This Blue Dragon speaks in tongues

In watching Robert LePage's The Blue Dragon (the show has just closed at the Princess of Wales theatre) I was struck by the audience's reaction within the first few minutes of the play.

I knew nothing of the play and just went. I have not seen any of the previous Dragon Trilogy either. So, there I am, in the dark, the actors start talking to each other in a seamless Quebecois french or Joual and everyone starts laughing along not missing a beat. Sure, the way the stage has been designed, with a split double layer, it allows for surtitles to translate, but this audience was clearly bilingual. Ok, we are in Canada, no biggie. Then as the play is set in Shanghai China, the main character meets his lover and they start to converse in Mandarin. I'm reading the translations, but I am also starting to think this is amazing that people are willing nay excited to see a play that is split between three languages- I cannot see people in the States cueing up for this sort of thing, nor in France either. This may be a distinctly Canadian delicacy, whether that is relevant....I can't say.

As always with LePage, there is a distinctive look and feel and I liked how low tech much of it was. The main character, Pierre LaMontagne departs from his old friend at the train station, gets on a bike and pedals, the bike is pulled across the stage, you get a sense he is in the country side, he gets off his bike and a tiny model train comes on to the stage and crosses it, he is seeing his friend off.

This is a simple iPad sketch of the protagonist standing with his bike ( don't look too closely, I mangled the thing! But my excuse is this homemade bandage on my thumb, you would be amazed how that throws everything off!!)

The play has closed as I mentioned, but the local House of Anansi Press has released a graphic novel version of the play. The play is stark with three characters in a love triangle and no additional people to get in the way; the graphic novel, on the other hand, is set up like a narrative in the real world in a bar, an airport, etc.

I've caught an interview of LePage talking to Jian Ghomeshi of CBC's Q. LePage talks about embracing technology including digital interactive projections. We can see this in the Blue Dragon, with snow which moves with the actors, but I was captivated by a low tech solution to the steps of the set being blanketed in snow: a white sheet is pulled on a string across the set and blankets the steps.  It is the mixture of high and low tech which makes LePage's productions interesting.

You can catch that interview here

Yael Brotman and Tara Cooper at loop

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Yael Brotman entitled Shipping and Receiving, and Tara Cooper entitled Weather Wise.

Yael Brotman, 'Airstream', 17" L x 10" W x 7" D, etched Japanese paper, graphite, foamcore, wire, 2012.

Shipping and Receiving showcases the continuation of a body of work in which Yael Brotman explores the reconstruction, from memory, of houses that she inhabited in two countries. In these new works, the permanence of a house has given way to the transitory nature of the impermanent home. The model-sized caravans and trailers constructed by Brotman are based on those her family rented to travel long distances across Canada, completing the summer migration from cities to provincial and national parks that is a quintessential Canadian experience.

Most recently Brotman has exhibited at Monash University, Melbourne, AUS, Purdue University, University of Minnesota, and University of Colorado at Boulder. Forthcoming exhibitions include Zweigstelle Berlin, the German Consulate in Toronto, The Rooms in St. John’s and the Printmaking Biennial of Douro in Alijo, Portugal. She has been invited to undertake an artist residency at the Áras Éanna Art Centre, Aran Islands, Ireland this summer.

Tara Cooper, "Clear as Bell", screen print, 2012.

With forecasts we’re told to heed warnings—hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Tara Cooper’s Weather Wise assembles a compendium of weather lore and superstitions from cloud nines to fair weather friends to silver linings. It is the next chapter in her ongoing series/alter ego Weather Girl, a project that mixes an amateur’s enthusiasm for meteorology with found objects, video and print.

Beneath the rubric of Canadian Nature, Cooper’s observations combine fieldwork and footwork moving from the amateur ornithologist, to the idea of north, to her most recent study involving the language of weather—the statistical forecast versus the personal encounter. Cooper received her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University in 2008, specializing in the disciplines of print, film and installation. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo.


Reception: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 2-5 PM 
Q&A Session, moderated by Rebecca Diederichs: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 3 PM

Gilray at the AGO

Going through some old magazines of mine, ( I do this all the time, however the studio is still chock a block with stuff, lets just call paper ephemera) I came across this old issue of the Tate Gallery magazine. In days of old, it would be enough for me to hold onto it as it was 1994, prior to the Tate Modern, akin to pre corporate buy out if you will, but space is limited at the studio these days so I had to go through it to see if it was really worth keeping.

This tate magazine of summer 1994, has a grouping of work under the heading of the body imagery examining the way the body was depicted at this time and what that says about the society.

Check out this beauty:

In this essay was some of the Tate's collection of Gilray prints and others of the era. Yes, the AGO is having a show right now of Goya and Gilray, but I was unsatisfied with both masters at the gallery. Goya, how the hell can you be unsatisfied by Goya?

