Have Ron and Susan Crowell seen ItuKiagâtta!

Howdy!

A very nice story about a couple who started out collecting Haida art and then moved further North and East. Personally I like how the Mail Tribune still can use the term 'Indian.'

Nice feel good story about Karen Fralich

Howdy!

The Christian Science Monitor wrote about Karen Fralich winniing the Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting competition, again.

32,250!! & The top ten downloads for July

Howdy!

According to Ourmedia and Feedburner, the Zeke's Gallery podcasts have been downloaded over 32,250 times. Not bad, eh?

And The top ten for the month of July, according to Feedburner:

1. The Missive, a film by Jarred Coxford - downloaded 228 times
2. Ben Hammond live at Zeke's Gallery, the Theremin interlude - 40
3. Nancy Nisbet's Exchange Project a film by Scott Lutes - 40
4. Asa Boxer reading at Zeke's Gallery last night - 35
5. Ben Hammond live at Zeke's Gallery set two - 23
6. Ben Hammond live at Zeke's Gallery set one - 23
7. Revised Edition at Zeke's Gallery June 19, 2006 - Set one. - 21
8. Anita Lahey reading at Zeke's Gallery last night - 18
9. The Isaiah Ceccarelli Trio live at Zeke's Gallery - 17
10. Letters to Celine by Nathalie Edwards & Brian Davis - 15

Jobs available in the Art World

Howdy!

I found three of them today:
Administrative Assistant at Legris Conservation, Senior Business Systems Analyst at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and Assistant Professor of Art History with a specialization in 19th-century and early 20th-century art and visual culture at McGill.

Jillian Mcdonald goes from the CBC to the NYTimes!

Howdy!

Last week, Ms. McDonald was on the CBC radio program that I was surprised to like, called Sprocket. Today she is featured in a 1,000 word article in the New York Times by Carol Kino. This one day after Alexander Nagel (another Canadian) got a fantabulous review in the very same newspaper. The key line in the article would be "...runaway Web popularity does not necessarily translate into art-world success. Although she continues to receive Billy Bob fan mail, she said, no major art dealers have called." So, who's next?

It started off so nice

Howdy!

Back on May 27th, the Gazette published a really good article on contemporary art by Cameron Skene, but they also promised that it would be part of a series that got published every six weeks. Well, the second one is horrible and filled with mistakes the most glaring one being that July 29 is actually nine weeks since the first one was published, and they have the temerity to write as an introduction "Every six weeks or so over several months, In Profile is presenting a cross-section of work now being produced on the island..."

Then while I still think that Mr. Skene is a good writer this article got hacked up somewhere and never should have seen the light of day.

Some of other mistakes/errors/bad things (in chronological order):

Mr. Skene starts off his article with a quote from Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times, who he quotes as writing "a barnacle on the cruise ship of pop culture." The actual line he wrote was back on March 3 and it reads "The whole ethos of the show is provisional, messy, half-baked, cantankerous, insular — radical qualities art used to have when it could still call itself radical and wasn't like a barnacle clinging to the cruise ship of pop culture." And it was in reference to the Whitney Biennale. And while you might think I'm nitpicking, if I can find it, so should the Gazette and Mr. Skene.

"Jana Sterbak's iconic image of a barcode on the back of a bald head" is in fact called "Generic Man." It is not iconic in the least, nor is the gentleman photographed bald. What is iconic is the Individuals of Style Gap ad campaign, the Holocaust, and the Terminator series of films. All of which had people with barcodes (or in the case of the holocaust an equivalent) long before Ms. Sterbak. Heck I'm positive that Ms. Sterbak has taken a photograph of a sunset on a beach, I don't think that her photograph of a sunset on a beach would qualify as "iconic." Why should this one?

Mr. Skene then goes on to talk about and with Isabelle Hayeur, somehow missing completely that one of her her "images... of places in the netherworld of the contemporary urban environment" is being shown now as I am writing this at the Musee des Beaux Arts. C'mon! I don't care when this article was actually written, there are people at the Gazette who are paid very good money to make sure that articles don't look stupid.

Then Andrea Szilasi's sweetie's name is Michael Merrill, he is not Michael Meredith. Mr. Skene must have been mourning the death of Milena Del Valle when he got them confused.

And then finally, since this article took 50% more time to publish than they planned, but they still refer to an article coming out every six weeks. I wonder if the next one will be appearing in three so that they can keep the average at six?

Yet another thing to remember

Howdy!

When getting a painting appraised always ask the appraiser if they own the painting before asking them how much it is worth.

Canadian on the Move, Go Alexander Nagel Go!

Howdy!

Can't say much about the art, but I can say 'good on you!' to Professor Nagel, a show he organized got 'two thumbs way up' from Holland Cotter in today's New York Times. [awkward linkage alert: the show is called 'Gifts Go in One Direction' and the review starts on page 2, and continues on page 3.]

Me 'n' Dick Pound

Howdy!

For those of you who have seen this film, all the way to the end, or have spoken with me in person know that me and Dick Pound don't see eye-to-eye. Apologies for this being a non-visual art related post, but it got my gums in an uproar. In today's New York Times there is an article that explains in detail what Floyd Landis is being accused of. Apparently WADA thinks that Mr. Landis' ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone was more than four to one. There are a couple of problems with that accusation.

1. A four to one ratio is not abnormal.
2. No one has shown that Testosterone helps in any way shape or means.
3. WADA cannot guarantee that the sample (or samples) were not tampered with.
4. The headlines were written before the 'B' sample was tested.

Mr. Pound is the chairman of the organization that is doing the accusing, without him there are no accusations.

Socket socks it to me!

Howdy!

Earlier this week I wrote about the radio program hosted by Angela Antle that can be heard Saturday's at 4, and Wednesday's at 11:30 (when I listen). Given what I thought about the CBC's coverage of the arts, I was expecting to dislike it, figured it was going to a bunch of claptrap and nonsense, in short a waste of 1,800 seconds.

Boy was I wrong.

Ms. Antle and Ramona Dearing did a wonderful job presenting Contemporary Canadian Art in an informative and engaging manner. Not only is Socket entertaining (tough for me to write those words) but they treat their subjects with just the right combination of irreverence and inquiry. I only have two minor quibbles. A) the music they play in between interview segments would be better if it weren't there (but I'm not listening to the show for the bumpers) and B) I would have prefered that the interviews with the artists proceed from beginning to end, instead of being cut up into smaller segments and then dispersed throughout the show.

I'm looking forward to the next show; 124 hours and counting. Especially since Emily Vey Duke rocks like nobody's business.

Anybody know what Sandeep Bhagwati's music sounds like?

Howdy!

It appears like Concordia University scored a cool $550,000 so that the could go and hire Sandeep Bhagwati. I adore the way they describe what he does; "The aim of his research is to establish a practical and theoretical framework for the creation and evaluation of inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural, inter-media and inter-active art."

