for-nothing Kim Kardashian. The opening line of the article goes like this: “Kim Kardashian can’t sing, act, or dance, but she’s found the role of a lifetime in the fine art of playing herself.”

Image: highsnobiety.com

Meanwhile, a new feminist art documentary is about to come out this fall. It’s called !Women Art Revolution, and it’s by artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson. Watch the trailer HERE.

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Last night we went to a performance by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, who we had seen a few years ago at MOCCA and blogged about HERE, this time together with the American First Nations artist James Luna.

Guillermo Gomez-Pena with curator Philip Monk. Image: VoCA

La Nostalgia Remix is the last in a series of projects called The Shame-man meets El Mexican’t, “in which they challenge assumptions and lazy thinking about ethnicity and culture in our society with a strong dose of melancholic humour and sharp-edged conceptualism.”

Remix is a series of live performances that explore the cultural, symbolic and iconographic dimensions of nostalgia both on the Native American “rez” and in the Chicano “barrio.”

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You may not imagine too much of a happening art scene when you think of Calgary, Alberta…

Wednesday Lupypciw, Lucky Charmz Clubb (video still). Image: stride.ab.ca

…but you’d be wrong. There’s a good art scene in Cowtown, as you can tell by a quick browse of VoCA’s ‘Calgary’ link, on the category sidebar on the left of the screen.

Here’s some of what’s on this fall:

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Did you go to Toronto’s “All Night Contemporary Art Thing” – Nuit Blanche this year?
What did you think – Did you LOVE it or LOATHE it?

Fujiko Nakaya’s fog installation at philosopher’s walk at Nuit Blanche 2006. Image: topleftpixel.com

The organizers blocked of Yonge Street – was this a good thing?

How did the art fare? Better or worse than last year?

What were your favorite installations? Least favorite?

Let us know – Nuit Blanche will only improve if we generate a discussion on what worked, and what didn’t.

Please comment below!

By now it’s all over the web. The story began when Anishnaabe artist Rebecca Belmore yelled “I quit!” after a performance outside the VAG in Vancouver last Saturday titled WORTH (–statement of Defence), leading many in the art world to think that she may well do just that, frustrated as she is by an ongoing legal battle with her Toronto dealer, Pari Nadimi.

Rebecca Belmore, View of the Artist and Truck, 2009. Image: canadianart.ca

According to a press release, the performance “demonstrates the artist’s public commitment to vigorously defending herself, her art practice and more broadly, the rights of all artists against those who seek to exploit them.”

Watch the performance on YouTube HERE.

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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?

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Last week, we attended a cocktail party in honour of the new director of Canadian Stage (CanStage) – Matthew Jocelyn. He has just announced his programme for the 2010-2011 season in Toronto, and it sounds FANTASTIC.

Merce Cunningham dancers performing against a backdrop by Robert Rauschenberg.
Image: nytimes.com

I spoke briefly with Mr. Jocelyn, who is interested in encouraging multidisciplinary artistic collaborations a la Merce Cunningham/John Cage/Robert Rauschenberg.

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