Walk on the wildstyle

GRAFF FOR THE MASSES: Detail from a Jersey Joe painting

Though no stranger to hosting urban art shows, Boutique Sub-V (5666 Sherbrooke W.) is stepping it up a notch and collaborating with 00G Gallery. The virtual space (“double-o-gee” in phoneticspeak) is run by Louis-Nicolas Coupal, who says he’s spent the past 10 years involved in the graffiti network fine tuning his feel for the kinds of shows the people want to see. “Montreal is not yet familiar with so much credible art that has come from the urban world,” he says. “There are a lot of urban graffiti writers who grow older and have the skills to be professional, to work within the fine arts scene, who don’t get recognized.”

Coupal pitched a 10-show idea to Sub-V, and they immediately agreed. This week, the series kicks off with a vernissage of works by Jersey Joe, aka “Rime.” The L.A.-based painter developed his bright, cartoonish wildstyle-letter look in New York and New Jersey, before moving to L.A., where he works on murals and gallery exhibitions like a good graffiti grown-up. Check out his vernissage this Friday, March 2, at 5 p.m.

by MATTHEW WOODLEY

Best in small press

MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT: Les Abdigradationnistes

The shortlist is out, the jury’s finished sweating over the final decisions, and Montreal’s zine scene awaits with bated breath the second annual Expozine Alternative Press Awards. “The judges were looking for what fits the spirit of Expozine best,” says co-organizer Andy Brown. “It’s not necessarily the best produced or highest print run that counts, but what’s inside. More quirky, smart personality objects are just as valid.”

The prizes are for the best small press books, zines and comics (both in French and in English) from last November’s zine fair. “The awards were created because the types of publications at Expozine are totally off the radar, so it is a great way of showcasing them,” Brown adds. The event features all the shortlisted publications on sale, and MC Jean Giscagne will smoothly segue between impassioned acceptance speeches. With special guests les Abdigradationnistes. Wednesday, March 7, 9 p.m., at MainLine Theatre (3997 St-Laurent), free.

by Vincent Tinguely

Still jiggy

BOOTCAMP: Contemporary jig practitioners

Since being crowned Mirror Noisemaker in 2003, Lük Fleury has continued his exploration of the traditional jig and contemporary dance. To share his art, Fleury launched the Biennale de Gigue contemporaine, now in its second edition, that features the growing number of choreographers who use the traditional dance form as a base and then put their own spin on it.

“Pushing the limits of the jig is a passion for me,” says Fleury. “And we want to break the stereotypes that exist with it.”

The program features short pieces by jig enthusiasts Philippe Meunier, Pamela Poulin, Mélissandre Tremblay- Bourassa, Ya ë l l e Azoulay and Fleury, who plays with equilibrium in the body in his longer 40-minute group work. Through Équilibristes II, Fleury explores the delicate balance between tradition and modernity and sets his choreography to techno music by composer Maxim Lepage.

If you’re interested in learning more about the contemporary jig scene, which has been evolving since 1999, take in the roundtable discussion this Sunday, March 4, at 1 p.m. The jig-fest runs until March 4 at Tangente (840 Cherrier), (514) 525-1500.

by MARITES CARINO

All shook up

As I speak to the woman sitting at the desk in the entrance of UQÀM’s gallery (1400 Berri), a clearly agitated man approaches. He demands to know where the exhibition Basculer is located. As she points right next to her at the construction area, partially sealed off with plastic, he expresses righteous surprise that they haven’t even bothered to indicate the way to the exhibition with a sign. It clearly never crosses his mind that the construction site is actually a work by BGL and part of the show.

USE HER ILLUSION: Philomène Longpré’s “Illusio”

Inside the main gallery space, curators J u l i e Bélisle, Mélanie Boucher and Audrey Genois expose works by Sébastien Cliche, Claudie Gagnon, Philomène Longpré and Yann Pocreau. Longpré’s installation Illusio is so convincing that it is hard to believe the movement of the hanging screen is an illusion created by the projected video.

Tip to viewers: Go see this exhibition when you are hungry; the delicious snacks laid out by artist Claudie Gagnon in her installation Buffet will be available for your enjoyment throughout the exhibition’s run. Basculer continues until March 31, info: (514) 987-8421.

by CHRISTINE REDFERN

Is it art?

ANONYMOUS ANGST: “I hated school. I hated work. I hated boredom. I had no interests. I had a happy childhood. There was school, adolescence, growing up, questions about the future. I was twenty-one. I had no dream.”

Thus begins Manifesto, a book about, punks, delinquents, drug culture, dreaming, not liking anything, absurdity, delirium, dropping out, farming, travelling, maladjustment, disgust... and the list goes on. Perhaps most interestingly, though, the book is written anonymously and published by the mysterious dedrabbit International Artist Collective, its words sandwiched between blank covers without much more than a Web site printed on the last page as clue to its genesis. At www.dedrabbit.com, you’ll find a list of stores where you can buy the book, and a press release citing its influences, which range from books to bands to political figures to Jesus, Mozart, Batman and drugs. Happy reading.

Arts hole

LESS LONELY: Articule (262 Fairmount W.) is back on its feet after a recent break-in forced them to temporarily close their current exhibition. Oslo-based artist Katja Høst’s video installation The Lonely Crowd plays on people’s ability to shift identities and personalities in the urban public eye. It continues until March 11. • CONTINENTAL LINK: Five multidisciplinary artists team up for one solid Chilean punch in Digital Chile _07. Part of Festivalíssimo, the project highlights the thematic parallels between Chilean and Canadian art at the Joyce Yahouda Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #516).

Artistat

Number of mounted specimens borrowed from European natural history museum collections in Fatal Attraction, the Biodôme’s new interactive exhibition on animals’ macking techniques: 100+

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