Outreach?!?

Howdy!

Well the CBC is back to their old ways. In this article someone writes "Gallery director Christina Richie says the program blurs the distinction between art and marketing. "I prefer to think of it as outreach," she told CBC Vancouver." No I don't understand it either. For what it is worth, it is an article about the exhibit Drive Thru Art, Featuring Day Tripper, a program by Brady Cranfield.

Nancy Nisbet's Exchange Project a film by Scott Lutes

Howdy!

Click on this to download the film. Last month Nancy Nisbett showed up. Scott got whole whack of video on it. Click on the appropriate button to watch his film.

Nice work by Karen Seidman

Howdy!

About ten days ago I commented how Charles Pitts needs to learn how to write a press release. Well, maybe I'm wrong. It landed a very nice article written by Ms. Seidman about the Shona Sculpture Festival.

Marsha Lederman does a nice job

Howdy!

For the most part I extremely critical of the CBC's coverage of the arts. (see here, here and here as examples of the 234 times I've written "CBC" on this blog) However, I do point out good stuff when I hear it, and this morning on the World Report (the 7 am edt version) Marsha Lederman did a very nice report/piece on volunteers in Canadian museums.

Galerie d'Art Jean-Claude-Bergeron scores $7,000

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Props and shout outs to the Galerie d'Art Jean-Claude-Bergeron who scored some cash from the department of Canadian Heritage. I'm not certain how they pulled off the official government press release. nor am I convinced that anybody besides myself will do anything about it, but...

Glen Murray meet Chris Anderson

Howdy!

Mr. Murray's organization released this press release. At about the same time, someone at the Ottawa Citizen interviewed Mr. Anderson about his book. The way I see it they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum, just a nice juxtaposition.

So where's the nudity?

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Apparently this family health clinic in British Columbia wanted to be nice to the people of Nanaimo and exhibit some art, however, the Nanaimo Arts Council didn't like Jay Meyer's work, so they 'requested' that it be removed. But Claire Singleton complained to the press, which is how I heard about it. If anyone knows where I can see Jay Meyers' work, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Congrats to Claude Gosselin, Walter Ostrom, Edward Burtynsky, David P. Silcox, Roy H. Vickers

Howdy!

Again, catching up on yesterday's news, Claude Gosselin, Walter Ostrom, Edward Burtynsky, David P. Silcox, and Roy H. Vickers all got named by the Governor General to the Order of Canada. If you haven't guessed yet, they are are were named because of their involvement in the Visual Arts (although with M. Gosselin and Mr. Silcox, I'd suggest that they change it to writing).

And as an aside, it has been a pretty good year for M. Gosselin, I overheard some gossip and have not confirmed it, but apparently he was extremely bitter about not being named director of the Musee d'Art Contemporain, but now he got himself a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, and the Order of Canada. I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that the Ordre du Quebec and a Prix du Quebec ain't too far off, and then he can retire a hppy man (because the Prix du Quebec is twice as valuable as the Governor General's award).

Alexandra Shimo jumps on the bandwagon

Howdy!

I was sorta busy yesterday, hence my tardiness in reading this article by Ms. Shimo about David Altmejd. Some nice juicy gossip (he's got friends in New York, his mom teaches at UQAM, etc) and your standard issue quotes. Louise Dery says "He is able to create something we have never seen before." Good thing, eh? Otherwise he would be accused of being unoriginal, or worse a plagarist. Mr. Altmejd is quoted as saying "I make decisions in my art based on my intuition." Or in plainer language, he makes it up as he goes along based on what materials he has on hand. Nothing is completely thought out beforehand. Sorta like how I write this here blog. But, I don't quite understand how one exhibits in a collection (bad editing I think).

Go Joseph Gille Legacy! Go!

Howdy!

You gotta admire Joseph Gille Legacy, I particularly like that he and I have the same fears.

Once again I'm late

Howdy!

I just found out that it probably would be a good idea to listen to CBC Radio One on Wednesday at 11:30 am, apparently there's this show they have called 'Socket' that is hosted by Angela Antle (a radio personality from out east) and is all about contemporary Canadian Visual Art. They've already done four shows (out of ten) so it isn't like I missed it completely.

Dangerous Art

Howdy!

If you've been reading about the two women who died in a sculpture then you've probably already seen this article about the tragic accident. Maurice Agis has taken his website off line, however if you want to see pictures of the piece, there's always flickr. Don't forget about Luis Jiménez, and while I have heard the rumors about Richard Serra sculptures, I have not been able to track down anything that I would honestly believe.

And a follow up on the accident.

60% better than the GG's?

Howdy!

Props and shout outs to Guujaaw, not many people still care how or what he does, but he is $25,000 richer. I like prizes that don't claim to be something that they are not. (If you're interested, it is actually 66.666% better than the GG awards).

Slow News Day in Grand Forks, North Dakota

Howdy!

While normally I like it when out of town newspapers cover Canadian art, this article show why living in North Dakota ain't all it is cracked up to be. Someone decided that four (4) paintings make an exhibit, and they somehow forgot that Mr. Lochhead died last week.

This really sucks

Howdy!

I know I'm three days late on this one, but I still haven't quite figured out anything to write other than "this really sucks." I was sorta, half hoping that over the weekend I could suddenly become more eloguent. But no such luck, it just sucks, really really sucks.

A Waste of $35,000

Howdy!

Ron Denman wouldn't be able to identify cutting edge is he were bleeding to death. If I can remember, I'll try to follow up and see if they've been able to raise the other $114,000.

Zeke's Gallery is Very Accessible

Howdy!

Normally if you dump the letters "Z-E-K-E" into Google, this here website/blog/rant comes up number three, after the band called Zeke. However, if you're blind and you use the just released Google Accessible Search, this here website/blog/rant comes up number one.

I'm going to have to give Bonnie Czegledi a call sometime

Howdy!

I saw this article earlier this month on Bonnie Czegledi and her law practice. I'd love to sit down and talk with her one of the se days.

Alina Tugend writes a very nice article

Howdy!

In today's New York Times, that is going to annoy an awful lot of people because she quotes someone with the last name of Guggenheim saying "There’s no difference between an art dealer and a used-car dealer." Not quite as funny as Erik's guide, but they both are teaching the same lesson. I'm not certain you can be that funny if you're writing for the New York Times (Canadian version).

Politics at Work

Howdy!

Given that the hullabaloo about the Metropolitan raising their suggested admission fees won't quit, I'm of a mind to send out a press release threatening to charge $50 to get in here. However, there's a letter in today's New York Times written by Paul Werner the guy who wrote this book. Where it gets political is that they refer to Mr. Werner as "the author of a book about museums." In the past 30 days there have been 38 uses of the word "author" in the New York Times opinion section, as far as I can tell Mr. Werner is the only author who does not have the name of his book mentioned.

