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Shapes and she-wolves NOT A BAND: Wolves by Theresa Sapergia
Two hot artists are opening tonight, March 29, from 6–9 p.m., at the Parisian Laundry (3550 St-Antoine W). On the main floor, you can check out Vancouver-based Elizabeth McIntosh. She’s touted in the press release as “one of Canada’s most original new painters,” but I’m not so sure about the “new” moniker. I have been following her painting career for more than 10 years now, and remember a national newspaper article printed about seven years ago calling her an “artist to watch.” McIntosh’s abstract paintings in the past consisted of tightly organized and optically exciting circles and stripes. Her latest pieces are looser, large and more geometrically inspired. Whatever words are used to describe her, her works are worth a trip to experience. Downstairs in the Bunker, recent drawings by Montreal’s own Theresa Sapergia create a sexually charged space. Agitated she-wolves, stags and large drawings of the artist herself as part woman/ part animal, expose a bestial mix that is sure to get your primal reflexes humming. The exhibition runs until April 28. by CHRISTINE REDFERN |
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Un bon MECC CULTURE CLUB: A night at the Main Hall Though no stranger to sweaty, slurry feats of celebration as it is, the Mile End Cultural Centre is turning three, and this weekend they’re celebrating. Since the Green Room and Main Hall opened under the MECC umbrella in 2004, they’ve collectively played host to 750 events, involving gazillions of artists from musicians, visual artists, actors, comedians and dancers to vernissage-goers and Casio operators with cereal boxes on their heads—a grab bag from big names to people who live around the corner. Thursday, March 29, at 6 p.m., the festivities begin at the Green Room with a retrospective vernissage of works by artists featured in the past, photos of shows, flyers and other memorabilia. Friday has a show upstairs with Frigid, Automelodi and Sean Kosa. Saturday’s got the Royal Mountain Band, the Diableros, Kill the Lights and Famous Lovers, and Sunday caps it all off with the Stills and Chinatown. After that, the celebrations continue at their wavering watering-hole-dance-bar-rock-show pace, of course, though changes may come. “We’re looking at turning the space into a more ’round-the-clock facility,” explains MECC main man Dan Webster. “We’ve been talking about a gallery and joining the entire space together. That could be the next phase.” Women of the world
British choreographer Rosemary Butcher says she grew up with a “normal route of dance training” but everything changed when she moved to New York City in the ’60s. There she discovered the groundbreaking work of the Judson Church artists, which led her to look at choreography in a different way. “The idea was contained within the body rather than in dance steps,” she explains. “I became less interested in technique.” At 60, the British pioneer choreographer has spent half of her life creating works that melt boundaries between art and life. Known for her conceptual choreographies that incorporate dance and the visual arts, Woman and Memory is a group of pieces that were united because, Butcher says, “they seemed to have a constant theme of travel, memory, past and present.” The program includes two solos, one of which uses photos of Afghan women during Taliban rule, a film shot in Andalusia and a choreography that combines live dance and film. The Rosemary Butcher Company makes a move at the Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts, 8 p.m. nightly until March 30, $16–$26. by Marites Carino Last words
The death of Rob Allen last November came as a blow to the Canadian literary community and especially to Concordia’s English department, where he taught creative writing for many years. They’re getting together tomorrow, March 30, for the Robert Allen Memorial Tribute event at Concordia, where friends, family and fellow scribes will read favourite passages drawn from Allen’s short story collection, two novels and six collections of poetry. “I was surprised by the variety,” says event co-organizer Jason Camlot. “A broad range of Rob’s work will be represented, purely from the choices that people have made. A lot of people chose the sonnets because, in retrospect, they seem to be about mortality.” Among those reading are Vivienne Allen, Stephanie Bolster, Simon Dardick, Mary Di Michele, Jon Paul Fiorentino, Michael Harris, Judith Herz, Steve Luxton and David McGimpsey. It starts at 5 p.m., in room EV2.260 of the university’s Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Complex (1515 Ste-Catherine W.). by Vincent Tinguely
Is it art?
LIFE AT THE KNITTING FACTORY: Hazel Meyer worked as a fabric designer at a Montreal circular-knit mill for four years. In the biz, “knitdown s.v.p.” is jargon for “I need a sample of a few metres, please,” a phrase Meyer jotted on notes hundreds of times and passed on to knitters in the adjoining mill. Ann Smith was a co-worker of Meyer’s, and one with the foresight to stealthily put away 197 of the notes passed on to her over the years. When Meyer quit her job, Smith presented her with the collection: notes, drawings and doodles that threw a little twist into the mechanical nature of the textile industry. Now bound into a 210-page book (thus officially art) Knitdown s.v.p. will be launched at Chez la Cornetteria (6528 St-Laurent), this Sunday, April 1, 1–4 p.m. Handmade objects inspired by the drawings will also be on sale.
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