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Tourist trip NO MIRAGES: Auer’s “Las Vegas, Nevada”
Vibrantly colourful and visually compelling, a series of photographs by Montrealer Jessica Auer, titled re-creational spaces, is now on view at Galerie Thérèse Dion (372 Ste-Catherine W, #527). With prize funds from the $10,000 Roloff Beny Foundation Fellowship in Photography from Concordia University, Auer was able to travel to various places throughout the Americas and look at the relationship between leisure, humans and nature. These images of landscapes and architecture expose locations that have been preserved, restored or altered for tourism, with images of Niagara Falls, Yellowstone and Jasper National Parks, Peru’s Machu Picchu, Argentina’s Iguazu Falls and Las Vegas. While the pieces appear fantastical, they aren’t created by combining multiple images on the computer, as one could assume. Auer has managed to capture the reality of these visually unique sites in a single frame. Currently finishing her Master’s degree at Concordia University, you can walk down the hallway and see the work of Auer’s professor, Geneviève Cadieux, until March 31 at Galerie René Blouin (#501). Re-creational spaces runs until April 14, info: (514) 398-9204. by CHRISTINE REDFERN |
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Out of the mouse trap DIFFERENT STROKES: An Eville painting Though well-equipped to deliver digitally, with his computer- rendered Lynch-meets-X-Files-in-toyland body of work, Montreal artist Eville has taken a step backward to the old way of doing things of late. Five years ago, he set out on the computer animation career path, only to become disillusioned with the corporate side of things. Therapy came in the shape of a paintbrush, and the rest is, well, on the walls of the KopShop (111 Roy E.) by way of six large-format works, all made lovingly by hand. Anorgasmia is Eville’s first solo show, on display until March 31. Watch the hands
Local artist Manon De Pauw hopes you’re ready to experiment when you visit her exhibition L’atelier d’écriture (Writing Workshop), now on at Optica (372 Ste-Catherine W., #508). The first thing you’ll notice upon entering the gallery are several videos of groups of people drawing, moving text, placing sticky notes and generally busy manipulating various materials. These videos, shot from above by De Pauw during a residency at the Banff Institute last summer, hide the participants’ faces and focus our attention on what their hands are doing. The accompanying soundtrack was made by wiring the tables and amplifies the naturally occurring sounds. However, this isn’t just a passive viewing experience; the artist has prepared a table for you to sit at and start your own gestural exploration of visuals and sounds. Alternatively, you could come just to watch the pros. De Pauw and friends will be doing a live performance at the gallery this Saturday, March 24, at 3 p.m. in the Multi-disciplinary Room. There you’ll also find Toronto artist Yam Lau’s computer-generated bedroom spinning around in a threeminute loop. Both exhibitions run until April 21. by CHRISTINE REDFERN Bringing back Bluebeard
After meeting through a collaboration four years ago, multidisciplinary artist Alain Francoeur and choreographer Dominique Porte knew they wanted to continue working together. The vehicle of choice is Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, the tragic tale involving sinister Bluebeard and his wife Judith, who discovers the man’s exwives behind a locked door. Their duet Un Homme et une femme opens this week at Agora de la Danse (840 Cherrier). “It’s more about the inner space of the characters than it is about the story,” says Francoeur. “We have a poetic way of applying the story, which gives it a complexity.”
The co-creators infuse their choreography with the themes
of doubt and passion from the folk tale. “The music goes
through us,” says Francoeur describing their creative process.
“It gives us a state of being. This is how the movement came
about.” The show runs nightly until March 24, 8 p.m., (514)
525-1500.
Is it art?
While there’s no sign of this new advertising hitting Montreal anytime soon, it’s questionable how effective the inevitable chocolate-chip-cookie-Players- Light-melting-dog-shit smell would be anyway.
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COOKIES ’N’ CLUTTER:Advertisers
will do anything to get to your senses.
This now includes making bus shelters
smell like chocolate chip cookies.
The California Milk Processor Board recently
teamed up
with an ad
agency to
infuse six
San Francisco
stops with
an odour-diffusing
adhesive called MagniScent,
giving the fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie
feeling right next to one of the famous
“Got Milk?” slogans. It’s probably a
good idea that they didn’t go for a delicious
warm milk smell. |
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