Hour Community » Visual Arts

The Quebec Triennial 2011

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Featuring 40 different artists, among which are Numa Amun, Dean Baldwin, Sophie Bélair Clément, Matthew Biederman, Jessica Eaton, Massimo Guerrera, Valérie Kolakis, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Charles Stankievech and Myriam Yates, the second edition of the Quebec Triennial has been baptized The Work Ahead of Us, a title borrowed from Grier Edmundson, whose work will also be featured. In addition to the exhibitions in the galleries, the Triennial will present live performances every Wednesday from the likes of 2boys.tv, Karl Lemieux and Tim Hecker, and the Friday Nocturnes series will showcase musicians who also dabble in the visual arts, such as Jérôme Minière and Steve Bates. At the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, to January 3, 2012. www.macm.org

Art of the season

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Beginning next week is the 12th Mois de la Photo à Montréal. This year’s theme, proposed by guest curator Anne-Marie Ninacs: Lucidity-Inward Views (various venues, Sept. 8 to Oct. 9). In the same vein, the 2011 World Press Photo exhibit is also about to open (Marché Bonsecours, Sept. 8 to Oct. 2).

Later this month, SBC, Pop Montreal and Drawn & Quarterly will join forces to present What the %&*! Happened to Comics?, a lecture by Art Spiegelman, who deservedly won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for his graphic novel masterpiece Maus, a Holocaust tale featuring mice and cats (Concordia University, Sept. 24).

Over at the Musée d’Art Contemporain, the second edition of the Quebec Triennial will feature works by "some 50 young artists who are sure to leave their mark on the development of art in Quebec" (Oct.7 to Jan. 3, 2012). Already showing at the MAC since Wednesday is RealTime UnReal, a new-media installation by collective Workspace Unlimited (to Oct. 2).

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, which is having a hell of a year thanks to its Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit (to Oct. 2) and which is set to inaugurate a new wing dedicated to Quebec and Canadian art, will showcase the paintings of Michael Merrill (Oct. 14 to Jan. 15, 2012) and Dorothea Rockburne (Nov. 4 to April 8, 2012). Also on the schedule: Big Bang, a multidisciplinary collective show bringing together the likes of filmmaker Denys Arcand, musician Melissa Auf der Maur, novelist Nancy Huston, playwright Wajdi Mouawad and choreographer Marie Chouinard, among others (Nov. 6 to Jan. 22, 2012).

Plus, catch up on the exhibitions currently being presented by the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art, featuring creations by sculptor Berlinde de Bruyckere and painter John Currin (to Nov. 13) as well as conceptual artist Jenny Holzer (to Nov. 14).

Gabriel Coutu-Dumont

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Over the years, multidisciplinary artist Gabriel Coutu-Dumont (not to be confused with musician Guillaume Coutu-Dumont, his twin brother) has collaborated with MUTEK, Patrick Watson, Akufen, international touring artists via multi-media company Geodezik, and most recently, the GRUBB (Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats) collective for their show at Centre Pierre-Péladeau until July 2. His work has also been showcased in many collective and individual exhibitions, the latest being the recently opened Living in Different Worlds. Using elements of photography, sculpture and video, this installation "explores making the visible audible and vice versa, stripping down the performance space." It can be seen at Galerie Donald Browne (Belgo Building, #528-372 Ste-Catherine Street W.), to July 23. www.gabrielcoutudumont.com

Nuit Blanche sur Tableau Noir

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:00:00 +0000

The 16th edition of Nuit Blanche sur Tableau Noir is taking over the Plateau this weekend, with some 50 different artistic activities on the program, including overnight street-painting event La Grande Fresque de Nuit, knitting sessions at Halte Angora, and shows at Place Gérald-Godin (Kabakuwo, Cool Roots, etc.) and Parc des Compagnons-de-Saint-Laurent (Katie Moore, Chantal Archambault, etc.). Also not to be missed is Point de rencontre, a wandering project from Brazilian multidisciplinary artist Giorgia Volpe which involves weaving a carpet out of recycled plastic bags. Everyone is invited to join her in her endeavour. June 9-12, on Mont-Royal Avenue (between St-Laurent and d’Iberville). www.tableaunoir.com

Escape With Me

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 04:00:00 +0000

"As our imagination takes over, we tend to leave what is ordinary and go outside of ourselves to visit these places," explains Greg "Craola" Simkins in an artist statement posted on his website (www.imscared.com). "This is why I paint and what has inspired me over the years to grow as an artist. It is the constant search for what else is on the outside." Simkins’ paintings, which often feature grotesque cartoon animals that could have been imagined by H.P. Lovecraft, are showcased in the just-opened Escape With Me exhibit. Also featured are the works of Lola, another artist from California who favours a similar kind of pop surrealism. At Galerie d’Art Yves Laroche (6355 St-Laurent), until July 8. www.yveslaroche.com

BNL MTL 2011

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Curated under the theme of chance, the currently running seventh edition of the Biennale de Montréal showcases works from 40 artists representing 10 countries. In addition to its visual arts component, which features the Cozic duo, Jean Dupuy, Daniel Spoerri, Sylvie Cotton and the late Guido Molinari, among others, BNL MTL 2011 includes an electronic arts component via an online exhibition (magazine.ciac.ca) of web-based creations by Mark Amerika, Grégory Chatonsky, Alison Craighead, Jhave, Martine Neddam and Jon Thompson. At the former École des Beaux-Arts (3450 St-Urbain) and Fondation Guido Molinari (3290 Ste-Catherine East), until May 31. www.biennalemontreal.org

