My Paper Is Made of Meat

Two weeks ago I bathing in the brief but wondrous period of magazine discovery and appreciation. When I came across Meatpaper, I was on the sexy Mag Culture blog. I was scrolling through, checking out various magazines and news when something caught my eye. A sandwich booklet that will be shipped with 13th issue of Meatpaper. I thought, Meatpaper? What kind of a joke is that? And then, Sandwich?!! Who said, Sandwich?

Because recently I have fallen in love with sandwiches like never before, anything sandwich-related caught my eye. Especially when there’s a white and pink unicorn sleeping soundly between the slices.

Back to Meatpaper. It’s a quarterly San Francisco-based magazine. And it’s amazing.

What is this ALL about? In the words of Meatpaper:

At once divisive and universal, delicious and disturbing, funny and dead-serious, meat polarizes us unlike any other food.
Us, we’re ambidextrous here at Meatpaper — no agenda except to gnaw on the ideas, artistic excursions and bone-deep emotions the subject inspires. We invite you to dig in with us.

The reasons I fell in love with it:

• Covers. Mixture of New Yorker and art/life photography. I can’t quite place it, but there is something crisp and beautiful about all the covers.
• Quarterly. Good fucking content comes in quarterly packages. For a topic such as this.
• Amazing collection of topics.
• The culture of meat. I’m a foodie, okay, I like to read about food besides consuming and photographing it. Meat is an interesting topic. It can be very polarizing, and it can be quite uniting. It is painful to some, and delightful to others.

I subscribed. After checking out the kinds of articles presented in this publication, I contacted the office and subscribed. And yesterday I received my issue 12 and 13. Off to reading!

(I highly recommend you check out their website)

Just look at the sample articles and coverage:

• stories about a variety of meats, including python, locusts, tripe, beef tongue, porcupine, dog, and jailhouse meat
• report on competitive eating, bug tacos, squirrel hunting, sea turtles, and more.
• learn about oyster farming, meat facials, and the global origins of one taco’s ingredients.
• a multi-disciplinary, sensory extravaganza of topics, including meat perfume; meat aura photographs; meat in rock, punk, and soul music; meat as building material; and rabbit farming as a sustainable food of the future.
• the controversy about eating seal meat in Canada (and what that has to do with maple syrup)
• the day-to-day life of a livestock veterinarian, the lard vs. butter debate among pie bakers, and that age-old question: What did T. rex taste like?
• how a county fair sow is like Miss America, pig lit, chefs’ pig tattoos, a fake bacon taste test, and much more.
• AND MORE

As you can see, this is interesting to everyone interested in food or ethics and aesthetics of meat. I can easily be a vegan and read this. Moreover, I will most likely be put off meat (or very much drawn to it, haha) after some articles, but in all cases I will gather a better understanding of the world of meat and its elements.

On their press page you can see that they’ve been mentioned in New York Times, GOOD magazine, HuffPo, BBC, Boing Boing, Maclean’s etc.

Oh yeah, yearly subscription is $28 in the US and $34 in Canada. You can buy individual issues too ($7.95 per issue + shipping to wherever you live).

Julian Schnabel at the AGO (Exhibit Review)

Last Saturday Alex and I checked out the Julian Schnabel exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario. I didn’t think I would enjoy this exhibit so much. The number one reason why this exhibit is more powerful than anything I’ve seen at the AGO before: context (and the whole film theme, too). A lot of context for each piece. Documented.

Some of my favorite works were the broken plate pieces. I enjoyed the size of the artworks, and appreciated the time that went into creating them. I’ve seen a lot of peculiar and unusual work (like Rauschenberg), but for some reason these ones really struck me. I wondered about the individual past of each piece. I also like the fact that he documented his naming ideas. I just never saw plates on the painting before and I realized that I enjoy the 3 dimensionality there, as well as the kind of recycling of the work. They also made me think of Duchamp and the readymades.

Another positive element of this exhibit was the phone tour guide. You call an 800-number, enter the artwork ID and listen to Julian Schnabel himself explaining the piece. Before I called, I expected a droning tour guide voice to tell me the basics. But instead I got the notes from Schnabel himself. Like!

