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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
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Guest Top Ten
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
Anthony Easton's Top Ten
Anthony says: "Living in the hinterlands, most of this top ten is found via the web and magazines, and my trips to Seattle and Vancouver in May."
- Johnny Cash-Bauhaus Coffee Shop- Seattle
A show of half pop, half folk work inspired by Johnny Cash (foot by foot paintings of stars, targets, guns and dollar bills) it could have been cute, or hipster obvious or just a little over cooked, but 6 months before his death, it seemed a prescient, tender memorial. There were at least two dozen of these, hung on every spare wall, hung in twos or threes or even alone, in red, blue, white or silver--like all that was good and pure about America forced into these tiny canvasses. Even if it was not really about Mr Cash, it would have been amazing.
- The Anniversary Party-1.6 gallery-Vancouver
A group show from new graduates at Simon Fraser University, some of it was clichéd (a gas station like a beacon in the dark night) but most of it was really wonderful in how it looked and what it said. There was the large C-Print of an Andy Warhol billboard looking over Sunset boulevard like a bemused God, and then there was the tiny Susan Bozic black and white of three hollywood signs, rotting from decay, that was technically gorgeous, and hidden in a back room.
- Bernadette Phan-Equinox-Bau Xi-Vancouver.
Organic forms over power canvases, some as small as my palm, some 6 feet tall. A wonderful flowering over, could have been decorative, but the colours were too challenging, and it could have been twee, but the gestural rawness of the mark making betrayed that, it could have been ab-ex but she was having too much fun. The best thing about it was the delicate tension between these three elements.
- Vicky Christou-Untitled- Tracy Lawrence-Vancouver.
White tick marks on a wood board, to show how much time art takes, and how performance is as important as the finished work; graphite grey blobs on canvas, which are the best textured pieces I have seen in years, and other white on white works, which remind me of how varied such limited practices could be.
- Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay - I am A Boy Band-Edmonton Art Gallery-Edmonton
The concept here is insanely simple, a man dressed as a boy band sings a 16th century English madigral. But its funny, erotic, deeply aware of precedent and part of an avant garde sound show in the last bastion of modernism.
- Chris Gergly-The Apartment Series-
More C Prints from Vancouver, which seems to be the favourite medium of that city, these apartment buildings were for swinging singles, married couples on the prowl, newly liberated gay men and young kids doing vague and artistic things for money. To cross the threshold into field stone, broad carpets, slick wood, gold letters and steel elevators was to own the world for a while. There is an immutable sadness in the lack of care that marks them and by extension this paradise on the Coast.
- Richard Prince-Nurse Paintings-Art Forum, Sadie Coles HQ London.
The pieces in reproduction have an intimate destruction, printed they seem to recycle themselves, from marred pulp to high art, thanks to post consumer paper. In life though I imagine the work to be much different, they are huge, 6 feet by 4 feet, 5 feet by 3 feet, 6. 5 feet by 5 feet. They are the size of men who live them. They would intimidate those who are smaller. (Center for Nursing Advocacy responds to the show here.-ed)
- Palaeolithic Sculpture found in Southern Germany
It's 30,000 years old, and so it's a little perverse to have them on a top ten list for this year, but we did not know they existed until very recently. Delicate ivory carvings of women, men, animals, and most excitingly the first depiction of anthropomorphism. The work makes me wonder if we can call them totems, if the work had a ritual function outside it's obvious aestheic care, and whether these questions matter now.
- Grayson Perry, Tate, London
My first reaction to him winning the Turner was Yeah-pottery! I deeply care about this kind of work, and thought that it was a triumph of craft over art, but then I thought a bit and realized the politics of Emin, Lucas, Hirst and the Chapmans is the same politics as Perry, and he won for his gender bending alter ego Claire. But they are really excellent pots, and he is one of the better embroiders recently.
- Ryan McGinley, work for Vice, New York and Montreal.
He is easy and loose and fun, handsome boys fucking and laughing and playing about, rock stars in hotel rooms, the details that others miss-like the shade of green in a hoodie or the curve of haunch, or a sock being pulled off a foot, or the beauty in door frames, slag heaps, details of urbanity that only a citizen of the urban space would grok.
Guest Top Ten
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
Matt King's Top Ten (links by SM)
Matt says: "Here's my top ten list, but I will add that this is a Top Ten for Sculpture Only - and I should add that this is a totally biased New York Based list."
- Robert Smithson - @ Dia:Beacon - A pile of dirt and a mirror, 35 years ago. Does anyone take these risks anymore?
- Tony Cragg - for not succumbing to the impulse towards assemblage.
- Pam Lins - "In Spite of This" @ Ten in One - for leaving sawdust and pushpins inside her weird wall sculptures. Super cool.
