Exhibit-V

Reflections on grafitti by Philip Willey

2012-01-30T19:08:00.000-08:00

Hey! Says a voice as I’m leaving a gallery. Are you awriter? Writer? Me? Well I do a bit of writing yes why? You should write aboutgraffiti. Fuck galleries the real stuff is outside on the walls.

OK. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll check it out. A goodplace to start is 50/50 on Douglas. Every available surface has been plasteredwith graf. Nobody can say it isn’t colorful. Over on Cook Street 1580 Galleryhas some good examples of what can be achieved with a spray-can. There tooMaggy Cole and Richard Pawley have gone the graffiti route. Outside at least.The building was getting tagged anyway so they made a deal. They’re happy withit. There were some fears that it might encourage random acts of art in theneighborhood but that didn’t happen. Instead says Richard ‘street artists werethrilled to get the opportunity and they seem to respect us for it’. It’seye-catching and everybody gets some street cred. Better than bare cinder blockwalls.

Monday Magazine did a thing about it recently (1). Theygarnered opinions from local residents which ranged, predictably, from enjoymentto vandalism. Most seem comfortable with it. Some people resent theconfrontational tone. Others just don’t care. They have enough information todeal with already. Which made me wonder. Grafitti is still vibrant and assertive buthas it lost some of its impact? In other words I’m not sure it’s evenparticularly exciting or radical anymore. It’s become part of the urbanlandscape. We’ve got used to it.

Vancouver Island College of Art has a big back wall thatjust begs to be painted. ‘They show up periodically,’ says Wendy Welch, ‘….paintover everything and start again. They are expressing themselves. It’s great tosee.’ And it makes an interesting context for Tyler Hodgin’s ‘Watch ThisSpace’.

And of course it’s art. Thanks to curators like CharlottaKotik (2) we know that now. Look at artists like Crash and Lady Pink, Haringand Basquiat. They started out doing it on the street, gained followings, gotinto galleries and found a place in art history. Some of it is very goodindeed. Some artists, like Banksy, have taken the form to new levels. Banksyhas something to say beyond just colorful tags.

Simon Natrass of Monday Mag also talked to some actualgraffiti artists, Pesto, Onion and Arok, in an effort to pin down theirmotivation. Defiance according to Arok. He doesn’t think the police should beprotecting buildings. Sure it’s illegal but it’s the capitalist system thatmakes us feel guilty. Pesto admits to feeling guilty but it’s something he justhas to do. And then there’s the adrenalin rush you get from actually doing it.Especially doing it in the downtown core which is where it gets really challenging.Violating bylaws. Outwitting the man. What Monday didn’t mention is the anger.

Dooer:
"When I was young I was angry. I still am. I wasanti-social. I needed subculture and vandalism. I needed to steal and takedrugs and paint walls. Cause it was bad-ass and I wanted to show the world I hatedit. Nothing has changed." From Visual Orgasm (3).

I know what he means. I’m not so young anymore and I stillget mightily pissed off. I understand the need to do a Munch scream. Humangreed and hypocrisy can be overwhelming. The unfairness of life. And what we’redoing to the planet! It all gets too much occasionally. There are times when Iwant to insult everybody in print. Bukowski got away with it. He was anobnoxious arsehole most of the time and people loved him for it. That guy couldreally do rude. Alas I’m no Bukowski. I’m too polite I suppose. Some might sayrepressed. I have a different family background. Different bunch of demons.

Conclusions? Graffiti is acceptable in certain locations. Ifyou feel the urge, go for it, but not everybody likes it. It’s a young man’sgame. You need to be agile. Spray paint isn’t cheap and the best spots go fast.

