St-Henri ho!

Back in 1995, local artists Karilee Fuglem, Annie Martin, Carmen Ruschiensky and Andrea Szilasi rented a Plateau Mont-Royal apartment and presented in-situ installations for their exhibition Résider. Now the same artists are back with Résider II, this time occupying an apartment in St-Henri that dates back to 1889 (4351 St-Ambroise). Their work can also be seen at Galerie B-312 (372 Ste-Catherine W, #403) and in la Centrale’s storefront window (4296 St-Laurent).

Résider II shows a continuation of the artistic investigations that we have come to expect from these Montrealers. Fuglem’s installation investigates the invisible, Martin brings the street sounds of St-Henri inside, Ruschiensky’s found object piece is a riot of colour and Szilasi manipulates photos and celebrity images in her collage works. This Sunday at 3 p.m., Fuglem will be highlighting things that are no longer visible on her personal tour of historical St-Henri, while Martin leads a “listening walk” to draw attention to the wealth of aural material that surrounds us. Résider II runs until June 25, Thursday to Sunday, 1– 5 p.m., info: 874-9423. —Christine Redfern

Gay and graphic

“What’s so great about graphic novels is the images draw you in before you even know what the story is about,” says author/illustrator Abby Denson. In Denson’s first full-length graphic novel for young adults, Tough Love: High School Confidential (Manic D Press), the story is about gay-bashing, teen romance, suicide and coming out—quite the departure from her earlier work scripting comics for The Powerpuff Girls, The Simpsons and Disney Adventures.

Inspired by Japanese manga comics about romance between men, Denson originally created Tough Love as a serial for XY, a gay teen magazine. “I had an overwhelming response from XY readers—hundreds of e-mails and letters, some from kids who were suicidal and needed help,” Denson recalls. “At first the project was purely creative, but it became an activist project, especially now with all the repression going on in the U.S. due to our conservative government.”

Denson will be signing copies of her book this Saturday, June 17, 3 p.m., at Librairie Millenium (451 Marie-Anne E.), visit www.abbycomix.com for a taste. —Andrea Zanin

Travellin’ satire

The Perpetual Motion Roadshow continues to drop scribes and spoken word artists on our doorstep with alarming regularity; the latest crop of out-of-towners includes Toronto’s Jeff Cottrill, self-described Puppet-Packing Satirist. “I love bringing it directly to the public, because there’s no better buzz than the immediate, raw response of a live audience that gets what you’re saying,” he says. “For the past six years I’ve focused on writing for performance or live reading. Chapbooks and CDs come later—when I feel I’ve put together enough good material.”

Cottrill brings the buzz with Miami “ephemera artist” Daniel Trese and Ottawa lit grrrl Jennifer Whiteford. June 21, 8 p.m. at Toc Toc (6091 Parc). —Vincent Tinguely

Waves of wood

The history of woodcarving goes back generations in the town of St-Jean-Port-Jolie. Self-taught artist Pierre Bourgault hails from one of the local families of the area that are renowned for their sculptures. His imagery veers from the traditional subject matter of fishermen and habitants, but is nevertheless connected to history and his living and working on the banks of the Fleuve St-Laurent. An avid sailor and lover of the sea, his latest pieces are named using numbers of longitude and latitude.

I’m not sure exactly where a new piece titled “064 28 40 – 064 23 40” would fall on a map, but I do know that starting tomorrow at 3 p.m., this marvellous curved work made entirely from wood can be seen filling Galerie Thérèse Dion (372 Ste-Catherine W, #527). The exhibition runs until July 22, info 398-9204. —Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR THE REST OF US: Finally, you don’t have to know how to read to enjoy a good juicy tabloid: In the new U.S.-based magazine Shock, modelled after the highly successful French magazine CHOC, and similar to the British magazine Bizarre, the photos say it all. Bush gets whacked by cricket ball, Kate Moss sucks back coke, cat humps dog, tree branch looks like penis, woman sets self on fire, decomposing body documented over 12 days, Chinese soldiers have heterosexuality certified through sphincter exams, child picks nose at Ku Klux Klan rally, panda lifts weights!

“Shock is filling a void for today’s consumer whose visual appetite has grown but has not been effectively served by other media properties,” says editor-in-chief Mike Hammer. On newsstands now.

ArtsHole

LOOK, MA: Youth community organization Head & Hands (5833 Sherbrooke W.) hosts their Young Parents’ Program vernissage, Raising Mom today, June 15, at 8 p.m. The show is a culmination of a community art project funded by Engrenage Noir, an organization promoting artistic expression in populations who wouldn’t normally be involved in the arts. Participating artists express their feelings about motherhood through painting, drawing, sculpting and writing. • MICRO TO THE MACRO: Fascinated with the world of genetic modification and cloning, Rino Côté has created 2.45-metre silicon pieces of skin and he’d like you to come down to the Maison de la culture Frontenac (2550 Ontario E.) to walk on them with your bare feet. Vernissage June 20, 5 p.m., show’s on until Aug. 26.

ARTISTAT: Amount that the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation recently donated to 255 arts organizations across Canada, including 84 in the province of Quebec: $2.15-million

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