The sequel is always better.
Today, tomorrow and Sunday, brace yourself for brisk walks outside, amazing sights and adventures untold. In the spirit of the fall harvest comes Centre Clark’s 2nd annual A.P.O. megafest, where if you dare, you will be treated to over 100 local artists’ works that can be engaged with while the artist themselves are present, in their studios.
Ateliers Portes Ouvertes was one of the most interesting art-happenings of last fall, and this year it’s going to be even more awesome, because sequels, despite what folks usually say, always are. Think of the Brady Bunch II: Marcie Leaves Home, for instance. Best movie of 2001, I still argue.
And sequels are also great because they are reliable in some aspects, and present new situations in others. A.P.O. 2009 still has its heart and soul in the same buildings they were found beating within last year - primarily the 2 huge buildings on de Gaspé, (5455 and 5445) and a smattering of over 20 spots within walking distance from this central hub.
One of the places I am most curious to check out is Atelier Punkt, a mere stone’s throw away from de Gaspé at 5333 Casgrain. They most recently had a group show that included talent such as Alexis Bellevance (whose studio you can visit in room 1009 of the 5455 de Gaspé building) and Patrick Bernatchez, to name 2 of many. I feel like many adventures await behind these doors.
I am also delighted that Steve Topping will be opening up his home for visiting hours, as he usually never lets me come over. His work, a fusion of science, design and sculptural questioning, is perhaps best seen in his home as he truly is an artist that works with functional viability at the core. Go take a look at 80 Rue St Viateur East, Apartment 306A.
Also, if you’re interested at all in taking a look at that hilarious CUIR building on the corner of Van Horne and Parc, go this weekend, as you’ll be able to see Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo’s work alongside that of Karen Trask (6201 Avenue du Parc, 4th floor). Their hallway and corridor alone deserve going to document as they will give you plenty of juice for ideas for this hallowe’en. Bring a friend.
On the way between the de Gaspé buildings and the scary Parc Avenue haunt, drop in at the Red Bird to see what the En Masse @ Art POP crew are cooking up. 135 Rue Van Horne, up the stairs.
Basically, bring mulled wine in a flask and get roving around the neighbourhood you may know oh-so-well or not-at-all. The whole circuit would take a day and a half or so, maybe 2, so set your sites on that goal and rock it out.
A few things to note for this year: There are guided tours that leave from Centre Clark Saturday and Sunday that you need to RSVP to but could be really fun. One is a tour on bike, and the other is just a one-and-a-half hour introduction to all things A.P.O. They leave in the early and mid-afternoon (12 and 13h30)
Reserve by emailing: lara@evoy.com OR apo.visites@gmail.com
Also, don’t forget about the artist talk with Michelle Lacombe and Sheena Hoszko happening at Agence Topo (5455 rue de Gaspé, 1001B) at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
And A.P.O. extends into St Henri this year, so if you live in the southwest, or are even more adventurous than Link, (which you should be, St Henri is awesome) make sure you check this info out.
Finally, I would suggest starting at Centre Clark, at 5455 rue de Gaspé, studio 114. They organized the whole thing and have great brochures with easy-to-read-maps you can get and then sleep next to for the upcoming days. Also, the shows up right now there are worth checking out too, particularly Dominique Sirois’ U Can’t Touch This, which includes lots of gold and a few more owl heads.
You can also download the guide from their website directly in case you’re lazy. Which is what I am going to go do right now.
Filed under artists, local | Tags: A.P.O. 2009, Alexis Bellevance, Centre Clark, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, Patrick Bernatchez, St Henri Circuit, Steve Topping | Comments (3)It’s Thursday so you know what that means….
