On Saturday, May the 7th, 2011 I had the pleasure to see Joe Purdy play at the Rio, an old theater just off of Commercial Drive on Broadway in Vancouver.
Joe Purdy has been a huge inspiration to me, as well as a beacon of hope during all those lonely hours along the road. Continue Reading →
Taken directly from Pecha Kucha Night Vancouver‘s website: “Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each – giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame.”
Pecha Kucha is an event held in cities across the globe. You can see in the image below by the blue dots on the map how global it really is. Continue Reading →
The city of Burnaby, as well as many others around BC if not North America, started a program where every household was issued a compost and a garbage bin like the ones above. Really not a big deal for most people had the old traditional bins already, and used them every week. The major difference was that there had to be a retrofit done to the dump trucks in order to enable them to automatically load the bins. Continue Reading →
Spring time brings a plethora of excitement for people all over the world. It symbolizes new beginnings with calves being born, spring flowers budding, grass turning green, trees growing new life, houses opening windows and emptying dust pans, and garage sales just to name a few. But, most of all, it symbolizes playoffs, that is if you’re a hockey or basketball fan. Those of you that are, probably already know that Yukon took the final four tournament beating Butler a few weeks ago, but now the NBA Playoffs have started. Today has the first games. Continue Reading →
On March 4, 2011 at 6pm Becker Galleries opened their space for Unintended Calculations, a show being curated by the talented Indigo showcasing artists from around the world. I had the fortune to be invited to the VIP opening of the show, and I was blown away by the artwork and the artists themselves. Continue Reading →
Remi/ROUGH just finished a trip to Canada, his first ever, and to no other than Vancouver at that. Yes, this is where I’m at. Yes, I met him. Yes, he’s a major cool chap. Yes, his art is amazing.
The pure mix of straight edges, with complete slur of all emotion mixed with symmetry, and then displaced with layered chaos is amazing.
He came to Vancouver to do Unintended Calculations, a mix of spraying the Moda Hotel walls in downtown Vancouver, as well as showing at Becker Galleries, located on Granville Island. The show was curated by the talented Indigo, who herself is an amazing artists becoming a global figure. I’ve taken some photographs of the event held at Becker Galleries.
Remi/ROUGH’s work leaves a lot up to the imagination. There are many angles to approach it, for myself, I feel. One can embrace it from chaos inward to straight and stiff edges, or the other way around: straight stiff to chaos. Maybe the correct word is not so much chaos as one would think.
Remi/ROUGH has been part of the Graffiti scene for a very long time. One of the fathers one might even say, so needless to say he is looked up to by many, many people. Artists, punks, rebels, musicians all alike; and with just cause, he is a great guy.
While talking with him, he gave me the certain awe that most people who have been doing their thing for a while, proven themselves, give me. It’s like a ‘yes, I’m just doing my thing, and I’m great at it, and I love it, and I’m so happy to hear that you enjoy it too cause that’s why I do it’ kind of feeling. Or maybe that was just the English blood in him… Hard to tell.
The above piece is a collab put on the walls of a gallery with System, another artist.
To be honest though, it’s work like this that inspires me. There isn’t one thing that a person can pinpoint that does it, it’s a mixture of all things combined. How does one enjoy the drips any more than one does the edges? And how can you ignore the raunch feel of anger that is evoked in pin pointing an exact thing that inspires? Maybe it’s not anger at all, maybe it’s just something akin to capturing fireflies.
To me, it’s a body. It’s a figure, it’s a feeling. It’s not just one thing. It’s everything. Does this make sense? How does it make you feel?
The photo above is Remi/ROUGH doing work with Jaybo Monk. I have done a profile on him recently for he is also one inspiring fellow. Two legends, two icons, two people that will be talked about for many many years to come.
I am honored to have met Remi/ROUGH and I look forward to seeing his future work.
All pictures are to the best of my knowledge taken by Remi/ROUGH unless otherwise noted.
Some of you may know her as a stencil artist, some of you may know her as a graffiti artist, some a dancer, and some of you will simply know her as the artist. All these combined, what do we have? A great person and an inspiration to nearly everyone within her reach; oh yes, she does reach far.
