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)June 18th: Thoday is Thrazy Thursday
Brace yourselves, there are (at least) three art openings to go to today (Thursday the 18th). They all start at 7pm, and I hope you can find a way to see everything without missing Corpusse’s performance at Zoobizarre later tonight. Details below:
_
1. Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo at Galerie Push (7-9pm)
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of his intense and riveting creatures (see Kit’s post below). His Bestiairies show is staying at PUSH (5264 St. Laurent) until the 26th of July.
_
2. The Emporium State of Mind (7-11pm)
The product of a collaboration between The Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest #74) and Montreal State of Mind: a “media spanning group exhibition that will exemplify Montreal State of Mind’s mission- to promote the inherent creativity of those who live in Montreal done through the Emporium Gallery’s curation”. The exhibition features the work of Fangs, Amber Albrecht, Sean Orena, Alexi Hobbs, 123Klan, RAGE5, Robb Jamieson, Kit Malo (!), Julien de Repentigny, Astro, Dave Arnold, Ben Pobjoy and Danielle Levy. They are 13 Montreal-based visual artists, who will each be exhibiting one artwork priced at a maximum of $200CAD
_
3. A Red Bird Studios Group Show at General 54, 7pm
General 54 (54 St-Viateur O) is hosting a group show put up by the artist-run arts space Red Bird. The exhibition showcases the work of its diverse group of painters, sculptors, graphic designers and silk screeners, each one exploring their individual practice and methodology within the material constraints of a 10″x10″ canvas board. There will also be cake supplied by Cocoa Locale (best cupcakes in town, and I know what I’m talking about) and 10% off everything in the store!
Artists include: Sarah Courtemanche, Dan Buller, Kit Malo (!), Oksana, Rebecca Rosen, Jayce Yam, Mark Dixon, Julien Ceccaldi (!), Katie Earle, John Player, Andrea Kastner, Colin Lyons, Corrie Peterson, Kim Kielhofner, Naomi Cook, Lisa Wilson, Daniel Nessler, Rachel Berger, Becky Emlaw, Shannon Kelly, Konan Cook, and others…
_
4. Where you must be after all the art and cake (Zoobizarre, 9pm)
Starting at 9pm, Suoni per il popolo presents Corpusse (TO), The Unireverse (Mtl) and Knurl (TO). There will be everything you could need by then (besides art and cake), i.e. synth action, confrontational performance and raw noise.
I’m especially looking forward to seeing Corpusse do his thing: it will be primitive hardcore punk with a synthesizer, and it will involve glitter and nice make-up. Here’s a video of his last performance at Zoobizarre (6388 St-Hubert) in October 2006.
_
Filed under artists, events, gallery, illustration, local, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, vernissage, websites | Tags: 123Klan, Alexi Hobbs, Amber Albrecht, Andrea Kastner, Astro, Becky Emlaw, Ben Pobjoy, Colin Lyons, Corpusse, Corrie Peterson, Dan Buller, Daniel Nessler, Danielle Levy, Dave Arnold, Emporium Gallery, Fangs, Galerie Push, General 54, Jayce Yam, John Player, Julien Ceccaldi, Julien de Repentigny, Katie Earle, Kim Kielhofner, Kit Malo, Knurl, Konan Cook, Lisa Wilson, Mark Dixon, Naomi Cook, Oksana, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, Rachel Berger, RAGE5, Rebecca Rosen, Red Bird, Robb Jamieson, Sarah Courtemanche, Sean Orena, Shannon Kelly, Suoni per il popolo, The Unireverse, Zoobizarre | Comment (0)
