Hoot hoot dear bloglings! Dodolab’s Andrew Hunter has taken a break with Crystal Mowry for the exhibition The Rustification of Henry Thomas Brown. And while you might not be able to visit Michel de Broin’s exhibition at Plug in ICA, why not buy a wicked t-shirt? Kick-ass curator Christof Migone has enlisted Alison S. M. Kobayashi along with a bunch more artists and invites you to Drop Out during Nuit Blanche. And Jen Hutton is one of the artists celebrating Toronto’s historic 401 Richmond in Plant 90: of Production and Object. Enjoy!
—Mike Landry
By Mike Landry
Eric Deis' photograph, "Hipsters and Drug Dealer".
Given Vancouver’s large photographic history, it’s easy to be dismissed. And Eric Deis knows it.
But Deis’ large format photography of architecture and urban spaces isn’t about one particular city or discourse. This is something he solidifies in his new exhibition Shadows Cast on Imagination’s Past, which features shots from Vancouver, Toronto and Japan.
“At the root of my work, it’s really about image making in its purist sense. The subject matter of the location is a thread that runs through my work regardless of my medium. Grouping shots from three different cities helps illustrate the breadth of my work and the range of ideas I’m tackling,” says Deis. Read the rest of this entry »
By Mike Landry
An earlier version of Andrea Carvalho's "Ornaments and Trophies".
Andrea Carvalho never caught a trophy fish or, being an artist, won trophies like friends in sports. So the Montreal-based sculptor decided to make her own and reward herself, with her growing Ornaments and Trophies series.
What started out as odd white hydrostone Prize Pumpkinseed Fish has now grown into an assortment of objects influenced by flora and fauna. Carvalho finds herself now making them in between larger projects to clear her head.
“It came from a desire of wanting to be in that place where I could be given these trophies, and earn them, but I’ve never been there,” says Carvalho. “It’s this creation of memories and stories that I’ve always been thinking about.” Read the rest of this entry »
By Mike Landry
Maguy Carpentier's painting, "Simone".
Maguy Carpentier had been dealing with death daily. It was something the Montreal-based painter was comfortable with. It was something she understood.
And for years her work reflected this preoccupation. Her inky, and almost-abstract paintings sought to preserve the memory of deceased family members incorporating photographs and simple imagery. But everything changed when she had a baby boy last year.
“It’s funny because after having a baby I just realized what it is to be alive,” says Carpentier. “Lots of happiness and life changed my perspective on what I was doing. But it’s not like I’m closing that big project—it’s like putting a comma after a phrase.” Read the rest of this entry »
By Mike Landry
A little slice of Pleasantville in "Fucking".
“It’s kind of an ongoing fascination for me—the world of sex and violence,” says Vancouver photographer, Jonah Samson. “I’ve always had a macabre sense of humour, so it comes out in pretty much everything I do.”
Samson has made this world a reality in Pleasantville. In the small town captured in Samson’s photographed dioramas, “violence and debauchery run rampant.” There are pornography shoots, murder, grave digging, peeping toms and more lascivious matter.
But at 1/87 scale size it’s like he’s working with David Lynch-inspired Lego. Read the rest of this entry »
By Mike Landry
Michael Love's digital C-print, "Refugee Camp, Fort McLeod".
Growing up in Halifax, the military was everywhere. After I moved to Toronto it was easy to forget Canada even had a military. It’s a different story for Michael Love, though—the military left him.
The Montreal-based photographer grew up just down the road from CFB Chilliwack in BC. His grandparents all worked on the base, and he supposes he came from a military family. But soon after the Berlin Wall fell, the base was shut down. Now it’s being turned into not cost-effective residential housing.
“The original design really dictates how a space can be used later on,” says Love. “I don’t see how these spaces can escape what they were meant to do. I find it interesting when these other uses are imposed on them. It all seems a little dysfunctional.” Read the rest of this entry »