This is what is wrong with arts reporting in Canada

Howdy!

I'm certain that by now you've heard that the Neue Gallery in New York wanted to charge $50 to see the most expensive painting ever. You might not have heard that they changed their mind, and are only charging $15 (their normal price). The reason I say might, is that the National Post decided to only print a story about the $50 ticket and not the change of mind. Same with Le Devoir, and La Presse. The Gazette didn't even think the $50 price was newsworthy.

Now I realize that there are a bunch of other things that get taken into consideration when deciding whether or not to publish an article, but I do think that in this case a follow up would have been appropriate. If your readership is interested in Klimt paintings on Tuesday, I would guess that your readership is interested in Klimt paintings on Wednesday.

Boy am I stupid! Really Dumb

Howdy!

I just made the switch to Ubuntu, and as part and parcel, I wanted to migrate to Evolution Email. I very carefully made certain that all my data (including the emails) would be able to make the switch.

Well, guess what, they all did, and after I was certain everything was there, then and only then did I accidentely delete them!

Ummm, if you sent me an email, you might want to send it again... thanks in advance.

The Missive, a film by Jarred Coxford

Howdy!

This film goes a long way to explaining things about Zeke's Gallery.

Jarred Coxford of Revised Edition made this fabulous film (if I can say so myself). So fabulous in fact, that I'm going to leave it here on top for the whole month of July.

Charles Pitts needs to learn how to write a press release

Howdy!

In theory this looks like it could be an interesting exhibit, especially in comparison to this exhibit. Unfortunately, Mr. Pitts (who I assume wrote the press release) couldn't be bothered to find out the name of either one of the artists, and while the sentence, "Visitors to last year's show included serious art collectors, paddlers along the St. Lawrence, children attending summer camp, and families coming to picnic in the park" Made me laugh out loud, it also gave me pause to think that perhaps the reason the artists are not named is because they are doing the visual equivalent of a Karaoke, but actually from a quick scan of this Andamiyo Chihota and Chaka Chikodz aren't, and just need to find someone who knows what they are doing when they write a press release.

Wow is right!

Howdy!

The guy who made this, has just finished another painting, and apparently it is big news in Guelph (and believe it or not, Victoria Scrozzo writes a pretty gosh darn good article).

Sad news in Mi'kmaq

Howddy!

I didn't know Mike MacDonald either, however he died on Monday. I haven't see any of his work (more and more) but I sorta get the feeling I would like it more than that of Ken Lochhead.

Sad News in English et en Francais

Howdy!

I didn't know him, nor do I think I would be a fan of his art, none the less it is sad to hear that Kenneth Lochhead is dead, nor is it any better to hear that "Kenneth Locchead n'est plus." If you'd like to see how your taste in Canadian Art compares to mine read this.

Thankfully I'm not the only stupid person around

Howdy!

If you read this article from today's New York Times about the theft of a Degas Sculpture, you should remember, one of the first laws of selling art (or just about anything else) never give possession of the piece away before receiving the cash. Especially if the amount of credit (in dollars) exceeds the amount of time (in minutes) that you've known the buyer. And how what Tom Doyle's business card said is relevant to the story, I just don't understand.

Zeke's Movie Review - Who Gets to Call it Art?

Howdy!

I first came accross Who Gets to Call it Art? at iFilm, because (I think) Zeke's Gallery has some vids being hosted at iFilm, too. Then 'cuz the fine folk at Cinema Abattoir left their equipment here over the weekend, I was forced, forced I tell you, to go to Boite Noire and rent everything I could carry.

Who Gets to Call it Art? was top of the pile. I watched it twice this weekend. That should tell you a bunch. In a nutshell, my only beef is with the title. It really should have been called something along the lines, of "Everybody Loves Henry." Or "Henry's a Great Guy." Or, or, or. Who gets to Call it Art? implies, to me, that there is some sort of critical eye being used. There is none.

Despite that, it is fun romp through a much discussed and relatively influential period in Art History. I particularly enjoyed getting to see who was still alive, and hear who had the silly voices.

John Chamberlain, James Rosenquist, Larry Poons, Mark di Suvero, Francesco Clemente, Ellsworth Kelly, David Hockney, and Frank Stella are all interviewed for the film, and all have only wonderful, amazing, fond, beautiful and extremely happy memories of this guy I had never heard of before, Henry Geldzahler. There are also some pretty darn cool archival things that they got access to as well, including some informal talk that Mr. Geldzahler gave in 1980 that furnishes lots of yucks.

I almost immediately wanted to go out and find someone or something with an opposing viewpoint. This should be fairly easy, as it seems that just about everything Mr. Geldzahler did was either filmed, painted or drawn. However, it is likely to be rather long and tedious. Over the past 25 years, the New York Times has published his name on average, once every other month. Not bad for a guy who has been dead for half of that time. Over an even longer period of time the New Yorker has published his name only 12 times (color me surprised!) and to put everything in perspective, the Metropolitan Museum only has his name on their website twice.

I think the best part for me, was how I was able to draw some parallels about the Quebecois Art scene now, and New York/American art scene in the 1940's. And I'm already writing my notes about what would be a comparable thing to Henry's Show, using only Quebecois artists. Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to wait until 2020, if the length of time really needs to be 30 years. And just in case you think I'm joking, the film was released in February, 2006. Here we have a thing called the International Festival of Films on Art, the people who run the festival tout it as being the most important festival of its kind, right. Who Gets to Call it Art? was nowhere to be seen this past March.

Then, I'm going to have to keep an eye out for Ivan Karp, he seems like a really nice guy (more here, and here).

Finally, according to iFilm, the trailer for Who Gets to Call it Art? has been viewed 536 times as of 11:16 am today. According to Google, The Missive has been viewed 192 times, I kinda like that comparison.

For anybody in town, I will be returning it to Boite Noire tomorrow, becasue I need to see it one more time.

ArtFlack doesn't quite understand the internet

Howdy!

While reading Simpleposie I discovered What is a ArtFlack?. Unofortunately, for the life of me, I can't figure out why anyone would use a three month publishing cycle for reviews that were less than 250 words and on the internet?

250 words or less sound pretty much like a blog post to me. What about posting them as they come in?

Zeke's Gallery will be closed on Sept 28 & 29

Howdy!

I'm salivating already over this cool symposium . Salivating, I tell you. Certain lines like, "assesses how such a dual consciousness affects patterns of collecting in Canadian museums," and "How can collections and exhibitions parallel the work of artists and offer readings into the larger world of contemporary culture?" just make me quiver in anticipation.

Not exactly the career path I would want

Howdy!

Last week I wrote about what job one person was able to get after interning at the National Gallery. This week brings this article about what jobs you can get after interning at the National Gallery.

For those of you who don't want to read between the lines, I am saying rather directly that Stephen Borys or Lennie Bennett made a mistake. There is absolutely no way that Mr. Borys would have been a "curator at the National Gallery in Ottawa."

