Two Key Slow Art Pieces

I’m hosting Slow Art Toronto this Saturday, October 17, at 11:30am at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I selected 10 pieces for review, with 2 special works that everyone must view as they will be central to our debate.

These works by two Canadians resonated with me the most during my recent visit to the AGO. I got quite descriptive with them, but you’ll see why and how it’s worth it.

1. William Kurelek “The Rock” (1962)

For William Kurelek, art was means to express his fundamentalist Christian faith and his apocalyptic vision of human destiny. He was born in a Ukrainian settlement in Alberta to a family of hard-working farming parents. His interest in art stemmed from the early age, but was no approved by his father. Kurelek studied at the Ontario College of Art, as well as the Instituto Allende in Mexico. He was extremely thin-skinned and found forming personal relations almost impossible. That lead to a severe depression and a subsequent psychiatric hospitalization in the UK.

Kurelek identified strongly with Van Gogh. His work, however, was largely influenced by Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. His deeply affecting Roman Catholic visions definitely contrast the memories of his childhood in the Canadian prairies. In fact, two themes in his paintings have always been:

1. Recollection of aspects of his own and his parents’s lives in rural Canada
2. Didactic, apocalyptic vision of a materialistic society doomed to destruction to attain salvation

Hence the seemingly contrasting set of artworks at the Thomson room at the AGO.

The Rock is an interesting piece – it’s a vivid painting of…a rock that’s standing strong amid the gurgling fire and lava below it. Hideous Boschian monsters float in the red burning mess, trying to throw spears at the rock and the church that’s standing on it. Look closely and you will notice demon spears adorned with “bad things” like racial intolerance, apostasy, ghetto mentality, sodomy, political intrigue, nationalism, sloth and the like. Upper part of the piece is adorned with floating angels and the crossed keys of St Peter.

More than anything, I find the detail, vivid color and the deep exploration of the subject the most appealing aspects of the work. I also think it’s the most compelling piece in the William Kurelek room in the Art Gallery of Ontario. Feel free to study Kurelek’s other works in the room and compare. I feel Kurelek is the lesser known and underrepresented artist in the history of Canadian painting, so perhaps we could address the issue by studying his work.

2. David Altmejd “The Index” (2007)

The Index is a quite bizarre and macabre artwork, a phantasmagoric aviary of mutant birds, combining the horrific with the sublime. To me personally, it feels as a forest life gone incredibly wrong, warped, exploded, twisted and Frankenstein-ized by injections of primal and mythological symbolism. There are enough details, vivid imagery and fascinating forest creatures to keep anyone glued to (and walking in and around) the piece for at least half an hour. It’s a complex, crystal-infected, flesh-slicing and intoxicating work of art that excites and horrifies at the same time. In this work, the recognizable and the prosaic suddenly and violently materialize into the imaginary.

David Altmejd himself: “A lot of people think that I’m really fascinated by death and morbidity, but I’m much more interested in life. I just think that things look more alive when they’re growing on top of what’s dead,” he says, bending his fingers to mimic blades of growing grass. He’s had a lasting interest in Kiki Smith and Louise Bourgeois. His work, I find, hovers between object and installation; he constructs large stages and elevated platforms and presents his myriad of organic and fetishistic forms in a seeming display of luxury.

He arranges many smaller parts and delicate details in a logic of a film, so that the viewer feels he/she unravels the mystery themselves. What kind of mystery? What is this sense of dread that creeps along our spines as we walk by endless reflections in opposing mirrors, shocked by wolves pierced by shards? What is this ecstatic celebration of the instant in which everything is between two states. Let’s discuss all that this Saturday at the Art Gallery of Ontario!

It was quite the talked about piece during the Venice Biennale in 2007. A Montreal native and a Columbia University M.F.A., Altmejd lives and works in New York. Here is a slideshow of some of his work, I highly recommend you see it.