Me, as an observer, would define Indigo as a relentless worker who cannot say no. You can see it in her eyes (or hair)! It’s a drive that only people filled with life carry with them, like a little gerbil in a cage, tirelessly running on its little spin wheel. Time, location, hunger.. these are things that do not effect these types of people, and Indigo is definitely tested; starving artist she be.
Her artwork is graceful. You know the feeling you get when you watch an eagle soar through the air? Kinda like that. It just has a being, an existence to it. A natural essence that seems to say: “Yes, this is how it’s supposed to be, can’t you see?”
This artist is also an incredible writer. Read for yourself some of her blog posts. Her stories put you in places. I like those kind of stories, I like those kind of places, a realm of reality that you know exists there, or has existed in the past, but you’re just taking a break with a cup of tea right now on your dreaming to take you there.
One of her latest projects has been the wooden boxes and shelves that you see here. She touches on her thoughts of why she has started this project on her blog.
Indigo once told me when we were in discussion about stenciling (maybe illegally, maybe not): “It’s not just making the stencil cool, it’s about placement. You don’t just stick a little stencil in the middle of a giant wall, it just doesn’t fit.” These words just make sense for all art. Whether it’s stenciling on a wall, or in a collage, pasting onto a sign, dancing to a song, or painting on a canvas if it doesn’t fit, it’s not a proper piece. Yes, granted many artists push these boundaries to new levels that expand the mind to immeasurable heights, but you still look at it and go: “My that looks easy,” or: “My that fits there.” Her art fits there.
Her artwork is easily available through her Cargoh storefront, but I mention this because they have just created a artist bio video of her, thats simply brilliant.
One of her recent projects is curating an art show at Becker Galleries in Granville Island here in Vancouver, you can see a bit of what to expect with this video:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq6k_2djVZs&feature=player_embedded]
Her next venture is a 4week stint in South Africa where she will be part of many great projects that range from desert festival group paintings, to teaching youth the art of expression, to showing in a few galleries that you need to follow her blog to stay updated on!
Note: All photos are courtesy of the artist.
Today I finally used my two year membership to the Vancouver Art Gallery (aka VAG) for the first time since I got it in October. To be honest, I was a little bit disappointed. I have been a membership holder before, and I will most definitely be again, but the show this time wasn’t to the caliber I had hoped it would be.
To me, an art gallery is there to illuminate marvelous pieces of art, expression and meaning into a whole new world of wonder. One should leave wondering what they had just seen, and how it was even possible. AND, with an incredible urge to attempt that art themselves, or at least write a lengthy blog about it. But this time, it wasn’t until I reached the 4th floor that I was mesmerized. This is the first time this has ever happened to me at the VAG, but no doubt, something of the sort will happen again.
I often ponder how I can be a critic, when art itself is pure creative. It’s everything from preparing, thinking, seeing, believing, and determination that goes into each piece of art, but there is also something about great art, and something about just art, which I feel there is a line between.
In the same breath, how can I dare criticize something so delicate as the past? It is not really my part in this world I don’t think.
Please don’t misunderstand my sentiment; there were many many pieces of Robert Adams that absolutely floored me as pieces of extreme beauty. The one above wasn’t in the collection, but many others were. It was explained that Robert spent most of his time photographing North Americas West, but there were other photographs in there too.
Apparently his work is interpreted to be of how man has altered nature. Glorious (some may think) blemishes on the otherwise vegetative landscape that are labelled with the words of progress. Do you believe this is progress?
Who knows. I do not dare decide that answer for myself, for I feel if I were to say no it’s not progress, I would be turning my head away from everything that is in my day that builds up to bring me here today. I am in fact writing this to you on the premise of progress: a computer. And if I were to say it is progress, how could I explain the way we neglect mother nature, blindly turn away from the facts of overpopulation, or waste, or poverty. Or what about the great class spread that we (my fathers and mothers before me) have worked so laboriously ahead of me to eliminate?
That shall be my rant for today on the world.
On to the rest of the gallery. The second floor was an instillation done by Song Dong. They say he’s an ‘avant guard instillation artist from China.”
