Howdy!
Folded paper with colored shapes
Viewing this art there are no escapes.
Purely mechanical
Might be tyrannical.
A visual experiment
That’s not insignificant.
Haiku would be a better poetic form to use
But since all the others are in rhyme, it would only confuse
You, nor make you smile
Or groan, and that’s not my style.
But back to the art of M. La Rue,
To Quebecois Art History he is true
More Borduas than Lemieux.
Howdy!
I know Valerie so I’m going to have to choose my words
As carefully as if I were a Turk amongst the Kurds
Her piece of art has some cool curved glass
And some other stuff, that according to the catalogue, relates to her pasts
Although I can be very sardonic
Because they use the word “architectonic.”
It did not speak to me in a significant way
After thinking long and hard, I’m not clear on what she is trying to say.
Getting glass to curve, though is really cool
It’s not something easily learned in school.
On second thought I might be making a mountain out of a molehill
Because I’m worried about treading on what’s personal.
Howdy!
Viewing Under Currents I think of sustainability,
The pictures themselves are of a power generating facility.
The constant buzz engenders a false sense of tranquility,
If I were really living near there, they might have caused my sterility.
Political art is usually fun,
Doing it well is easier said than done.
Bad out numbers good, two to one.
Mr. Kneubühler’s is almost as good as a poem by John Donne.
The catalogue offers some fluff
Talking about ambiguous boundaries, the sublime and other stuff
After 43 words I’ve read enough
To be able to write this off the cuff.
Howdy!
Not much to see or say here
Probably more interesting to talk with Mr. Kline over a beer.
Abstract art that’s fairly austere
The theory and concept aren’t exactly clear.
Akin to a rock garden or a reflecting pool,
Buddhist monks probably think his paintings are cool.
To make one he probably expended 10,000 kilojoules.
It is extremely obvious he graduated from art school.
Apparently you’re supposed to look at them closely,
(I can think of hundreds of other things I’d like to do mostly)
This is the kind of art that gets hung as a trophy,
I’ve been told he did well in the RBC/Canadian Art Competition, anecdotally.
Howdy!
I‘m not certain how to pronounce his name
But his art is just like a game.
Two different paintings that are almost the same.
I wonder why he didn’t put them in a frame.
The subject matter is commonplace
Of things, there isn’t a single face.
Two different views of an object someplace.
A better poem would be written about them by Jorge Luis Borges.
Done on paper torn from a telephone book
Once you stop and see you’re guaranteed a second look
I’m can’t decide if that’s the bait or the hook
But there must be people out there who think that this is just gobbledygook.
Howdy!
A room sized drawing of a swamp
These two gentlemen are not going to be as well known as Duchamp.
They should have painted directly on the walls just like En Masse
Drawing on paper, in this case is just kind of crass.
Doing it on a fixed medium
Is just like defeatism.
It’s neither about the process
Nor a metamorphosis.
Just another drawing that’s big
If I spent some time and started to dig
I’m certain I could find something interesting
But to be honest that sort of stuff really isn’t my thing.
Howdy!
Using physics for kicks to make contemporary art
When done badly it can break your heart.
Thankfully Nelson Henricks is almost as smart as Descartes.
If he wrestled, he would have beat Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
Twenty-Two eighty-seven hertz is a sound made by machine.
If you click here, you can hear what I mean.
Go to double high C, find D sharp continue to D you’ll find it half way in between.
As far as tones go, it’s fairly routine.
Mr. Henricks uses things like three video screens a turntable and an oscilloscope
To point out some facts, tell a story using a visual trope.
It really is quite good, I saw it early on and it gave me great hope
That viewing the Triennale would be easy and I wouldn’t become a misanthrope.
Sadly this wasn’t the case.
In a deck of cards, not every one can be an ace.
Looking for great Quebecois art will always be a chase
More a matter of the right time, than the right place.
Howdy!
Where do I start?
If I was smart,
I would toe the party line and call it art.
But me and Massimo are world’s apart,
On what we think is visual art.
He sticks a bunch of objects in a space
(Personally I think it’s a disgrace)
And leaves a schedule of when he’ll be there.
Not nice and completely unfair,
To lead workshops and talks
I think Massimo is completely self-absorbed.
It’s one thing to show off a collection
But I can I raise an objection,
To insist that it only can be understood
In his presence.
Since I’m not Massimo I could
Talk about its irrelevance.
But that would require another stanza,
I don’t think I can be that extravaganza,
Even if my ex father-in-law came from Panza
As he would say, “enough’s enough” (really “Basta!”)
Howdy!
Claudie Gagnon makes videos of paintings
But unless you really know your art history all you’re doing is feigning
“That one is like Munch’s The Scream”
Some others are vaguely familiar, like in a dream.
Did Ms. Gagnon see them live or just in a book?
If live, I wonder how long it took?
One thing I find most out of place
In (To Beauty) the drummer is wearing black-face
I wonder if I made a tableaux vivant of Pastourelle à Vallangoujard that was kétaine
If they would put it in a museum or call me a bad comedian
Perhaps if I were to take a deep breath and count to ten
And close my eyes it won’t happen again.
But I really should give Ms. Gagnon props
According to the public she’s the tops.
She won the Coup de coeur du public Loto-Québec
I imagine she really liked the $10,000 check.
Howdy!
Who the fuck is Ernest Ferdik?
Julie Favreau’s installation pours it on thick.
Some hipster dude hanging out in the cold,
I’m not certain if my opinion I can withhold.
There are some logs, some plaster.
I would stop short of calling this a disaster.
The video doesn’t make any sense.
The longer I stick around the less I am on the fence.
This truly was the last piece we saw.
And there was no way I can hem or haw,
Ended up leaving on a downer
Although for the most part the Triennale Quebecoise was a good encounter.