Filed under: art , art, canada, education, slowart, toronto

Slow Art Toronto

I want to tell you more about Slow Art Toronto, taking place on Saturday, October 17, at the Art Gallery of Ontario at around 11am. I’d like you to join me. Art viewing starts around 11:30am (I know you like your sleeps ), lunch and discussion starts at 1:30pm.
The event is “Slow Art” and it’s designed to help all of us perceive art in a new way – to exercise our seeing, thinking and listening muscles. I see it as a springboard for newbies to art, and a discussion board for those familiar with the art or design world. Considering that, on average, a person spends 8 seconds (!) looking at an artwork in a museum, challenging someone to devote between 10 and 60 minutes to a work of art may lead to unexpected art discoveries. This October, there are slow art events happening all over the world. Boston, Copenhagen, London, New York, Los Angeles and more. I’m thrilled to be hosting the Toronto one! Register here!

Slow Art was originally started by novices in NYC to invite other novices (and connoisseurs) to come, to feel welcome, to not worry about what experts say but rather to take the time to see and explore what is possible when gradually viewing art. It’s a perfect opportunity to see what one can discover with a few guiding paragraphs and considerable amount of time.

Having gone back to my art history training and theory, I’ve pre-selected a collection of interesting pieces; I will be emailing those on the Slow Art TO guest list soon.

I’m looking forward to hearing what you think about the pieces you see, and I’m excited to meet you all. If you know of others who may find this interesting, please extend the invitation.

Filed under: art , art, event, learning, pop culture, society, toronto

Rajni Meets Krepesz

I’ve written about my talented friend and artist Rajni Perera in the past. I’d like to add something to that.

She is currently exhibiting at Krepesz, the European palacsinta Cafe in Kensington Market, Toronto (253 Augusta Ave). You should go there to explore the new space, have some of the most excellent teas and enjoy the authentic Hungarian crepe. When I say authentic, I mean it — each crepe is lovingly prepared by the mom of the owner of this cafe (I’ve met her) on a daily basis, is stuffed with freshest ingredients and looks like the biggest treat you’ll have all week.

Now, for a limited time only – until September 30 – you will have the opportunity to see Rajni’s newest pieces. I really like how her work has developed from the spunky youngun’s work (who is finding her style) to a deeply personal portrayal of women at their most vulnerable moments. Rajni is unapologetic as she captures the emotion and strong sentiments trapped within these females, with the budding force of Frida Kahlo. I’m eager to see where she moves next. (And I’m secretly lobbying for a portrait)

Just go! Sit and stare at passionate Mahban with a beautiful peacock (I think? Correct me if I got the cocky bird wrong ) across from the room as you hopefully humbly wolf down your sweet or savoury brunch palacsinta.

Filed under: art , art, food, restaurants, toronto

My Toronto Ignite Talk

Last week I put all my courage in a bundle and took it on stage to quickly and – luckily, – entertainingly to tell about my passion for art, especially the conceptual variety. My previous Ignite post addresses the issue of nervousness as well as general fears of a first time speaker.

It went well I think. Aside from me looking and acting like a squirrel on crack (I was nervous after all!), I did well. Didn’t mess up my lines and communicated the point in a comprehensible fashion! I hope you all are now inspired and spending more time with Sol LeWitt and Joseph Kosuth in galleries of your cities.

PS. Stay tuned for my Slow Art Toronto 2009 post. If you enjoyed this talk, and love art, then you should really pay attention to what I’m going to write and curate for Slow Art Toronto.

Filed under: art , achievement, art, ignite, learning, oreilly, toronto, video

Toronto Ignite

So I wanted to tell you that I’ll be speaking at Ignite Toronto on August 25, 2009 at the Drake Underground. Michele Perras asked me to participate, and since I’m a Yes woman, I went for it.

Now, if you’re not familiar with Ignite, you should know that these talks happen globally. Speakers go on stage in front of hundreds of people and tell a story in 5 minutes and 20 slides that auto-rotate every 15 seconds. That’s some pressure. O’Reilly Media is behind all this, and I should say that I’m really excited to participate.

Now, I’m nervous. I’m hella nervous – I haven’t really done any public speaking before, and although I’m quite outspoken and have no problem presenting in front of a class (given that I prepared, of course), this is going to be a lukewarm shower welcome into the world of speaking on stage. I’ve got a couple of strategies I want to test out, and – wow, – even a couple of jokes. If all else fails, my slides speak for themselves, I just need to do a jig.

