Tag Archives: Donald Caron

East vs. West at Three Monkeys

Howdy!

Since I’m on the topic of sellable art, I should mention that I also went to see the East vs. West exhibit at Three Monkeys. I don’t think anyone has ever done a study on it, but I would venture a guess that if you own a store, putting art up on the walls and hosting exhibits is a cheap and effective way to market and promote the store. On the other hand, wall space is valuable real estate for merchandising, and if it was truly effective than there probably would be more stores that did it, right?

Anyhow, either way by presenting the show, it succeeded in getting me into a clothing store, which is no mean feat. According to the folderol that they put out on Facebook and Twitter

the show was organized with the help of the Ayden Gallery in Vancouver and some clothing company called Lifetime Collective. My guess would be that the folk at Ayden put some art in the mail, and the folk at Lifetime sent a check – but I could be wrong. The large majority of it is arranged grid-like on the back wall of the store. There are a couple of other places as well where they have managed to hang some stuff, but as it really and truly is a clothing store, the art is not quite as front and center as I would have preferred.

East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view, image courtesy Three Monkeys and Facebook
East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view, image courtesy Three Monkeys and Facebook

It’s a fairly large group of artists, thirteen to be exact, six from Vancouver and nine Montrealers (Peter Ricq was identified as being from both Montreal and Vancouver). Other than the geography, there isn’t really anything linking the art together which depending on where you sit could be a good thing or a bad thing. Bad in that anytime you try to start making links between art it is unlikely to work as well as you think, and there is a strong chance that someone like me will come along and question just about everything. Good in that it does give the viewer some kind of hook on which they can hang their hat. The geography thing does work as the hook in this case.

East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view
East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view

But since there was nothing on the tags to identify who came from where, and I didn’t really go from one end of the store to the other to double check against the list that was written by the door, I didn’t really get any sense of regional identity for any of the artists. It was much more like, “here it is, look at it.”

East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view
East vs. West at Three Monkeys, installation view

So I did. The quality of the work was uniformly pretty good, there wasn’t anything that really jumped out a beat me over the head with how great it was. The closest would have been the double exposure portrait by Andrew Young, either because it was centered on the back wall, it was a larger piece, because of its unusual canvas, or more likely all three.

Andrew Young, Untitled, Oil on Wood,
Andrew Young, Untitled, Oil on Wood

Another piece I quite liked was the group piece on the bottom of one column in the store, judging by their facebook photo album it was done by at least Mr. Ricq and Guillaume Blackburn. probably due to them copying the En Masse style.

Overall, as you might have guessed, I’m quite fond of shows like this. A sort of pop-up gallery if you will, furthering the idea that art should be an inegral part of everyone’s life. It especially helps that there wasn’t any heavy theory behind it, and that the quality of all the work was above average. I hope that the people who attended the vernissage bought some clothes as well as some art, so that more exhibits like this can be done.

If you want to take a gander at it, Three Monkeys is on the Metcalfe side of Les Cours Mont Royal right next to the fountain, and the show itself is up until the end of the month.

Description of show
Highlights
Mention of NYTimes article

The Invisible Show at The Long Haul / Le Corrid’art

Howdy!

Back in May I went to the vernissage for the Invisible show at The Long Haul / Le Corrid’art. It was the day after I had bought my video camera, so obviously I had to film it… With a little bit of luck and some practice my filmmaking skills will get better.

Episode 296 [8:36]

Watch

The pieces in order seen:
Kate Puxley
Still Life with Mouse
Taxidermy tilapia, bird and mouse, various plastics, Plexiglas, wire
2011

Kate Puxley
Senza Terra: Rat
Taxidermy rat and shadow box
2010

Suzanne Desbiens
Burqa ou Bikini ?
Technique mixte sur masonite
2011

Marc Knowles Studio 3
Unseen Polar Phenomenon 3
Acrylic, ink and household latex paint on wood
2011

Vanessa Yanow
Cashmere
Inherited sweater, lint roller and gel medium
2011

Dan Svatek & Rosalie Chrétien
Parallax Rosalies
Acrylic, oil, sparkles and jellybeans on canvas
2011

Vanessa Yanow
Collaborating with Her Story — Incarnation III (Anon.)
Unfinished anonymous embroidery project, flame-worked glass, kiln-formed and etched glass, paint, ink, copper wire, embroidery thread, needles, linen on wood and photograph mounted on Plexiglas
2011

Samantha Purdy
Broadcast
Cross-stitch, paper clips, tapestry wool, felt on Aida cloth
2011

Madeleine Mayo
A Sad Lovesong
Oil on canvas
2011

Stephen H. Kawai
A Device that Sucks the Darkness from the World, Makes It Invisible and Turns It into Salt
Glass, hematite, onyx, rutilated quartz, wire, salt
2011

Jocelyne Pronovost
L’indivisible tourment de l’être humain
Contenant de métal, peinture acrylique et graphite
2011

Anna Beaudin
Sound
Oil on wood panel
2011