- Franz West - not the massive pieces at Gagosian, but the smaller ones in back. Such a disgusting and awkward use of paper mache warrants some kind of award.
- David Altmejd - "Clear Structures for a New Generation" @ Ten in One (2 on the list! you go, gallery) - despite some sloppy construction, the gluey rhinestones in the wig creeped me out. Now that takes talent.
- Ross Knight - for making industrial materials interesting and not in "a Jessica Stockholder kinda way."
- Vincent Fecteau (for image follow link and scroll down - ed.) - back room @ Feature - A summer camp arts 'n' crafts instructor takes on micro PoMo architecture. Works for me.
- Joel Shapiro - @ Pace - I know, Joel friggin' Shapiro? But yes, this is the first interesting work he's done in years. As if someone came in the studio and shook his pieces up until they almost fell apart. Rock on!
- Liz Larner @ 303 - those bases, that color. Los Angeles must be super nice.
- Ken Price / Josiah McElheny - dual prize for pushing the envelope on sculptural "eye candy." I'd like to see this work show up on Antique Roadshow some day.
Guest Top Ten
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
Emily Pohl-Weary's Top Ten (well...eleven, actually)
Em says: "I couldn't come up with art shows, per se. But after very little thought, I did come up with my fav cultural experiences. Here is my list, in no particular order."
- Playing Civilizations 3 (and the add-on, Civ3: Conquests) and all the Nancy Drew mystery games (for ages 11 and up, heh).
- Sifting through a huge stack of Lisa Smolkin's sad but tough emotional superhero paintings one day in her kitchen.
- Reading M@B and touring with him.
- Editing Tamara Faith Berger's new novel (The Way of the Whore--a feminist, modern-day retelling of the biblical tale of Mary of Egypt) for Gutter Press.
- Being part of Kiss Machine's secret room with Paola Poletto.
- Reading my way through the Toronto Public Library's collection of mysteries with intelligent female detectives who aren't cops.
- Working on Paula's Mystery Adventure with Sally M and daydreaming about a million other projects.
- Shopping at Quimby's bookstore and taking my time perusing the zine section.
- Reading graphic novels by Joe Sacco and Phoebe Glockner for the first time.
- Indulging my secret passion for bad Hollywood movies and TV: Charlie's Angels, Daredevil, Kill Bill, Alias, Angel, Charmed (I know! Ugh!) and Dead Like Me.
- Collaborating with Shary Boyle for my anthology, Girls Who Bite Back.
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
More top tens are on their way. Meanwhile...
Guest Top Ten
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
Von Bark's Top Ten Aesthetic Events of 2003 (links by SM)
- Royal Art Lodge & Guy Maddin double-header at Harbourfront: The R.A.L. pretty well defined the "throw tons of small stuff against the wall and let the viewer sort it out" concept, which is a concept I like alot. And I have also noticed several shows this year at Katherine Mulherin's various gallerys which reflect this approach, and I enjoyed all of them, also alot. The R.A.L. reaffirm that despite any imperfect experiences we may have had in the past, the process of collaboration is still an inherently holy one.
As for Guy Maddin, well, the guy is just a f*cking genius. He knows how to build an idea which is tons stranger than anything I could possibly imagine, and then proceed to execute it in an even more astonishingly inconceivable manner. Every time I see one of his movies, I think: "He couldn't possibly top this". Then he does.
- Scott Carruthers 'Oroborous' at KM-Bus: SC is my main man, in my personal opinion the most under-rated artist on my street, although we note that Hive Magazine recently gave him a well-deserved rave review. He fuses together the past, the present, & the future in a brutal short-circuit, and the sparks fly.
- Fabienne Lasserre at Luft: Now this is right up my alley: interpretations of Classic Hellenic Mythology, rendered in vivid wacky bent Miro-esque pop-art styles, using colour schemes which alternate between subtle understatment and jarring glare. Cool.
- Tyler Clarke Burke at Sis Boom Bah: the design mastermind behind the 'Three-Gut' look continues lots of interesting experiments lately. Keep looking.
- Some Owls at Zsa-Zsa: I walked by the window a couple of days ago, and it was full of freakin' Owls! If you know Andrew Harwood, call him up and ask him to look at my web-page: Amazing and Important Owl Facts You Should Know. Then convince him to print it out and staple it to the wall. I probably should ask him myself, but I don't really know him that well and I feel a bit shy. Maybe I will get around to asking him... by the time the show closes. (note: if you look in the window of Tern Art Supplies beside the doorway, you will see a really cool small Teutonic Owl affixed there).
