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Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Hey maybe I've been missing something.

Howdy!

Now that the Gazette has gone subscriber-only I seem to have picked up on scanning the National Post in order to fill up the time that otherwise would have been spent reading articles from the Gazette.

Imagine my surprise then when contrary to what I previously thought, it seems that they actually DO publish articles about art. Today they published J. Kelly Nestruck's 328 word piece on Barbara Cole, because she is having an exhibition at the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC (or in other words, something "impo'tent).

First off, if you check down on the right-hand column, Mr. Nestruck (or maybe Ms. Nestruck, I'm not certain, I've never met him/her) writes one of the blogs that I suggest that you read daily. It is called On The Fence. Call it a pleasant surprise, I had no idea that Mr. or Ms. Nestruck did anything other than blog. (But I guess ALL bloggers do something else.)

As for the article, the first thing that struck me was how similar the superficial description of Ms. Cole's work was to that of Laurie McLeod. Now don't get all pie-eyed on me, the only reason I know anything about Ms. McLeod is because of this article that appeared in Sunday's New York Times.

According to Mr. or Ms. Nestruck "Fascinated by the distortions and reflections of light on the bottom of the pool [Barbara Cole] frequented, the former fashion editor of the Toronto Sun decided to give underwater photography a try... " According to Jennifer Dunning (no confusing y-chromosomes there) the writer for the gray lady, "in Laurie McLeod's "Waterhaven No. 1 (Luo Yong's Dream)...images unfold underwater on film..."

Both of them go on, Ms. Dunning doing a better job of reviewing the exhibition she has been assigned, because Mr. or Ms. Nestruck has not been given that assignment, Mr. or Ms. Nestruck has been given the assignment of doing a profile of the artist, hence the aside about her previous job as fashion editor. Which leads me back to slagging the National Post about their coverage of Art - which would you prefer, a full on review of an important show in Washington DC? Or a fluff profile of an artist having an important show in Washington DC?

Here's to hoping that some bright editor at the National Post has Tyler Green's phone number and/or email address so that they can follow up a very nice profile with a serious freakin' review. If Blake Gopnik can make it from Toronto to Washington DC, so can the National Post.

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