The Contemporary Arts of Mathieu Lefevre

Honestly, I don’t find it too awkward to write about Mathieu Lefevre’s art without having ever really seen it in person. I guess this is because Lefevre constantly- and humorously-raises eyebrows and “points fingers” at institutionalized ways of experiencing and valuing art; and so I feel like it’s ok to be similarly cheeky and somewhat self-aware myself. Plus, I’ve heard and read about him before, and his website is complete enough for one to get a good sense of his practice and sense of humour.

Mathieu Lefevre does hilarious installations, sculptures, performances, interventions, paintings, drawings and art with text, yet I’m pretty sure he’d chuckle at the thought of being considered an “interdisciplinary artist.” He doesn’t ”critique” or “comment on” the ”art world” per se (oh god the quotation marks, they’re everywhere), or so I’d like to think. And yes, it’s my prerogative to see his naive-looking aesthetic as something that is as funnily straightforward as it is potentially layered and witty. 

What resonates the most with me in his practice is his amusing struggle to deal with institutionalized/commodified art and wanky labels such as ”contemporary art.” Lefevre is ambiguously very NOW while still ridiculing the very conception of “NOW art”, and luckily he does it in a non-lame way. Win-win situation for everyone, much?

I’m especially fond of his more illustration-based works, which often are a mind-boggling mixture of cute, zany and hardcore. Also, note that Lefevre is participating to Centre Clark’s auction this Saturday the 13th at 2pm. He will be auctioning La Broue ette, a wheelbarrowful of beer, 110 x 135 x 80 cm. Bidding starts at $420 (srsly).

Of terrifying, exciting things happening (in Montreal)

I have been a HUGE fan of long-time Galerie Circulaire member Rene Donais from the first moment I smacked into his work. It didn’t take me years, like it did with Bacon. The immediate, crushing weight of his lines and artistry comes down upon me each time I peek at anything the man has done.

This admission of adoration leaves me feeling vulnerable to the fact that it’s rather clear to see traces of what visually inspires me (on tablecloths and napkins throughout the land). Although my heart is sensitive and squeamish, and I would rather clean your toilet (that has been left on its own-some for years-on-end) than watch a horror movie with you, I am a feverish, sweaty brow for the art of the grotesque.

Give me Goya, give me Ensor, give me Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, and I will surely walk away with a grin a few sizes too large.

Which is what I fully intend to do when I walk out of the exhibition currently on at the Salle de diffusion de Parc-Extension, Complexe William-Hingston, curated by Rene Donais and featuring the works of 9 important Montreal engravers.

On hand will be work from Marc Seguin (whose work is pictured above) and Sylvain Bouthillette, (check out the image below) alongside a handful of others who I am busting at the gut to “meet” as Donais has such a passionate vision within this medium that I can’t imagine that his choices as a commissaire would be anything less than electrifying.

The Salle is located at 421 Saint-Roch Street, 7 minutes away from the Parc Metro station. Call them at (514) 872-6131 if you get lost. Please. Cause you gotta see this.

Exhibition runs until the 11th of January.
Round table discussion with invited artists on the 13 of December at 2pm.

Of terrifying, exciting things to come (in New York)

Is anyone else as anxious and frenzied already about this as I am?

Celia Perrin Sidarous

I’d like for all of you to meet Celia Perrin Sidarous but that sounds like a lot of handshaking and “How do you do?”s so maybe I’ll just introduce you to her photos. The thing that draws me to Celia’s work is her use of empty space, I find her photos both stark and comforting, there is something familiar about them.

Her subject matter in based largely in nature and human experience and she never gives you the full story, just a fragment of something larger that is going on. Celia’s photographs always seem peaceful and child-like but meticulously executed.

Celia is a Montreal-based artist who graduated with a BFA in Photography from Concordia in 2008. In late 2007 she had her first solo show at the artist-run Room and Board and was invited in the summer of 2008 to participate in Toronto’s Gallery 44’s emerging artists show, Proof 15. Celia is currently working as the Assistant to the Director at Dazibao. If you do get the chance to actually meet her I think you will agree that she is just as lovely and interesting as her photographs would suggest.

Until then see more of her work here.

Of People who Live(d) in Joliette, Quebec

I don’t think I have met you, or maybe I have here, in Montreal, and never asked where you grew up. I certainly haven’t yet visited your town, although I have always thought it has a rather sweet name, the name of a best friend you secretly had a crush on all through high school.

But I might just meet you soon, as this art exhibition currently at the Musee d’art de Joliette featuring work by Diane Landry looks as magical and mysterious and playful as my real high-school crush seemed to be.

And one of my real-life current art-crushes, Adrian Norvid, who did wondrous things for Art Pop last year (the photo here was part of his installation for the Notman House) and who continues to inspire me with his intelligent silliness, is also inhabiting space at the same gallery right now.

Norvid stays until May of next year, but Landry’s work goes down the 4th of January, so I highly recommend getting on a bus on your lonesome (or in pairs) and getting out there soon to see some fantastic art and to meet some of the Joliette locals, who I bet are very crush-worthy.