[Update July 24: There is further clarification (and an interesting discussion) happening in the comments]

Real Bad News vs. Fake Bad News

Howdy!

Real Bad News.
Fake Bad News.
Fake Bad News

Lisa Milroy all over the world

Howdy!

I saw this article and what caught my eye was that they were referring to Lisa Milroy as a 'Canadian artist.' I'm not quite certain that I would agree with their assesment, however, I'm too far in now, click on this if you want to see the piece.

I don't want to go to Orangeville

Howdy!

James Lumbers gets something that could be called a write-up in a newspaper from Orangeville, Ontario.

Bad editing choices at the Gazette

Howdy!

But that's not really news, is it? In today's paper, there is an article by Victor Swoboda about Landau Fine Art. The only other time that they got written about in the Gazette, was also by Victor Swoboda. Victor Swoboda normally covers the dance beat, and is not the regular art critic for the Gazette. In fact of the 66 articles he has written in the Gazette over the past year, three have been art reviews. One on the Catherine the Great exhibit at the Musée des beaux arts and two on the Landau gallery.

Music videos also at the Musée d'art contemporain

Howdy!

If you don't want to go to the Musée d'art contemporain and watch the Music Videos, you can do so right here.

The only ones I couldn't find on YouTube, were Les yeux tout autour de la tête by Jérôme Minière and Overrated by Pilate. If anyone wants to upload copies to YouTube, I can add them to the playlist. Also keep an eye out for typos when the press release gets republished. ("Bjvrk," "even Nation Army," and "Rvyksopp")



[If the YouTube Player is not embedded (and I've been having difficulties) then you can click on this link to see all of the videos]

Just the facts, ma'am

Howdy!

Entry Fees in Canadian Dollars:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, - $17.00 (increasing to $22.68 on August 1)
The Museum of Modern Art - $22.68
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum - $21.41
Art Gallery of Ontario - $18.00
Whitney Museum of American Art - $17.00
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal - $15.00
Royal Ontario Museum - $15.00
Vancouver Art Gallery - $15.00
Art Institute of Chicago - $13.61 Bargain!
National Gallery of Canada - $12.00 Rip Off
McCord Museum of Canadian History - $12.00 Rip Off
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - $10.20 Bargain!
The Stewart Museum at the Fort - $10.00
Canadian Centre for Architecture - $10.00 Rip Off
Brooklyn Museum - $9.08 Bargain!
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal - $8.00 Bargain!
Maison Saint-Gabriel - $8.00
Château Dufresne Museum - $7.00 Rip Off
Musée Marc-Aurèle Fortin - $5.00
Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec - $5.00
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal - $4.00
J. Paul Getty Museum - $0.00 Bargain!
The Smithsonian (African Art Museum, Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center, American Art Museum, American History Museum, American Indian Museum on the Mall, Anacostia Museum (African American History and Culture), Freer and Sackler Galleries (Asian art), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (modern and contemporary art), National Zoo, Natural History Museum, Portrait Gallery, Postal Museum, Renwick Gallery (American crafts), Smithsonian Institution Building, the Castle) - $0.00 The Best Bargain!

And yes, I know there are lots of ways to make it cheaper (such as becoming a member of your favorite or not so favorite museum) however, one that I particularly like is this one. If all you do is go see the MBAM, MACM, CCA, and the McCord, you can save $10.

Wicked Cool!

Howdy!

Joseph Chahfe, who lives here has an exhibit at this gallery which is here.

What is available after interning at the National Gallery

Howdy!

A couple of months ago I got into a dust-up with someone who was extremely proud that they had interned at the National Gallery the previous year. So when I saw this article that had as its headline: Museum intern here to work on new exhibit, I said to myself 'cool!'

Here is here. And the job is at this place.

Who made that decision?

Howdy!

I saw this press release about this book, which you can order here, or

here (notice how someone in BC didn't know enough to enter the data properly).

Basically (if you don't want to read the press release) The Royal BC Museum waited until a manuscript by Emily Carr that they owned was in the public domain, and there was another major touring show before they turned it into a book, so that they could make some money. However, I don't know if it was Pauline Rafferty, CEO of the Royal BC Museum, or The Royal BC Museum's Carr archivist and historian Kathryn Bridge or someone else who decided to illustrate it with paintings by someone other than Emily Carr.

When the show shows up here in Montreal, I'll go to the museum's bookstore and flip through it to see if there is some reason why they would have done something as incomprehensible as this.

Yannick Picard hangs in the 'Peg this summer

Howdy!

In case you were interested, Yannick Picard is taking part in in Mural Fest 2K6 in Winnipeg. I hope he has a great time.

Obviously I don't have favored nation status anymore

Howdy!

Instead of getting the press release emailed to me, I discovered this morning, that in fact the CBC had beat me to the punch. Congratulations to David Altmejd, who was nominated by Louise Dery, and then selected by Bruce Grenville, Wayne Baerwaldt (or if you prefer Wayne Baerwaldt) and Anne-Marie Ninacs as the Canadian Artist who will be exhibiting at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

If you'd like to see what Louise Dery likes, try these:


Le dormeur du val, 2004, wood, paint, Plexiglas, mirror, lighting system, plaster, resin, foam, synthetic flowers, fabric, synthetic hair, paper, jewellery, wire, chain, beads, glitter, 152,4 x 244 x 304,8 cm / 60 x 96 x 120 in (Photo: Bertrand Huet, courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York)



First Werewolf, 1999, wood, paint, Plexiglas, lighting system, plaster, polymer clay, synthetic hair, acetate, mylar, jewellery, glitter, 214 x 198 x 244 cm / 84 x 78 x 96 in, Second Werewolf, 2000, / wood, paint, Plexiglas, mirror, lighting system, plaster, polymer clay, synthetic hair, synthetic flowers, acetate, mylar, glitter, 243,8 x 182,9 x 213,4 cm / 96 x 72 x 84 in (Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay, courtesy Galerie de l’UQAM)



The University 2, 2004, wood, paint, Plexiglas, mirror, plaster, foam, resin, lighting system, synthetic flowers, synthetic hair, mylar, minerals, paper, jewellery, fabric, wire, chain, beads, glitter, 280 x 550 x 650 cm / 107 x 215 x 252 in (Photo: Oren Slor, courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York)

If you'd like to re-read what I think about Mr. Altmejd's work, click here.

