Dirty’s deeds
PINBALL WIZARD: Donny’s customized
pinball machine for MetallicaVeterans of the Plateau garage-punk scene of the late ’90s will doubtless recall the posters of “Dirty” Donny Gillies, whose bug-eyed monsters and Big Daddy Roth rods ranked with the finest in that era of lurid, lowbrow pop art.
Gillies eventually moved to San Francisco, and while the Dirty One may not have cleaned up his act, he’s certainly cleaned up—his artwork has graced Juxtapoz and Gearhead, a Steve Caballero deck and the walls of L.A.’s lowbrow lodestone gallery La Luz de Jesus, and he’s customized a pinball machine and a cigar-store Indian for no less than Metallica.
A wide spread of his work is going up on display at Green Room (5386 St-Laurent) and the launch party (with musical guests Million Dollar Marxists and DJ Johnson) is tonight, Thursday, Oct. 22, 9 p.m., free.
by RUPERT BOTTENBERG
Punching the clock
FULL-TIME JOB: Tehching Hsieh
The idea of punching a time clock day in and day out may seem the epitome of a routine, boring existence, but what about punching that same clock every hour on the hour for 365 days? While it may seem insane to even contemplate such a Sisyphean task, that is exactly what Tehching Hsieh did in 1980, when he shaved his head, set up a 16mm film camera to shoot single frames, and standing in front of it, stuck his time card into an automated punch clock 8,760 times.
This was not the first of Hsieh’s mind-blowing One Year Performances, but it is one of the two performance pieces whose evidentiary documents are now on display at DHC/ART (451 St-Jean) as part of their new fall initiative: DHC Session.
In addition to the exhibition—which includes two compelling time-based video installations by Dutch artist Guido van der Werve—the session, entitled Living Time, also comprises a series of evening events, educational lectures, and an on-site library. Tonight’s event, Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m., is definitely not to be missed as the gallery provides a rare opportunity to hear Hsieh speak about his life’s work.
by STACEY DEWOLFE
Toon much
What with Oct. 28 being (as everyone knows) International Animation Day, how appropriate that animation aficionados have an embarrassment of choices in the coming days, with not one but two festivals touching down in our cartoon-friendly city.
The NFB’s third annual Get Animated! (Oct. 28–Nov. 1) is a series of free public  screenings at CinéRobothèque (1564 St-Denis), this time coinciding with their 70th anniversary. The fest is divided into two programs: Animation Feast, which showcases nine new shorts (including the latest from Chris Landreth, Oscar winner for the innovative Ryan), and the Family Program, featuring five kid-friendly films. Landreth and fellow animator Cordell Baker will also conduct special workshops.
The Montreal Stop Motion Film Festival, Oct. 24–25 at Concordia’s J.A. de Sève Cinema (1400 de Maisonneuve W.), launches its first ever edition with the premiere of the latest Wallace & Gromit film from stop-motion stalwarts Aardman Animation. An international selection of the art form’s finest, along with local guest speakers including NFB animator Patrick Bouchard and puppeteering professor Erik Goulet, round out the two-day program.
by MALCOLM FRASER
Star crossed ballet
Comparisons to Jerome Robbins’ Jets and Sharks are not so far-fetched when the Montague’s and Capulet’s first clash in Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Romeo and Juliet. However, this modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s tale, performed by les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal at Théâtre Maisonneuve (175 Ste-Catherine W.), is perhaps the most original since West Side Story itself.
The strength of Maillot’s storytelling lies in the harmony of contemporary and  classical components. Opting for a minimalist backdrop and switching classical pantomime for raw human gesture, the director of the Ballets de Monte-Carlo retains Prokofiev’s score and enough elements of classical ballet to preserve the potency of the narrative. The result is a Romeo and Juliet accessible to the public but no less rich for it.
This production also affords les Grands an opportunity to show off new talent. Particularly noteworthy were Xuan Cheng and André Silva, two members who demonstrated immense stage presence in their roles as an unusually mature Juliet and a flamboyantly macho Mercutio.
Oct. 22 and 24; Oct. 29–30, 8 p.m. Tickets $31–$92.
by DAVID LEVITZ
IS IT ART?
LONDON’S BURNING: As temperatures drop and we get ready to turn up the heat, right now could be the best time to recreate a historical disaster in your living room.
 Using great fires that burned great cities to the ground as a basis for their design, Italian architecture and design studio BBM has created the 1666 and the DCCCXVII a.u.c. fireplace screen replicas of the London and Rome skylines, respectively.
Though modelled after the modern-day cities (St-Paul’s dominates both city screens), they’re named after the years the disasters happened, nicely bringing the past into the present and giving you a pretty good idea what those fires would likely destroy nowadays.
www.allabbm.blogspot.com
Arts hole
BLASTS FROM THE PAST: Skateboarder Barry Walsh and Sino Boutique (2817 Ontario E.) present Return of the Boom Box, an exhibition of Walsh’s personal collection of the once ubiquitous music players. The show kicks off Saturday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. with an ’80s-themed party. There’s a prize for the best ’80s-style outfit, so dress your best. • VIVE LA REVOLUTION: Artist Kamila Wozniakowska presents her latest work After Revolution, historical style drawings with a twist, at Galerie Eric Devlin (3550 St-Jacques). The exhibit continues until Nov. 8
Artistat
The number of shows Words and Music will be celebrating when performers, including Alexis O’Hara, D. Kimm and T.L. Cowan, take to the stage this Sunday, Oct. 25 at Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent): 100
|