Victoria,BC - January 2012

1. http://www.mondaymag.com/news/138083278.html

2. http://timeoutnewyorkkids.com/guides-resources/family-life/58177/writing-on-the-wall

http://www. http://www.visualorgasm.com/store/book.html

Clive Beal at Little Fernwood Gallery

2012-01-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

Greg Snider at Deluge Contemporary Art

2012-01-26T00:19:00.000-08:00

"Model-making and drawing have been critical to my practice since the beginning. Formal commission proposals for sculptural projects normally include scale models to afford a realistic sense of the potential work, and over the years I have accumulated a number of these from unsuccessful initiatives. For some time my art practice has focused on possible large-scale public projects, concentrating on the socially productive potential of reconfigured objects designed for specific locations. The capacity of these speculative projects to redirect attention and initiate reflective commentary on imperatives of critical moment within the public sphere seems enormously useful and necessary at this time. As my interest in the role of public art and its actual function has sharpened, model-making has become the conceptual tool of choice for working through, and physically preparing these ideas as scaled-down experimental prototypes. They are perfectly realisable but personally unaffordable full-scale projects, using actual objects in reconsidered contexts. Often inspired by issues of urgent global concern for which commission possibilities do not yet exist, they can be heuristic, didactic, polemical, rhetorical, tendentious or provocative, and always directed toward public discourse and dialogue."

Greg Snider is a sculptor and installation artist living and working in Vancouver, BC. His practice is considered a form of critical realism, primarily directed toward problems of representing labour and work in the public sphere; a recent public art commission for the City of Vancouver (Project for a Public Works Yard, 2004), produced in collaboration with city workers and contractors developing the new National Street Works Yard in Strathcona, is an example. Through his interest in the working body in space and its relation to physical objects, he has had opportunities to produce stage design and objects for performance in interdisciplinary contexts with theatre, dance and music.

January 27 to February 25, 2012
Opening Friday, January 27, 7pm

636 Yates St

" Throw Down " at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

2012-01-26T00:03:00.000-08:00

“ Watch This Space “ by Tyler Hodgins

2012-01-24T22:20:00.001-08:00

A covered walkway, painted entirely in flat black and elevated about a foot above a grassy area, creates a square path to navigate around the “site,” and is accessible from one corner. The interior of the structure, a four by four by eight foot space, has left the grass intact, or rather, the grass has been preserved within the confines of the structure. Each side has a viewing hole at an appropriate height for an average size person to look through. The interior walls are mirrored (using sheets of mirrored acylic), creating an effect suggestive of repeating space or grass in all directions, punctuated only by the peepholes. Looking through these peepholes, the observer’s self-image or reflection is negated by the opposite peephole, further contributing to the illusion of vastness.

This piece was created in response to the ArtCity Festival of Art, Design, and Architecture call for public artworks that address the theme of "Boom or Bust". It currently resides at the Vancouver Island School of Art. I was struck by the contrast between the interior world of a construction site and the activities of those who take a passing interest on the outside, as well as by the promise of what lies behind the wall versus what actually sits there. It is becoming more common for a site to sit abandoned for months or even years while the interior terrain takes on a life of its own. Ponds form, weeds flourish, equipment lies unused. This remains in contradiction to the sometimes faded promise of modern design and urban living.

The installation can be enjoy at the grounds of the Vancouver Island School of Art