So, there was another broken plate painting that made me cheerful. It was called “Australia” and if you called in you’d hear a little story about who that was and who that related to. That gave me a better sense of what this was. I liked the multiple layers and multiple tales that the painting presented.

I VERY MUCH enjoyed Schnabel’s surfing photographs that he touched with white gesso (which is water soluble, hence leaves pleasant trails). Gesso gave the photographs this transcendence. Some realistic, yet magical touch that somehow heightened the whole surfing experience to something nearly divine. I felt like I was transported into the scene and that I could get splashed myself. The scale is unbelievable. The wave may just spill over and splash you.

While I wouldn’t really hang most of the pieces, I truly marveled at most of them. For example, look at the Andy Warhol portrait. It’s oil on black velvet. I noticed something was off about that work when I walked into the smaller room in which it was displayed. The background seemed to be made of blackest black. It was velvet. Which made the colors pop with unusual vibrancy. It also made me think of outer space, ghost of Warhol and his legacy. Truly gripping piece.

The Gary Oldman portrait was great as well. I really felt that the portrait was completed by his friend. Schnabel captured Gary’s vulnerable, open expressions really well. The matador costume seemed very fitting.

To summarize, I find the following things refreshing about the Julian Schnabel exhibit (and I applaud the AGO):

• a richer than usual context (with stories, comments, memories)
• some film history or fact related to film (you know I’ve a weakness for that)
• phone-in tour guide with notes from Schnabel himself
• powerful and well-chosen quotes, especially the Tarkovsky one below.
• interesting fascination with the lesser known personalities and stories. I thought of how amazing it was that that Julian Schnabel became interested in the less than famous, less than mainstream personalities. For example, Reinaldo Arenas in Before Night Falls. Then the preoccupation with matadors and the desire to adapt to screen a biography about this famous matador, written by another author in 1st person. Or the Jean-Dominique Bauby story chronicled in the Diving Bell and the Butterfly. That’s unique, that’s different. These are the stories that we don’t hear a lot (unlike Gandhi, Martin Luther-King, Ali and hundreds of others), but that need a voice. So I thank Julian Schnabel for bringing to light the relatively unknown stories and people. I am always curious to come across strong characters and inspiring tales that are also beautiful and poetic, and it’s great that Schnabel brings them to light. (More on that at some point later, I’d like to tie this into literature and music, but I can’t put all of this into words yet)
• Please take a look at the Before Night Falls books and DVDs available for sale, if you decide to plunge into the passionate story that it is.
• Or, if the Diving Bell and the Butterfly is your thing, I’ve sorted these relevant products for you.

Please check out the exhibit. More details are here. I’ll be sure to go again. It’s on until January 2, 2011.

“An artistic image is one that ensures its own development, its historical viability. An image is a grain, a self-evolving retroactive organism. It is a symbol of actual life, as opposed to life itself. Life contains death. An image of life, by contrast, excludes it, or else sees in it a unique potential for the affirmation of life. Whatever it expresses – even destruction and ruin – the artistic image is by definition an embodiment of hope, it is inspired by faith. Artistic creation is by definition a denial of death. Therefore it is optimistic, even if in an ultimate sense the artist is tragic. And so there can never be optimistic artists and pessimistic artists. There can only be talent and mediocrity.” Andrei Tarkovsky

Arty Party in Your Panty

OK, folks. I spend a lot of time talking about art, thinking about art, looking at it, taking pictures of it, traveling great distances to see more of it, buying academic texts on discourse and studying it and even scribbling down ideas for my own art making.

And so it comes to no surprise that I started an art blog – Musings on Art on posterous. I’ve had that posterous account forever and it finally became useful when I realized that I could mostly take snapshots of artworks and write the name of the artist for my reference… and put it all conveniently in one place.

Posts are short and sweet, usually to the point. You should find something educational in there. Feel free to suggest topic and artists for exploration.

kthxbai. FOLLOW!

