Ladies in landscapes
SITTING PRETTY WITH KITTY:
“Blonde With Kitten and Landscape” by Werner
Janet Werner’s exhibition Too Much Happiness fills the Parisian Laundry (3550 St-Antoine W.) with painting after painting of women.
From eight large canvases and a handful of smaller pieces they stare out at you, some with big eyes, others with fashionable squints. Sometimes there is a bow tied in their hair, or they are cuddling a kitten. Bright purple, pink, green and blue paint is applied thickly with each brushstroke.
In this exhibition, for the first time, Werner has placed her well-known fictional portraits into different landscapes. The moon shines overhead or a horse gallops across a field in the background. These paintings are colourful, sweet and over the top—like candyfloss.
Downstairs in the bunker, there are two very different portraits of women facing each other. A multimedia minimalist face titled “Monique Smiling” by London-based Julie Opie blinks and raises its eyebrows.
Toronto-based Kim Dorland’s painting “Her” hangs at the far end of the room with the largest amount of oil paint I have ever seen applied to a canvas.
The exhibitions continue until April 19, info: www.parisianlaundry.com or (514) 989-1056.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
D-construction
GHOST OF GOVERNMENT HOUSING: “Regent Park”In the exhibition BUILT at Dazibao (4001 Berri, #202), the viewer encounters a selection of pieces by Toronto artist Robin Collyer.
Spanning over 30 years, the photographs and sculptures highlight Collyer’s ongoing preoccupation with things that are not exactly as they seem. The “Transformer Houses” series is the one that I found the most surprising.
In it, there is a photograph of a house that I walked by daily for years on Toronto’s Spadina Ave. Turns out this regular-looking dwelling, along with all the other houses featured, is owned by Ontario Hydro and conceals electrical installations.
In another series, Collyer has removed all the text on signs, packaging and buildings in various urban landscapes. Oddly, once the words are erased, it makes you realize the impact text has on our surroundings. The photos appear almost naked without it.
The sculpture “Most Violent Places in the World” is 26 sheets of Styrofoam stacked to represent the floors of a typical apartment building in the world’s most dangerous cities. Like the concept; not a big fan of the material.
Until April 12, info: (514) 845-0063.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Dance Roads turns 17
This year marks the 17th anniversary of Tangente’s Dance Roads. The event was originally created as a dance exchange, but has since evolved into a “tour to present emerging artists from different countries,” explains Stéphane Labbé, Tangente’s associate artistic director, and production manager.
Since February, a group of select artists from four different cities have  performed in Italy, Luxembourg and Wales with a program of short works. This weekend, they make their final stop in Montreal.
Welsh choreographer Deborah Light is one of the participants in the 2008 line-up and performs this weekend, March 15–16 in her solo Angelica, that is, according to Labbé, “dark and mysterious.”
There are two different programs with international works by Anne-Mareike Hess and Eleonora Ariolfo, and local content from choreographers Marie-Julie Asselin and Hinda Essadiqi.
After the Friday and Saturday shows (March 14 and 15), artists speak about their choreographies with the public at Tangente (840 Cherrier), (514) 525-1500.
by MARITES CARINO
Spoken matter
It’s a weekend of word magic. Robin Blaser, a visionary West Coast poet with five decades of scribbling under his belt, and veteran of the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance, speaks on his poetics tonight, Thursday, March 13 at Concordia, room 110 of the Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve W.) at 7:30 p.m.
 Blaser takes up the mic again tomorrow, Friday, March 14 at 7 p.m. to perform at the Atwater Poetry Project (1200 Atwater). Both events are free.
The Capital Slam Collective is coming from Ottawa this weekend, performing tomorrow, Friday, March 14 alongside Montreal’s feisty Throw Slam Collective for the Art Matters Festival, starting at 8 p.m. at the Hive (7141 Sherbrooke W.).
“Slams are fairly easy to start, and it’s easier to get an audience for a slam than for a poetry show,” says Capital Collective member Danielle K.L. Grégoire. “Slams are packed every month.”
Grégoire is also the featured artist at this month’s Throw Slam happening this Saturday, March 15 at le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent), sign-up 7:30 p.m., $7.
by VINCENT TINGUELY
Is it art?
SKIN GRAFT: Remember Chia Pets? Those animal-shaped terracotta planters, which after being smeared with seed-laced dirt, sprouted grass? Well, Stuart Karten Design has taken the idea of the Chia pet and added a 21st century twist.
The Epidermits Interactive Pet, as it’s affectionately called, is a “fully functioning  organism, resulting from advanced tissue engineering” (i.e. discarded human skin) and although it can’t think or feel pain, it can “follow a complex set of algorithms.” And like its predecessor, you can customize your pet by shaping its hair, tanning the skin, or adding tattoos and piercing.
Of course, the Epidermits isn’t available in stores—and it’s not actually made of human skin. It is, however, a tongue in cheek creation from the company’s Cautionary Visions line, which features “visionary” products that blur the line between innovation and creepiness. (Other products include Assisted Living Contact Lenses and the Full-baby Pacifier, goggles that will entertain and educate your baby for hours.)
Samples of the pet have been made, and displayed as part of an exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind at the MOMA. Check out the prototype for yourself at www.kartendesign.com.
Arts
hole
PLANETARY: Artist Raymond Lavoie’s exhibition As Seen from Mars kicks off tonight, Thursday, March 13 at 5 p.m. at Galerie Graff (963 Rachel E.) • ECLECTIC COLLECTIVE: Montreal arts collective YPF celebrate the launch of their latest limited edition publication at General 54 (54 St-Viateur W.) tonight, Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m. The book, which features silk screen prints, hand drawings, wood cuts and photographs will be on view alongside their latest group installation, “Electric Hurricane.”
Artistat
The number of years Circo d’Hiverno, happening Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine W.) and features
performances by an aerialist, a clown, a jazz vocalist and comedy, magic and stunts from founder Aytahn Ross, has been delighting crowds: 5 |
