Art Stroll: Ai WeiWei and Graeham Patterson

After work last week, the weather was nice so I thought I would catch up on some art installations in downtown Toronto.

At the moment, until August, the famous, controversial Ai Wei Wei has an installation of sculptures at Nathan Philips Square. Based on the Chinese Zodiac of Animals, known mainly to North Americans as a form of fortune telling found on place mats in Chinese restaurants. Dependent upon the year you were born, you possess the similar personality traits of a particular animal.

Each of the heads are placed on poles on the exterior of the Square's large fountain.

I am a horse so I tracked down this sculpture first.

Meh. Can't say I liked the horse. (Boring...)

Ah, the Dragon was much better as was the Rooster. But maybe they were a better subject to work from.

Most were cute to say the least. Rather family friendly.

Look at the cutey wooty Rabbity wabbity. As the sculpture's are by Ai Weiwei, they have an underlining political argument. Apparently they are based upon works originally created by Jesuit missionaries in China and were later taken (i.e. stolen) by the Europeans in the 17th century during the Opium Wars. Like most contemporary art, you don't really get that story by looking at the art, but by reading an essay about the work. Nice for the summer...

...I continued my walk to Brookfield Place to see Graeham Patterson's Stockpile, an interactive artwork made as part of the Luminato festival. While I have yet to participate or attend any Luminato event, it is good that more of the events are interactive and are free to the public this year. (Personally the ticket prices have put me off most Luminato events).

Stockpile is based on popular mechanical claw arcade games.

Children and their parents were lined up to play for $2. Using what looked like an Atari joystick, the children would move a strapped human within the cage. The human would then attempt to grab a toy from the 'stockpile' using two long sticks.

It seemed that most of the children were winners, although there were some walking around with official "Loser" certificates. To quote a man from the audience, "It seems like there are better odds with this game." It was a lot of fun cheering the claw on and the children were happy with their toys!

My Rob Ryan Plates & Collection

I have a little collection of Rob Ryan work. None of it original, original - unless you count my signed lazar cut. (which is signed!)

This was my first purchase.

Rob Ryan is an artist, based in England and is quite well known for his intricate paper-cuts. He was really one of the first well known and established paper-cut artists, before paper-cutting became incredibly popular.

He lives and works in Spitalfields, London, where you can visit him in his shop named Ryantown.  Two years ago on my trip to England, I missed an exhibition of his and contemporary British craft artists. I was literally a day late and was kicking myself to the point of bruising! I even went to Spitalfields to find his shop later and got distracted by a huge street market.

 One day I hope to own an original but it is out of my price range at the moment )-:

My 3rd Acquisition ... his little story book.

Well I did manage to visit a gallery/shop that represented him and managed to buy some lazar cut cards. You can check out Castor & Pollux here. It's a really cool little shop...

My camera died before I could photograph them for you!

Today I purchased his plates. YAY!

Oh, to eat off of them or hang them on the wall - decisions, decisions!

Upcoming Trends I see....the Native Voice

Recently I was I was talking to a visitor from the U.K. about trends. She summed up what I have been seeing a lot of lately: the Nordic influence.

I simply hadn't linked the current style cycle under one word: Nordic.

Between 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', knitted cowls, geometric patterns, 'Wallander' and 'Of Monsters and Men,' anything and everything nordic is being embraced.

And I think it will disappear quickly with the spring thaw.

Already, there has been a regression of sorts with geometric patterns finding their native roots. Yup, welcome back Santa Fe and what I see as a Teepee trend.

These Paper Teepee's, or as this french website says Tipi can be found here. 

Maybe there is something bigger happening here. Perhaps there is a rise in our attention to Native Issues and the Native Voice. Politically, there is a greater focus on Native Rights with the Idle No More movement across Canada (and the world for that matter). Even in art there is currently a focus on contemporary native artists, who are often not given much of a platform in art galleries, unless they are controversial.

Now on at the Power Plant in Toronto, their programming is featuring "Beat Nation" an exhibition exploring the influence of Hip Hop on Native Culture.

The Power Plant, a contemporary art gallery in Toronto.

There is also an interesting exhibition of Native Art coming to Ontario (Kleinburg) named, Changing Hands: Art without Reservation 3/Contemporary Native North American Art which is being circulated by the Museum and Arts and Design in the U.S.

