(Cussy) Updates

Jean-Philippe Harvey at home in black and white

Some (updates) are not worth looking at, we definitely get too many of them, and I often feel like ignoring most.

But when the update comes in the form of a new website by artist Jean-Philippe Harvey, one of the Quebec artists I watch out for, I find myself far more open and interested in the idea of actually paying it some attention.

We curated his work last year during Art Pop, and I have to say, I am very intrigued by the sudden absence of colour in his work. It’s a big departure from what he was doing up until recently, and at some point in the near future, I am sure this lil’ blog will see a more detailed discussion about this movement from his end.

For now, go have a look at his websites if it moves you, and it should, because after all, his newest one has a bunch of cuss words in it. Which is always a bonus if you ask me.

MAX WYSE’S MEXICO TERRARIUM! IN TIME FOR THE HEAT!

I first saw Max Wyse’s work a bunch of years ago at Centre Clark. He was in a show with another fellow whose name slips my mind at the moment. But Max’s name and images never did. I’ve carried my intensely visceral connection to his work around for years, in a back pocket or perhaps as a stain on a favourite shirt. And recently, I’ve had the pleasure of re-visiting his magnificent lint pile and spaghetti drop in a much more direct way.

I think it started when, after leafing through old invites to shows and seeing his name, I contacted him out of the blue to do an interview about his work. Or maybe it started when I was enthusiastically and warm-heartedly invited into his studio/home for a visit that involved talk of world-class lesbians, trips taken and porcelain cows.

However it started, and however it will end, (hopefully in one big blow-up brawl a la Steven Segall in his heyday) I am most delighted to present here some questions and answers about his practice for y’all.

And the interview couldn’t be more timely - tomorrow night at 6pm sharp, come one and all to Galerie Mclure (map embedded in link) for the vernissage of Max’s new solo show, Mexico Terrarium. Not only is it going to be one heck of an awesome exhibition, but seriously folks, you know and I know and everyone knows that you need an excuse to go to Westmount, right? Think of all those hot Westmount…ah….dogs?

But don’t let ME convince you of how awesome he is - he can do that himself. Without further ado, Max in Max’s own words:

TFM: if you could give me an idea about this exhibition that would be great - where, when, etc.

MW: My upcoming exhibition, Mexico Terrarium, at the McClure Gallery is a collection of recent works which are the ripest fruits of an obsession that I’ve been harbouring for four years.

TFM: would you consider this work to be a major departure from your past work? a continuation? do you see shows as an opportunity to showcase “series” or is it a more fluid process for you?

MW: The creation of series of works is in fact a very fluid process for me. Although I proceed from one work to the next, after making large numbers of notational drawings, I do see them as part of a coherent whole.  For the past four years, I have been involved in an obsessive quest to capture and portray an eccentric, magical essence that I encountered during an important sojourn in Mexico, often embodied by a recurring comical peasant figure in the act of metamorphosing into a king of the plant world.

TFM: could you talk a little bit about the materials and the process you use to create your pieces/how and when you started working in this way?

MW: My primary practice consists of creating works on plexiglas which are equal parts drawing and painting.  I begin by sanding one side of the plexiglas, which gives me “tooth,” thus enabling me to draw directly on the surface.  The drawing, which forms the bones of the work, is followed by a process of a layering of pigments dusted into a dirty, liquefied acrylic base followed by further layers of acrylic paint.  The work is done in reverse, foreground to background.

TFM: Who do you consider as inspirations/what are your inspirations for your process? Are you influenced by other artists? By cacti? By world class lesbians? (I feel there’s an affinity between your work and art-of-the-grotesque (Goya, Ensor, etc)…

MW: My influences are varied - some come and go, some are consistent.  I draw continuously upon the richness of plant and animal life and faded but shimmering memories of psychedelic experiences.  I have an ever growing archive of photographic sources and tend to re-employ images of spiders, scorpions, mushrooms, cats, flowers, dogs, rats, cacti, snails, vegetables and meats, etc…..

Artistic influences are similar in that some will fluctuate and go, some remain hovering. From time to time, I will refresh my regard upon certain figures, for example James Ensor, Enzo Cucci, Francisco Toledo, Goya, the Bruegels, the unnamed creators of mesoamerican art.  Without looking too hard, I’ll happen upon an artist whose work really nails me, such as the contemporary Austrian sculptor Elmar Trenkwalder, who I saw in a brilliant pairing with the 20th century French painter Augustin Lesage (associated with art brut) at la Maison Rouge in Paris, in 2008.

TFM: Does text/verbal considerations play a role in your process at all? to me there’s a certain subconscious element (stream-of-consciousness) to your work. true? untrue? do phrases words text play into the shaping of your work?

MW: Flashes of text may play a role but I usually reserve for them the duty of Title. Infrequently, a title will arise which will actually direct the conception of the image.

TFM: could you discuss how you engage with and choose the symbols and motifs you engage with?

MW: So far, I feel that I approach the collection of imagery as would an archaeologist hopped up on psylocibin.  The images, whether of plants, animals or Aztec divinities are classified and grafted upon the human figure, which remains a central element and ground for transformation.

For the lazy-Saturday-art-minds

Or finally, the art world’s greatest secret revealed!

Art + Religion Conference April 15-17th

This is looking like it’s going to be really, really interesting….

Space to be critical

So I’ve been having this long and laborious discussion inside my head and with a small group of people outside it around ideas of what this blog should be in terms of format, content and feel.

On the one hand, I want to promote and encourage art in the city that I am curious about on numerous levels. I feel like the current climate of conservatism felt in the rooms of many organizations and centres (and bedrooms - oh my!!) means that there’s even less space for the promotion and diffusion of visual art.