There are like 400 openings in Montreal tonight, and I am going to attempt to make it to all of them. Here, in no particular order (or maybe, in order of geography, really, that geography being based on things closest to and then furthest away from my home, which of course, is how everything should be done):
La Rentreé chez Clark - Centre d’art et de diffusion CLARK, 5455 de Gaspé, local 114 8pm-11:55pm
The first exhibition of the season from Centre Clark, it seems as if this exhibition is one of those 2-in-1 jobs. I think. Hard to say, a wee confusing. I am a confused person, generally. But there is definitely going to be one exhibition here entitled Le Son a des Jambes, curated by Eric Mattson featuring exploratory reflections about sound as material seen (or heard, or otherwise) through the eyes and hands of Jérôme Fortin, Jean-Pierre Gauthier, and Minibloc. The title playfully extrapolates ideas that John Cage was digging around when he coined the phrase « Sound has no legs to stand on ».
The other part of the evening and of the Clark gallery might be a salon from 1000 years ago. Yeah. I don’t know. I will change this blog-post once I have been and so you won’t even remember that this sentence was fraught with such muddled uncertainty.
At any and all rates, it’s always a fun time going to the first show of the season, and it’s always fun at Clark, so no chance of screwing this one up, friends.
The Story of Flying Robert - Red Bird Gallery and Studios, 135 Van Horne, 7pm-midnight
The Story of Flying Robert is the third collaborative showing by Rebecca Rosen and Naomi Cook, who are also the co-directors of the Red Bird. For the exhibition, Cook and Rosen illustrate in large-scale narrative format Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann’s morality folktale about a boy and his umbrella. The drawing here is one of the examples of Naomi’s work.
Thesis Show, Margaret’s Mountain - MFA Gallery, Concordia Fine Arts Building, 1395 René-Lévesque Blvd
Elisabeth Belliveau has been doing animation for some time now, but just the still images alone from this 13-minute short are making me excited about going down to check out the film in full. A rare chance to see the work with the artist in attendance, and to get a chance to go to the best building at Concordia, the old fine arts building, which is personally my favourite of the lot.
Stick-in-the-mud & Équations et Idylles Identitaires - Galerie [sas] , Belgo Building, 372 Ste Catherine ouest, Space 416, 5:00-8:00pm
This one is definitely a triple exposition, no question, 3 shows from 3 local artists: Équations et Idylles Identitaires (2Fik) Bataille (Denise Santillan) and Stick-in-the mud (Marilyne Blais).
I have appreciated 2Fik’s work for quite some time now and am looking forward to seeing it in the flesh, as it were. His photography straddles lines of gender, sexuality, cultural understanding and race in very funny, very daring and very heartening ways. Seriously. I mean that. And I know that thousands of academic papers across North America have used the sentence I just did, but unlike said papers, 2Fik’s work itself blasts through my potential clichés and turns them into something of more substance. I promise.
Marilyne Blais and Denise Santillan are both illustrators. Denise Santillan uses her pen feathers to explore a the subject of hair. In contrast to her large-scale works, Blais’ miniratures create strange and ambivalent worlds derived more from dreams than from reality. One gets the impression of characters from a remote or perhaps even forgotten region where no civil code exists. Yeah, sounds like my kind of place.
I am sorry. Sincerely, Frankenstein‘ - The Emporium Gallery, 3035 St. Antoine Ouest, 7pm-11pm
I am sorry. Sincerely, Frankenstein’ is a new collection of photographs by Montreal-based photographer, Gordon Ball. Depicting self-destruction in relation to the social order, in both a fantastical and journalistic capacity, ‘I am sorry. Sincerely, Frankenstein’ is Ball’s first solo exhibition in Montreal in over 2 years. Which means it better be really, really good. Ha ha. Ahhh……
Finally, after all of that moving around on bus and bike or gasp….CAB….go to Darling Thursdays at the Darling Foundry (745 rue Ottawa, google map it folks!) and shake all the bits that weren’t moving during the rest of the evening. It’s from 5-10pm so you’re going to have to make yourself a little schedule. Do that this morning, and then lamenate it. Plastic makes everything just that much nicer.
Filed under art shows, local | Tags: 2Fik, Centre Clark, Darling Foundry, Denise Santillan, Elisabeth Belliveau, Emporium Gallery, Eric Mattson, Gordon Ball, Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Jerome Fortin, Marilyne Blais, Minibloc, Naomi Cook, Rebecca Rosen, Red Bird | Comment (0)