Of All things (written) in New York

While the overnight bus is rather difficult to love to say the least, my recent sojourn to New York City was filled with enough surprising aesthetic conjunctures and intersections to make even the border crossing worthwhile.

Take Movable Type for instance, that intersects at 8th Avenue and 41st - the huge installation currently dwarfing visitors who dare to walk through the hallways at the New York Times, by statistician + artist Mark Hansen and media/sound artist Ben Rubin

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I had heard of Hansen and Rubin’s collaborative works before, as Listening Post, their 2005-2006 acclaimed installation piece that uses sampling from internet chatrooms and public forums online was one I was always sad I never had a chance to experience in the flesh, as it were.

So it was pretty exciting to walk off the bus and find myself accidentally smack-dab in the middle of this newer work by the duo. Its poetry, like that of their past endeavours, lies in the mundane - the 560 screens that make up the piece sample bits and clips of all things written culled from the New York Times database.

And like most things of the ordinary, it is the rhythms and musings between all of the screens flashes and one-off phrases that creates in this piece a sense of space, loss, introspection and hope. Yeah, that sounds rather cheese-dick-y, but remember:

a) I was very tired when I saw this

and

b) there is something extremely moving in the realization that our boring snippets and wordbytes seem profound and worthy of reflection when pooled together and accentuated, pizzicato-like, in multiplicity.

Betty Goodwin (1923-2008)

I just found out that one of the most extraordinary artists to ever grace the streets and spaces of Montreal, Betty Goodwin, passed away a few days ago….

She lived a long, full life, and thankfully so, as it was only in later years that people around these parts clued into the power and unbelievable magnitude of her work.

About a month ago, I had the most fortunate opportunity to walk into a gallery and step right into an office that had one of her original pieces kicking around. To be confronted by one of her works directly is to have the wind ever-so-gently knocked out of you, and to be that much more aware of your breath when it comes back in regular intervals.

A thank-you note, (as in the music, not the post-it) for those earthen questions and grace that spilled out around you, Betty. You will be missed.

Of These Precious, Childish Drawings…

…Not in that way that you think, though, childish as a put-down, childish as that immature, stickier-than-molasses inability to get-on-with-it-all or be-done-with-it. Instead, these original Winne the Pooh drawings that I hoisted ship and sailed to from the excellent blog Drawn to the new-for-me beauty contained within BibliOdyssey, contain a childishness that is nothing like the kind your teachers scolded you about and your parents still nag you to change.

As soon as I open a book with EH Shepard’s delicate, whimsical drawings, I am immediately transported to that childish state where all things are a little more possible, where the elves probably are waiting for you in the woods, and where there is a bit of ache within every moment. And winter somehow helps add a note to their poignancy, ringing through the lines a biting cold that seems to awaken the life contained within each movement…

Absent Wishes at Eastern Bloc

Coming up this Saturday is an artful celebration of the end of the year at Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark), a spacious and daring venue everyone should already be in love with.

Eliane Ellbogen & Monique Mathieu have planned a crazy fun show that will please all video, sound, photo, illustration, performance, installation and film lovers -yes, all of them. Featured artists include: Monique Mathieu, Nader Hasan, Neely Goniodsky, Sarah Pupo, Cassandra Witteman, Willow O’Donnell, Bridget Moser, Jay Gillingham, Yen Chao Lin, Esther Splett, Kendyl Rossi, Genevieve Gagnon, Cecily Dover and Marisa Hoicka.

There will also be musical performances by: Dynamo Coleoptera, Otherpeoplesmusic aka Jackson Deschamps (TO), Joda Clement (TO), Jay Gillingham, Radiate aka Ryan Worril (TO) and Specially Marked Boxes aka Oliver Lewis.

According to the facebook page of the event, your secret crush may or may not show up, doors open at 8pm, music starts at 8 pm and there will be performances by Marisa Hoicka, Nader Hasan and Casandra Witteman shortly thereafter. $8 at the door.

See you then!

Caitlin Gallupe

I want to introduce you all to an artist named Caitlin Gallupe. She is a drifter, occasionally calling Montreal “home” and will have a show at D&Q in the new year. Here’s a little something to get you revved up for it.

pods

The main thing that I love about Caitlin’s artwork is her use of colour and my second favorite is that it’s playful and never stuffy. She got her start designing posters and album art for a smattering of Canadian bands including Immaculate Machine (her bro’s band), Shapes and Sizes, Chet, Colourbook and many more. She still does art for bands but it’s her art for art’s sake that I really love.

Chet album art

Caitlin  has developed a really specific drawing and painting style with flashes of bright colour using acrylic, gouache and old house paint which she has also incorporated into 3 dimensional pieces (like the paper sculpture seen below).

paper sculpture

Aside from her art practice Caitlin plays in a rock band called Slam Dunk, is starting up a new silkscreening studio in Victoria and practices herbal medicine. Also if anyone is interested she’d aspires to one day put on a community production of Jesus Christ Superstar, what a gal!

Monkey Maaaagic!

email her at awesomopolis@gmail.com

and see more of her art here