Cell, 2010 by Frank Shebageget, from Changing Hands

Looks like interesting things to come!

Versailles and Fabric Fusion!

I stumbled upon the current summer contemporary art installation at Versailles whilst purging my old bookmarks on the computer. How fabulous! These crazy quilted octopus' are invading the palace of Versailles for the summer and brings a whole "high-art" twist to yarn bombing, or quilt bombing as the case may be.

Royal Valkyrie by Joana Vasconcelos, at the Palace of Versailles

In case you don't know, the famous pop artist Takashi Murakami (most recognized by his Louis Vuttion multi-coloured purses) did an art installation at Versailles that raised a lot of controversy. I believe it was the first of such art installations in the palace.

Do you want to know how to say that in art speak - you say "art interventions." Yes, I work in the art world and hear this lingo bullshit all the time.

The controversy was quite extensive, merely because there are traditionalists who want historic buildings to remain historic without any change or influence from present day. From a museum stand-point, this is suicide. How often have you caught yourself saying, "Been there, seen that." This is one way museums are trying to bring people in, with art installations, performance, theatre, festivals etc. And what what's wrong with that? It's fun. You may not like it but it's only temporary. Maybe next time you'll like it.

Royal Valkyrie by Joana Vasconcelos

I have never heard of this artist, Joana Vasconcelos. The sculptures are pretty wacky. I can't say I like them all either. But I really like the bright colours against the rococo pastel paintings. Pretty wicked! If you would like to see all the installations, there is a special website here. Or visit Versailles. The Hall of Mirrors  and Marie Antionette's bedroom are amazing!

A Tour of Luminato's Encampment

Yesterday I had the opportunity to have a look at "The Encampment," a large scale art installation at Fort York that is part of Toronto's Luminato and the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. I have never taken in any of the Luminato events, which never really appeal to me, and seem to consist mainly of dance and music.

Just taking in the website, I notice an artist I like (Dan Bergeron) was involved in an activity under the Visual Arts tab while "The Encampment" is not even listed. Very, very confusing.

The tents with the condo buildings behind. Old vs. New.

Each tent had an installation based on an individual who had lived through the 1812, whether they were a soldier, a wife, a business owner, a Native etc. Some were touching, others verged on paranoia, others promoted the successes of their subject. It was really quite neat and each artist used a variety of materials including trees, furs, furniture, burnt wood, flags - very inspiring!

I had a few friends take part and now I wish I had! Some of the installations were wonderful, while others were, well...not good....but the redeeming quality was, no one was turned away and it truly was a public art project. And with 200 tents, it was impossible to see everything without spending hours.

To learn more about the artists who conceived the project, check out here or to see some of the installations look here.

Oh and I love the blow up 1812 sign. It cracks me up. Seems wrong to have bouncy letters for a war.

Art and Clothing and Consumption and Blogs

I was fortunate to visit the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg recently and had the opportunity to see Fashionality, an exhibition of contemporary Canadian artists who used clothing as inspiration. Despite how the topic can be kitsch, it was a really great show. I admire "process" in the creation of work. In other words, I like to see how the art took time, and patience, and tears, and strength to achieve the final product. I'm sick this way! I wanna see effort!

Day 121 This is a good picture to see all of the work Natalie has put into
her outfit: shoes, grey socks, blue stockings, dress and apron.

For this reason I was impressed by Natalie Purschwitz's Makeshift project. The poor woman undertook the incredible task of making all of the clothing she would wear, everyday, for the course of the year (2009). Everything had to be made by her. 

That is over 365 items of clothing people! Underwear and socks! Shooooooes ---EVERYTHING!

And like "Julie and Julia," she put it all on her blog.

The 2011 installation at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The nice thing about the McMichael show is a television screen that displays her changing outfits, every second, so you can admire amount of clothing she created. She did reuse some clothing on some days (ie, shoes, socks) but give the girl a break - there must have been smoke rising from the machine. Along side of the television is a long rail with a selection of the clothing, so you can look through her creations.

Day 79

She continues to work in Vancouver and design in Vancouver under the label Hunter and Gatherer. Check out that website here.