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Sunday, April 30, 2006

Art School Confidential

Howdy!

I don't normally go see films, but this one looks like it could be an awful lot of fun.

If you'd like to see the trailer, click here.
The book it was based on.
And the article explaining current practices, that brought it to my attention.

First hand experience of what it is like at Lightning Field

Howdy!

Way cool post from a couple of weeks ago by Ethan Zuckerman about his trip to Quemado, NM.

"The greatest galleries of the world" - my eye!

Howdy!

On the Galerie de l'Isle's website, it is written:
Alain Moncade said:
« Many of my painters are represented in the greatest galleries of the world, that is a reassuring argument for a clientele made of private persons and large companies. A gallery director can of course, make a mistake, but many directors on as many continents, I don't think so! »
Alain Moncade is the head honcho in charge of Galerie de l'Isle.

The artists he exhibits are named Barraud, Briata, Cera-Potvin, Crocq, Deletoille, Denoël, Fablo, Frenay, Huchet, Kolasinski, Paquin-Frenette, Pivet, and Vernet-Bonfort. Not a single one is on the list of the top 45,250 artists on Artfacts.net. Using Pierre Pivet as an example, I'd like to know which galleries on his CV that M. Moncade thinks are the greatest. There is not a single gallery in Paris, New York, London, Hong Kong, or Tokyo on it. And while I am certain that there are some really good galleries in Lansing, Michigan, I don't honestly believe that Dusty's English Inn would want to be called "one of the greatest galleries in the world."

The Top Ten Downloads for the month of April

Howdy!

Via Feedburner, things are looking good.

1. Heather Dale - 165
2. American Business Machines - 75
3. Everything is True - 67
4. Jan Conn - 56
5. Matthew Stern - 54
6. Malcolm Sutton - 41
7. Better late than never part two - 22
8. Space Captain - 21
9. Jane Affleck - 19
9. Marina Hess - 19
9. Erin Moure - 19

Then according to Ourmedia.org, the 171 podcasts that have been made here have been downloaded a total of 22,250 times. 3,350 times in the month of April.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

The New York Times vs. Sarah Sze

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On average, once every four months for the past year the words 'Sarah Sze' have been written in the New York Times. If she wants to be in the same catgory as Andrea Zittel, Ms. Sze might want to consider getting a new publicist, however, today's article ain't a bad start.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

What are you doing on Monday & Tuesday?

Howdy!

There's this Forum sur les arts visuels au Québec being held by CALQ (you know the guys who give out the cash). It is being held so that they can revise how they give out the cash, it is by invitation only.
  1. Does anybody know where it is being held?
  2. Does anybody know why the location is a secret?
  3. Does anybody know who has been invited?
  4. Does anybody know who was responsible for making up the guest list?
  5. Does anybody know if the guests are getting paid?
And then most importantly, has anyone been invited who has never recieved any money from CALQ? If they are looking to revise things, it is extremely unlikely that anything will change significantly if they only talk to people who have recieved money from CALQ in the past. Preaching to the converted doesn't make the congregation larger, nor does it help in getting new ideas.

If anybody is interested, we've gone through this before, with the Canada Council. If you want to read what I wrote back then, try these:
  1. Talkin' 'bout the Canada Council
  2. More on the Canada Council for the Arts
  3. More and more on the proposed changes to the Canada Council
  4. Is the horse dead yet?
  5. More stuff on the Canada Council

Re writing press releases, again...

Howdy!

Jerome Delgado wrote an article about the last edition of Les Femmeuses. Somehow he forgot to ask what's going to happen to the Pratt & Whitney art collection. As they write on their website, they make "acquisitions yearly, specifically during the Les Femmeuses exhibition and sale."

Sounds to me like they're giving up on it.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Why again does Groupe Gueymard get to make the profit?

Howdy!

In 2005 the Port of Montreal made $10.6 million in profits. The Port of Montreal is "an autonomous federal agency." So why again, are private developers being allowed to make the profits by leveraging the Museum of Contemporary Art?

Why don't the Feds just give Silo #5 to the Quebec government, and then the Quebec government guarantee a loan, or float a bond so that the Musée d'art contemporain can build what it wants on Silo #5 and get the endowment it so desperately needs? Or has the board of directors of the Museum of Contemporary Art already struck some sort of deal with M. Gueymard?

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Taking Steven Shearer at face value

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For about the past two weeks I've been dumping on Steven Shearer, his artwork, and how it is described in the hoity-toity art world of Berlin. It all initially started, when I read the text that accompanied his CV, and made the msitake of thinking that he had in fact written it.

Late last night I got an email from some really strange email address, that read "hi Chris, just to make it clear I didn't write the quote about the work in Berlin which as usual I didn't read until after it was published. ss" Given the really strange email address, and the "ss" I'm going to assume that it is in fact from Mr. Shearer, but...