Oh yes, I am speaking about art, one of my most favorite topics. I had to do a bit of reviewing and lecture notes-digging before compiling the presentation to assemble crisp and easy-to-grasp points down. After all, it’s more important to drive home key points instead of trying to explain everything. Conceptual art does not necessarily come in 5 minutes, but I will try to spread the love anyway.

The event is at the Drake Hotel, and unfortunately for my friends who haven’t RSVPed, it’s sold out. But perhaps I can bum a video off organizers.

Filed under: moving up , achievement, art, development, event, learning, toronto

Art, You Say?

We all crave art, especially in this technologically advanced day and age, we all need something beautiful, original, never seen before, never put together before, to pop into our lives and say “Here I am!” I want to see things that I – maybe – just imagined or wondered about, but never seen in flesh. Seeing beautiful things also makes me calmer and happier. That is why I am a member of the AGO: I want to be able to go in, hide on floor 3 in some well-lit corner, sit on a bench and write in my Helvetica Moleskine (ok, this makes me sound like a snob :-p).

My friends, this Friday, March 20, I cordially invite you to Kensington Market’s Hotshot Gallery. There will be a private reception of the 1000 for $10 show. It is a group show, involving many up and coming artists including Yvon Julie, Anam Ahmed, Ryan Solski, Lisa Ng, Dan Rocca (etc) and my favorite girl Rajni Perera (see more of her art on the blog, it rocks).

Rajni, a Sri Lanka-born ball of energy, never ceases to amaze me with her style – I see ink-intensive sketches in her notepads, large canvasses with traces of colorful life in her studio, I hear of her ideas to paint beautiful images on little wooden boxes. I see the paintings of pretty little birds or women with serious weapons on found surfaces (wooden ones, too!). Besides being an ecclectic artist who’s almost graduated from OCAD, she is a gourmand. She loves pungent cheese, making perfect raspberry chocolate souffles, and quiches. She’s also an apt dancer and my favorite lady to paint the town red with. Rajni wants to run away to Paris one day and just live (of course I’m hoping she’ll change the course for Berlin, in which case I’ll happily tag along). Seriously, you gotta meet her and see the world with her eyes. Your chance is this Friday, March 20 at 181 Augusta Ave. I’ll be there with my colors on! Keep in mind, art is affordable – starting at $10! Considering the economy, everyone can afford a piece of unique art at this show.

Filed under: moving up , art, artist, friends, joy, show, toronto

Art-Enjoying

This is a culture-powered week. I’m all over literature, having dusted off Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice; spirituality, having digged up Rabindranath Tagore’s Sadhana; and plunging back into the art world by going to the Art Gallery of Ontario. I forgot how peaceful walking around art galleries  makes me, I forgot how happy I become finding and looking at artworks that used to make my heart skip a beat during modern art and postmodern art classes. I am going to be buying a $45 student membership to explore the whole gallery as yesterday, for some strange reason, I spent all my time on the 2nd floor of AGO, looking at Canadian art.

I’ve never been a fan of Canadian artists, until in the middle of nowhere, I saw the piece that filled my being with winter joy – “Lake and Mountains” by Lawren S Harris. I fell in love with this painting 2.5 years ago, and bought numerous copies of the postcard. Harris’s work fills me with such sense of calm, respect for nature’s magnitute and childlike wonder that I couldn’t help buying several more postcards. Apparently he was the unofficial leader of the Group of Seven.

On a completely different note, Mary Pratt’s “Station Wagon” instills a sense of hopelessness and despair when you realize that absolution is not possible. Ukrainian-Canadian William Kurelek caught my attention as a sad artist in his day painting images of children’s fun in winter, switching to increasingly religious themes as he converted to Roman Catholicism. I managed to snap a photo of this exciting, emotional and hilarious work of art (see my flickr – thou art Peter and the rock…). Kurelek interested me most with paintings of wide open spaces and small people fiddling about. It’s the details that intrigue here – every person seems to be moving chaotically, yet at his/her own pace. Other pieces: Here, Here and Here (bear!).