If you'd like to read stuff from the people who did get the press release, try these (what is it with Toronto headline writers and old John Landis films?):

1. Canadian Press (via Yahoo News 'Montreal artist David Altmejd to represent Canada at Venice Biennale')
2. Le Devoir 'Art contemporain - David Altmejd à la Biennale de Venise: La Galerie de l'UQAM place son poulain montréalais pour 2007'
3. The Globe and Mail 'A Canadian Werewolf in Venice'
4. The Montreal Gazette 'Local artist going to Venice Biennale'
5. The National Post 'Awoooooo! A werewolf in Venice' (and by extension the Ottawa Citizen 'Canadian artist gets chance to howl on world stage')
6. La Presse 'David Altmejd représentera le Canada à la Biennale de Venise en 2007'

Then if you'd like to read the stuff that will impress all of them, here are the reviews of Mr. Altmejd's work in the Village Voice, "David Altmejd's sculpture of a hairy beast riven with mirror shards and fluorescent tubes feels like a werewolf caught in a disco disaster... With daydreams like this, who needs nightmares?" [30 words]

And the New York Sun, "David Altmejd renders a cadaver in an advanced state of decay amid cracked mirrors and neon lights in "The Settler" (2005), a work of weird beauty." (all I can copy/paste from Google News, as the Sun is moneywalled) [26 words - although it could be more, but I doubt it.]

Best though are the pictures from Flickr, especially this one.

$42,000 not bad, eh?

Howdy!

Saw this press release from the city, and initially recognized it as one of those feel good stories that won't get any play, anywhere. The local media, for the most part prefers sob stories. But looking at it closer, a couple of things jumped up at me that make me go 'hmmmm.'

According to the Conseil des Métiers d'art du Québec, Jean-Bernard Dolleans, the guy who is Dolleans inc., Art Conservation is a metalworker who specializes in engraving. The piece is made of Paint, Granite Bench, Silk-screen Inks, and Steel. I'm not certain exactly what needs to be engraved.

If it is going to cost $42,740 to restore, I wonder how much it originally cost? To find out, I've emailed Linda Covit (the artist), Therese Dion (the gallery that represents Ms. Covit, I think), Benoit Labonté (the person responsible for getting the check signed) and Le Musée plein air (the owners of the piece). If and when any of them get back to me, I'll update it here.

If it is going to cost $42,740 to restore, and Ms. Covit is still alive, shouldn't she be the one getting the cash to do the restoration? As far as I understand, the current trends in restoration of contemporary art are to have the artists themselves explain how it should be done.

And lastly, speaking of fixing stuff at the Open Air Museum of Lachine, does anyone know what happened to this piece?


Unfortunately, I don't get there every day.

Then just for silly giggles, in this piece of folderol explaining the work in French they describe Theatre for Sky Blocks as 'Trois colonnes quadrangulaires se dressent côte à côte, sur le bord du lac Saint-Louis.' [three quadrangular columns side to side on the edge of Saint Louis Lake]. Then in today's press release someone decided to take advantage of the fact that it is the summertime, it is described as 'composée de trois parallélépipèdes, dressés en arc, portant sur leur face nord des nuages et un banc placé à proximité qui invite le passant à regarder cet ensemble d'un point de vue bien précis.' [composed of three parallelepipeds, drawn up in arc, bearing on their northern face of the clouds and a bench placed in the vicinity which invites the passer by to look at this whole from a quite precise point of view.]

Parallelepipeds! When I die I wanna come back as a parallelepiped!!

0.56% of $18 million

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About 9 months ago, Andre Simard almost ruined Montreal's reputation as a town for films. This year everybody is going 'wow!!' over the fact that he turned a 0.56% profit.

Yes, I know the Montreal International Jazz Festival is incorporated as an association, and the word 'profit' ain't kosher. However, the company that runs the Jazz Festival is most definitely a for-profit corporation. If I were a shareholder, I'm not certain that I would accept results like that.

Interesting

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As I don't regularly vist the Hermitage, this article laid out some interesting points about the Riopelle exhibit there.

1. There is no climate control at the Hermitage.
2. The Riopelle exhibit is one of six other exhibits at the Hermitage 'honoring the meeting of leaders of the Group of Eight countries, which starts in St. Petersburg on July 15.'
3. And I wonder how the Riopelle paintings handle 'the cavernous and dazzling 19th- century hall.'

Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Catherine (Kit) Aziz

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No smarmy comments. Just this article from yesterday's New York Times and this article from yesterday's London (Ontario) Free Press.

Zeke's Book Review - Museum, Inc by Paul Werner.

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What with the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi all over the place, I figured it was about time that I got around to reviewing it. Back in something like last year Pricky Pardigm Press was kind enough to send me a copy. I apologize profusely for taking so long to actually get around to reading it.

Short version: Museum Inc. is a wicked cool book. If that's sufficient for you, you can buy it online from the University of Chicago press, or from

or

Slightly longer and more detailed version: First off, these are the 12 lines from Museum Inc. that I thought were worthwhile writing down.

1. Rubens from Royal Butt.
2. The curator, the connoisseur, the aesthete all end up sounding like Proust's Swann, a brilliant sensitive man who doesn't have a clue why he is drawn to the flowers between Odette's breasts.
3. When someone says a work of art is priceless they mean it, not in the sense that it has no value, but that its value is not immediately apprehensible except dialectically, which puts it beyond the ideological competency of most art historians, and of most American economists as well...
4. ...From museum workers knowledge rarely flows at all, it's dangled above the reach of the public like a carrot in front of a donkey.
5. Krens had a brain like tofu
6. The museum of modern art had long stood in the vanguard of noodnicks for its display policies: Years before PowerPoint its permanent collection was laid out in a sequence as rigorous and predictable and dull as everything PowerPoint would eventually provide.
7. Cremaster - the show was either the compliment or summation of Cremaster the dreary set of sophomoric and poorly directed movies…
8. And because catalogs sold regardless of content there was little interest in catalog content.
9. At the Guggenheim information passed through the catalog like beer through a teenager.
10. He was trying to culturificate commodities, and he failed.
11. It's about delivering numbers, not the numbers themselves.
12. Speculating in avant-garde art is like dealing in Argentine pesos: You get a lot of excitement for very little down.

Second off, I'm extremely happy to see that there actually are people who not only have read Benjamin, Diderot, Hegel, Locke, Marx, Rousseau, Schiller, Adam Smith, and some guy named Johann Joachim Winckelmann, but actually find some use for it in real life.

Third off, while I'm not entirely certain I buy into absolutely everything Paul Werner is selling, nonetheless I immediately glommed into what he was on to, and I'm fairly certain that he is on to something. The only fault I could even attempt to imagine, is that while he quite rightly points out numerous ways how culture is broke, he never quite gets around to coming up with something to fix it.

I definitely owe him a beer (see page 40) if he's ever up this way I will make sure. If I ever make it down there, I'll try as well.

Enough of the aimless wandering and silly fawning. Basically, Mr. Werner worked at the Guggenheim museum in New York for nine years, from what he says it sure as shootin' sounds like he was a tour guide. During that time, he developed a deep hatred for just about everything the Guggenheim stood for. Along with that hatred, he fostered a complete and thorough hate on for a certain Thomas Krens. Add to that a fairly strong dislike for most of what just about every other cultural institution in New York City was attempting to do, and you have one extremely bitter person.

