Heated spaces

Mythic beasts, dogs in Venice, giant
fortune cookies and perennial stalwarts
ignite the season

OKAY ARCHIE, NOW WE GET IT:
From Dave Arnold’s Teenage Nudes

by STACEY DEWOLFE

It’s that time of year again: lilacs are in bloom, and the city—or at least my little corner of Hochelaga—has come alive with amorous cats, folks in too-short shorts, and the yearly warming up of the old tam-tam. And though April is said to be the cruellest month, May was by many accounts a little tough on those left cold by the less-than-stellar Biennale (although it must be said that the team behind the OFF BNL MTL went a long way to right that wrong). But fear not, art-lovers, for there is much to come on the not-too-distant horizon.

Though summer waits until June 21 to make things official, the season gets rolling on June 18 with Bestiaries at Push Gallery (5264 St-Laurent). Montreal-based Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo’s mixed-media drawings plunge the viewer into the world of myth, drawing on a hybridization of man and beast to explore the often-violent history of resistance in his native El Salvador.

The Darling Foundry’s (745 Ottawa) summer program also begins on June 18 with two shows: Jana Sterbak’s video installation, Waiting for High Water, allows viewers to rediscover the streets and canals of Venice, Italy from the perspective of an inquisitive Russell Terrier named Stanley. The film, which was shot using cameras affixed to the dog’s head, is a companion piece to Sterbak’s From Here to There, which was filmed along the St. Lawrence, and had its premiere at the Venice Biennial in 2003.

Vancouver-based artists Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky take over the secondary gallery at the Foundry with Sun in the Empty Room. Comprised of a series of papier-mâché sculptures that the duo will alter throughout the summer, the show comments on both the illusory nature of these objects, and the process of their creation.

FORTUNE BOUND

Articule (262 Fairmount W.) gets up to their old tricks on June 27, with their annual fundraising extravaganza and stuff sale, Rotation, Rotation! Featuring presentations, interventions and performances by local artists, the event will also see the launch of Jean-François Lacombe’s “Kortunefookie,” a giant cookie, which proffers fortunes at the press of a button. Go to kortunefookie.com to add your own little bit of magic.

When your Canada Day hangover recedes, head over to Battat Contemporary (7245 Alexandra, #100) on July 2 to check out In the Trees, a showcase of some of the drawings and photographs in owner Joe Battat’s private collection, featuring work by Manoug Alemian, Ed Pien and Alfred Pellan. From there, you can make your way to Division Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #311) for Material World, which plays host to new work by Juliana Pivato, Richard-Marx Tremblay and Carmen Ruschiensky.

July also sees the return of two summer stalwarts: Parisian Laundry’s Summertime in Paris, July 30–Sept. 5 (3550 St-Antoine W.) and Art Mûr’s (5826 St-Hubert) annual exhibition of Eastern Canada’s top student artists, Fresh Paint: New Construction. This year’s show, which opens on July 11, expands its reach to feature sculpture as well as painting. Art Mûr also has a concurrent show titled The Resale, which functions as a sort of swap meet, allowing collectors to fill their walls with new acquisitions. 

CANDID CAMERAS

Down in St-Henri, Emporium Gallery (3035 St-Antoine W.), which closes its doors in the winter, is one of the few spaces to have new exhibitions opening throughout the summer months. You can check out their Web site (theemporiumgallery.com) for information on June and July vernissages, but August brings three shows to the gallery: the candid photographs of Patrick Tsai and Coley Brown in Growing Up on July 30. Continuing at Emporium, Dave Arnold’s pop-art infused re-imaginings of ubiquitous childhood iconography in Teenage Nudes (Aug. 13), and I am sorry. Sincerely, Frankenstein on Aug. 27. The latter, which comprises works by Montreal photographer Gordie Ball, explores the theme of self-destruction from both fantastical and a journalistic perspectives.

And as summer draws to a close, you have one more week to see what’s been going on at the MAC (185 Ste-Catherine W.), whose shows opened in May, but don’t close until Sept. 7. Though there are four major exhibitions on view, I’m most excited about the Robert Polidori, whose haunting photographs seem the perfect viewing as we say goodbye to the easy days of summer and move into the seriousness of fall.