Which then leads to the question of who did write it? The Berlin Biennale was curated by Maurizio Cattelan, Massimiliano Gioni and Ali Subotnick. If Mr. Shearer didn't write it, then the next logical candidate would be one (or all) of them. As I don't think that any of them would know more than your standard issue cliches about death metal (they look to me like they'd prefer a more singer/songwriter of music, Tom Waits, Warren Zevon, Paolo Conte, you know guys with gruff voices in front of a piano) it is quite possible that they could have screwed up.

However, if they did screw up that badly, what does it mean about the rest of their writings?

[Update May 9: please read this]

Making money on the shoulders of artists (again)

Howdy!

I came across this tidbit a little late to join in on the fun, but it looks like there's going to be a couple more. The restaurant Garcon seems to have figured out how to take a slow night and turn it into $8,000 in cash. Monday nights, 80 seats, $100/seat - not bad at all. I wonder if Ms. Vigesaa got paid, or if she performed for food.

UC Berkeley on iTunes U

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Ummm, this is really good: UC Berkeley on iTunes U.

As if there wasn't already too much good stuff out there. Take that! MIT.

David meet Goliath

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Extremely simple Micah Lexier's David, Six Flags' Goliath. Mr. Lexier started with 75 and now has 49, Six Flags is looking for 72.

First we take Manhattan then we take Shawinigan

Howdy!

Summer starts obviously starts earlier in New York City. It appears that the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, and while summer starts earlier there, the weather was as lousy as it here. But thankfully, due to to the hard work of the National Gallery, we will be able to see Cai Guo-Qiang's work without having to fear a cloudy day, because Cité de l'énergie has a roof!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Diana Hartog reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening finished with Ms. Hartog, click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [12:52 minutes, 12.4 MB]


Ms. Hartog in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Jan Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Ms. Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

Jan Conn reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening continued with Ms. Conn, click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [12:08 minutes, 11.6 MB]


Ms. Conn in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Ms. Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Diana Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

Mark Abley reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening continued with Mr. Abley, click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [14:51 minutes, 14.3 MB]


Mr. Abley in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Jan Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Diana Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

Susan Elmslie reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening continued with Ms. Elmslie, click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [12:04 minutes, 11.6 MB]


Ms. Elmslie in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Jan Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Diana Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

S.E. Venart reading at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening started with Ms. Venart, reading, click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [8:57 minutes, 8.6 MB]


Ms. Venart in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Jan Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Diana Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

Kitty Lewis of Brick Books introducing everything

Howdy!

Last night we had a bunch of readings, the evening started with Ms. Lewis, not reading but introducing everybody and everything click here to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [3:02 minutes, 2.9 MB]


Ms. Lewis in action

The whole evening was to celebrate the launches of Jan Conn's latest book, Jaguar Rain: the Margaret Mee Poems and Diana Hartog's latest book Ink Monkey both from Brick Books.

Stuff to do

Howdy!

1. Read this article.
2. Watch these two videos (one and two).
3. Read the the catalogue.

Art history in three easy steps. Cool, eh? As Ms. Smith writes, "First auction houses supersede galleries, then they move in on museums?" I respond "Yes, why not?" If there is anyone reading this in New York City who knows how I can get a copy of the acousticguide, please speak up. Thanks.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Kenny Scharf's ride

More on Steven Shearer

Howdy!

Here at Diesel Wall 2006.
Here on the Roadrunner Records website.

I'd like to thank both sites an awful lot (tons, actually). On the Roadrunner records website, they mention the song titles that Mr. Shearer has used in his piece of art. And because of the Diesel Walls website I was able to figure out who paid for Mr. Shearer's work.

If you go and read the Roadrunner record page they write "titles by SATYRICON ("Filthgrinder"), CARCASS ("Exhume to Consume"), CADAVER ("Goat Father"), FEAR OF GOD ("Pneumatic Slaughter"), CRYPTOPSY ("Blasphemy Made Flesh")" and as far as I can tell Satyricon is a Black Metal band, not a death metal band and the song "Filthgrinder" while probably quite nice, I can't quite see anybody really calling it a classic. Carcass' Exhume to Consume strikes me as more grindcore than death metal (although I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again). Cadaver might be the first Norwegian Death Metal band, but if GoatFather is such a classic, then why isn't it one of the four songs featured on Cadaver's MySpace web page? Fear of God is grindcore, not Death Metal. Pneumatic Slaughter might be a classic, but it would be a Grindcore classic.

But we can save the best for last, Cryptopsy are a local band (woo! hoo!) most definitely classic, legends and super amazing too. Despite my rooting for the homeboys, Mr. Shearer can't get this one right even if I served it to him on a silver freakin' platter! Cryptopsy doesn't have a song called Blasphemy Made Flesh.

And just to make it clear, Steven Shearer is the person who said "Poem" is "a textual mélange ... of the lyrics of obscure rock songs and titles of death metal classics and presents them as white-on-black posters," not me. And if you're going to say something about your art, it is assumed that you are telling the truth. I really really really dislike it when artists (or anybody else for that matter) takes advantage of people's naiveté. The art world wouldn't know Death Metal from Grime, Darkwave from Chimurenga if I gave them all the letters for free. Similarly metal fans (of all stripes) are unlikely to distinguish between utter crap like Mr. Shearer's work and the better stuff.