2549 Quadra Street
Victoria, BC

ABSTRACTION - "Snow Scud" by Philip Willey

2012-01-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

Film for Painted Television by Mark Schmiedl

The collection of abstract works at Polychrome appearsaustere at first sight but an underlying vitality soon becomes apparent. Theyrange from the expressive to the experimental, paintings to sculpture andcombinations of the two. There are 13 artists in the show and it’s called SnowScud…a climate thing said Mary Patterson. It’s a loose theme. Here in Victoriawe try to stay ahead of real winters. In the window is ‘Transporter 3 (Flock)’by Charles Campbell’s. He has incorporated cut and printed birdlike forms intoa Buckminster Fuller type of geodesic ball which suggests circular migration.Also in the window are some small pieces by Tyler Hodgins. Magnetic tapeembedded in plastic. Tyler’s more accessible work is gaining acceptance inVictoria as public art. He’s also part of ‘Show Down’ at AGGV later this monthduring which his latest public project, ‘Sleeping Bag’, can be seen at variouslocations throughout the city. Tar is a viscous tacky substance. Donna Eicheluses it in rhythmic strokes, along with other substances to create richvisceral‘… mindscapes with their own psychological or emotional geography.’ Inthe two paintings at Polychrome she employs oil paint on plexiglass to much thesame effect. Her work has been described as “cave paintings from a distant pastor possible future”. As I’m musing onCaite Dheere’s vaguely Twomblyesque minimalisms glowing through layers ofencaustic and thinking how they could easily grow on one over time, I can’thelp noticing an old dude wandering around making notes on scraps of paper. Ishe a critic? What’s a critic doing in Victoria? What sort of stuff does hewrite I wonder. Intellectual exegesis for academics? Snotty artspeak for the incrowd? Short words and bad speling 4 twitter peeps?I have the same problem myself. Never quite sure what style to use. And thesegroup shows are tricky. Don’t want to leave anybody out. It’s good to know thatKarl Spreitz is still going strong. The works on display are from 1975,geometric forms that look surprisingly fresh and contemporary. Ingrid MaryPercy’s calligraphic charcoal shapes on paper may be related to the Spirograph forms I remember seeing at Deluge Gallery. MarkSchmiedl’s work is hard to get a handle on. That may well be his intention.There are suggestions of Kandinsky and Motherwell but not in a derivativesense. A statement on his website says his paintings ‘…aspire to beself-interupting.’ An unintentional slip but curiously apt somehow. Thewonderfully titled ‘Film for Painted Televisions’ is a large painting whereabstract forms almost, but not quite, become recognizable objects. Meanwhile LanceOlsen pauses his walkabout across the Australian outback with its Antipodeanearth-tones and dreamtime tracks to show a brooding but strangelycelebratory undated acrylic on paper work called ‘Death by Proxy # 3’. The showalso features work by Cody Haight, David Gifford and PJ Kelly. Plus there’sanother chance to see some of Shawn Shepherd’s sliced up hockey pucks. I’m notgoing to single anyone out for special attention. Some of the works spoke to memore than others but let’s not get into what John Luna calls the ‘autocriticalmist’. I’m no Jerry Saltz and I want to go on living in Victoria. Artists wantcheerleaders anyway, not critics. So think of this as a sort of prose poem. Myversion of Subterranean Homesick Blues with a quip or two tossed into the mix.Something to do on a cold but sunny Sunday. Kudos to Polychrome for puttingtogether an interesting collection of artists. Apologies if I left anybody out.All I have to do now is sit back and wait for the usual barrage of comments. It’ssnowing as I write which may be significant. One more thing. I was going tomention the Carmen Tisch school of art criticism. Carmen you may remember isthe tattoo artist from Denver who got a little emotional at a Clyfford Stillretrospective. She rubbed her bare bum against a canvas apparently causing$10,000 worth of damage (to the painting). I was going to say something aboutnot seeing Carmen at Polychrome. A silly joke that suddenly doesn’t seem veryamusing. I can’t say I knew Jamer Duderon well. Saw him around that’s all. Buthe was too young to die. It’s very sad.

Snow Scud
Jan. 15 to Feb. 2, 2012
Polychrome Fine Arts

Ira Hoffecker at Sooke Harbour House Gallery

2012-01-15T21:02:00.000-08:00

Mica Marsh of The Massey Gallery talking about the exhibit " Wax Poetic "

2012-01-13T14:24:00.000-08:00

watch the video for the opening

Chin K. Yuen and Irma Soltonovich at Massey Gallery

2012-01-12T17:11:00.000-08:00

Wax Poetic

Massey Gallery
at
The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
1040 Moss Street, Victoria

January 6 - February 5, 2012

Opening reception January 12, 6 - 8 PM

Watch video of the opening

Deirdre Kelly at The CACGV

2012-01-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

" Collector's Choice" exhibit and Sale at Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay

2012-01-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

" Absolute Abstract " at Slide Room Gallery

2012-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Jan. 13 to Feb. 6, 2012

Opening Reception : Jan. 13, 2012

Curator's talk @ 8 pm

Paintings by Victoria Clarke, Joan Richardson and Gordon Shukin. This exhibition presents a selection of paintings by three Victoria artists dedicated to pure abstraction. Students of senior Victoria painter Bill Porteous for the past decade, they occupy distinct positions along a spectrum from spontaneous expression to experimental process. This innovative work testifies to the strong and growing presence of abstract painting, rooted in 20th century Modernism, as a valid - even vital -- practice in the contemporary art of this region.

