Whiting out history
FOUND: Josh Latour’s “Profile of Woman in
Black Coat With Skiers in the Background”
Old photographs, objects and texts are the base material for John Latour’s exhibition Chimérique at Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain (372 Ste-Catherine W., #216).
Found photos from the 1930s to the early ’50s are combined on the walls with pages ripped from two classic novels, Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. But don’t expect this art to give you a clearer image of the past, for through Latour’s selective application of white paint, the figures and words have almost completely disappeared from our view.
The figures’ identities have been eliminated by the application of small white dots and most of the words on the pages have been painted over. Those that remain create sentences such as, “I abstained from youth” and “Thus the stars announced my destruction.”
The sculptures are created from vintage objects, which include an old baby carriage and an umbrella. These Latour has suspended from the roof, thereby removing their functionality. Latour says these three series together “allude to the past, a loss of history.” While the accompanying text states quite beautifully, “Chimérique evokes a fragile past populated by elusive subjects.”
Until Dec. 22, info: (514) 395-6032.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Dancing with Norman
A year ago, Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, co-directors of multidisciplinary company 4Dart, approached dancer Peter Trosztmer to join forces with them in an NFB project that would pay tribute to Norman McLaren, the Canadian animation great who had a predilection for dance.
 Before jumping in, Trosztmer’s only exposure to McLaren’s films was in his youth, when he saw Maclaren’s works tagged onto the end of television shows.
Trosztmer plays a character exploring the world and the works of McLaren in Norman, a 90-minute bilingual performance. Although Trosztmer says he’s performing a straight dance piece, what the audience experiences is completely different. Viewed from the front, he appears to dance and talk with three-dimensional projections, thanks to technology developed by Lemieux and Pilon.
Along with Thea Patterson, Trosztmer choreographed the work by screening hours of McLaren’s shorts to create movement and mood. “We worked really hard to not be literal,” says Trosztmer. “We wanted to show our own stories, but we wanted to add to it and not emulate it.”
Take a peek into McLaren’s world at the Cinquième Salle (Place des Arts) Dec. 6–8 and Dec. 12–15, 8 p.m., $15–$25, (514) 842-2112.
by MARITES CARINO
365 days in the life
Many people may be curious to live a day in the life of a celebrated artist, but with Julie Doucet, you get 365 of them.
The former cartoonist originally chronicled her life between 2002–’03 in Journal, which was published in French in 2004. The English version, 365 Days: A Diary is the product of an intense four-month translation project (which Doucet did herself) and the re-lettering of the journal (which she did not). The result of this laborious undertaking is a relentlessly honest and visually stunning tome that Doucet calls “100 per cent autobiographical.”
Doucet stepped out of the comic world years ago, and 365 Days is not her comeback. The illustrated diary was meant to be an improvised narrative free of the confines of a stiff comic-making process.
“I didn’t feel like I was drawing comics,” she says. “I tried recently to do another journal. [The first 50 pages were good]…But it wasn’t new. I wasn’t passionate about it,” Doucet says. Instead, she’ll focus her energy on writing a fictional book—with pictures.
365 Days launches this Friday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore (211 Bernard W.) alongside a vernissage for Doucet’s prints, which were created while she was working on the diary itself.
by TRACEY LINDEMAN
All dolled up
One doll is picking its nose, another is wearing a Mexican wrestling mask, one looks like a fish, another is skeletal and the smallest looks like a wee golden Buddha—welcome to Gigognes: exposition de poupées peintes. Gigognes is the French word for those Russian stacking dolls that fit one inside the other, aka matryoshka.
 The brains behind this exhibition is local artist Gigi Perron. She bought 15 sets, each consisting of five dolls and handed them out to locals better know for their comics, band posters and art, including Simon Bossé, Caro Caron, Gamache, Hélène Brosseau, Stupid Bird, Marc Leduc, Richard Suicide, Obom and Perron herself.
The seventy-five little people are now lined up awaiting your inspection over a frosty glass of ale at the Cheval Blanc (809 Ontario E). Just don’t expect any traditional Russian-style ones.
Obom’s are in their underwear, Brosseau’s look like scary aliens and Caron’s show five views of the tooth fairy like you’ve never seen her before. Until Dec. 22, info: (514) 522-0211.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Is it art?
BYE BYE HANGOVER: ’Tis the season for holiday parties and although there’s not a pill to stop you from drinking too much—and likely making an ass of yourself—there is a pill that claims it will take the edge off the next day. 
The inventively named Hangover Buster, which recently hit shelves stateside and can be ordered online (www.hangoverbuster.com), is supposedly “specially formulated to prevent hangover symptoms such as nausea, headache, excessive thirst, fatigue, muscle ache and sensitivity to light and noise.”
With everything from a single to super pack (12 boxes for only $50!) available and New Year’s Eve around the corner, it’d be prudent to take the press release’s advice and “don’t party without it.” Bearing in mind that it has not been evaluated by the FDA and, if taken before drinking, “may cause diarrhea.”
Arts
hole
RECLAIM THE STREET: It may have taken 14 months but the construction and disruption on St-Laurent is finally over. Join the celebration on the Main all weekend long, starting Saturday, Dec. 8 at 1 p.m. when local celebrities and artists will be decorating 47 Christmas trees as a fundraiser for Le Coffre aux Trésors du Chaînon. After a day of shopping (stores are open till 11 p.m.) stop in at one of the strip’s many bars or clubs with a toy in hand for the dance event Santa Claus Is a DJ. Donated toys will go to disadvantaged children. For all the action, see www.boulevardsaintlaurent.com. • WORTHY DOCS: Doc Illumination, a monthly documentary series by Insight Events, takes place this Friday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Nexus Centre for the diffusion of Arts & Culture (218 St-Paul W.) with a screening of Exposure, $15 in advance, $25 at the door. All proceeds go to Prevent Cancer Now, www.insightfulevents.ca for info.
Artistat
Amount invested in the revamped Montreal Science Centre (on King Edward Pier in the Old Port), which boasts six new permanent exhibitions and four new interactive exhibition spaces: $6.3-million |