Filed under: simple life , art, improvements, literature, tagore, toronto, winter

La Tomatina

for the win

Ever since I’ve opened a Spanish language textbook at the age of 16, and learned about la Tomatina – I always wanted to go; except the idea of going was constantly being pushed into the undetermined future. Until last year, when I and four of my friends set our vehicular sails for Buñol in the province of Valencia. We arrived on time to park on the outskirts of the pop=9,000 town. More than 30,000 fellow fighters walked to the center of the town with us, happily yelling at each other and laughing at the unsuspecting flip-flop wearers and camera-ready enthusiasts.

note that our shirts are white

First we got a bit of a squish session with the masses circa my Prague 2000 escape from Vaclavske Namesti along with 40,000 others. Then we moved to the front row (because we are lovable fighters), bewildered by the buildings covered in Tyvek or something similar, and watched 6 trucks slowly roll one after another, raining tomatoes on us little guys. It was on! Our goggles, €5 shoes with double laces and swimsuits didn’t help much, and the tomato juice still burnt the eyes and the skin, so we screamed Agua! Agua! to the gods above and it literally rained buckets from residential balconies. 

I got hit in the head so many times, and I scored some good shots myself. Our team fought some folks on the other side of the narrow street, tomato river kept getting deeper and deeper, people bathed in the tomato sauce, people screamed, shouted, took photos with their waterproof cameras, tried to fix their goggles only to get hit in the face. But more than anything, everyone had an absolutely unreal experience. You didn’t know that 120 tonnes of tomatoes can do this magic?

After a 90 minute battle that seemed to go on forever, we stumbled to the river and bathed, proud of ourselves, drained, feeling like the different people that we became and simply happy to be alive. We then drove to Valencia to swim in in the sea and feast on authentic paellas.

Filed under: the world eh , art, Europe, excitement, food, friends, fun time, Spain, tomatina, tomatoes, travels

New Obsessions

Excuse my non-presence in the blogosphere this past week – I’ve been on the reading, instead of the wring, side. Here are three products I discovered this past week that have been making me absolutely cuckoo with happiness.

1. Mimipong’s Hug Your Sorrow tear-shaped toys. Love them, love them, love them. Each toy is unique and comes with a tag with space for writing down your sorrow and then hug it out. Brilliant idea. There’s a related art installation in Singapore – photos of the toys’ uses, many written sorrows etc. If you’re in Singapore, please go and take photos!
2. Korres Lightweight Foundation. I’m a brand loyalist, so the marketer’s task of persuading me to switch is hard. It happens so that I’ve been using Maybelline’s foundation for  7 or 8 years for the lack of a better alternative. I can never find the right shade. Until yesterday’s stumbles at Sephora. I found the lightweight water-based foundation in almost exactly the same shade! This foundation is also enriched with vitamins C and E and ginger extract that tone and moisturize the skin. I’m thoroughly impressed, and am considering switching my cosmetics choices to this environmentally friendly Athens-based company.
3. Eggling products – Nyokki (pictured) and co. from Japan. These egg-shaped vessels  contain soil and seeds that grow grass, lavender and herbs such as basil, mint, rosemary… This household addition will not only decorate your window sill, but add something yummy to your meals. I ordered 6 various ones for myself and my family. Available at the World Wide Nature Company.

Filed under: Great Products , art, brand, joy, obsessions, product, surprise

We Kill You

First print!
Originally uploaded by wekillyou

I bought this in November via the Show and Tell gallery. First, I saw this We Kill You WKY print at The Embassy in Kensington Market and I just loved it. Look at it! So much positive energy. Also, these creatures – they exude friendliness, and yet, you see that if you get too close, they won’t be shy to use their sharp fangs. Perhaps, I am reading into this too much. But this print is definitely a mood-lifter. I like the seeming three-dimensionality and the oncoming wave of monster creatures.

I don’t know the creator or his story, unfortunately, but check out their link and see for yourself. Hailing from Toronto, they’ve done a lot of creative stuff here and there. There’s a lot of bright merchandise that you can snatch as the last minute stocking stuffers.

And I’ll be looking out for more art to come!

Filed under: simple life , art, creative, toronto