Slide Room Gallery is located on the lower level of VISA, 2549 Quadra,
Monday-Friday, 9-5pm or by appointment.

watch the video for the opening

" Snow Scud " at Polychrome Fine Arts

2012-01-11T12:23:00.000-08:00

Watch video of the exhibit

Taryn Brown at The Gallery at Mattick's Farm

2012-01-11T12:14:00.000-08:00

Jan. 1 to 31, 2012

Rattenbury to Uptown. Victoria’s architectural heritage by Philip Willey

2012-01-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

Bay Parkade Entry 1960 - Hubert Norbury

Heritage, according to the Merriam-WebsterOnline Dictionary is ‘something transmitted by or acquiredfrom a predecessor’.

Withthis in mind I found my way into The Legacy Gallery where the current exhibit,The Emergence of Architectural Moderism, explores, appropriately enough,architecture from the 50’s and 60’s when ‘… a smallnumber of legacy architectural firms changed Victoria's built environmentwith forward-looking planning and bold new architectural forms. Using plans,drawings, photographs and architectural models from the period, this exhibitexplores a number of planninginitiatives, design projects and building programs that defined this importantphase in the development of the Capital Region.’ It’s afascinating exhibit and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in localarchitecture.

Indeed there was a lot of building going on inVictoria in the 50’s and 60’s. Affordable housing sprang up all over with infrastructurenot far behind. Pretty impersonal stuff for the most part. What were youngarchitects thinking? Were they imposing European styles on the West Coast oraiming for some kind of fusion? They obviously wanted clean lines. Keep itfunctional and uncluttered. Frank Lloyd Wright and Corbusier but no Gaudi thankyou. Perhaps they thought we would all be living in Perspex bubbles, withattached helipads for those who hadn’t figured out how to levitate. This periodsaw the building of the Gordon Head Campus, which continues to perform itsfunction very well and the less inspiring Centennial Square. This sort of bravenew vision was not unique to Victoria. It was a postwar thing. People wanted toget married, raise children, buy appliances. What they needed was a cleansweep. Out with the old, in with the shiny and new. Nobody minded being part ofthe great new plan. Future orientated buildings were needed.

Butthe young architects didn’t get things all their own way. Their ideal aestheticwas only grudgingly accepted in some quarters. Bold? Forward-looking? Perhapsat the time it was. Perhaps they even thought of it as radical. But Victoria isstubborn and inherently conservative. Francis Rattenbury’sfoundations are nothing if not solid. He built to last and he had an eye forthe best locations. Oak Bay is especially resistant to change. Hence themelange of architectural styles.

Therewas something of a backlash towards the end of the Sixties. Funky came back.He’d been living on Long Beach in a driftwood shack ingesting naturalsubstances and developing an interest in conservation. Some kind of compromisewas necessary. As any good architect who needs a job will tell you, heritageand contemporary design are not necessarily mutually exclusive. It was time totake a second look at bare wooden floorboards and big old wooden beams.

Mementoesfrom the fifties live on. We got a few concrete bus shelter-like buildings.They may look like broken kites from a distance but we’ve learned to live withthem. Even love them for their period charm. Nobody was harmed during theirconstruction. There was no controversy. Nobody got disinherited. Calmprevailed. In fact they are so bland we hardly notice them anymore.

Whatdid the current crop of architects take from all this? Not much apparently ifthe new Uptown Mall is anything to go by. Their motivation is commercial ratherthan civic but instead of trying to drag Victoria kicking and screaming intothe modern world they have simply pulled a few strings and created a sort of ersatzvillage. Take it or leave it. Here well-conditioned consumers can shop tillthey drop in big box grandeur. A few of them may even feel a touch of nostalgiafor the windswept simplicity of the old Town and Country Mall. Stop thatimmediately. Enjoy the covered parking and the convenient escalators. It willall be heritage too one day.