Ateliers Portes Ouvertes du Mile-End

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 19 May 2011 04:00:00 +0000

This weekend, Centre Clark and Ubisoft Montreal invite the public to visit the studios and workshops of more than 100 Mile End artists. Already in its third edition, the Ateliers Portes Ouvertes du Mile-End (APO) event will allow people to rub elbows with painters, sculptors, photographers, videographers and other visual artists. "The APO exposes artists’ social, economic and urban reality, uncovering myths surrounding their lifestyle. These encounters are very stimulating for visitors on many levels," says Mathieu Beauséjour, founder of the APO. "Participating in the APO is sort of like entering the Montreal art world through side doors, and freely roaming behind the scenes while getting a sense of shapes, colours, materials and spaces. It is about seeing things with a new perspective," adds APO spokesperson Claude Poissant. May 20-22. www.clarkplaza.org

Elektra 12

Kevin Laforest — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:00:00 +0000

For its 12th edition, the Elektra digital arts festival has decided to showcase creations under the theme "Visualizing Sound," starting with Montreal composer, performer and new media artist Martin Messier’s Sewing Machine Orchestra, an AV performance aiming to find the "hidden intensity and musicality" of 1940s Singer sewing machines. Other highlights include DareDroid, Jane Tingley, Anouk Wipprecht and Marius Kintel’s biomechanical cocktail-making, truth-or-dare-playing fembot; Just Noticeable Difference, an interactive installation designed by Chris Salter in which the visitor lies down in total darkness and is made to experience a wide range of visual, auditory and tactile sensations; and TT + X, a sound performance by electro acoustic quartet Theresa Transistor. At Usine C (1345 Lalonde Avenue) and other venues, May 4-8.

www.elektramontreal.ca

Forever on guard

Richard Burnett — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Fresh from wowing huge crowds at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the blockbuster exhibition The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army opened to much fanfare here in Montreal last week, and justifiably so. The exhibition features 240 works from 16 museums in China, including larger-than-life-size terracotta warriors dating back over two millennia. The warriors are a mere handful of the 20,000 made 2,200 years ago to protect Emperor Ying Zheng’s tomb complex, the last great archaeological discovery of the 20th century after King Tut’s tomb.

Many of the priceless artifacts on display have never previously travelled outside China and tell not just the life story of Emperor Ying Zheng (259-210 BC), but shed light on the creation of the new cultural and geopolitical cohesion that would shape China for centuries to come.

The exhibition itself covers about 1,000 years of Chinese history and is divided into three main parts: The Rise of Qin (ninth century to 221 BC), The Terracotta Army of the First Emperor of China (221 to 206 BC) and The Harmonious Era of the Han (206 BC to AD 220).

While the whole exhibit is fascinating – it took this reporter well over an hour to get through it all – crowds will likely most enjoy the middle section, which explores China’s famous first emperor and his terracotta army. In briefest terms, Ying Zheng acceded to the throne of the state of Qin at the age of 13 back in 246 BC, and after conquering the last independent state, he put an end to 500 years of war and became king of the whole of China in 221 BC. Wandering among these relics, one can’t help but marvel at this compelling exhibition as the new China now flexes its muscles in the 21st century.

The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army

At the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke St. W.), until June 26

Liberty or death

Robyn Fadden — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:00:00 +0000

Freedom and fear have always been rich ground for artists – both are common to all our lives and often in precarious balance, whether personally or through global politics.

Centre Clark brings together two immersive environments that explore this balance. Virginie Laganière found inspiration for her site-specific installation Post Natural during a six-month residency in Switzerland, where she discovered that the country had the most fallout shelters per capita. Using built structures, photography, sound, lighting, text and video, Laganière turns the gallery space into a family fallout shelter, a surveillance office and a station that observes outside activity, juxtaposed with a replica of an alpine landscape set to a soundtrack of accounts of life during the time of the Cold War.

"The Cold War is not so far away from us in history," says Laganière. "There are still many references made to it, in everyday life and on a political level, it’s just that the tensions between the Eastern bloc and the West have changed."

While evocative of that era, Post Natural is also a setting for speculative fiction, a commentary on present-day fears. "I’m interested in how fear can produce new forms of space, place and new relationships to them," says Laganière. "I’m sure there’s a way to tame fear as a creative element in which we can learn a lot about human behaviour."

Going back in time to a different kind of freedom, Toronto artist Dean Baldwin’s Bunk Bed City installs bunk beds and a kitchen in the gallery, uncannily inviting us to relive days spent at summer camp, wavering between joy and anxiety in a half-wild place far from home.

At Galerie Push, Juan Ortiz-Apuy’s The Freedom Fighter Manual reproduces pages of a CIA manual dropped over Latin American countries during the ’80s. Here too, we’re caught in a struggle between the freedom provided by knowledge and the limitations caused by surveillance "for our own good."

Post Natural and Bunk Bed City

At Centre Clark (5455 De Gaspé), vernissage Jan. 20, 8 p.m., to Feb. 26

The Freedom Fighter Manual

At Galerie Push (#425, 372 Ste-Catherine W.), vernissage Jan. 20, 6 p.m., to Feb. 27