Personally, I wouldn't wanna be his girlfriend with him being that cynical - even my sweetie gives me wide berth when I start ranting and raving.

But Mr. Werner is much more literate and humongously more witty than I am, so reading what he writes is frequently giggle inducing, and sometimes (if I remember correctly three times) actually causes full on belly laughs.

As I mentioned earlier, I would have preferred if Mr. Werner had offered up some alternative, however, as I was reading I realized that given the size and depth of his negativity (using a back of the envelope calculation I would estimate it at 1.85 × 10^33 cubic light years) it would be mighty tough to find a bright spot.

While I don't (nor do I want) a background that would enable me to take him on point by point, and I instinctively believe him (see my line here about "heritage insider trading") I am fairly certain that there are some holes (or at least some slippery slopes) within his 77 page rant. I'd love to see him action, so it looks like I'm going to have to make my way down to New York one of these days and take one of his tours.

Guy Cogeval on TV

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I came across this video while looking for something else entirely. It is the first time I've ever seen the Charlie Rose show, I'm not certain I see what all the fuss is about. However, M. Cogeval seems to hold his own very well.

David Cartwright and Peggy Williams are doing great stuff!

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Now, this is good news first thing Monday morning.

The Vancouver Biennale, Ubiquity Interactive, Metrocode, Richard Side and Ellie Harvie need some help - desperately.

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Apparently I missed the articles the first time around. But picked up on it when it made today's Toronto Star. The Vancouver Sculpture Biennale is doing audioguides by cellphone.

Initially I was quite excited - but then I started listening. They are horrific, bad, lousy, really sucky and almost the worst 42 minutes and 48 seconds I have ever spent in my life.

I have no idea who Richard Side and Ellie Harvie are, but someone needs to teach them what a script is. There are a godawful number of 'umms,' and 'likes.' They repeat themselves so many times that I almost gagged. And if I remember correctly (I sure as shootin' ain't gonna listen to them a second time) think of the 22 things that they did, a full 20 of them were about important, significant, huge, and great artists who have been exhibited internationally, all over the world, and in all the major galleries. With their things on Khang Pham-New they actually recite his bio twice, word for word.

They attempt to walk a fine line between humor and academia. In the pitch I'm certain that they used the sentence 'like John Stewart meets...' Unfortunately, Mr. Side and Ms. Harvie wouldn't recognize Mr. Stewart if they were part of the studio audience and then invited backstage. Their attempts at humor are as flat as Sebastian Fleiter's sculpture in the biennale. Their attempts at biography or analysis, when not repeated to death, are so childish and simplistic, that I assume that they thought that their target audience was Barney, Thomas the Tank Engine, and the Teletubbies. Thankfully it is extremely unlikely that any children will actually be able to hear what they have to say, as those kids cellphones need to have the numbers they can call programmed into them, and I can't think of a single parent who would do that to their child.

In a nutshell, they seem to me like they are the aural equivalent of The Brady Brides TV series.

Then on top of it, they got funding for it from the New Media Research Networks fund and Mobile Muse, which probably means that it cost Canadian taxpayers something like $10,000 per minute to do them. I wish that when we had done it here we had their budget. Yuck.

It has got to be that expensive, otherwise how could Metrocode, Ubiquity Interactive, Richard Side and Ellie Harvie pay their bills?

And then they have this pathetic attempt at a web 2.0 thing, by asking people to submit photos, blog about the pieces and vote for their favorite sculpture. So far (and we are a month and half into it) no one has taken them up on the offer to blog, and they are averaging less than 1 picture per day in their contest. Double Yuck!!

I'd love to get a gander at the phone logs, and when all is said and done I bet you dollars to doughnuts that they do not release the number of votes received when announcing the most popular sculpture.

Actually I can find one good thing about the Vancouver Biennale's web initiatives, they can only get better.

Asa Boxer reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

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If you would like to hear it, click here. Stream it, ogg vorbis. [12:54 minutes, 12.4 MB]


A wicked cool picture of Asa in action!

According to this site, Mr. Boxer "was born and raised in Montreal. He lived in Israel for 10 years, during which period he pursued a BA in History and English Literature. He graduated with an MA from McGill's English Literature Department in the spring of 2004, and won McGill's Mona Adilman Prize for Poetry. Currently, he catalogues rare books and first editions for an online bookstore and writes the occasional book review for Books in Canada. He has a book upcoming in the Signal Editions series (Vehicule Press) and a chapbook in the works with Montreal Books Press." Also what the website doesn't mention is that he won first prize for poetry in the 2004 CBC Literary Awards.

But in checking out his online presence, I came across this Asa Boxer, who will not be confused with the author. But if you love Asa, you might also get a giggle out of these.

Anita Lahey reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

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If you would like to hear it, click here. Stream it, ogg vorbis. [32:30 minutes, 31.2 MB]


Ms. Lahey wowing the crowd!

Ms. Lahey was the star attracton, and read to beat the band, on the occasion of the launch of her wonderful book of poetry called Out to Dry in Cape Breton. You can buy it directly from Vehicule Press, here at the Gallery or through Amazon.ca.



Copy/Pasting from the Vehicule Press website; Anita Lahey's poems have appeared in the Malahat Review, the Antigonish Review, Prairie Fire, This Magazine, in Ottawa buses as part of the Transpoetry competition, and in The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry. She has won the Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest, Ralph Gustafson Prize for Best Poem, and first prize for poetry in Pagitica's annual literary competition. Lahey is the editor of Arc: Canada's Poetry Magazine and lives in Ottawa.

The Toronto Star get it right!

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Now this is even better than this. Congrats to Mr. Goddard for not giving up. Once I've listened to the Toronto Star's Art gallery tour, I'll have some further comments.

Does the artist have a name?

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Small bit in yesterday's Globe & Mail designed to raise my blood pressure. The quote is "His official gift will be two glass vases etched by a Canadian artist."

John Hobday prize in Arts Management

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I was invited to the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the launch of the John Hobday prize in Arts Management back on June 20th, sorry for the delay in writing this, but as per normal, I've been busy. It was a swanky do, as I had hoped - hence my glee and happiness at being invited. However, I was sorely disappointed by the reception for a number of reasons. As I knew I was going to be writing this, I offered to send a copy of this before I published it to Carole Breton of the Canada Council, she graciously responded, and I have incorporated her responses in where appropriate.

What really got my goat, was that this was ostensibly a celebration of the arts. It was being held at the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts. However, there wasn't a single piece of art anywhere to be seen. In fact they had actually removed the art from the art gallery the day before.

