Oscar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Two McGill students have shown how beautifully art can imitate itself. After two full years of writing and planning, what started as an idea has finally become a reality for James Hugh Keenan Campbell and Charles Harries. Together, the two have written and directed The Hazards of Love: A Folk Opera.

Does the title ring a bell? The Hazards of Love is an album and folk opera by American indie-folk band the Decemberists. The band originally wrote The Hazards of Love with the intention of making it a musical, but the idea never materialized until Campbell and Harries took on the task themselves.

“It’s not every day that a really good band comes out with a really good album that tells a complete story,” Harries says. “There’s always this idea of concept albums; sometimes they loosely follow a theme which loosely follows a story, but this one actually put down a whole plot. All of the pieces were there. It just took us time to put them together and write a libretto.”

Using the album as their creative blueprint, the two had to use their imaginations to create a full script.

“The album was written with all these dramatic moments, but the storyline itself is quite ambiguous,”  Campbell explains. “It took a lot of brainstorming and arguing to make strong decisions, but it was really cool to work within that structure and write in a connect-the-dots method.”

The story is presented as an “anti-fairytale.” It opens with two lovers (William and Margaret) too distracted by their own happiness to have another care in the world. However, this happy beginning starts to fall apart with a pregnancy and the introduction of several villainous characters, including William’s jealous fairy queen mother and the evil Rake. This upside-down love story evolves and is of course interspersed with the music of The Hazards of Love.

One might think it risky to take on such an ambitious project in tandem, but Harries and Campbell found that collaboration helped make their shared project reach its full potential. Both operated together to envision scenes during the writing process.

“It was very funny considering many of the scenes are between two lovers. People would walk past and I’d be on my knees holding Charles’ hands confessing my love for him. It happened a lot. Professors that once respected me … I’m not sure about that now,” Campbell jokes. “We were also able to take more risks with the writing because we knew we had each other. It’s very difficult to self-criticize, so if something didn’t work out then one of us would cut it out. It might have been a much more conservative script if either of us had written it alone.”

Listening to the duo discuss the play, their passion for the project is evident, even though there were some early setbacks.

“We pitched it to Player’s Theatre once before, and we didn’t get it, which was fair because the script wasn’t done,” Harries says.

Despite this initial rejection, the guys didn’t throw in the towel.

“It was an exercise in tenacity. It forced us to sit down and try again. We got together three or four times a week and just sort of reworked it.”

It seems the “hazards” of hard work have finally paid off.

The Hazards of Love: A Folk Opera performs at Players’ Theatre February 8-11 and 15-18 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $6 for students. Email [email protected] to reserve tickets. 

“Three grand artists, one shockwave” was the slogan at the opening of the new art exposition last Wednesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The title couldn’t be more fitting, as the works of Valérie Blass, Ghada Amer, and Wangechi Mutu impose an impressive presense, showcasing their latest masterpieces in three exhibitions that reflect their unique personas. Their over-the-top and otherworldly visuals are crafted works of the imagination and a feast for the eyes and soul of art enthusiasts. 

The museum was abuzz with the sounds of conversation, music, and the clinking of wine glasses as dozens gathered to take a first look at the works of these esteemed female artists. Guests made their way through the various areas of the exhibitions, alternating between different artistic worlds. 

Wagechi Mutu touched on issues of sexuality, femininity, and politics envisioned in an African and Western context. Her works attempted to establish new conventional norms to undermine existing stereotypes portrayed in the media and the seemingly biased understanding of the world vis-à-vis a Western-dominated society. The works reflect a strong chemistry between living organisms, human beings, and the power of nature through a surrealist hybridization of female figures with animal prints, textures, and stylized bodies. Her repeated use of mixed media collages and delicate colour palettes illustrate hallucinatory and larger-than-life portraits of outlandish female representations that juxtapose the ideas of empowerment and femininity. The centerpiece of her exhibition, entitled “Moth Girls,” includes rows of hundreds of half-insect, half-female ceramic figurines with leather wings and feather antennae attached directly to a wall. It evokes a strange and visually overwhelming beauty, reflecting the sad hierarchy established by human beings. 

Adjacent to the exhibition was Ghada Amer’s collection. Amer’s works serve to challenge artistic norms and beliefs in the context of sensuality and autoeroticism through the use of embroidery against rendered female pornographic images that range in colour and scale.  Her use of coloured threads sewn on top of repeated pornographic figures on large canvasses create a layered aesthetic and inspire contradictory feelings. Questions of eroticism and of cultural norms are striking; her work challenges conventional workmanship through electrifying visuals, such as her most notable piece, “Revolution 2.0,” a dazzling explosion of kaleidoscopic colours spiraling from the centre of a massive canvas. Her bold use of provocative imagery and contrast of monochromatic rendering with brightly coloured and technical embroidery create pieces that are visually challenging yet beautiful in their ambiguity.    