Then just because I can, this is what I would call good death metal art it is by Jay Heikes and he's in the Whitney Biennale.

[Update May 9: Please read this]

Marsha Lederman likes cliches

Howdy!

Marsha Lederman did a piece on Bev Oda and federal government funding of the arts for the CBC radio program The House, this morning (if you'd like to hear it yourself, click here, and look for the April 22 show).

Basically Ms. Lederman talks to two dancers, and the guy who runs the Confederation Center in PEI in a lame attempt to ask "tough" questions. The two dancers, Joanna de Souza and Denise Fujiwara, don't appear to me to be the cream of the crop in the Canadian Dance world. Ms. Fujiwara's press kit contains 10 quotes from "critics." Three of them are by Michael Crabb, and two of them are by Susan Walker. Ms. de Souza's work is viewable on the Zed TV website, and it has been viewed 160 times in 320 days, or one time every other day. For comparison purposes, on June 20 (306 days ago) I uploaded the recording of Sakamoto Hiromiti playing here, set two has been downloaded 300 times (or slightly less than one time/day). So, if Ms. Lederman spoke with someone who performed here at Zeke's Gallery about their perceptions of government funding of the arts, would you take them seriously? Didn't think so.

Why didn't Ms. Lederman try for Jana Sterbak? Rebecca Bellmore? Artists who have soaked the government for a couple hundred thousand dollars each? Why didn't Ms. Lederman talk to Margie Gillis? Édouard Lock? Canadian dancers who are actually recognized internationally as being better then great and who have received some serious backing from the government?

Then instead of talking to David Mackenzie of the Confederation Arts Center (who is going to get all $6 million he needs to fix his leaky roof) why didn't Ms. Lederman talk to someone at the National Gallery where they, too have a leaky roof in desperate need of repair, but haven't found the funding yet? Which one is more important to Canadians? Some multi disciplinary arts center in a town of 65,000 (about 30% more than the population served by the Saidye Bronfman Centre or 60% less than the Leonardo Da Vinci Centre) or the National Gallery?.

And after Ms. Lederman's piece, Katherine Canty continued to fumble the ball. A) Bev Oda does not control the purse strings for culture in Canada, while Heritage Canada does give out a lot of money for culture, Caroline Di Cocco, and Line Beauchamp give out almost as much money individually, and combined give out way more money than Ms. Oda. B) Ms. Canty then allowed Ms. Oda to avoid defining the words "long term," C) did not ask anything about this New Museum Policy, D) shot herself in the foot when Ms. Oda pointed out that Mr. Mackenzie was already getting $1,500,000 of the $2 million he needed this year to fix the roof, and E) apparently believed Ms. Oda when she said the Canada Council was the equivalent of "every arts organization in the country."

Man, I don't listen to The House at all, but I certainly hope that their coverage of politics is better than their coverage of the arts.

Friday, April 21, 2006

One Last Chance!

Howdy!

At midnight tonight they close the polls for the Best of Montreal and the Top d'Ici. If you haven't voted, please do.

In the Best of Montreal Zeke's Gallery is eligible in the Best Gallery, Best Live Venue, Best Blog, Best Author categories and has a couple of choices for the Best Art Exhibit.

In the Top d'Ici Zeke's Gallery is eligible for La révélation artistique de l'année, L'expo de l'année, Le secret le mieux gardé de Montréal, L'endroit gratuit le plus intéressant à frequenter, and La salle de concerts de l'année categories.

Thanks tons in advance.

Andrea Zittel vs. The New York Times

Howdy!

On average once every three weeks for the past year the words 'Andrea Zittel' have been written in the New York Times. I wanna know who her publicist is.

Muncie Indiana vs. Montreal

Howdy!

Over at Ball State University (in Muncie, IN) they've got an Interactive Wireless Sculpture here in Montreal, at Concordia they're trying to do something called the Digital Cities Project. Go click on both and decide for yourself which one is a better project.

Yo! Raf you're contradicting yourself

Howdy!

In yesterday's Montreal Mirror, there is a very nice mention in passing of Zeke's Gallery by Raf Katigbak in his column. But he contradicts himself by saying that the Musée d'Art Contemporain's plan for Silo #5 will unalienate people. The museum's Permanent Collection can in no way be confused with "fresh art."

These are some of the artists who have work in the permanent collection of the museum: Paul-Émile Borduas, Alfred Pellan, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Guido Molinari, Fernand Leduc, Claude Tousignant, Yves Gaucher, Betty Goodwin, Roland Poulin, Geneviève Cadieux, Jana Sterbak, Jack Bush, Paterson Ewen, Michael Snow, Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Louise Bourgeois, Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman, James Turell, Richard Long, Mario Merz, Christian Boltanski, Shirin Neshat, Sam Taylor-Wood, Nan Goldin, Isaac Julien and Vik Muniz. By my count three of the thirty artists mentioned can be considered part of "Montreal’s contemporary art scene."

Mr. Katigbak, what sucks about "Montreal’s contemporary art scene" is that the folk who make the art don't have any money, and the folk that have the money prefer to dance for days on end at the Big Owe.