- The Man Without a Past, a fine Finn Film by Aki Karismaki: For some reason which is not known, I did not get out to watch very many movies this year, but this one I did see, and the profound understatement of it haunted me for days afterward. I think one of Aki's main themes here is: Compassion is not expressed in words, but in actions. The characters seem mostly incapable of communicating through language, but that's okay, because they DO care, and that is the important thing. One of Aki's sub-themes suggests that The Salvation Army might be more than just a mundane religious/charity organization, but actually a sort of divine art-cult inspired by American Rockabilly. Now that is a fascinating idea.
- Freeshow Seymour screening at the Gladstone: charming short films and animations which get the balance right: it IS okay be both funny and sad! My favourite is 'Patterns'; & if you see C.Ziedler ask her if the audio was meant to fade out before the end; John Porter told me that he thinks it is intentional.
- Toronto Politics: After decades of stagnation and confusion, the government in the city where I live began flirting with the concept of Democracy. What a novelty.
- The Langley Schools Music Project: the charming and erudite David Wisdom, broadcasting from the West Coast for CBC, is one of the few disc jockeys to have a distinctive effect on my music listening habits. He turned me on to this brilliant stuff. Okay, it was from 1976-1977, but I heard it in 2003. "Angels love enthusiasm far more than perfection".
- 'The Prague Visitor' by Number 11 Theatre: an imaginative summoning of the spirit of Franz Kafka, which perfectly compresses literature, history, theatrics, gymnastics, dance, puppetry, and cooly efficient minimalist special effects into an adorably digestible experience. I love these guys and gals. I do not get out to see live theatre much, but we also enjoyed Neccessary Angel's reading of Euripides' 'Bacchae' (where the beseiged King Penthius tries in vain to hold back the tide of Dionysian rapture sweeping his realm, and perhaps inadvertantly but most sublimely communicates that tragicomic sense of wounded pride and humiliation which 'The Kids in the Hall' were so good at conveying).
Unfortunately, for me the biggest Art-Story this year was a tragedy: A dead pigeon was found in the park, and Lola' Magazine folded. It is not just that hardly a week goes by when I still see something interesting and say to myself: "That would make a good shotgu-...oh.", it is also that I have linked the development of my creative identity along with the evolution of the pigeon, and the loss has shook me personally. But we move on. I also really miss Catherine Osborne's politely crafted replies to my often daft story proposals. Maybe someday, I might post some rough drafts of the ideas which didn't fly, for a good laugh. And if you hold your breath waiting... you might turn blue.
(& speaking of local magazines, what the heck is going on with Exclaim!? Are their editors high or just retarded? First they git rid of their comix section, then they git rid of 'BlaB'. Maybe they think that if they remove all the fun stuff, then people might take them more seriously as a voice of critical culture. I think that people will just think that they are more boring). Von Bark 2003
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.
Joe McKay's top ten
- Matt Freedman's show in Greenpoint where he collaborated with 5 different artists on five different pieces - oddly better than the sum of it's parts (a different show curated by Matt Freedman, Mary Ceruti and Sina Najafi is here)
- Anne McGuire video where she recreated Wegman with men for dogs
- Kristin Lucas at FACT in Liverpool - crazy weird collaboration installation
- Bjørn Melhus' video screening at MOMA's Gramercy theatre - everything's good, check him out
- Cory Arcangel's Guitar solo / powerpoint presentation at Smack Mellon
- Documentation of Miss mouse performances In Toronto and London
- Eddo Stern's video of screwing around in video games, Postmasters Gallery
- James Casebere's photos at Sean Kelly - big and beautiful
- AAAAh I can't think of two more
I've decided to copy art blogger Tyler Green and do my own 2003 top ten art list(s).
Sally McKay's top ten
- Raphael Lozano-Hemmer presenting Relational Architecture at digifest
- Jim Munroe's Trip to Liberty City
- Harun Farocki's lecture Bombs Which Take Pictures, presented by the (CMCE) at OISE/UT, and Images Festival in Toronto (many many thanks to Lana Lin for turning me onto Farocki)
- Joe McKay's Colour Game in the Outpost show at Smack Mellon gallery in Brooklyn
- Anja Harteros' aria, "Porgi amor" in Scene I, Act II of Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera on October 10th.
- Kelly Mark's Hiccup
- dr. doo peforming live drums with video at North Six in Williamsburg
- Sergio Prego's video in the show The Real Royal Trip at PS1 in Queens
- The guy smoking through his pumpkin head, and the black guy with the white death head make-up, and the funky-chunky roller skater at New York City's Halloween Critical Mass (with many thanks to Times Up! for making it so fun).
- Andrew J. Paterson's performance night by Pleasuredome in Toronto.
image from Sergio Prego's intense video at PS1. Stolen from here.
Do you have your own 2003 top ten art list to post? email it to me at smblog@sympatico.ca and I'll post it here. Or click on the comment link below and post it yourself.