Quebec’s Valérie Blass concludes the exposition by demonstrating her own revolutionary sculptures. Blass has pioneered a unique artistic approach to sculpturing by traversing classical traditions of sculpture and incorporating diverse mass-produced materials as part of her media. Her approach has been termed “anachronic contemporary.” Her materials, found in antique shops, flea markets, and hardware stores, were used to create free-standing human-scale sculptures. Many of her works are optical illusions and their hybrid forms evoke wonderment similar to the imaginary creatures found in fantasy novels. The range of different aesthetics demonstrates her versatility as an artist, as her sculptures include a three-metre high monolithic creation, to two ceramic bottom-half figures intertwined against a mirror. 

Together these unique and talented artists break down perpetuated notions of female stereotypes, sexuality, and artistic traditions through a resonant collection of works. 

All three exhibitions run until April 22 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (185 St. Catherine). Visit www.macm.org for more information.

metropolefilms.com

Despite my initial excitement for In Darkness, Agnieszka Holland’s Oscar-nominated depiction of a Polish man’s real-life efforts to save a group of Jewish people during World War II, I could not help but feel a tinge of disappointment when the film ended.

Holland knows that a film set during the Holocaust inherently evokes a sense of acute, almost sickeningly unbearable injustice in the mind of the viewer. With this in mind, she presents the story with a blunt, eastern European lack of embellishment. The film’s lynchpin, Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz), is a part-time burglar who encounters a group of Jewish exiles fleeing the ghetto. Ever the opportunist, Socha offers his help for a price, hiding the exiles from the Nazis in the city’s labyrinthine drainpipes. Holland starkly chronicles their lives over the next 14 months—the Jews, living with the incessant fear of capture, and Socha, somehow transforming from greedy thief to selfless guardian. The film’s events need no maudlin adornments to evoke indignation and despair: a German soldier laughs as he rips off a middle-aged Jew’s beard on the morbidly grey streets of the ghetto, brandishing it like a scalp; the depiction of a young woman giving birth in the dark, putrid tunnels below the city’s cathedral, biting down on a filthy rag to swallow her screams, is even more visceral. Apart from several small inconsistencies, the score emphasizes these scenes perfectly. Despite scant mention of religion in the film, the music can be an eerie reminder of the root cause of Jewish exceptionalism in a changing Europe. As children play, and life in the dark sewers drags along, the prayer of an orthodox man in soiled ritual garb and phylacteries fills the shot.

Despite a strong performance by Wieckiewicz, whose corpulent build and expressive demeanor might remind one of a no-nonsense uncle, the script hampers the viewer’s connection with the film. Instead of an astute look at a circumscribed set of characters, Holland tries to do too much, and thereby neglects to address a number of salient questions. How is it that a man who is comfortable scavenging the houses of the taken and the dead, for example, who happily punches a German boy in the opening sequence, grows to repeatedly risk his own life to save a handful of Jews who struggle to pay him?

This lack of depth is noticeable through the film, which foregoes the psychological exploration of individuals and events necessary for us to establish the most direct and immediate connections with the scenario. The pervading sense that we are watching the horrific events of the shamefully recent past has, to a degree, allowed Holland to omit the more subtle aspects of a poignant picture. This reliance on a sense of history to provide the necessary emotional cache is commonplace, but I cannot help but be somewhat reproachful—one comes away with an artificial sense of having truly understood the lives of people whose presence on screen was, in actuality, superficial.

A story of life during one of the worst tragedies of the twentieth century surely deserves more than that. 

Creating seemingly outdated music may seem like a lost cause in today’s world of music, but Foxy Shazam are skipping down the perfect path with their latest release of authentic and emotional rock music. Their electric fourth studio album, The Church of Rock and Roll, has everything a great album should: sharp Freddie Mercury-esque vocals, copious amounts of intricate and distorted guitar solos, funky ska-influenced horn sections, and even a gospel-sounding chorus on some tracks. The album is capable of taking you through an entire era with each listen. 

Their old-soul sound, most recently produced by Justin Hawkins, the flamboyant lead singer of the British band the Darkness, has taken a unique turn here.  With a fusion of new ska, punk, soul, and classic rock, it’s not hard to follow this band like “a flock of sheep,” as Nally sings in the opening track. 

Foxy Shazam don’t expect to appeal to the masses, but rather they poke fun at and accept their status as a niche band. The message of their music is still crystal clear; Foxy Shazam envision themselves as today’s leading preachers in the present-day Church of Rock and Roll, and we are simply believers.

—Vanessa Salvo

oharahale.com

Passovah is growing up and throwing a party at Il Motore this Friday to celebrate.

Founded by Noah Bick, a U2 English student, the music promotion and production company began organizing shows in late 2007 at the now-defunct Griffintown venue, the Friendship Cove. What initially began as monthly loft parties has since expanded into four or five shows each month. Four years later, Bick has put on over 90 performances with such notable acts as Braids, Women, and Marnie Stern.

Friday’s show features 12 local musicians from a variety of genres playing 15-minute sets throughout the night, including members of Sunset Rubdown, Adam and the Amethysts, and many more. 

