Oh, houses. I love houses. I haven’t written about any in quite some time {shocking, I know}, but when I saw this lovely, and lonely, work by American artist Amy Greenan, well, I couldn’t control myself. I love Amy’s explanation of her paintings of abandoned homes, so instead of retelling the story, I’ll let her do it:

Having grown up in what was an abandoned house when my parents purchased it, I find an irresistible affinity to these lost architectural souls. I realized, too, that the similarities between these houses and the human body and experience cannot be ignored. These places have a history in the same way we do. Memories are attached; they crumble in the same way the human body eventually does. They evoke all sorts of emotions and thoughts in me. When I paint each one, I can’t help but sense that I am bringing it a bit of its life back.

{via Art Hound}

Aaaannnnd, exhale. The gorgeous work of New York photographer Mikael Kennedy is now hanging on the pristine white walls of Catalog Gallery, and will be there until July 17th. “Pieces of the Moon” opened last Thursday in Vancouver… and I loved every single minute of it! The work looked amazing {obviously!}, the place was packed with fabulous people, and on top of that we got the very talented Jonathan Dy to document the whole thing with his stunning black and white photography. Maybe I should change my name to, The Lucky Curator! Thanks so much to everyone who was involved in putting this show together {Peter Hay Halpert in New York, Robert Squire of Catalog, Paul Burger of Cargoh who introduced me to the guys at Catalog, and of course, Mikael Kennedy for trusting me to do this on the other side of the continent. xo}

ps. That’s me in the bottom photo, which by the way, I am totally framing!

All’s fair in war and wallpaper. I absolutely love this series, titled Domestic Violence, by Canadian artist Scott Waters. Fighter planes and Apache helicopters on fancy floral wallpaper… what a beautiful/emotional combination! And yes, you guessed it,  I really wish I thought of that. A lot.

{These are a few of my favorite close-ups of larger pieces.}

Zoe Pawlak is very easy to be jealous of. Not only am I jealous of her paintings, but she also has a beautiful studio that she shares with Fiona Ackerman {yet another huge talent!} at 1000 Parker Street… an old four storey warehouse that is overflowing with amazing artists. I have recently had the pleasure of meeting Zoe in person, and it turns out that she’s not only a gifted artist, she’s also one of the loveliest people you’ll ever meet. Oh, and speaking of meeting lovely people, Zoe did just that for her guest post:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I am jealous of Talwst (pronounced ‘Tallwaist’) Santiago.

Talwst is a gorgeous, enigmatic man on a mission to create meaningful art and music about social issues, personal triumphs and love. So, what is there not to be jealous of?

I met up with the charismatic Talwst in Toronto a few weeks back to ask the man what makes him move. These are a few musings we came up with to make you super-jealous.

The man is on FIRE. Working with one of the top producers in the world, Illangelo (co-producer of The Weekend), Talwst is kicking it into high gear with his music. As for his art practice, he has plans for an upcoming fall group show at the AGO and a solo show next year at Fuse Gallery in NYC.  Taking his own unique style and and authentically channeling the African Aesthetics that were introduced to him at an early age by his favourite artist, his brother, Talwst looks to artists like Kerry James Marshall, and musicians Kanye and Outkast who have pioneered the way in making relevant work that merges their heritage with social topics in a most revolutionary fashion. Talwst’s “All Black Everything” series speaks to the heart of his mission: informing the world about water. “Water and the role it will play in the future is my absolute creative focus these days.” If that doesn’t make you jealous enough…

Talwst is going to make art and music. That’s right. Both. Jealous? Talwst has currently aligned himself with Creative Advisor Danny Lee and Music Manager Joseph Segarra to help him fuse a new model for making art and music. This is a whole rebranding process wherein these two men take Talwst’s ideas and help him channel them into a cohesive body of work so that he can continue to have vision and make soul felt work that will no doubt blow up. Get this. Talwst paints his face most mornings to remind himself that ‘everything in you that is true and creative, even if it is dark, must be expressed.’ That is effortless, true cool. So, if that doesn’t make you jealous yet, let’s get to the heart of the matter…