Artists must almost live forever...

Howdy!

There's a sweet line in today's New York Times written by Holland Cotter. He writes; "Midcareer is a flexible category, defined partly by age, partly by time on the job." He then proceeds to state that an artist who has been exhibiting 32 years and is 59 years of age is a perfect example of a Midcareer Artist. I'm not certain I like that, I don't know if I want to have a 64 year career, or that I want to live until I'm 118 years of age.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Anybody got $2,700 for August 10

Howdy!

Well it looks like AGAC has someone nipping at their heels. I got an invitation to the International Expo Art Montreal 2006 Festival. Someone named Lucia is asking me to cough up $2,700 in order to participate, yeah, right. They also are saying that some of the money is going to the Sainte Justine's Hospital Foundation. I'm going to have to remember in September to call around and ask how much the hospital got.

The Association des Galeries d'Art Contemporain had their own "do" called the Salon du Printemps (someone should mention to Marc, that it ain't 2004 anymore...). And while I'm at it, why is the government of Quebec giving AGAC money when more than 16% of their membership is from outside the province of Quebec?

I've told folk time and time again, that we do need a real, and a real serious Art Fair here in town. I know that Marc Lanctôt can't pull it off, I'd love it if Lucia and the International Expo Art Montreal 2006 Festival made me eat my words.

If you're interested, this is an event that the folk behind the International Expo Art Montreal 2006 Festival have organized recently. Looks like I'm not going to be able to eat my words, drat! I was hungry, too.

And some folk thought I was nasty!

Howdy!

Charlotte Higgins takes it to the Queen with a series of very pointed jabs on the day before the woman's 80th birthday, all about her art collection.

A work of dedication...

Howdy!

I just discovered the Dictionary of Art Historians. Wicked cool site, not a single Canadian mentioned anywhere.

Concordia shafts Nicolas Baier

Howdy!

First this, now this.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

The Canadian Art Group Rocks my world!!

Howdy!

If you notice on the left right there is a "new" addition, it is what I'm calling a direct advertisement as opposed to the Google ads. I'd like to thank the Canadian Art Group for advertising (and for being the first direct advertiser) on the Zeke's Gallery blog.

The Canadian Art Group is buying pre-1970 Canadian Art. Paul-Emile Borduas, Marcelle Ferron, Lise Gervais, Rita Letendre, Maltais, Mousseau and others. www.canadianartgroup.com for more information


If you are selling any paintings that were made by famous folk before 1970, you should know who to talk to. If you don't, read the advertisement a little bit more closely, ok?

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Wicked Cool!

Howdy!

The Musée des beaux arts gets some positive (in a weird and cool way) press from an unlikely source.

Yo JD! I know you can do better

Howdy!

A friend of mine J.D. Gravenor got an article published in today's Montreal Gazette. Somebody thought that the Gazette needed something about art classes in high schools in Montreal, nice enough. But JD muddies the water by mentioning the Dollard Art Centre, the Visual Art Centre, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Summit School.

I certainly hope that in the print edition that the Gazette was more comprehensive as I can come up with another two dozen places that the under 18 crowd can learn art skills without getting out of bed. And I'm fairly confident that the people who work at those 24 places are not too happy that they got left out of the article. Or I hope that the editor at the Gazette who comissioned the article is savvy enough to run some red pencil through Mr. Gravenor's next submission - an article focusing on one specific art teacher would have been way more informative, interesting and entertaining.

Monday, April 17, 2006

I interrupt this broadcast

Howdy!

I apologize as this has nothing to do with art, but this got me steaming mad. Teddy Katz some dude who works for the CBC had a report on The World at Six tonight. Judging from it, Mr. Katz is quite likely a racist, doesn't give a hoot about the law, and gets his facts wrong as well. I don't know who the producer was who green lighted the piece, but why they thought that a man who is never going to set foot in Canada professionally ever again was news needs to have their head examined.

If anybody wants to see the letter I just emailed to audience relations and the program themselves all you gotta to is ask me. If you wanna see my other rants about the CBC One, Two, Three and Four.

American Business Machines Live at Zeke's Last Night

Howdy!

American Business Machines are Greg Deane (Guitar/Vocals), Dave Clayton (Bass), Adam McNair (Guitar), and Justin Cohen (Drums) click here if you'd like to hear them, stream it, ogg vorbis [34:37 minutes, 33.2MB].



The tunesmiths strumming away at their instruments. If you'd like to know more about American Business Machines, click here.


Space Captain live at Zeke's Gallery last night

Howdy!

Space Captain is Mike Stitsinger (Guitar/Vocals), Mark Ottani (Drums) and Justin Verville (Bass). Click here if you'd like to hear them, stream it, ogg vorbis [35:23 minutes, 34MB].



From what I understand, the boys in the band had a very good time last night. If you'd like any more information about them, like where they are playing tonight, click on this.


Sunday, April 16, 2006

When will Art in America next review something at the Lucas Schoormans Gallery?

Howdy!