“I love seeing weird musicians from across the music board,” says Bick. “Putting Lisa Gamble in the same room as Caroline Keating, it’s a funny little mixture.”

Bick has put on these types of multi-performer shows before, not only to showcase many of the bands he has befriended over the years, but also to break up the monotony that comes with traditional setlists.

“I find it’s fun because it’s an alternative format. People get bored of the three band bill,” he says.

As much as the show is a celebration of the anniversary of Passovah, it also aims to recognize the community beyond the musicians who have made it possible. When Il Motore first opened in late 2008, its isolated location on Jean-Talon seemed miles away from Montreal’s traditional music hubs in the Plateau and Mile End. However, it has quickly become the go-to venue for independent music, and since then, places like Depanneur Le Pick-Up and Marché Soupson have sprung up and become local fixtures in the burgeoning arts community north of Van Horne. To celebrate this, the latter will be providing free soup for those who show up early.

“I probably ate there about 100 times in 2011, so I figured it’d be nice to include that,” Bick says. “For me it’s not only about the music, it’s about the community.”

Apart from being the Director of Passovah, Bick also works as a production manager for fellow local promoters Blue Skies Turn Black and as a production assistant for POP Montreal. Working with two other big name promotion groups might seem like a conflict of interest, but Bick asserts that he has found Passovah’s niche in drawing attention to young local bands and helping them grow.

“I’m still trying to book really good bands [and] bring in bands that I really like, but there’s this focus on community now … the purpose of Passovah is going to be still trying to book these cutting edge bands but help the bands that are not at the Blue Skies level yet.”

Friday at Il Motore (179 Jean Talon West). Doors at 8 p.m. Pay-What-You-Can. Visit www.passovah.com for a full list of performers.

Guy Glorieux

Guy Glorieux’s pinhole camera photography exhibition at the McCord Museum presents Montreal from a unique perspective.

The exhibition, Impressions of a City: Montreal Through a Pinhole, features pinhole photography by French-born Canadian artist Glorieux. The eighteen prints showcase Montreal transformed from a vibrant metropolis into a disjointed ghost town.  

Pinhole cameras are simple: they feature a small aperture, in this case 1.5 mm, which allows light to filter through onto photosensitive paper or film at the back of the box. The images are recorded as negatives, with light and dark reversed, and left and right mirrored. Most of the photographs in the exhibition were made with entire hotel rooms turned into makeshift cameras. Glorieux blocked out the windows, left a tiny hole, and covered the back wall in film. The result? Large, looming prints of Montreal, where dark is light, left is right, and black is white. 

Glorieux photographs the most recognizable parts of Montreal: the Jacques Cartier bridge, the corner of St. Laurent and St. Catherine, and City Hall, to name a few. But the prints are anything but familiar. The reversal of light and perspective renders Montreal uncanny. It is a city of blurry edges, glass landscapes of warped funhouse mirrors, translucent wisps of passing cars, and glowing, phantasmal buildings.  

The absence of life is haunting. The three-hour exposure time removes any memory of people—just vast and displaced buildings. “The result is a barren, disquieting, ghostly city. A city draped in a stellar night, its buildings lit up as if for a final celebration. Its dwellers seem to have fled in great haste leaving everything behind, even their cars. A city is frozen in time,” Glorieux describes. The snow white vistas, ominous black skies, and utter lack of vitality suggests some kind of fallout. The streets are empty, the colours are gone, and everything is backwards. It’s an apocalypse, but a beautiful one.  

The exhibition treats the photos like star performers. The space is dim and the photos are illuminated by spotlights, further emphasizing Glorieux’s contrast between light and dark. Glorieux’s collection of different pinhole cameras shows how simple devices can produce beautiful things. One display holds pinhole cameras made out of a paint can, a handmade wooden box held together with Velcro, and even a cardboard box that housed fresh dates before it held camera film. 

Just as the crude cameras produce stunning images, Glorieux makes art out of the city’s bleaker aspects. Many of the photos show the ugly sides of Montreal: a gaping construction pit, the Studio XXX advertisements for a peep show, and La Belle Province and its 95 cent hot dogs. These, however, are some of the best prints, with interesting perspectives and stunning contrast.  

The feature piece of the show displaces viewers even more. The print is a five-metre long view of the Montreal Contemporary Art Museum, warped beyond recognition. It’s an intentional distortion made by placing the photosensitive paper on a diagonal plane, rather than one perpendicular to the pinhole. The result is anamorphosis: the disruption of perspective used by painters such as da Vinci and Holbein. The museum appears deformed from almost everywhere, but when you stand on the designated spot, the elongated mass of a building stretches into place.

Glorieux’s work is about making the familiar unfamiliar. His unique pinhole prints turn Montreal into an eerie world where very little make sense. The photos are beautiful and fascinating, and all the more so because they are so chilling.

Impressions of a City runs until May 27. Visit www.musee-mccord.qc.ca for more information.