Well, the gallery has chosen to put up a copy of the Los Caprichos that is hand tinted by a collector...really? As a kid I collected comics and hockey cards, colouring them in made them worth nothing, I fail to see how these prints are exempt from a simple rule every 8 year old knows. What the hell is this? An art gallery or Ted turner in the 80s?

Gilray's work on display is good, a strong showing of his immense talents, but he was a man who served the best aspects of his satire when it was as close to the bone as possible.

Just look at this:

Now that is what I call, not pulling a punch! In the AGO show you see some imagery where he criticizes the revolution in France, on their new found freedoms and their new found lack of basic necessities...But this image, clearly spells out it's views on how the British and much of Europe saw the French Revolution and the following reign of terror.

The way he portrays his countrymen, he is not too enamoured with them either, clearly. We also get to understand how the people at that time feared the uncertainty a revolution brings about, and how through the news of the day, genteel Paris seemed to be at end.

So don't get me wrong, it is still worth it to stop in at the AGO, you will find the coloured Goya prints jarring if you have studied them but there is draftsmanship in spades, and a real strong valid criticism of the world the artist lived in. To me, the raw imagery of Gilray really communicates this on a personal level.

I'm not some major proponent of magazines either, but here I go just loving another magazine, and storing it above the fridge in a cupboard at the studio instead of recycling the damn thing, sigh.

Yes, this magazine really was 1994, just look at the advert on the back

Ian McLean in PechaKucha at the Glenhyrst

Loop member Ian McLean participates in a lively panel talk this Thursday in conjunction with "The Promise of Painting" exhibit at the Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant in Brantford.

PechaKucha (Japanese for "the sound of conversation") was conceived in 2003 in Tokyo as a venue for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public. Now it is held in over 100 cities around the world. Join the Glenhyrst for the first in an ongoing series of PechaKucha Nights in Brantford and learn about the creative process with 7 artists in 7 minutes each. Meet new people and join the worldwide conversation! Joining McLean are Shelley Niro, Aliki Mikulich, Christina Zanella, Robert Achtemichuk, Dave Hind, and Jack Jackowetz.

Thursday, February 23 @ 7:30

This is a FREE event and light refreshments will be served.

Glenhyrst Art Gallery, Main Gallery

20 Ava Rd. Brantford, Ontario (519)756 5932

Photos from the Opening for Libby Hague and Maria Gabankova

Photos by Patricia Njovu 2012

Hop, Skip + Jump : Lorène Bourgeois

HOP

 

Lorène Bourgeois, Stay 2008, conté and charcoal on paper. 112 x 77 cm.
http://www.loopgallery.ca/loop/l.Bourgeois.html
www.lorenebourgeois.com

SKIP

 ARTS   | December 23, 2011
Art Review:  Getting Personal
By KEN JOHNSON
"The Renaissance Portrait From Donatello to Bellini" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how subjects flaunted their connections. 

and                      JUMP

http://www.comune.verona.it/Castelvecchio/cvsito/english/scarpa.htm       
 

"Carlo Scarpa (Venice 1906 - Sendai, Japan 1978) is recognised as one of the most important architects of the twentieth century. His artistic formation took place above all in Venice, where he was part of a circle of artists and intellectuals associated with the Venice Biennale and the Fine Arts Academy (Accademia di Belle Arti) from which he was awarded a diploma as professor of architectural drawing in 1926.
From 1933 to 1947 Scarpa was the artistic consultant to Venini, the great Venetian glass manufacturer. Scarpa’s highly inventive use of traditional Murano techniques resulted in some of the most original glass works in the history of design. It was in this environment that Scarpa’s attraction to the orient, and the decorative and applied arts began, with particular attention in an initial period to the Viennese Secessionists (Hoffmann, Loos, Wagner) followed by a life-long interest in the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright."
 

( When Scarpa redesigned the  Castelvecchio Museum he did it with its collection in mind. Drawn to this fourteenth century sculpture by the Master of Sant'Anastasia circle, Scarpa turned the figure around and initially withheld the face. The viewer approaches from the back, seeing the double braid and the curves of the hemline hemline first. )  

 

Maria Gabankova and Libby Hague at Loop Gallery

Top: Maria Gabankova           Bottom: Libby Hague

 Loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop members Maria Gabankova entitled Memento Mori, and Libby Hague entitled Gravity Drawings: More light/ less darkness.

In her 2012 exhibition at loop Gallery, Maria Gabankova presents a suite of drawings / paintings that contrast lush marks of oil sticks and oil paint on mylar with stark visualisations of Memento Mori. These images offer a reflection that can be used to put one's life in a larger perspective, that of immortality.
Images of female figures oscillate between sorrow and hope, life and death, in silence or in a scream. Their inner enigma and tensions compel a gleam of hope, a light to disperse the darkness. The foot of a smiling female sculpture stands victoriously on a human skull - subjugating death.

Maria Gabankova lives and works in Toronto, where she also teaches figure drawing, painting and portraiture at the Ontario College of Art and Design University. In addition to being a founding member of the loop Gallery, Gabankova has also been invited to sit on juries, panel discussions, conferences, and work in film and theatre. Her work is represented in private and corporate collections in Canada, the United States, South Korea and Europe. (www.paintinggallery.ca)

To show the development and migration of ideas, Libby Hague’s exhibition shifts between the model of a curated show and a studio visit. By cross-referencing work with its generative sources, it tracks the excitement of parameter shifts, sharing the logic behind the hybrids. Demystifying the process says “This is how I think" and "This is what I thought".

Libby Hague is a Toronto-based artist and graduate of the fine art program at Concordia University in Montreal. She will show in the IPCNY exhibit as it travels to the University of Texas, Austin in January. Her recent solo exhibitions include Sympathetic Connections at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2011; We were young and still believed in heaven, Galerie Circuaire, Montreal, 2010; tiens-moi très fort, La Centrale, Montreal, 2010; and being natural at the Durham Art Gallery, 2010.

Please join the artists in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, February 4th from 2-5 pm. Learn more about Maria Gabankova’s and Libby Hague’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday February 12th, 2PM.

Last Chance to See The Exhibitions of Mary Catherine Newcomb and Martha Eleen at Loop Gallery

Mary Catherine Newcomb at loop Gallery

The exhibition of work by loop artists Mary Catherine Newcomb and Mary Eleen was reviewed by Toronto art critic Terence Dick. Read his Akimbo blogreview here. The gallery is open this afternoon from 1-4 pm and the show closes today.

Sketches in New York City by Eric Farache

My friend Alan and I started with a coffee.

On the 6 train, there was a delay so I got out the sketchbook and pen.

Yup, even in the sweaty subway people were all bundled up.

I drew this sketch while overhearing some teens talking, it was heinous and fairly graphic. I think if you grew up in NYC you would be a sleazier more foul version of yourself- just a thought.

By evening fall, it was even colder, I slipped into this bar not far Chinatown, called Home sweet Home. Loud, but warm! I relaxed and drew some of the characters.

This was before it got too packed.

I drew this double drawing of the bartender while having a boozey afternoon, at the back of this place called Bread.

I really did leave the canal/chinatown area!

The Neue gallerie had some beautiful Egon Schiele drawings on display, more than you see if you go to the Albertina drawing gallery in Vienna ( but that was based on my trip in the early 90s, might have been one of those things when you go and everything is closed), so that was a treat but I mostly just looked at it all.

If you go to NYC soon, you have to go to the Neue Gallerie, its focus is Austrian/German work -- amazing stuff. Also, have a coffee in the Cafe Sabarsky, it is a highly regarded dinner spot. I was there on Saturday and the lineups to eat were astounding.

A little sketch I made about a year and half ago while drinking a $6 Viennese coffee, it was good but six dollars? I know, I know, it New York baby.

Eric Farache reports on his recent trip to New York City

Yes, it was freezing. Yes, there were line ups galore in front of every major art gallery or museum but, New York is still a great time.

You can see the herds of people in line that you are trying to avoid at all costs.

I took in the Maurizo Cattalan show before it closed at the Guggenheim, it was an amazing thing to take in but at the end of it all, I am no longer sure what I think of the artist- it was a lot of one liners, winks and leg pulling. Not much gravitas when you have a miniature Hitler floating by a cord, sizzle sizzle!, but steak....????

I caught the JFK piece about a year and a half ago at the New Museum in NYC, you went around a corner, its dark, and boom, a dead man in a coffin- and it is JFK! This was not just all denouement seeing it again, it also made you see how things looked silly and just too pop-shebang-fizz (to borrow from Gainsbourg)

The New Museum now? Forget about it! about a three hour wait in the -9 told me to move on.

I stopped at the Sperone Westwater, just down the street in the Bowery. A show of sculptural work, old and new, not much of a focus but it was interesting stuff and the building is a massive structure which has work in the elevator on display. Most apartments could fit in this elevator mind you.

A sort of Gorilla John the Baptist with rubber gloves and disposable cups, all made out of marble, an ironic tour de force.

Also, dropped in on Caroline Falby, she is an ex-pat who is working on her Masters at Hunter College in city. Her studio is close to Times Square, it is this massive building which just feels like an old art building.

You can check out some her work here. She is working on some new stuff at the moment- she seems very interested in the War of 1812 and what it means to Canada and the United States. In the meantime, you can see her multi referential work which employs a breezy technique to inject joy and a seemingly carefree element to the work.