A former senior editor at Art in America just got hired by Lucas Schnoorman to direct his gallery. I wonder if Art in America has a conflict of interest policy, and if so what it is.

I get letters

Howdy!

I am honored, thrilled and blushing right down to my toes. Reynold Reynolds actually reads this here blog! Woo-Hoo! For those of you not quite clear on the concept, on Tuesday, I wrote a post about the Berlin Biennale. My two comments were that A) Mr. Reynolds was being called a Canadian Artist, and that B) the real Canadian Artist was making bad art and not being truthful about what it was.

Well, it appears that Mr. Reynolds did not quite understand what I was saying or where I was coming from (understandable considering). He wrote to the guys organizing Cinema Abattoir, that "Well Chris your parents were so boring that they gave you a name that over 430 million on the earth have (or some translation all coming from Christ: ie: Christoph, Kris....Christian, Christina ... ..). Do you ever get your self mixed up with all the other people that also have your boring name?" Point taken, and I apologize.

I was going for the easy belly laugh at someone else's expense. Mr. Reynolds is definitely entitled to at least one free shot. (Personally I would have prefered if he didn't bring my parents into it, but I'm not about to escalate the situation when I'm trying to make nice).

However, if there are mistakes out there, then it is not up to me to double and triple check them (which I did, hence the link to Roebling Hall where they wrote Mr Reynolds was Canadian & American and the link to the Berlin Beinnale's information about him where they did the same). I would respectfully suggest that it is the artist's responsibility to make sure that published information from reputable sources is correct by being verified by the artist before publication.

I'd like to thank Mr. Reynolds in advance for allowing the Cinema Abattoir guys to screen Burn, and hope that he continues reading this blog, so that he could better understand my "strange posts."

What about here?

Howdy!

It seems like everybody and their mother is going back to learn about the provenance of objects in museums, has anybody checked into any of the aboriginal objects here in town at the Musée des Beaux Arts? Or the McCord? I know that the MBA is doing stuff about things that the Nazi's took, but...

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Two out of Three ain't bad

Howdy!

In today's Globe & Mail Montreal is front and center in the reviews, as Melvin Charney and Yechel Gagnon get reviewed by Gary Michael Dault. Unfortunately I don't agree with his assesment of the artists.

Friday, April 14, 2006

$300,000 worth of front page news

Howdy!

This brought a smile to my face


For those without the ability to read French, Rodney Graham made the front page of the newspaper today. Mr. Graham is currently ranked #30 by ArtFacts.Net, up from #48 last year.

Nicely done!

Digging into the archives - Matthew Stern live at Zeke's Vol 121

Howdy!

It has been a slow week and a short week, so I thought it would be cool to revisit the most popular musical act that has ever played here. Click here, if you'd like to hear, stream it, ogg vorbis. [43:19 minutes, 41.7MB]



Matthew originally played here on May 17, 2004, and according to my files there were 78 people in attendance, he no longer has the top selling CD from here, that position has been taken by Faryn Sand. The paintings in the background are from the exhibit by Philip Bottenberg that was happening here at the same time. I hope that you enjoy the recording.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

More apples to apples

Howdy!

I just discovered that the Ontario Science Centre has podcasts. I also discovered that they had been downloaded 6,655 times during the month of March. Cool!

Zeke's Gallery's podcasts were downloaded 3,478 times during the month of March. Zeke's Gallery does 52% of the OSC, man oh man would I love to get 52% of their $39 million operating budget - that would be more than $20 million!!!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Somebody else Diesel Jeans spent way too much money on this!!

Howdy!

Following up on this post, I discovered that Steven Shearer is one lucky guy... I would love it if I could get $10,000 any money for making this billboard. And for those who wonder Ms. Ohlraun is the Visual Arts Cutural Attache at the Canadian Embassy in Germany. [please see the April 22 update, below]


Poem by Steven Shearer
Originally uploaded by ___scarletfever.


[Update April 13: Since some people have seen fit to type some useless comments, I figure I should make myself very clear. Mr. Shearer wrote that his piece "Poem" is "a textual mélange ... of the lyrics of obscure rock songs and titles of death metal classics and presents them as white-on-black posters." I've done some research and as far as I can tell none of the first 6 lines of this piece are in any way shape or form a death metal classic.

Voiceless Altars of Flesh - Band name Altars of Flesh, no song or CD called "voiceless." Not a Death Metal Classic.
Nailed in Unholy Misery - haven't been able to find anything, Not a Death Metal Classic.
Centuries in Decomposition - Band named Pathologist, Album: Grinding Opus Of Forensic Medical Problems [1994] song named Putrescence first line is " Decomposition over many years." Not a Death Metal Classic.
Spawn of Azagtoth - Morbid Angel has a guitarist named Trey Azagoth (George Emmanuel III) there's a song named Hellspawn: The Rebirth on their album Formulas Fatal To The Flesh. Might be considered a Death Metal Classic but it is a very long stretch.
Scatophagous Godfather - Two bands named Scatophagus (no "o") neither one a Death Metal Classic.
Epoch of Disfigured Unlight - There's a band called Epoch of Unlight from Tenessee but they are not a Death Metal Classic.