When I enquired as to why, I was told that if there was art in the art gallery then the guests would not be able to eat or drink. While I was unable to procure the recipe for the chicken salad or the egg salad, I am confident that it must have been spectacular and I am certain that Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, the artists who did not have the opportunity to exhibit their art at this swanky do, would agree that having people eat and drink in the main hallway, as they normally do during vernissages at the Liane & Danny Taran Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts would have not been a good thing. I'm not entirely certain who was the person responsible for the evening, however I'd consider that one major brain fart.

Carole Breton writing on behalf of the Canada Council said "the absence of art in the gallery during the reception was a policy of the Saidye Bronfman Centre, and the Canada Council respects the policies of the organizations with whom we partner on these types of events." Although the Saidye Bronfman Centre currently doesn't have a director and the director of the art gallery was not there either, so I'm not so certain that there was anyone in charge enough to set policy, and there was a third organization organizing the event.

Besides myself, I counted exactly 13 other people who were not dressed in a standard business issue suit and tie. I haven't quite decided if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. It could have been a good thing, because I can't imagine all these business folk actually getting out to look at art unless it was a swanky do. It could have been a bad thing because all those business folk did not actually get to see any art.

I think this was the first time I'd ever been at a Canada Council function where they were handing out copies of the Annual Report. I guess it must've been because of all the business folk in attendance. I scooped up a copy for myself (there were only about half-a-dozen available) and it came in handy as I used the fancy slipcover to take notes (full disclosure, I asked Carole Breton of the Canada Council if I could borrow a pen in order to take said notes, I also told her that she could get an advance look at this post in order to fact check it). My memory is a little sketchy, which might have been due to the wonderful wine, but at night's end there appeared to be two or three copies of the Annual Report left. All those business folk must've already have downloaded their copies as pdf files.

Speaking of them all, including the 13 other people, there were about 75 people in total. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I knew a bunch of them, and some of them in fact are really and truly very nice people.

There were three of them that spoke, Laurent Lapierre, Stephen Bronfman, and John Hobday. (Full disclosure, I went to high school with Mr. Bronfman). I asked if it would be possible to get copies of what they said, and was told 'yes' by a woman who's name escapes me (I think it might be Danielle Sarault, but I'm not sure, I told you my memory was a little sketchy) that she would be able to get me M. Lapierre's and Mr. Hobday's. I then asked Mr. Bronfman himself. He told me 'no,' and I ended up with only M. Lapierre's. Pity. I would have loved to know if the word "architected" which was used in reference to the work that Phyllis Lambert had done on the Saidye Bronfman building had been written down originally or was just an off the cuff slip of the toungue.

Anyhow's one of the other things that I found entertaining was that Mr. Bronfman's young son, got a louder round of applause than anyone else (except, phew, for Mr. Hobday). They then went on about Arts Management and how Mr. Hobday was a wonderful arts manager. I'm not going to discuss that right now, I will save my analysis of Mr. Hobday's skills as an arts manager for sometime later.

Personally though, and this is spoken as an arts manager (which is what I think I do 24/7) the skills required are highly overrated. Why anyone would want to go to university to learn how to be an arts manager is beyond me. But then again, some people I know and care about an awful lot like black licorice. There's no accounting for taste.

But the thing that got me most annoyed, is that if this is supposed to be prize to celebrate the accomplishments of Mr. Hobday and "contribute a great deal to the vitality and sustainability of Canadian arts organizations," and the Bronfman family kicked in a cool million bucks to do so. Why then are they being so cheap as to only toss off two awards of $10,000 each?

If I were to go into a bank tomorrow, I could get 4% guaranteed interest on a deposit without even trying. If I had a million dollars I'm certain that I could get a little but more, without any increase in the risk. Heck, if I was feeling just a little frisky, I could stick it in an S&P 500 index and get me at least 10% from now until the end of time.

$20,000 is 2% of one million. Last I heard $10,000 (the value of one of the prizes) wouldn't do an awful lot for the vitality or sustainability of just about any Canadian Arts Organization. My votes or nominations for the first winners of the prize would be Rene Angelil and Guy Laliberte, but I would guess that both of them use $10,000 as walking around money. On the Canada Council's website it says that the awards can be used "to pass their knowledge on to the next generation by acting as a mentor for a young arts administrator outside their own organizations." I think It would be tons of fun to get schooled by either one of them. But somehow I don't think it is going to happen in my lifetime. If they are planning on using the money to foster a 'mentoring program' what organization can continue to function if it's administrator is away at camp?

In his speech, M. Lapierre made reference to the awards contributing "a great deal to the vitality and sustainability of Canadian arts organizations." However, to big organizations like the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, $10,000 represents less than 1% of their annual budget. A one percent increase in a budget won't make anything more 'vital.' To the smaller organizations, $10,000 will be a significant increase in their annual budget, that they then will not be able to have ever again, because it is a prize (unless the Canada Council has written someplace that you will be able to win the prize more than once). A one-time boost in a budget doesn't help sustainability. After the initial rush everybody and everything comes down to earth again.

And then what happens to the extra money made off the investments? Does the Canada Council get to keep it? Does it go back to the Bronfmans? Is there anything in the gift that stipulates what should be done? Most importantly who gets to decide where and how and when it gets invested? And while I'm at it, what are the tax benefits of making a donation to the Canada Council?

Carole Breton writing on behalf of the Canada Council said:

Whenever the Canada Council receives an endowment, one of the priorities is allowing the endowment fund to grow and any endowment revenue above and beyond the cost of the prize (which includes the cost of jurying the prize and other administrative costs) remains in the endowment fund, which is invested as part of the Council's larger investment portfolio.

The Council's endowment funds are overseen by an Investment Committee headed by a financial expert (for example, the former chair of our Investment Committee was John Crow, former head of the Bank of Canada). Given the unpredictability of the economy, it is important that the fund be allowed to grow regardless of what happens in the financial markets. If the fund grows sufficiently over the years, the Council may consider increasing the value of the prizes or creating additional John Hobday prizes (i.e. three instead of two) within the endowment. But that is, of course, something to be considered for the future, not for a brand-new endowment fund.

As for the tax benefits of donating to the Canada Council, the Council has charitable status and the tax benefits are the same as they would be for donations to any charitable organization.

As soon as I hear any new details about the way to apply, win or anything else I'll let you know.

Offensive? You be the judge

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In today's La Presse Jérôme Delgado writes an article that ends with this paragraph:

Avec Brian Jungen au Musée d'art contemporain et l'art haïda au Musée McCord, les artistes des Premières Nations sont partout à Montréal cet été. C'est la tendance: l'art inuit était déjà à Québec ce printemps (Musée national des beaux-arts), comme Norval Morrisseau, artiste chaman, suivi, cet été, d'Emily Carr, à Ottawa (Musée des beaux-arts du Canada). De vrais artistes. Pendant ce temps, à Paris, on inaugure le Musée du quai Branly, axé sur les arts primitifs.

