God
and sex and death
IIf you’ve ever thought a Tintoretto painting wouldn’t look out of place in Vogue magazine, then Penance is the exhibit for you. “The Mannerist period was when the modern ideal of style was invented,” says painter (and Mirror alum) Sholem Krishtalka, who pulls off a bit of trans-temporal stylistic alchemy in the show. His oil paintings portray martyred saints as fashion models in a style heavily influenced by Mannerism-essentially showcasing the similarities between 16th-century art and 21st-century commercialism.
Prominent
in the portraits is the theme of the “sexualization of suffering,”
where religious art and fashion photography overlap. “It’s
about God and sex and death and pain and glamour,” says Krishtalka,
summing up the dramatic tone of his work.
Also exploring religion and the body is performance artist Laura MacDonald,
who’ll be performing throughout the run of the show. Her piece,
titled, like the exhibit, “Penance,” will explore the tenets
of Catholicism and how they connect to femininity and feminism.
Penance runs
Aug. 1–14 at the Lotus Eaters Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #328),
and MacDonald will be performing on Saturday, Aug. 3 (along with the vernissage,
2:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.), Friday, Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday,
Aug. 10, at 3 p.m. :
-Mark Slutsky
Lasting love
“There
is a generally held myth,” writes David Bunyon, “that homosexual
relationships, either female or male, are transient and do not last very
long.” So Bunyon and photographer Francis Li set out on a cross-Canada
adventure to chronicle examples dispelling the myth.
The result is Portraits of Couples, a photo essay in which Li captured
gay and lesbian couples from Innu villages in Labrador, through Pointe
Claire (snapping the now famous Roger and Theo duo), to B.C.’s Gulf
Islands. Li’s photos are presented next to photos of the same couple
taken some years earlier, showing their lasting commitment of the present
and hot ’70s getups of the past.
Being truly Canadian, the book includes
both English and French couples, as well as a Chinese-speaking pair and
a Tagalog (a language of the Philippines) team. Two articles are written
about each couple, one in their mother tongue and one in another language.
“We encountered great diversity-in terms of gender, geographic
location, ethnic origin and, of course, the rules by which each couple
has chosen to live and play. There is not a single attribute that is common
to all couples in this book.” :
-Matthew Woodley
Pop
picnic
There’s a new artzine in town. Edited by Sylvain Ferland and Nicolas Thiboutot, < < < MEGA POP> > > is a strange and eclectic little package about the size of a business card. Inside, readers will find the work of 10 artists and graphic designers, all playing with the issue’s theme, “Picnic in the City.” For each issue Ferland and Thiboutot give the contributors 10 days to whip something up, and ask them to try out a medium they don’t generally work with. You can find < < < MEGA POP> > > in chi-chi boutiques up and down the St-Laurent and St-Denis strips. :
Counterfeit
coquette
All the dramatic glamour of the 1970s B-movie
world is on display at Zeke’s Gallery (3955 St-Laurent) through
a retrospective of the career of fictional cinephile and feisty femme
Kitty Snaxxx. The illustrious life of the fantastical vixen responsible
for such must-see never-mades as Joyride to Disaster and Too Fast for
Love has been categorized (well, created) by Katia Taylor through Super-8mm
footage, snapshots, newspaper clippings, promotional material and on-scene
film stills. Les films du sous-sol, Hommage à Kitty Snaxxx, which
documents a faux-life of “love, lust, sin and tragedy,”
is on display until Aug. 18.
Meanwhile,
at Skol, a row of houses from the early 20th century are the means for
Nikki Middlemiss’s artistic inquest into people’s lives
and buildings’ histories. Beginning with drawings and then moving
on to photographs, the details in the maintenance, refurbishment or
removal of cornice and ornamentals are transformed into topographical
instruments that allow the exploration of “the buildings’
interiors” and “the lives that they have sheltered.”
Sky Lines is at Skol (460 St-Catherine W.) until Sept. 14. Also at the
gallery are Ballet absurde by Lucie Robert and À l’interieure
de mon oreille by Patric Lacasse. :
-Claire Philipson
Is it Art?
Academic
art: Professors from McGill’s Department of Geography and School
of Urban Planning are offering a series of lectures to beef up the effectiveness
of the city’s biggest outdoor exhibit with some brainiac background
info. Lecture tours of The Earth From Above, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s
display of stunning aerial landscapes along McGill College will gain
some context in “Finding our Way: From Despair to Hope,”
a lecture focusing on urban environmental policy and planning on Aug.
2.
ArtsHole
In memoriam: Monday, Aug. 5, will be the 57th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima; to commemorate this sombre anniversary, the Botanical Gardens’ Japanese Garden will host a Peace Ceremony, which will include the ritual ringing of a “Peace Bell.” It starts at 6:30 p.m. * Know thyself: Interview, a series of neo-expressionist oil paintings that delve into the crux of selfhood by Arien van Lavieren are on display at Sky (1474 Ste-Catherine) from Aug. 3–Sept. 3. * Be square: Un cube: 10 faces, an exhibition featuring the work of Esther B., Thierry Brégaint and others is on display at Espace E3 (215a Murray) until Aug. 30. * Ahoy Hanoi: Seven contemporary Vietnamese artists will display their paintings, drawings and installations at the Centre d’exposition de l’Université de Montréal’s Vietnam Art Actuel, Aug. 1–Sept. 22, 2940 Côte Ste-Catherine, free. :
Artistat: Number of shuttle buses that will pick you up at the Vieux-presbytère St-Mark (340 St-Charles W.) and smoothly transport you between the three Longueuil locations where 24 artists will show their wares as part of the vernissage for the upcoming exhibit Le Zocalo: 10 ans d’imaginaire, Aug. 7, 7 p.m.: 1 :