art etc

The View From Here

2007-06-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

I don't seem to take many pictures in the winter, but now that it's warm again I am back to obsessively documenting the view from my window. Here are a couple of shots of a mysterious helicopter that was circling the harbour, skirting over the heads of people barbequeing on a roof garden.

Reflecting Over Coffee

2007-01-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

On a day when it's -25C outside, it's summer in my head; complete with road trips, sudden showers and water slides.

new year

2007-01-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

new year photos, from a recent day in miami.

Over the concrete, under the flowers

2006-09-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

This is a series of recent 'straight shots' (no photoshop, no camera play, just straight up photography) taken from my balcony. The view is awesome, as long as you are looking in the right direction.

Red light in Copenhagen

2006-08-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

I've had a chance to go through my photos from Denmark (it took a while, there were almost 300 of them) and now they are starting to emerge in the mash-ups. This one, called Walking with Maidens, features a pic I shot while stopped at a light in Copenhagen. In the middle of the street is a statue maidens in a Neo Classical style, in the background you'll see the peaked roof of the central train station. There are a few other images in there, a tour boat, someone on a running track....you'll see.

new favourite thing

2006-08-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Danmark and my head swirls with thoughts of windmills, Georg Jensen silver and the Glyptotek. So I've been satisfying my craving for all things Danish today, which brings me to net filmmakers , a gallery/website/magazine based in Copenhagen showcasing video and digital art. She Asked for Directions by Malene Nors Tardrup is particularly good, it's a dreamy ride with a staccato rhythm.

mash this

2006-08-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

Since moving into our new home in December, I have been obsessed with the view. However, I'm starting to mix things up a bit, this one includes a shot from Stratford with a church steeple rising above a 7-11 awning.

Walking outside the lines

2006-08-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

looking the other way

2006-06-12T18:44:00.000-07:00

The infamous "Four Sisters" smoke stacks in Mississauga disappeared suddenly from the horizon this morning. Which is a little sad as far as compositions go.

Ah well, take a look in another direction.

the view from here

2006-05-29T16:52:00.000-07:00

from the balcony
a tallship touring, drifting
over the harbour

Victoria Day

2006-05-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Clouds melt under
Three tender steps and
An irrespressible grin

In a picture
You can't tell the fireworks from the city lights
Until you turn around,
Then for a few moments,
That's all there is

Speaking of Venice

2006-05-01T17:44:00.000-07:00

I haven't heard any word on the Canadian selection for the Venice Bienalle, so I'm taking this opportunity to launch my one-woman campaign to have Max Streicher represent Canada in Venice in 2008.

Max's sculptures and installations have an ethereal beauty that is almost hypnotic. With each 'breath' the viewer is engaged in a meditation on life, death, the weight of human history and the 'weightlessness' of a snooze in a sunny meadow.

Ahh, I can hear them chanting in the streets....

bravo bella!

2006-04-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Marvelous to see Felix Gonzalez-Torres has been selected to fill the US pavilion at the Venice Biennale next year. Gonzalez-Torres died ten years ago at the age of 38, leaving behind a body of elegant conceptual works that are profoundly poignant and heartbreakingly personal.

One of his most exciting pieces, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) is an allegorical portrait of the artist's partner, Ross Laycock, consisting of 175 lbs of candy piled into a corner on the gallery floor. The piece quietly disappears overtime, giving itself up to gallery patrons as they take a piece of candy, savoring a moment of sweetness and a little sugar rush as they walk away. The work leaves me almost dizzy with sentimentality, bringing to mind moments of profound connection between my partner and myself, or sometimes moments of generosity between strangers; all wrapped up in the understated elegance of a pile of candy on the floor.

Contemporary art is BIG business in the US right now and I'm sure the curators considered some exciting work for Venice. As a result, it is incredibly exciting to see they chose an artist of such conceptual and emotional sophistication. Bravo bella!

the beastles

2006-04-07T19:01:00.000-07:00

My new favourite thing is The Beastles - a series of brilliant mashes combining the Beastie Boys and The Beatles.

There are countless people out there who can provide syntilating and informed commentary, open deur for instance, but I am not one of them. So listen and decide for yourself. As for me, I am now dying for a road trip (mmmm Manhattan) to provide an excuse for hours of uninterrupted listening (and then New York). Instead, I'll curl up with my laptop and use this as an accompaniment to mash some photos.

ps. 10,000 thanks to my friend Megan at The New Pollution, who also moonlights as a cultural atachee

so many delicious themes

2006-03-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

Cause there are others who do it better....check out video object for their weekly video challenge. This week's meditation on desire and shiny things is pretty good, particularly Dear God. Looking forward to seeing what they cook up next week...

For the passive art junkie, you must plug into PS1 Radio. I must admit I am a tad bit obsessed, at this rate my son's first words are likely to be 'interactive environment' or maybe 'gangster aesthetic', or wait, how about 'seduced by colour'. Other suggestions for Ian's first words are welcome.

What's going on with art podcasts? There are some pretty good gallery 'tours' out there, but art is about more than galleries....Got a podcast you can't get enough of? I've love to hear about it.

Apathy and avocados

2006-03-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

The idea of writing about my images fills me with a sense of dread,
must be why I never became an artist.
Blame it (all) on Duchamp.
Slice avocado into impossibly small pieces and freeze.

In the begining

2006-03-14T07:24:00.000-08:00

I looked out the window