by CHRISTINE REDFERN

From the fringes of outsider art to the romance of France, there’s a lot to take in this winter. We could warm up with some name-dropping. The critically lauded exhibit Voyage Into Myth: the French avant-garde from Gauguin to Matisse is at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from Jan. 3–April 27. A joint project of the Ontario Art Gallery and the MMFA, this exhibition features 75 works by artists such as Bonnard, Cézanne, Derain, Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso and Rodin—all visiting from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

And onto art from artists still alive… “This is feminism now,” writes curator Malene Charles, about the collective STRETCHMARKS showing at Galerie Clark until Feb. 15 (5455 Gaspé, #114). The collective consists of Charles, along with Cynthia Edorh, Kate Greenslade and Ariel Tarr. Their photographs reveal different issues from an urban woman’s perspective, marking a dramatic change in perception since the feminism of the ’60s and ’70s.

The exhibition Riding the Rainbow: New Dimensions in Spider Culture is a testimonial to the mind-blowing creativity of local artist Bill Anhang. The opening is tonight, Jan. 16, at the Saidye Bronfman Centre (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine) and runs until March 2. Outsider artist Anhang abruptly left his engineering job in the mid-’70s to devote himself full-time to his art. He’s a creator of ambitious projects, most of which integrate light. This work is heterogeneous—incorporating light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fibre-optics, mirrors, sound and performance into metal sculptures, installations, paintings, and wearable art. It’s not to be missed.

Play god

Tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 17, Earth Rotation Speed Control Unit by Polish artist Przemyslaw Jasielski opens at Optica (372 Ste-Catherine W., #508). The work is described as a large cubic structure that can be triggered by a control unit to affect the earth’s speed of rotation. “Can the movement of a catfish’s tail be the cause of an earthquake?” ponders Jasielski. In the multimedia room, experience walking on Montrealer Valérie Kolakis’s T(here) installation, made of 50,000 pieces of etched glass.

If you happen to have a computer and don’t want to leave home this February, StudioXX obliges once again with their annual Maid in Cyberspace Web art festival. Titled Active Agent/Radicale libre, this year’s event focuses on subversive acts by “intelligent agents” and cultural hackers. It unrolls online from Feb. 4–8 at www.studioXX.org as well as at the Fondation Jean-Pierre Perreault (2022 Sherbrooke E). On top of the concerts, presentations, “real” and virtual art, this year’s festival boasts a special collective Web project by eight Albanian women, an installation by Coco Fusco and radio/computer camps for adolescent gals.

Unfortunately, Jana Sterbak’s exhibition at the Musée d’art contemporain has been postponed—it was originally slated to open on Feb. 14—but photographer James Casabere’s show will go on. His use of light in photos of constructed models is well worth seeing. And if you haven’t caught Sam Taylor Wood’s show, also at the MAC, it has recently been extended to Feb. 2.

Mass Appeal: the art object and hip-hop culture is at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance) from March 5–April 12. Citing graffiti artists such as Lee Quinones, Rammellzee and Futura 2000, and gallery artists Keith Haring and Jean-Micheal Basquiat as the pioneers, these American and European artists present themselves as the next wave in the movement. Their work uses mixing, sampling and appropriation to explore issues that range from style and identity to social and political concerns. If that isn’t enough, starting March 6, the collective Définition Non Applicable presents a concurrent month-long experiment in dance, urban arts and hip hop culture at the MAI, Usine C and Espace Tangente. :