Adventures in Moody Film

I’ve been busy following my objectives, clearly and passionately. One of them was to take more photos, so below are some results of my work. Infrared film – Ilford SFX 200, camera is Holga. I added a little poem for each shot. Full set here.

there will be fragrant life when earth awakes.
the quiet chirping of the creek
will be replaced
by vulgar shrieks of birds

apres:
sharp, angsty spears of winter
replaced by a standing ovation
of eager reeds

* * *

you can wait for an angel
or you can make one yourself
by imbibing the snow into shape

* * *

attempting to forever possess a bird
- a noble, blue gray white flutter, -
i managed to imprison the light
blinding self and
disgusting the game

* * *

it is not a black forest
but really a negative of the blanched, clear sky

the birch trees of my motherland
sprout endless crowns to heaven

it is all but negative space

animal rituals of the night before – the proof.

* * *

Left Brain, Right Brain

Last night I met a woman who was an accountant (in fact, last night I had a terrible luck of meeting people only in the field of finance and who were mesmerized by my cherry red tights and starry-eyed dress). The event at which I met her was the AGO Next launch party. It was a lovely event, albeit full of dark clothes and semi-socialites mingling with each other.

But besides that. The lady with whom I talked for half an hour was an accountant and she said that she liked art and wanted to learn more about it. I told her about Slow Art etc, and ways she can improve her knowledge. Did my good deed of adding value to a conversation.

She said she wanted to get more involved in the arts (and creative pursuits) because she used her right brain so much at work. I didn’t skip a beat, but my poor brain received a fresh influx of confused thoughts. Right brain, left brain? As far as I was concerned, the left brain was more of an accountant’s realm than the right brain (unless she worked in the “creative accounting” field which the Enron types were so fond of).

I had the urge to correct her, but I abstained. Embarrassing her would not be the best karmic activity on my part. I even assumed a role of her ally by referring to the correct, left side of the brain, as the right one and vice versa. I didn’t cause a single blunder, and managed to explain why she should read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind. The book is about the increasing importance of right sides of our brains (I’m using it in the correct sense now) in the workplace, and creativity in general. She’ll learn there.

35 And 120 Are Very Special Numbers

Before the New Year, secretly, in November I thought about what I wanted to accomplish (from the creative perspective)  in 2010. I’ve got my career goals outlined all right, and I’ve a plan, and, in fact, tonight after leaving the office I plan to attack said goals with vigor inspired by the new Starbucks VIA instant coffee (oh what a nice plug, can I get a pack of it for free now?). Or the espresso machine that got installed in our office.

Sp. Creative side. I dusted off my Holga. I’ve had it since 2005 and I have been taking photographs with it, but not many. I’ve thoroughly researched various Ilford films and found places where I can buy a fun variety of film rolls:

• Ilford SFX 200 120:  medium speed black and white camera film for creative photography. It has extended red sensitivity and is especially suited for use with a filter to create special effects. By using a deep red filter skies can be rendered almost black and most green vegetation almost white. Its unusual tonal rendition ensures interesting results for a range of subjects, including portraits, landscapes, townscapes and architecture.
• Ilford XP2 400 120: a sharp, fast, fine grain black and white film. It can be used for any photographic subject, but ensures excellent results when there is a wide subject brightness range. The film yields high contrast negatives and has an extremely wide exposure latitude making it suitable for use in varied lighting conditions.
• Ilford Delta 3200 120: an ultra-speed black and white film, ideal for fast action and low light photography such as night time, sport, or indoor architectural applications where flash photography is ‘forbidden’. This is a genuine high speed film with an ability to record highlight detail that sets it apart from other films.
• Ilford H5 400 120: a high speed, medium contrast film making it especially suitable for action and press photography and also an excellent choice for general purpose photography. Nominally rated at ISO 400, it yields negatives of outstanding sharpness and fine grain under all lighting conditions.

I used to take pictures like this. And I even had them printed, but prints have disappeared into a storage abyss:

Update: Last weekend the wonderful Colleen and I went uptown to relax and hey, I used the Holga. I’ve got 12 shots that are being developed as we sit here in front of our computers. I also have 24 b&w exposures and 24 color exposures from last year. It’s happening.

Atlas Not Shrugged [Projects]

My friend and a very talented photographer Eugen Sakhnenko started a 52-week long project on November 30. It is called ATLAS, and it is a weekly portrait blog that features interesting people. In his own words, it’s about “people that are doing something interesting with their lives.”As it stands, most of the people are from Toronto area, although Eugen has photographed bestselling authors and successful entrepreneurs from New York, too.

