Cultural
crossroads
MODERN INUIT LIFE: Pootoogook’s Family Playing CardsIt’s not hard to guess that Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook began drawing well into adulthood and with no formal training—much like their grandmother, deceased Cape Dorset art doyenne Pitseolak Ashoona. However naïve their style, these cousins don’t make the kind of “typical” Inuit art you might see hawked to tourists in the Old Port.
Ashoona and Pootoogook’s depictions of modern Nunavut life resonate with the inescapable influence of the “South” and the complexity of an identity steeped in cultural compromise, perhaps best illustrated by Pootoogook’s “Composition (Man Crying over the Bible),” in which Inuktitut apparitions appear over an English copy of the good book and an electrical outlet, conflating North and South, sacred and vulgar.
“I wish I was born in the past,” says Pootoogook in Marcia Connolly’s documentary Ghost Noise: A Short Film with Shuvinai Ashoona and Annie Pootoogook, on view alongside the artists’ works on paper at Pierre-François Ouellette (372 Ste-Catherine W., #216) through Aug. 29. “I would know Inuit traditional ways I only know from my mom’s and grandma’s drawings,” she laments.
Certainly the tupik dwellings Grandma Ashoona drew never had the words “Housing Association” stamped across them.
by DAVID LEVITZ
Demon dogs and history
COLOURFUL PAST: “Quetal Coatl’s Children” (detail)
Push Gallery (5264 St-Laurent) keeps things going this summer with a solo exhibition of new work by El Salvador-born Montreal artist Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo. Bestiaries plays with the rich imagery of Castillo’s native land in its investigation of that country’s complicated and violent history. Though I had seen several of the images in the gallery’s press release, and thought them quite spectacular, it was another thing to see them in person.
Castillo’s work is best described as mixed-media drawing. He begins with a mylar surface, its semi-transparency allowing the images to feel as though they are hovering on the wall. Set free from their backgrounds, they’re also freed from their specific histories, able to tell a story of oppression and violence that continues to be prophetic.
From the preponderance of severed heads and demon dogs whose fangs drip with the blood of their victims, to the prevalence of religious iconography with its complex narratives of sacrifice and salvation, the images read like puzzles dense with meaning. It would take days, perhaps even weeks, of focused study to fully comprehend these works, but their power and beauty is apparent on a single visit.
by STACEY DEWOLFE
It takes two
“Tango is an activity that celebrates life and we wanted to share this with people,” says tango lover Sylvi Belleau, co-director of the Montreal International Tango Festival.
 The annual 10-day event was born seven years ago, and over the years, Belleau has seen the festival and the public’s interest in the sultry partner dance grow. She suspects it’s because “the tango gives people an opportunity to meet people. It’s a space where you share intimacy with people. It’s respectful.”
Until July 19, the public can take part in classes, workshops, free outdoor performances and milonga dance soirées with live music, Argentinean-style. This Saturday, July 18, catch the headline show Generation Tango, which shines the spotlight on emerging artists of the tango scene at Théâtre Outremont (1248 Bernard W.). Get the scoop at festivaldetangodemontreal.qc.ca.
by MARITES CARINO
Old-school animator
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke W.) has something of interest to fans of traditional cell animation—an exhibition of work by famed Radio-Canada animator Frédéric Back.
A passionate environmentalist, Back’s artistic output has long been inspired by his deep affection for the Canadian wilderness and its creatures, from the  stylized landscapes that characterize the work of his first decades in the country to the illustrations and advertisements he continues to produce in support of the many social and environmental causes close to his heart.
But the heart of One With Nature is the animated films. Unfortunately the gallery is not really set up to do the films justice, projecting them in a tiny alcove set into a narrow hallway. Still, it’s a chance to see not only the finished products, but the drawings and paintings Back used to create these award-winning works.
Laid out sequentially so that their intended motion can be perceived, these handmade strips reveal the subtle shifts in the artist’s unique visual style, and commemorate this almost lost form of animation in which films were produced one cell at a time.
by STACEY DEWOLFE
IS IT ART?
PRAYER FOR ART: The Internet is a strange place, full of odd, often confessional things. Canadian artist Christian Northeast exploits these confessions and the online prayer community (entire forums are dedicated to this stuff) in his new book Prayer Requested.
Using prayers he found on the Web, Northeast creates illustrations to accompany them, in what amounts to a funny little book (it’s both strange and amusing) full of some of the saddest, heartening, bizarre prayers hanging out in cyber space.
There are the usual prayers about parrots, finding love and having your kids think you’re awesome, but there’s also a good amount of weird (“Please pray that Jesus will keep me busy with crafts to do. So I can stop sinful thoughts.”) and comical (“Pray for Oscar. He’s been listening to the devil’s music.”). It’s published by Drawn & Quarterly.
Arts hole
VISUAL PURGATORY: Our own Rick Trembles celebrates the launch of Motion Picture Purgatory Volume 2, a book composed of his infamous illustrated strips, Sunday, July 19, at Bar le Saphir (3699 St-Laurent) with bands American Devices, Futensil and Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. • MORE TO COME: Gonk Films will be presenting clips from their upcoming feature Hollywood: Your Grand Premiere! at an event taking place tonight, Thursday, July 16 at Underworld (251 Ste-Catherine E.) at 9 p.m. Music provided by DJ HugoC, door prizes and more!
Artistat
The number of seasons the Black Theatre Workshop celebrates this Sunday, July 19, 2–6 p.m., with their annual backyard fundraiser Curry Q (“roti, curry and music”), happening at 1115 Raphael Crescent in Brossard: 39
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