Talwst is a family man. “I wear my heart on my sleeve.” says Talwst. Though he himself has not yet found ‘the one’, she is out there and he is certain their life together will be filled with babies and travel and continuing on the meaningful artistic work he is aiming to do in the next era of his bourgeoning career. He calls his future wife his ‘running partner.’ Get in line ladies, the man is a LOVER in the truest sense of the word. He speaks most highly of his parents and plans to spend winters in his homeland of Trinidad (Peter Doig is also down there… jealous?) caring for them into their old age and making art.

When I ask Talwst what is means to be a Lover, his response is clear.  “It is the best way to be in the world.  I was taught this by my mother.” he says, “It opens you to the world. Travel also opens you and let’s you move through the world with an open heart.”

The man travels a lot. Definite Jealousy.  It is no wonder that some of the most highly creative individuals like Illangelo are wanting to work with Talwst. He claims that there are people all over the globe making music and art about some of the most difficult current topics. With idols like Yoko Ono and Malik Yusef, you can be certain that any fame that finds this man will be leveraged for good. That is something worth being jealous of.

{Titles: 1. Slick the Smuggler  2. Shakye West  3. When they said all black everything I didn’t know they meant the water  4. She Awake  5. Painter  6. Startrek  7. Farmer}

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thanks Zoe – Fabulous post!

Blow me. Oh sorry, I’m not being rude, that’s actually the title of this fabulous series by Edinburgh based ceramics artist Rebecca Wilson. Here, in Rebecca’s words, are what this lovely work is all about:

A collection of slipcast and stained porcelain figurative ‘bottles’ is complimented by a number that are cast in solid glass in cool, calm colours to highlight the redundancy of their primary function. These objects have become marginalised from their intended purpose as decanters of sickly scents, and now stand redundant in function, but rich in purpose as covetable ‘collectibles’. The non-functional glass and porcelain pieces are finished off with delicately knitted atomiser bulbs salvaged from vintage perfume bottles. The patina comes from of years of being squeezed by greasy fingers and the disfigured and perished rubber interiors further allude to the now redundant function.

{via Junkculture}

Anybody up for breakfast in Vegas? On the menu… “over-sized pancakes made from photo optimized recycled fabric, stuffed with what actually feels like real pancake.” Sounds good to me, and although I usually prefer my pancakes without fur, I think I’ll make an exception for that last one!  Todd Von Bastiaans, and Bryan McCarthy have teamed up to bring you Todd & Bryan’s Pancake Bed and Breakfast at the Trifecta Gallery in Las Vegas. It opens tonight, June 30th, and runs until July 29th. I’d get there early, because I’m pretty sure that these 54″ pancakes will be sellin’ like hotcakes!*

*I totally stole that quote from a writer that I used to work with named Jane Murray, because well, it’s hilarious! Thanks Jane : )

Vancouver based artist Jamie Armstrong has found his way into my heart with these vintage photographs complete with painted-out faces, rosy-cheeked men, and of course… a huge amount of gold glitter. Really, what more could a girl {and a bunch of rosy-cheeked men} want?

{Yet another find from The Cheaper Show No.10}

Hockey legends, and cross-stitching {yes, I said cross-stitching, not cross-checking}. And if the subject matter/medium isn’t fantastic enough, Canadian artist Mike Macri has framed his soul crushing work in fancy white frames. Yep, I can honestly say, I’ve never been a huge hockey fan, but now I’d do just about anything to have one of these guys hanging on my wall {including a little cross-checking, if necessary}.