That in mind, it seems important to use this blog as a vehicle for the positive dissemination of basic information to the general population around art creation. Woah. I am officially turning into Muffy from Today’s Special.

At the same time, film school (animation, specifically) has left deep and lasting pangs of disappointment over the lack of critique I was asked to engage with. In my final thesis class, I sensed that my critical comments were ridiculed and feared, alternatively, by almost everyone around me. This conjures up memories of people muttering “can’t wait until I see YOUR film” under their breaths as I asked them why a pig as a central character instead of a goat? Why watercolour on glass instead of just good old stop motion using your hands?

I don’t think I was ever taught how to be critical, so not only is it hard for me to justify it when I am/want to be, I also don’t think I have it down to a graceful science. Instead of dancing slowly around the room until I have mesmerized myself and everyone else in it, my critical output is metaphorically more akin to a monkey who’s been given high heel tap shoes and then asked to shake it to “the Blue Danube” or something similar. Not a pretty sight.

Another major factor involved is the fact that as the artistic community in Montreal is so small, there are few arenas and places in which to be critical without feeling like perhaps you’re also putting a giant “kick me, I’m an asshole” sign on your back. Which, to be fair,  I’ve done so many times in my life, but still…..

So these three elements then - a) the fact that we aren’t really trained to be positively critical of each other b) the fact that therefore I am very clumsy about it and c) the micro-ness of the art community all contribute to Malo-not-wanting-to-go-there for the most part.

Yet I ache to do so. I am someone very, very, very dedicated to process. That’s the part of visual art I find so fascinating. Not only visual art and the artists that make it, but also for the role of curator, administrator, organization, public. What is the process that is infusing the work like?

As someone so process oriented, it only seems natural that critiquing or exploring that process would be a big part of my interest vis-a-vis writing on art. Yet I feel like I am completely shy around that component of myself. It’s as if the critical side of myself was some hot person at a party leaving me tongue-tied and bashful. It happens to the most verbal of us, trust me.

So here’s a question for folks who’ve read to this point - what’s your perspective on this topic? I think being critical is actually crucial, but how to do it in ways that are invigorating to the subject at hand and that further the discussion or start out a healthy dialogue?

I’d love to get some ideas generating on this one. And if not, well then, I am just going to go ahead and rip into all the work that everyones’ done up until now. All of it. Each and every piece. You know, I’ve got a pretty flexible week this week and vacation time saved up. Shouldn’t take too long.

Adrian Norvid show pics, sans Adrian-the-Blemished-Onlooker

Adrians and their Blemish(es)

Saturday was a day spent bumping and bumbling around a few galleries, just taking in funny circumstances and enjoying the outdoors. I got a chance to see Adrian Norvid’s show at the Joyce Yahouda with what seemed like a bunch of CEGEP students yelping in the background - fortunately this did nothing to detract from the ambiance.

A further enhancement of my experience taking in Norvid’s intoxicating, uproariously hilarious work came in the form of another Adrian who had come to the gallery by chance. It’s already slightly weird when your name matches the name of the artists’ show that you find yourself in. Kind of an odd coincidence. However, this Adrian happened to have a red blemish on his nose. Sort of exactly in the spot where Adrian Norvid had drawn a blemish on his own nose in one of his works.

You can see here in this photo the intrepid Adrian-audience-member standing next to the ridiculous Blemish-drawing Adrian and how closely related their blemishes in fact are. I have circled the real life Adrian’s mark in Perez Hilton style red.

This would not happen at any other artists’ show. Guaranteed.

Law can be sexy. I swear.

So there’s this awesome new law clinic in Montreal that’s still fledgling. It is completely FREE and just for ARTISTS.

Which equals HOT. Free stuff for artists is almost always sexy.

Yeah. The link to their website is right here. It’s called CJAM, which is cool not only because of the much-needed services they’re going to be offering artistic folks surrounding a plethora of issues, but also because CJAM sounds like WKRP in Cincinnati’s spin-off show starring Loni Anderson and a bunch of the extra muppet characters that were never really memorable.

We need more people in the world who are willing to work on sustainability needs such as education and promotion of strong business and law practices for people who macramé giant cats during the time they are not at their job at Quatre Freres to pay for said art-making.

Especially when the Harper governement is rubbing its hands together over talk around majority this and here-goes-the-last-little-dregs-of-funding-for-everything-remotely-creative that.

So take a look around the website and get informed, spread the word and think about volunteering your expertise if you’ve got it. A truly worthy cause. Unlike my plea for editing skills for the long digressions I have gone on in this post. Less sympathy for that dilemna…

If you have ever been interested in curating. At all.

Michelle Kasprzak is a pretty incredible artist and curator, and knows a crazy amount about her field on a global scale, and not just in terms of where the jobs are at,  but where the philisophical lines split hairs, morph, and move about as well.

She’s definitely an interesting and highly informative resource and her blog about curating is a really fun and excellent way of not only staying informed but also of challenging ideas you might already have about cultural organizing practices.

Take a look and go back for more.

THE BEST VIDEO DANCE PARTY OF THE NINETIES!!!!

Friday August 7th 9:30 PM
The Paper Apartment Gallery (formerly My Hero Gallery)
3655 St. Laurent

It’s like a MuchMusic Video Party…but not.
Come dance the night away with the best music videos from your past.
This is a fundraiser for an Art Festival we will be putting on soon.
This awesome party will feature a tasty bake sale where you can buy yummy delights like…

Smashing Pumpkin Pie
Stone Temple Pie-lettes
Pearl Jam Cookies
Sub-Lime Tarts
Notorious P.I.E
Nir-Flan-A
Candy Apples in Stereo
Pave-Mint Chocolate Cupcakes
and much much more….

Chum-BEER-Wumba will be available for sale

Pay What You Can Suggested $5

RSVP on Facebook here