Blog Archives: Art
World Press Photo 2009
World Press Photography 2009 Yesterday I went to see a photography exhibition called World Press Photo 2009, which features the best in photojournalism of 2008.
The photos were spectacular and covered a wide range of photojournalism: news, sports, people, arts and entertainment, and nature. One collection of photos was of brightly coloured eyes of different animals. Another great set was of Olympic divers as they held a tuck — the looks on their faces as they strained to hold their body in place were, well, hilarious. And no set of 2008 pictures would be complete without coverage of Barack Obama on the campaign trail: I loved this photo of him doing a chin up in his suit.
If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend taking a look at the gallery of winning photos.
As well, if the exhibit ends up coming to a city near you this summer, it’s definitely worth a visit. It will be in Montreal and Ottawa in August.
Brisbane Powerhouse The exhibit was on display at the Brisbane Powerhouse a few kilometres downriver from my apartment. It’s an old power station that’s been turned into arts centre, with a gallery, performance space, concert hall, bar, and restaurant. While we were wandering the gallery a band was warming up for their performance later in the evening. A very cool gallery — not just the sounds of muffled coughs and shoes shuffling along the floor.
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Once Upon a Time
I played hooky today to join my parents in Montreal to visit the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit at the Musée des Beaux Arts. I’ve longed enjoyed Disney films. Although my favourites are obviously ones from my youth — Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame — the older films, the ones created by Walt Disney which were the focus of the exhibit, still hold a certain allure, especially Fantasia and Peter Pan. The exhibit discussed the history of Disney animation, early creations such as Mickey Mouse, and then all of feature films created under Walt Disney’s leadership. The exhibit connected the art from the movies with their influences, be it 19th romantic paintings, German black-and-white films, or hand-illustrated fairy tales. I also learned about a short film I’d never heard of before. Apparently in the 1940s Disney and Salvadore Dali discussed the creation of a short animated film based on Dali’s work, but it was not completed at the time. Only in 2003 did Walt’s nephew Roy Disney complete the short film Destino. And there’s free wireless service on the train right now, so this entry comes directly from on board a Via rail train.
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Ukrainian Easter Eggs
Wax-covered Ukrainian Easter egg This afternoon I got out my babushka and decorated some Ukrainian Easter eggs with a few friends. I made Ukrainian Easter eggs (“pysanky”) many many years ago but didn’t remember how to do it. However, the Internet has the answers, notably at the excellent learnpysanky.com, which has step-by-step instructions, patterns, and links to suppliers.
Melting wax off an Easter egg The process is long but relatively simple. You apply beeswax using a special stylus (“kistka”) to the areas you want to stay the current colour, then dip it in the next (darker) colour, working your way from white up to black. By the end, you have a black egg with lots of wax all over it (the first picture in this article). Then you hold the egg close to a flame and dab the melting wax off it (picture at right).
Ukrainian Easter egg, final product You end up with a hopefully-beautifully-decorated egg as seen at left. My lines are not perfectly straight nor as intricate as 75-year old arthritis-ridden Eastern European grandmothers, but it’s a start. Now that I’ve got the supplies I can try again next year.
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Visiting Ottawa
Scott on the tail of a quarter Scott (pictured at left) and I are in Ottawa visiting our friend Adam. Today we visited the Royal Canadian Mint and the National Gallery of Canada. After our tour of the Royal Canadian Mint, we stopped in the gift shop where you can hold a solid gold bar. At 28 pounds and nearly $300,000 Canadian, it’s the most money I think I’ve ever held in my hands. At the National Gallery, we saw a great exhibit on the work of Emily Carr. We also saw a set of nifty photographs called Portraits of a Victorian Dandy which were amusing, and a video (which I can’t find online at the moment) about pumping up empty water bottles using a bicycle tire pump and having them explode up in the air. What more can you want from an art gallery?
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Painting
Painting Two weekends ago I visited Laura in Toronto. Besides buying every classical CD at HMV, I bought a painting, which is shown at left. We were just wandering down Yonge Street and we stopped in a small art gallery (Gallery Hi Art, Yonge and Wellesley). I saw a gentle red painting hanging on the wall, and though I looked around at all the paintings they had around, this one kept calling me back, so I took the plunge and bought it. It’s a great contrast against my black and white Ansel Adams photographs. It looks different in different lights — at morning, the sunlight streaming into my room makes the top have a yellow tint, and in late winter afternoons, it has a much cooler light to it. It was painted by a Toronto artist named Marco Jiang, but if the painting has a name, I don’t know it. So for now, I guess it’s Untitled, until I come up with something better. Maybe Fido. Maybe not.
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D&A at the V&A
Yesterday I made a short jaunt down to London to visit my friend from Windsor, Allison. We paid a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, a spectacular two-hundred year-old museum of design and art. It mostly features artifacts, of which I’m generally not too fond (preferring paintings and statues), but this was a refreshing and enjoyable visit.
David covered with a fig leaf, Victoria and Albert museum We went on a brief guided tour, taking in a few disparate portions of the museum. In a large room housing a collection of plaster casts of famous statues from around the work (some of the few statues the British and French didn’t steal for their museums), there’s a copy of Michelangelo’s David.
When it was first installed in the museum, Queen Victoria was shocked by the nudity of the statue and, as a result of her Victorian sensibilities, a proportionally accurate fig leaf was commissioned and strategically hung on the figure during her visits. The last member of the royal family for whom the fig leaf was used was Queen Mary, the grandmother of the current Queen, who lived until the 1950s.
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Klein Blue
Klein blue The very-blue picture at left is a painting by Yves Klein, who invented and patented a colour of blue callled International Klein Blue.
Although this work is from the Guggenheim museum, there is a similar painting at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 
Stebila green When I saw the piece live, I was astonished at just how blue, how stunningly blue, it really is. Some may not think that a monochromatic canvas should be considered art, but I found it to be inspired. As a result, I present to you the following exclusive world premier work, which I have entitled International Stebila Yellow (I’m still working on the title):
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Vagina Monologues
Vagina Monologues logo This evening I went to see a production of The Vagina Monologues in San Jose. Written by Eve Ensler and based on interviews with hundreds of women from around the world, it’s a mainstay of modern feminism.
But on to the cool part. This production had three performers (maybe others do, I’m not sure). Although I hadn’t heard of two of the performers, I was pleased to discover when I got the programme that the other was Marcia Wallace, who provides the voice of Edna Krabappel on The Simpsons. And Ms. Wallace had the privilege of performing a monologue involving 4-5 minutes of moaning and screaming and… so on. Think about that the next time you watch The Simpsons.
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