If anyone can find me the songs from which these lines came from, I'd be more than happy to discuss whether or not they are Death Metal Classics, but for the time being Mr. Shearer's explanation of his work is a whole lot of claptrap and nonsense.
]

[Update April 20: I was just informed by Ms. Ohlraun, that she did not approve the spending of the money to get Mr. Shearer's piece in the Berlin Biennale. I have asked her who did fund it, and as soon as I have a response I will update this post again.]


[Update April 22: I think I just got it, and I owe Ms. Ohlraun a big, humongous and sincere apology - I made a mistake about you having anything to do with Steven Shearer's art. I'm still not quite clear as to how much or how it got in the Berlin Beinnale, but as you can clearly see here:

Diesel Wall
Originally uploaded by mitue.
(click through in order to get the biggest version) it is an advertisement for Diesel Jeans, I don't know if he won their Diesel Walls competition (and I certainly hope he didn't) but I'm slowly getting closer to the bottom of this mystery.
]

[Update May 9: Please read this]

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Alain Pineau has a little bit too much time on his hands

Howdy!

If he thought that writing something like this was going to help artists in any way shape or form.

I hope Paul Galipeau earns at least $15/hour, and I would guess that Mr. Pineau earns at least $20/hour. They are respectively Executive Assistant and National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. I would then estimate that the Canadian taxpayer paid about $300 to get that sucker out (2 days work for Mr. Galipeau, 2 hours work for Mr. Pineau). They couldn't figure out a better use for that money?

Alaska, Canada? My eye!

Howdy!

The 4th Berlin Biennial opened recently. It got a mention in the New York Times, which is what brought it to my attention. I immediately went looking for the Canadian artists involved, and I find that there's this dude, Reynold Reynolds who told someone that he was born in a place called Alaska, Canada.

Yeah, right.

It appears that Mr. Reynold Reynolds likes to pass himself off as Canadian, I'm not certain why, but I have seen similar cases before. In fact, there is a place in this here country called "Alaska." If you'd like to see where it is, click on this, and zoom in. Personally, I think Reynold Reynolds (yeah, what's up with the name? Did he chew on aluminum as a child or something?) wanted people to think that he was born in this place. Which looks like this from the sky. Although unless he fancies applying for some Canada Council grants, I don't think he's gonna get too far.

But, I actually should thank Mr. Reynolds, because in my attempt to figure out where he truly was born, I discovered a two day old article from the Arizona Republic, where I discovered that contrary to what I would have thought, Berlin has as much of an art market as Montreal does (or at least that's what some babe named Swetlana Heger says.

But to give props where props are due, there really and truly is a bona fide Canadian Artist® in the 4th Berlin Biennial, unfortunately I think he is a really bad artist. If he is touting Poems (what I assume is a piece in the biennale) as being "a textual mélange out of the lyrics of obscure rock songs and titles of death metal classics," then I want proof positive that there is not a single song from the Top 100 ever in it. Then while I can understand the irony being used by writing "death metal classics" and "obscure rock songs" in the same sentence, I strongly doubt that his piece is exclusively made up of just those two categories.

[Update April 25: Please read this]

Monday, April 10, 2006

Heather Dale live at Zeke's Gallery (set two)

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Last night Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps played here, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [43:47 minutes, 42MB]. There were some glitches with the microphones, so I apologize in advance if it sounds sucky. If you'd like to get more details about Ms. Dale, click on her name.


Ms. Dale & Mr. Deschamps in action a second time.


Heather Dale live at Zeke's Gallery last night (set one)

Howdy!

Last night Heather Dale and Ben Deschamps played here, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [55:24 minutes, 53.2MB]. There were some glitches with the microphones, so I apologize in advance if it sounds sucky. If you'd like to get more details about Ms. Dale, click on her name.


Ms. Dale & Mr. Deschamps in action.

It took me longer than expected to get this one up, so I'll post the second set tomorrow, ok?


New Template!

Howdy!

Woo! Hoo! Three columns. All the important stuff loads first. If you have any problems, difficulties, comments or suggestions, please let me know.

I will be restocking the blogroll slowly, that was one of the things that caused me to need the redesign, it had gotten completely out of hand.

Thanks.

Art History on the Web 2.0

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A whole whack of stuff on and about Pipilotti Rist at Squidoo, a worthy attempt at a web 2.0 website. Also, while Amazon is offering Himalaya: 50 Kg Nicht Durchtrainiert for $90 and up. I got it for $10 (cdn) at the museum's bookstore.

Where it started has ended

Nicolas Baier meet Kara Walker

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OK, which museum has the longer lead time? The Musée des Beaux Arts here in Montreal? Or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? I dunno either, but I do know which one is bigger.

Well, while everyone here in town has been going gaga, wild and real excited, like over Nicolas Baier's incursion into the museum (including I might add while wiping some drool off my chin, myself) and then tripping over each other in order to prove how hip and with it they are by making all sorts of allusions to Banksy. They all seem to have missed the Kara Walker show that got reviewed in the New York Times last month.

