For The Blog of Love

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I just found out that the remarkable quarterly arts magazine Bad Day has an equally remarkable blog. It’s fresh and constantly updated with badass art: just on the frontpage, I see wool fetischists, Amy Lockhart, Fever Ray, Asher Penn, Aiden Shaw and a post on Butt magazine. Hard to be instantly totes’ sold.

Amy Lockhart @ La Centrale

I’m as late as late can be on the Amy Lockhart promo-bandwagon, and the vernissage and artist talk were both happening over a week ago. But trivialities aside, you should still try to catch her show over at La Centrale (4296 St. Laurent) before it ends on June 21st.

Amy’s style is weird, grotesque and recognizable, with a je-ne-sais-quoi that sets her appart from the ever-expanding crowd of underground independant DIY-ers. Two thumbs up fto her or having a discernable and unique vibe without ever limiting herself to a specific format/medium/character.

Her exhibition features art that range sfrom papier-maché sculptures and installations, to drawings, paintings, zines and superbly fluid animation of Marc Bell doodles. She works with a ton of different mediums and styles while remaining ‘edgy’ and ‘relevant.’

You can find more of her work in the Nog-A-Dod anthology, edited by Marc Bell and published by Conundrum Press (available at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore, 211 Bernard O). The bookstore  also has a copy of the Ganzfeld 5: Japanada! anthology in stock, in which her work is also featured, among pages and pages of equally impressive artists.

GIVEAWAY!!!

FREE STUFF! YOU LOVE FREE STUFF!!
Okay folks here it is the first ever official giveaway on The Frozen Mammoth. You can’t say we’re cheap, maybe lazy but not cheap.

I was reading lately about the amazing Museum of Contemporary Craft (another reason Portland is a superior city to most) and saw that they were showing a collection of illustrations by Kate Bingaman-Burt who illustrated the Handmade Nation book, the companion to the documentary.

I remember seeing her work before in the form of an amazing set of zines she made documenting her purchases for 3 years called What Did You Buy Today?.

What I want from you is to tell us what you bought today and how much it costs. If you are creative I would love for you to attach a visual representation of your purchases (just cause it’s fun, and if you’re an awesome artist, who knows, maybe we’ll blog about you in the future). One winner will be chosen randomly on Friday April 17th and that person will win 4 of Kate’s zines. Fun!
Make sure to include your email in the comments section.

Bad Day #4 Launch and Exhibition Tonight

The Emporium Gallery is back from its winter nap tonight (7-11pm), with the launch of the fourth issue of Bad Day, a Toronto-based magazine, and with an exhibition featuring the artworks of Parra, Lukas Geronimas, Oliver Laric and WZRDS GANG- all of whom are featured in the fourth issue. This mixed-media group exhibition chock full of prints, film and sculpture is not be missed. The Emporium Gallery is located at 3035 St. Antoine Ouest, Studio 74, a 2-3 minute walk from the Lionel-Groulx Metro station. FB for more info.

If you can’t make it to tonight’s launch/vernissage, the exhibition will be open Thursday, April 2nd through Sunday, April 5th from 12PM - 5PM. Private viewings will be available by appointment only from Monday April 6th through Wednesday, April 8th.

Store 1026 Now Open!

In a post about Expozine 2008, I briefly mentioned the awesome Philadelphia-based art studio/community Space 1026. Well, they just opened an online store and it’s fabulous. Picture the Expozine booth of your (my?) dreams that makes you really cream your pants, but bigger and open 24/7. I’ve already got my eyes set on this great Mr. ET print by Andrew Jeffrey Wright (pictured above), as well as colorful rainbowy Wu Tang logo print by Crystal Stokowski (pictured below). I’m sure you’ll find something of your liking over there, so shop around and encourage a sweet bunch of artists!

Of all things scented, and bad….

Tonight! In 20 minutes! The launch of the newest edition of Les Fleurs du Mal, which Julien actually wrote about already right here…

What you need to know:

It’s at Le Bisou, which is at 4147 Boulevard St-Laurent, and the cover fee’s only $5

There will be music - Charlotte Joy Callender, Hugh Manatee Party & Paddle to the Sea. Also, um, the drinks are so cheap that even people who actively dislike art publications, (and if so, why are you reading this? Oh, complex ones!) will be drawn to the night, as it’s $4/beer and $3/shots all night.

The magazine is free and full of great stuff by lots of local, lovable people, and it’s going to make your boring Sunday memorable and wondrous, so get your asses down there, people! Or up there, depending on your location….ah, geography. Ah, context.

Garfield Grundfreid

Tom Devlin, of Montreal-based publishing house Drawn & Quarterly, has been having Garfield Fridays for the past two weeks over at the D&Q blog, where he posts great renditions of the cat by hip artists. This weeek’s is by Aaron Shive and the first one (pictured above) is by Seth Scriver, who 1) is very inspiring, 2) just got published in the second issue of new Canadian contemporary art quarterly Hunter and Cook and 3) will soon be getting a Petit Livre published by the very same D&Q. Phew!

But back to this Garfield business, besides reminding me of how much I loathe the original comics, these drawings made me realize how much I’m paradoxically really into Garfield subversion. So let me share with y’alls a few Garfield comics enhanced by complete strangers (thanks Internet), plus a shot of the installation that was exhibited at the Giant Robot NYC store last November. Can you spot the snazzier-looking Garfield in that last image?

Natalie Reis, Shopdropping and Les Fleurs du Mal Magazine

Natalie Reis is currently exhibiting a series of reinterpreted classic paintings (now with more added phalli). The series is entitled Idols & Creatures and it’s at Galerie Trois Points (suite 520 in the Belgo building: 372, Ste-Catherine W) until February 14th. Snap! TV has a cool video up that will give y’all a fairly good idea of what the exhibition is all about. It also briefly mentions how Reis will be participating to the 2009 Montreal Biennale via Shopdropping Montreal, “a Montreal based collective made up of artists and designers who take part in the act of shopdropping.” Shopdropping is defined by Ryan Watkins-Hughes, creator of shopdropping.net, as the act of covertly placing merchandise on display in a store, a form of reverse shoplifting and culture jamming.

Natalie is also featured in the latest issue (Vol3, N1) of awesome, free and independently published art magazine Les Fleurs du Mal. On page 4 and 5, Benjamin Klein writes about Got Face, Natalie’s series of Karla Homolka paintings in which she explores notions of deceptive and lethal seduction. The magazine is definitely worth the look, as it is well-curated and really an all-around fun and often insightful read. Props to Annie Briard and Edwin Janzen for editing brilliant work, like an in-depth analysis of the aristocrats joke (p. 30), an overview of the history of the laugh track (p. 13), an article on performance artist Josh Schwebel (p. 6) and one on video artist Isabelle Pauwels (p. 17).

I got my copy of the magazine at breakfast hotspot Dusty’s (4510 Parc), but you can also find it in various “artist-run centres and galleries, cafes, restaurants, clubs, cinemas, theatres, university campuses and other selected locations throughout central Montreal, as well as certain locations across Canada and abroad.” According to the editorial, it seems like this will be Les Fleurs du Mal’s last print issue, as it will soon be moving online. Join the magazine’s facebook group to find out when Annie and Edwin do the big jump!