{I saw Mike’s work at The Cheaper Show on the weekend, and you guessed it, I was jealous.}

Oh, where to begin. This year’s Cheaper Show in Vancouver was, umm, fantastic! From the Friday night preview show, to the giant line-up that started in the wee hours of Saturday morning and lasted late into the night, straight through to the actual event. An amazing venue, thousands of very cool people, some very tasty chocolate cake, and of course, fabulous art. I got there early on Friday night and was able to go around and see the entire show… that was a little trickier later that night, and almost impossible on Saturday {too many interesting people to stop and chat with!} As I made my way around the gorgeous space, this was the sound I kept making {please note, I was alone at this point so I’m sure I sounded like some kind of crazy art groupie}… Gasp! Wha?! The dialogue in my head went something like this: “What?! They’re in this show!? I’ve written about him/her, I love him/her, and now I’m seeing their work up-close and in person! Holy #$%@”. Yep, that’s what it sounded like inside of my head, all night long. 1. Ben Skinner, 2. Vincent Pacheco, 3. Aaron Moran, 4. Erin M. Riley, 5. Russell Leng, 6. Zoe Pawlak… and the list could literally go on and on. There were also a truck load of artists that I’ve never written about before who I now love, have seen their work up-close and in person, and will be writing about in the very near future. Like tomorrow.

{ps. I was lucky enough to have two of my pieces in the show, and they both sold! Yay/phew.}

Yay! I could not be more thrilled to have Canadian writer Mary-Jo Dionne as my very first weekend guest of the summer. The list of reasons to be jealous of her is much too long, so I’ll just give you the highlights: She’s an amazing writer {funny, thoughtful and insanely smart… the next Tina Fey, really}, she started a charity to protect the rights of doggies everywhere called The Fleas Knees, which she pours her heart and soul into {and in true Mary-Jo fashion, instead of a normal launch party for the line of t-shirts created to raise funds, she kicked the whole thing off at the Playboy Mansion?!?} Wait, there’s more! She has done stand-up comedy, she has her own radio show, she is a triathlete, she’s pretty… ok, you get the idea! Anyway, just when I thought she couldn’t be any more thoughtful or inspiring, she writes this:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I’m jealous of my city…

I believe it was writer Marianne Williamson who said, “It’s not to our discredit we have fallen. It’s to our credit we have fallen, … and gotten back up.” Whether I’m right or not about the author of that sentiment, this insight was also delivered by Lionel, the butler in the film Maid in Manhattan to Jennifer Lopez’s humiliated character, after she was exposed as – gasp – a chamber maid and not the millionaire she’d pretended to be. “What we do, Miss Ventura, is not what defines us,” Lionel said. “What defines us is how well we rise after falling.” From Greek mythology to Valerie Bertinelli’s career, nothing’s more inspiring than a resurrection.

On June 15^th, my city – consistently depicted in glossy marketing materials as the Mecca for perfect-living – underwent a massive punch in the gut. In the wake of a disappointing Stanley Cup finish (for Vancouver, anyway), what started as a few chest-thumping twits snowballed into multiple chest-thumping twits and soon my streets were thick with flipped-cars, smashed store fronts, and pepper spray. As rioters put themselves – and others – in precarious situations, not the least of which included setting cop cars on fire, it was the prime location for a Darwin Awards convention.

But the following morning, something happened. Figuratively and literally, the city woke up. Hung-over not from alcohol – okay, there was that too, however allow me this metaphor – but from a reality check. Our city – consistently voted the #1 place in the world to live – could get ugly?! Like the prom queen who gets a zit, so too did we have to face a sizeable blemish.

What emerged was a new brand of expression. This wasn’t some multi-million dollar advertising campaign. No, this sprouted organically. As if decades of unexpressed loyalty had been sleeping in the soil and under the pounding of looters’ feet was finally ready to blossom. The air was thick not with pepper spray, but a renewed sense of civic commitment – indicated on murals that covered shattered windows. Whether art is “good” or “bad” is not relevant – so long as it tells the truth. And as far as I’m concerned, this new Vancouver – Vancouver 2.0 – tells the truth. It’s not about the pages of a shiny come-visit-us brochure. It’s about what happened on the night we fell. When our noses were pressed into the ground, and when the kicks just kept on coming, we made the decision to rise again.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Thanks Mary-Jo… so inspiring, yet again! xo