I'm not quite certain I like this concept of artists co mingling their work with work already in museums. If museums want to become democratic institutions, where's my ballot, so I can vote on what gets exhibited?

David vs. the Brown Sisters vs. the Goldberg family vs. Oxford, Iowa vs, vs, vs...

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Back in November, I pointed out Micah Lexier's piece of art called "David" and how similar it was in concept to Nicholas Nixon's "The Brown Sisters." And then got cheeky and asked why they were in contemporary art museums and galleries.

Well, I've found four more, three of which ain't in a museum (I think it might have to do with Argentineans being more sensible).

1. Diego Golberg's family, pictures started in 1976.

2. Raj Nair's family, pictures started in 1999.

3. The Rubenstein children, pictures started seriously in 2003.

4. The New York Times story about Peter Feldstein's pictures of residents in Oxford, Iowa.

Friday, April 07, 2006

More comparisons

Howdy!

According to the provincial government there were 23,700 pieces of music downloaded 2 weeks ago. Going back through the data I also discover that during the month of March there were a total of 95,600 downloads.

I also calculated how many times the Zeke's Gallery podcasts had been downloaded in the month of March. 3,478 times to be exact. I'm getting my figures from this source, which is where they are hosted. I can't find out what the methodology is used by Nielsen SoundScan to track downloads in Quebec, but something is very fishy if Zeke's Gallery has the equivalent of more than 3% of the downloads of all of Quebec.

Nicolas Baier and Concordia ain't having a good time together

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First Concordia University told M. Baier that he needed to change the image for his "mur-rideau de grand format." Now, he finds out that someone wants to build a residence for students directly in front of it. Pity it wasn't the one that Concordia thought would be offensive...

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Canada meet Quebec

Howdy!

According to the Canadian Museums Association, there are 220 Art Museums and Related Institutions in Canada. According to the Société des musées québécois there are 96 Art Museums in Quebec (notice the lack of "related institutions"). If almost 50% of the Art Museums in Canada are in Quebec it would be wicked cool! Or it might be that both organizations don't know how to define a museum. Personally, I prefer the second choice. Because according to both definitions Zeke's Gallery is a museum.

Ooops! I almost forgot, there's another place that lists all the Art Museums in Quebec and according to them there are 273 Art museums in Quebec. I wonder who is right? the Canadian Heritage Information Network and the The Canadian Museums Association, the folk who funded the Virtual Museum? Or The Arts and Heritage Sector of the Department of Canadian Heritage the guys who fund the Canadian Museums Association? Or in other words the very same people.

Not quite getting it

Howdy!

Close your browser if you've seen me write this before; there are 38 Canadian art magazines available on the internet. I've only found two that have an RSS feed Archee and Kiss Machine and Archee's really is just a blog and doesn't have any of the contents of the magazine which is then made weirder because it calls itself a "cyberart magazine."

And Vote for the Best Art Gallery in Montreal en francais, SVP & merci

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The Mirror's sister publication has their Top d'ICI as well. It is easier to fill out because they don't have a 25 answer minumum. Zeke's Gallery would work well in the following categories: La révélation artistique de l'année, L'expo de l'année (your choice of Zev Tiefenbach's, Wil Murray's, or Vanessa Vaugahn's) Le secret le mieux gardé de Montréal, L'endroit gratuit le plus intéressant à fréquenter. (And if you truly are unilingual, once you're done, click on "soumettre") If you want any help, don't hesitate to ask.

Vote for the Best Art Gallery in Montreal, please and thank you

Howdy!

It's that time of year again The Montreal Mirror's Best of Montreal ballot is out and available. If I might be so bold as to suggest certain answers... Zeke's Gallery qualifies in the following catagories: Best live venue, Best gallery (duh!) and Best blog. If you would like any suggestions for other categories, please don't hesitate to ask. Thanks tons!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Really Lousy News

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I just found out that Katja Kessin died on Saturday. If you'd like to see some of her art, try this, and this, and this. Not a good way to wake up today.

Gian Carlo Biferali is making the Centre Leonardo da Vinci into a joke

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On the 19th of April, there's a vernissage for something called "Se mettre en jeu 2006" at the Leonardo da vinci Center in Saint Leonard. For the squareheads in the house, that translates into "To put in play 2006." Some of the bafflegab and gobbledy-gook that they put up on the website makes mention of "emerging artists" [for the non-squareheads: Les participants à Se mettre en jeu représentent la relève artistique."] They are presenting the art of Rosa Manno, Jean Sébastien Denis, Heidi Taillefer, and Meredith Carruthers.