During the week of December 7, 2009 I was a featured person. I’m very glad that Eugen asked me to participate after he attended Slow Art (which I hosted in Toronto on October 17). I feel that it’s important to highlight and encourage people that are doing something exciting with their lives. Moreover, I like that this is a year-long project and social media-fueled. Readers can connect with those featured in the project, they can learn more about them and strike up a conversation. We’ve been retweeting announcements at the beginning of each week. I personally am lobbying for an excellent wrap-up party next year.

Please check out my profile and leave a comment It would be much appreciated, and you can learn more about me, if you’re interested. Moreover, stay tuned to more awesome peeps popping up every Monday morning on the same photo blog.

Self-Made Miró

Recently I read a fantastic biography of Joan Miró, “Miró: The Life of a Passion” by Lluis Permanyer. During my visit to the Miró Foundation in Barcelona’s Parc de Montjuïc I discovered a lot about Miró. I never knew he produced some of the works that I found. In my 2008 notes I wrote “check out his hair pursued by two planets AND letters and numbers attracted by a spark”. I remember the wonderful balance between objects in the paintings, between tension and sweet resolve. And the blinding building, the white mixing into unbearable starlight piercing the eyes. Sunglasses futile.

To get back to the book. I am amazed by his determination, willpower, and confidence in self. Many people didn’t believe in him, including his own father. He struggled with poverty, with unacceptance, but ultimately, he remain loyal to himself, true to heart and never stopping.

Miró had a vigorous routine, he was not a social animal, he worshipped work, he was with the same woman throughout his whole life, he always did the right thing. I understand it’s difficult, and I know it’s some paralyzing. I’m in awe. You can and should build yourself. Make yourself. There is only one life, why not stick to your guns. If Joan could get through all the hardships, wars and persecution, so can we get ahead in our comfortable lives.

Look. Miró’s routine around 1934:

At six o’clock he got up, washed and had coffee and a few slices of bread for breakfast; at seven he went into the studio and worked non-stop until twelve, when he stopped to do an hour of energetic exercise, like boxing or running; at one o’clock he sat down for a frugal but well-prepared lunch, which he finished off with a coffee and three cigarettes, neither more nor less; then he practised his ‘Mediterranean yoga’, a nap, but for just five minutes; at two he would receive a friend, deal with business matters or write letters; at three he returned to the studio, where he stayed until dinner time at eight o’clock; after dinner he would read for a while or listen to music. All told, an inflexible routine which he imposed on himself faultlessly and recognized as necessary to ‘keep fit’ as a painter.

From the same book:

“Miró told me that he used to go to bed very early, and never without meditating conscientiously on what he was to do the next day: this helped him to concentrate his attention and to attack his work with dizzying vitality early the next morning.”

Berkeley Illustration (Art)

What a great find on Etsy! A Portland, OR illustrator Ryan Berkeley of Berkeley Illustration captures various members of the animal kingdom (some as obscure as caterpillars and chiroptera, that is, bats) with humorous and creative mini-descriptions. I personally love imagining personalities and traits of not only various people, but objects and sometimes animals, just by looking at them. Glad Ryan took the extra steps and captured the mammals in dashing suits. Check out some of the work, and go buy some Christmas prints for your loved ones in 5×7, 8×10 and 11×14 sizes here!

With his winning smile, this giraffe is a natural catalog model. As you might suspect, most of his jobs are booked for neckware but he also does good business with men’s slippers and bathrobes.

After cataract surgery ten years ago, this cheetah realized that an eyepatch can be a real conversation starter with the ladies. His eye has long since healed but his social calendar remains quite full.

This bat is a lover of the nightlife, especially 80s Karaoke night. He always gets the crowd going with his falsetto rendition of “Dancing In The Dark”.

Tragically this squirrel has a vicious peanut allergy. Luckily he lives in an area that has an abundance of berries.

Once a popular jazz pianist, this shark has most recently become a song and dance showman. His voice has been described as “a cross between Louis Armstrong and Kenny Rogers”. Unfortunately his fierce temper has limited his gigs to biker bars and convict picnics.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.