On Jan. 11, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) held a series of events as part of their current Françoise Sullivan retrospective, including a panel and a separate exhibition. Aptly titled the Dance and Visual Arts Study Day, the MAC invited a host of educators, artists, and theorists to share[Read More…]
Art
‘Hyper Real’ thoughtfully reflects race relations
Hyper Real, which showed at Concordia University’s student art gallery, VAV (Visual Arts Visuels,) until Nov. 30, showcased the work of nine black artists, juxtaposing themes like masculinity and femininity and isolation and connection, in a series of video art works, graphic prints and eerily arranged baby-doll sculptures. The exhibition functioned as a mirror, reflecting the identities and personal narratives of the artists, but also provided viewers with a space to examine their own perceptions of black identity and race relations. While the works varied in form, each deconstructed stereotypical beliefs in an exhibition that was at once introspective and expressive.
‘Wearing our Identity’ explores the cultural significance of indigenous clothing
The McCord Museum’s newest addition to their permanent collection, Wearing our Identity. The First Peoples Collection, explores the historical, cultural, and spiritual significance of Indigenous clothing. The exhibition showcases garments and artifacts associated with clothing production, such as needles and bone scrapers, to demonstrate how clothing shapes identity, and the role of fashion as a tool for self expression within Indigenous and First Nations cultures across Canada. The exhibition also documents the effects of colonialism and the relationship between westerners and Indigenous people, as captured within their clothing.
Station 16 fuses live performance and satirical graphics
n Station 16’s current exhibition, Near Mint, Montreal-based artists Jason Wasserman and Eric Clement showcase a range of prints, drawings, and hanging sculptures that touch on themes of nostalgia and commercialism. The show falls somewhere between browsing through Pinterest for tattoo inspiration—displayed works include floral patterns and semi-naked women painted[Read More…]
The end of the world as we know it
Vancouver native and Berlin-based artist Jeremy Shaw’s video art installation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), Liminals, is a dystopian exploration of the human psyche. Set several decades into the future when human extinction is imminent, the film follows the lives of eight individuals.
How Balenciaga set the standard for an entire industry
To the uninitiated, haute couture might conjure up images of haughty snobs sporting wildly-impractical clothing, ankle-breaking six-inch stilettos. The elusive nature of high fashion makes it difficult to categorize: Often toeing the line between wearable and absurd, Balenciaga’s designs muddle this already contentious definition
‘Resplendent Illuminations’ showcases centuries old opulence
Softly lit walls and echoes of medieval chamber music provide the backdrop for a history-buff’s dream-come-true in the Montreal Museum of Fine Art (MMFA)’s current exhibition, Resplendent Illuminations. The show, which runs until Jan. 6, exhibits the work of centuries-old craftsmen in a sizable collection of books of hours.
Birds Crossing Borders bridges the gap between Syrian and Canadian communities
Since 2017, over 6,100 refugees have arrived in Montreal. With her multimedia exhibition, Khadja Baker puts a name, face, and voice to six of these individuals with her captivating and powerful audio-visual installation, Birds Crossing Borders, which premiered on Sept. 13 at the theatre and gallery, Montreal Arts Interculturelle. A Kurdish-Syrian who witnessed the Syrian civil war firsthand, with family members who left unable to cross borders, Baker presents a collection of stories from Syrian refugees living in Montreal to chip away at the myth of refugees as radical extremists.
Posters, drugs & rock n’ roll
Professor and curator Marc H. Choko’s exhibition, Nonconforming Poster Designers, displayed at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQÀM) Center of Design, is a psychedelic trip without the kool-aid. The show explores the work of two classically trained designers, Elzo Durt and Sebastien Lepine, and their experimental techniques and kaleidoscopic visual effects. Durt and Lepine disregard traditional boundaries of line, form, and color in a series of silk screen printed posters reminiscent of a visual hybrid, somewhere between the Merry Prankster’s day-glo bus paintings, and the meticulous detailing of a 17th century woodcut engraving.
Who inspired Picasso?
2018 is the year of Picasso’s renaissance. In May, he graced the cover of National Geographic, and in March, the Tate Modern launched “The EY Exhibition: Picasso 1932 – Love, Fame, Tragedy,” the first-ever Picasso exhibit at the London museum. It’s no wonder that Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts decided[Read More…]