Walking through his exhibit, it felt like I was walking through one of the millions of pawn shops, or junk stores you come along on the road. It was amazing how it was organized though, like a maze of dominoes. It was all just JUNK, displayed along the floor in neat symmetric matrices arranged according to function. From toothpaste tubes, to gardening tools, to old cardboard boxes used for pills, to teddy bears, to shoes and clothes, and plastic bottles or even the re-useable bags they’re making us buy at the grocery stores now. It was pretty wild to see how he arranged everything. Just taking the random things we all know and see and turning it into a fantastic spectacle of absurdity!
The one thing that caught my eye, at the very end of it, was a chalk board, with a girl drawn in chalk on it, partly smudged out along the edges, but for the most part still very visible. I wonder how he came to have these things?
The 4th floor had an exhibit that was ‘In Dialog with Emily Carr‘, which was astounding. Over the time that I have spent getting to know Emily through the Art Gallery, it has made me greatly respect the woman.
Today there was a place to sit down and you could hear a dialog between one of the artists and her (I suspect it was an Emily impersonator since she’s been dead for some 60years) about the difference between now and then. It was amazing to hear her amazement about how one of her paintings sold for just over 2million dollars! Apparently there was lots of time how her paintings couldn’t even sell. Where she had lost all hope, and how she struggled to make ends meat. I guess this is the woe of all artists isn’t it?
$2.16Million Piece
The guy illuminated how green never sells paintings… It kind of made me think a bit about my next paint purchase!
Emily‘s work is both exact and abstract to me. It has a remarkable beauty in that it illuminates certain aspects of the life, without forgetting the other parts of the picture, while still remaining somewhat… well, just amazing I guess is how to explain it. Her work has now become very recognizable to me, since the VAG houses the biggest and most extensive Carr collection known.
What makes me sad is knowing how an artist like this was never appreciated in her time because of the fact that a. she was a woman in a mans world, and 2. she bridged a racial barrier that hadn’t ever really been attempted or valued at the time.
One is very tempted to say we will never come across something like this again in our time, but that would be much to naive for a person that knows better. Most certainly it is happening now as we speak. Who knows, maybe we already know the person personally!
Since the fall is upon us, I thought I’d take a minute to remind everybody of why we live in Vancouver, since were about to get a good 4-5 months of rain.
The place is Spanish Banks, just north of UBC land, and just west of Kitsilano Beach, a trendy hipster area of Vancouver. Spanish Banks are one of my favorite beaches in Vancouver for its not as popular of a spot as Kits is, so its less crowded and one can usually find a place to steak a claim easily.
Who else loves this area? I swim in this water!
Tuesday the 19th of October I was so lucky to find myself standing in front of the stage at Matt Costa‘s Vancouver date in the Venue right smack downtown on Granville St. Matt Costa is one of my favorite musicians, so I am immediately biased, I must warn you, but the show was good. Turned out it was even one of the guitarist’s birthday!
The show opened with a band called the Threes and Nines. The singer/guitarist was clearly a lyricist taking pride in being a songwriter, and enjoyed it the whole time. The band was definitely a hard working band, with guts to leave everything and face the life of no money to play for crowds all across North America. They had some great songs that had some great feel to them, and the band was tighter than the glue holding my shoes together!
Matt Costa opened by walking through the crowd, washboard, mandolin in toe, guitar and harmonica in hand. It was a great intro, most people didn’t understand what was going on. I love when the artists interact with the crowd like that. I was actually quite surprised at how small the venue was that he was playing in. Last time I saw him he had packed a much larger venue, but I know that some artists crave a smaller venue to do just that; interact with the crowd.
His set, however, I felt started off somewhat slow. Something was off, the band was rattled for some reason or another, so I felt that it wasn’t the Matt Costa experience that I was expecting. However, as the show continued on, I found that Matt started to really get into it. He sat down for a few songs and played just him and an accompanying instrument, guitar for two songs and banjo for another. After this, I think he felt more at ease. I think the crowd was waiting for Astair.. and they got it!
He finished the show in fine fashion. Pumping out Mr. Pitiful on that piano of his was exciting. I was standing nearly 8 ft away from him. I like this Matt Costa character. I suggest you check him out.
The show was great, I enjoyed it. The crowd was very nice. I am beginning to really enjoy that venue, Venue. Did any of you go to the show? I’d love to hear how you’re enjoying the rest of his tour. 