I translate it (albeit badly) as:

With Brian Jungen at MACM, and the Haïda art at the McCord, First Nation artists are all over the city this summer. It is the in-thing: Inuit art has already been to Quebec City this past spring (MBANQ), like Norval Morrisseau the shaman artist, followed by Emily Carr in Ottawa (NGC). Real artists. During this time in Paris, the Branly Pier Museum was opened which is centered on the Primitve arts.

Is he calling the art that Brian Jungen, Robert Davidson, Norval Morrisseau and Emily Carr make, art at an early stage of technical development; characterized by simplicity and (often) crudeness? Or am I missing something here? Last I checked the Branly Pier folk were writing things like "le musée du quai Branly sera dédié aux Arts et Civilisations d’Afrique, d’Asie, d’Océanie et des Amériques." Not a single mention of how it was made or any characterization of it. If anything, I'm fairly certain that they are trying to get away from the colonial concept of non-European art.

And then on top of it he completely forgot to mention Mr. Laliberte's recent loan to the Musée des beaux arts as well.

Once again the city doesn't know diddly

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There's this article in today's Le Devoir, that is a re-write of this press release from the city, right down to the quote (good journalism there, eh?) and they tout the new Roadsworth© project.

Unfortunately what Benoit Labonté and Karim Boulos missed, if that while the 1% reduction of the GST could fund public art to the tune of $30,000. Had they decided to call it MegaBloks-ism, or PicoCricket-ism, I'm fairly certain that they could have funded public art in the city for an awful lot more than $30,000. Nothing like a city councilor knowing what toy companies are in town, and which companies are Danish.

And lastly, of the $30,000, I wonder how much Mr. Gibson got, and if it was his decision to endorse Lego, or someone else's bright idea?

Or Inuit art loses the White Terror of the North

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Someone's gotta talk to the headline writers at the Globe & Mail. Sarah Milroy writes a really nice, bordering on rave review today that is almost ruined by the headline. Personally I like it that they use the official bird of Quebec to represent Inuit culture, smooth guys, very smooth.

Wicked Cool!

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Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay seems to have made a name for himself. His video Audition Tape, is showing at the Jewish Museum in New York, and his I am a Boyband is getting play all over the world. Born in Montreal, Mr. Nemerofsky Ramsay now lives in Toronto.

Although, if he asked me, I would suggest that he find some other vein of contemporary culture to mine, as this autographed picture of the Backstreet Boys illustrates. Initially sold for $499, marked down to $100, now selling for less than half of that on eBay. I can't imagine that work based on them will appreciate or age any better than the original work. Anyone up for some Hula Hoop Performance Art?

Obviously Artists can't do math...

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I obviously don't want to get down to the real nitty gritty, so I was looking through Les faits saillants du comité exécutif du 21 juin 2006 (or for the square heads in the house - Highlights from the Montreal executive commitee meeting of June 21) when I came accross this liitle tid bit.

Un contribution de 41 200 $ pour la réalisation de l'édition 2006 du Prix Pierre-Ayot, du Prix Louis-Comtois et du Prix François-Houdé, visant à mettre en valeur le potentiel d'avenir de créateurs montréalais du secteur des arts visuels et des métiers d'art.

(or again for the blokes in the house - The city is giving someone, it isn't said who, $41,200 in order to organize the Pierre Ayot, Louis Comtois and the Francois Houde prizes).

I've already written about how I think the prizes are useless at what they say they are doing. However, back in November I only thought that they were spending $9,000 per year to do the prizes.

To refresh your memory, the Pierre Ayot gives $3,000 to the winner, and then also pays $2,500 towards exhibition expenses for the winner.
Louis Comtois gives the winner $5,000, and then also pays $2,500 towards exhibition expenses for the winner.
Francois Houde (I'd never heard about it either) gives $3,000 to the winner, and then also pays $2,500 towards exhibition expenses for the winner.

$5,500 plus, $7,500 plus $5,500 equals $18,500. Somehow it seems to me, if my math is correct that $41,200 is just a little bit more than that. I wonder what happens to the other $22,700? That's a nice chunk of change that the administrators of the prize get.

Catherine Bodmer in the Toronto Star!!

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Ms. Bodmer is Artistic Director of Articule, and she Tgets a nice write up in yesterday's Star about Janet Bellotto's Nature in the Garage exhibit.

Congrats!

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It appears that the city of New York gave ABC No Rio a very nice present.

Top Ten Downloads for the month of June

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Apologies for the delay, this month according to FeedBurner, the top downloads are:

1. The Roadsworth interview - Downloaded 161 times.
2. Revised Edition live at Zeke's Gallery last night - 33
3. The Isaiah Ceccarelli Trio live at Zeke's Gallery - 19
4. Mark Abley reading at Zeke's Gallery last night - 14
5. Letters to Celine by Nathalie Edwards & Brian Davis - 9
6. Sachiko Murakami reading at Zeke's Gallery - 8
7. Katia Grubisc reading at Zeke's Gallery - 8
8. Jon Paul Fiorentino reading at Zeke's Gallery - 8

There are 13 posts tied with 7 downloads, so it really is a top 21. Overall, FeedBurner says that there were 587 downloads, or 0.6% of all the downloads in Quebec during the month of June.

The Video Statistics for the month of June

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I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been posting videos of the events that have happened here recently. I've been pleased with how often they've been seen

GorePuter Live at Zeke's Gallery has been seen 85 times.
Tricia McDaid A Heart Full of Buckshot, the interviews has been seen 73 times.
Elizabeth Bachinsky reading at Zeke's Gallery has been seen 80 times.
Michael V. Smith reading at Zeke's Gallery has been seen 92 times.
Jennica Harper reading at Zeke's Gallery has been seen 87 times.

That comes to a total of 417 for the month of June. Not bad, if I may say so myself. If you're at all interested, I've been using Blip.TV, Google Video, iFilm, MySpace, OurMedia, and YouTube to host the videos.

Montreal Artist in Scottsdale Arizona

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Mark Lague got a show at Leslie Levy Fine Art in Scottsdale. I read about it in this article. I'm not certain I would appreciate my work being described as "a slightly blurry photograph." On the otherhand I do get a kick out of the fact that they are trying to sell a picture of the Musée des beaux arts in Arizona.

I can, they can, but they can do better

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Then I came across the National Gallery's Lisette Model podcasts, and they also have a podcast for the Cai Guo Qiang exhibit (but you wouldn't know about either one unless you were as persistent as I am).

If you do a search on the gallery's website for the word podcast, nothing shows up. Then once you find them, navigating the Lisette Model podcast, because it is all in Flash, is something I'm going to leave to more hardy individuals than myself.

Unless people know that there is a podcast available, they are unlikely to be able to hit that subscribe button in iTunes.

I can. They can.

Howdy!

Earlier this year, the Musée d'art contemporain had an kick ass exhibit called Anselm Kiefer - Heaven and Earth. Thanks to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, it is now possible to hear a podcast on the exhibit. Cool!