For the record, the only artist exhibiting at the Leonardo da vinci Center in Saint Leonard that I could consider "emerging" is Rosa Manno, but I could be wrong, I have been wrong in the past and will be wrong in the future. The only reason I consider Rosa Manno to have the slightest possibility of being an emerging artist is because I can't find a gosh darn thing about her on the internet. I do not know if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

Heidi Taillefer has already had exhibitions at Yves Laroche, the Cirque du Soleil and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.
Jean Sébastien Denis has already had exhibitions at Simon Blais (two solo exhibitions in fact) the second most influential commercial gallery here in Montreal, along with the Art Gallery of Outremont, the Maison de la Culture Plateau Montreal, and a bunch of others.
Meredith Carruthers has already had solo exhibitions in three provinces (BC, ON and QC) and two countries (Canada and the UK). She has already been represented by two commercial galleries here in town (Sandra Goldie and Joyce Yahouda) and has a Master's degree in Fine Arts.

Going solely by the artist's CV's on their own websites I find it hard to believe that anybody would think that they are emerging. Maybe nobody actually bothers to read artists' CVs? Maybe nobody knows how to read an artist's CV? Maybe (and most likely) nobody gives a rat's patootie about an Artist's CV.

In case anybody thinks I'm full of it, according to larger organizations than me (although I have gained weight recently) "emerging artists are those at an early stage in their career who have completed their basic training and have created a modest independent body of work, mid-career artists are those who have created an independent body of work for a number of years..." Notice that mid-career states very specifically A Number of Years [emphasis, mine]. Going back to the CV's Jean Sébastien Denis appears to have been making art professionally for at least three years. Heidi Taillefer for three years as well. And Meredith Carruthers for seven years. Then, while it ain't painting but still on the Canada Council's website; they define emerging slightly more precisely if you're a media-artist:
An emerging artist is one who has less than three years of practice but has completed basic training as an artist. This can be formal (university or college studies) or informal (production courses, workshops, hands-on experience in media arts production, etc.). [emphasis, again entirely mine]
Then as long as I'm on the rant, what's up with giving the curators top billing? Is there a catalogue being printed? Is this sorta like the second coming of the Whitney Biennale, but different?

I went and read all the fine print at the Leonardo da vinci Center website, and all they could come up with were quotes from an entertainment weekly, and the Journal de Montreal, both known as very serious places for discussion of the visual arts. And then some smart wag was able to hit up the Conseil des Arts de Montréal for $5,000, Banque Scotia for an unknown amount, BMW et Mini Laval, Délégation Commerciale d’Italie probably for something around $3,000, Discount (that's weird!) Art Americas, Biferali Fine Arts (might this perhaps be the sideline business of the person running the show at the Centre Leonardo da Vinci?), Pastificio Sacchetto (guess what's gonna be served during the vernissage?), CIVDEV, and Fraser Milner Casgrain to be sponsors. I would guess that they scored something close to $15,000 along with free food and booze. I'd love to know details of how the cash was spent. Looks like I might have to haul my carcass across town to see.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Everything is True being read at Zeke's Gallery

Howdy!

On Saturday (yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy, ok?) we had a series of fabulous readings. Last up was Patrick Leroux's play Everything is True, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [11:23 minutes, 10.9MB]. It was all part of the Delirium Press Spring 2006 chapbook and broadside launch.

 
Mr. Leroux, pictured second from left above (sorry, I don't have the names of the other performers) was introduced by Kate Hall & Heather Jessup of Delirium Press.

Jane Affleck reading at Zeke's Gallery, again.

Howdy!

On Saturday (yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy, ok?) we had a series of fabulous readings. Fourth up was Jane Affleck, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [13:00 minutes, 12.5MB]. It was all part of the Delirium Press Spring 2006 chapbook and broadside launch.


Ms. Affleck, pictured above, was introduced by Kate Hall & Heather Jessup of Delirium Press.

Stephanie Bolster reading at Zeke's Gallery, again.

Howdy!

On Saturday (yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy, ok?) we had a series of fabulous readings. Third up was Stephanie Bolster, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [9:14 minutes, 8.9MB]. It was all part of the Delirium Press Spring 2006 chapbook and broadside launch.


Ms. Bolster, pictured above, was introduced by Kate Hall & Heather Jessup of Delirium Press.

Sarah Selecky reading at Zeke's Gallery

Howdy!

On Saturday (yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy, ok?) we had a series of fabulous readings. Second up was Sarah Selecky, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [11:43 minutes, 11.3MB]. It was all part of the Delirium Press Spring 2006 chapbook and broadside launch.


Ms. Selecky, pictured above, was introduced by Kate Hall & Heather Jessup of Delirium Press.

Erin Moure reading at Zeke's Gallery

Howdy!

On Saturday (yes, I know I'm late - I've been busy, ok?) we had a series of fabulous readings. First up was Erin Moure, click here if you'd like to hear it, stream it, ogg vorbis [11:35 minutes, 11.1MB]. It was all part of the Delirium Press Spring 2006 chapbook and broadside launch.


Ms. Moure, pictured above was introduced by Kate Hall & Heather Jessup of Delirium Press.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Once again CBC arts online doesn't get it.

Howdy!

Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. Matthew McKinnon writes an article for CBC.ca about what he (and by extension the CBC) call the ten best Canadian Blogs. The first one is for BlogTO, unfortunately, the link leads to Beyond Robson.

Since they are likely to correct it as soon as someone reads this, here is a screen shot of the offending code: