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I love this. But also secretly fear it. Art: only marginally better than meth.
Sorry, couldn't resist the pun: That is to say, tonight, frequent collaborators Jeremy Jansen and Niall McClelland (The Barricades, for one, which, to borrow a sports network phrase, was a highlight of the night at last year's Nuit Blanche) are opening a short, personal show of posters that look a little closer into their personal indie-cultural histories. I don't really know what that means yet, but show up tonight at Hugh Scott Douglas, Tara Downs and Aleksander Hardashnakov's Tomorrow Gallery and see for yourself. Or don't rush. You've got all week. Until Jan. 27.
Proof going to cocktail parties is good for something other than the free booze (not that there's anything wrong with that): Last night, while I was at the BMO event for Shary Boyle's Canadian Artist, I bumped into Tony Romano. As you may know, Romano and partner Jay Isaac have been running Hunter + Cook, a magazine, art gallery, and general hub of interesting cultural thought, for the past few years. A month or so ago, the pair quietly decided to call it quits; as working artists, editing, adminitstrating and general management malaise was taking away too much time from their own practices, so Hunter + Cook met its subdued, graceful end.
For my part, I told Romano I didn't want it to end this way, and suggested some kind of anthology -- a publication of some kind that immortalized the magazine's unique, always-engaging voice. Sure, Romano said, but who's going to pay for it? Good question. Someone, surely. If you're out there, drop me a line and I'll put you in touch.
My dance card is filling up quicky, which means we've finally shaken off the Christmas doldrums. Thank heavens. The art world is humming again, with a bunch of openings tonight and this weekend worth your while, if you're up for braving the snow.
Just off the top of my head tonight is Flavio Trevisan's intriguing Museum of The Represented City at 80 Spadina. Trevisan's an urban-minded sort, as his recent show at Diaz Contemporary, "Studies of a New Past," would indicate; so too would his work curating the always eye-catching Convenience Gallery, a storefront on Landowne just norht of Queen. This project, in its own words, is "(a) series of sculptural works (that) present a fragmented yet multifaceted mapping of Toronto’s built history, inviting the viewer to retrace familiar paths and discover surprising new ways to explore the cityscape." Works for me. An off-site project of the Koffler Centre, the show opens tonight at 6 with remarks by Trevisan at 7.
That's only the beginning. Gallery TPW has Chrsitine Negus's invitingly-titled show "You Can't Spell Slaughter Without Laughter," a collection of darkly festive obejcts -- banners, wreaths -- providing decorous atmosphere for an installation of video and digital animation pieces at its core. Opening tonight at 7 pm at the gallery, 56 Ossington Ave.
What I'm most interested in this evening, though, is the first Toronto showing of new work in almost a decade by Toronto hyper-political proto-conceptualists Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge. They've been working in a devout mode of social justice for almost four decades -- they are, if anyone is, the art world voice of the labour movement -- and the current show, Scene Otherwise promises to be as fiery as ever. I'll have a closer look at it in the next little while, but more immediately, it opens tonight at the Toronto Free Gallery in that emergingly-hip strip coming to be known (at least by the hipsters that inhabit it) as Blansdowne (for Bloor/Lansdowne, get it? Hipsters are so clever).
Anyway, it's 1277 Bloor West, at 6 pm. Enjoy.
I was one of the lucky invited few to the opening of Shary Boyle's new installation "Canadian Artist" at the Bank of Montreal's Project Room last night. I'll have more thoughts on the piece itself a little later on -- suffice to say for now that it's infused with Boyle's unflagging rigour for craft and her particular, unique brilliance for social narrative, cross-fertilized with her gift for the fantastical -- but first, I wanted to steer you over to the project's web site. Boyle said the site is not so much a supplement to the work itself, but a necessary companion piece, and as you start sifting the depth of research Boyle committed to for the work, you'll see why.
Then, once you've done a thorough perusing, give BMO a call at (416) 643-2609, or drop them an email at curator@canadian-artist.ca and have a look (viewings are by appointment only). I'll be back again. More than once.
Just heard that the Power Plant will be presenting Christian Marclay's much- celebrated 'The Clock' this coming September. It's the property of the National Gallery, which cannily bought last year it in cooperation with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They showed it first, it's in Ottawa 2nd, and given what I image to be a very long loan request list, given its exceptional profile and popularity, it's a coup for Toronto to be 3rd.
I almost hesitate to mention this for the crush of people that are sure to crowd into the space already, but tonight is the opening of the much-anticipated survey of Will Munro: History, Glamour, Magic at the Art Gallery of York University. Will was a much-loved creative force in this city whose memory is still being celebrated, and full-heartedly, almost two years after his death. Tonight's opening will surely be a nexus of such things -- fond remembrances, joyful celebration, and more than a few tears. Starts tonight at 6; as with most things with Will, when and where it ends is anyone's guess.
Photo: Thanks to Michael Maranda
The hits keep on coming at the AGO, which today announced that it would host a major exhibition of revolutionary Mexican painters (and lovers) Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The show, imported from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, is called, fittingly, Passion, Politics and Painting, and will feature 75 works from Mexico's Museo Dolores Olmedo. It opens Oct. 12.
Right: Kahlo and Rivera in 1932.
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