Andin spite, or because, of all the style changes Victoria is still an attractivecity architecturally for the most part. The process is ongoing. We go to greatpains to maintain vintage facades. New buildings are environmentally friendly. Followingtasteful renovations the old Bay building, now the Hudson, offers inexpensiveelegance in a downtown setting. Leakproof waterfront condos with a view arepopular, unless you happen to live behind one, and we get used to things. Takea good look at the old Blue Bridge. It won’t be there much longer. The viewdown Johnson Street, past Michael Williams’ colourful string of renovations andMarket Square to the state of the art new bridge (short version) will surelymake an interesting addition to the city’s heritage.

The Emergence of Architectual Modermism II: UVIC and The Victoria Regional Easthetic in the late 1950's and 60's
The Legacy Art Gallery
Nov. 30, 2011 to Feb. 26, 2012

First Official Exhibit at the CACGV

2012-01-05T13:35:00.001-08:00

Watch video for the opening

John McConnell at Eclectic Gallery

2012-01-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

BEGINNINGS 2012 - A Show of Emerging Artists at Coast Collective Gallery

2012-01-05T13:23:00.000-08:00

This show is especially for artists who have not yet become professional, or for accomplished artists working in new media. It’s an introduction to the world of Gallery shows with less pressure – no works will be rejected (unless we get too many submissions, and then decisions will be by the luck of the draw), professional art instructors will provide confidential feedback if they see ways these new artists can improve, and a lecture will be available about some aspect of being a professional artist that will help new artists on their way. For visitors to the Gallery, this is an opportunity to view, and possibly acquire, work of new artists before they become famous.

Opening Reception - Sat., Jan. 14, 2 - 4 pm

www.coastcollective.ca

Richard Raxlen : introspective ?!*√º"ç¥å?! at Open Space

2012-01-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

Open Space, in cooperation with MediaNet, is pleased to present Richard Raxlen: introspective?!*√º"ç¥å?!, an interdisciplinary exhibition sampling the work of the acclaimed Victoria artist Richard Raxlen.
Raxlen is resolutely experimental as a filmmaker, animator and visual artist. He is also a mischievous pop culture historian, a vocation that leavens all aspects of his work. Watch for images of Mutt & Jeff, historical footage and well known literary figures in his work. At the heart of introspective?!*√º"ç¥å?! visitors will discover a Rick Raxlen cinematheque offering on-demand screenings.
Raxlen believes that film should be more like jazz and create a feeling, sensation or mood rather than always tell a story. Raxlen’s creative process is borderless: he quite simply takes any and all liberties with sound, film, drawing and image to create his work. His work has an ineffable power — as if conjured by the lightest touch of life’s pleasures, flavours, moments, anxieties, scents and hunches.

This exhibition celebrates Raxlen’s art, the rambunctious scope of which has not been adequately explored. His sensibility has been variously described as one of mysterious, poetic and uncompromising dimensions. His work is idiosyncratic, aesthetically rich and unabashedly hand-crafted. Raxlen began his filmmaking career at the NFB (National Film Board, 1967-76), where he produced several shorts notably Legend (1970) which won an Etrog (Genie) Award in 1970. While Raxlen was teaching at Concordia University in Montreal and involved with Main Film (an artist-run centre for independent filmmakers), he produced the award-winning Horses in Winter, which was named one of the be.st films of the 1980s by Cinémathèque Québécoise.

Opening: Friday, January 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM
Exhibition continues to Saturday, February 25

SPILL by Rebekah Johnson at The Fifty Fifty Arts Collective

2012-01-05T13:12:00.000-08:00

Originally, Spill (1 - Sunlight) was shown in an all white room, at the Vancouver Island School of Art, burnt out light bulbs a metaphor for sunlight spilling through an imaginary window. Illuminated from below by a single fluorescent source, the bulbs glowed preternaturally, light ricocheting off the walls.

In Spill (2 - Window), at the Slide Room Gallery (group show – Analog) a real window in the gallery space became the focal point for the spill of bulbs – natural light and fluorescent played across the glass and out into the room.

In Spill (3 - Veil ), reconfigured for the fifty fifty, light bulbs are suspended vertically, completely filling the window. Lit from below and within, light is cast through the bulbs, forming a curtain. Inside the gallery, framed companion pieces lure us into the gallery and behind the veil.

By turns meditative, playful and beautiful, the Spills are a light-hearted examination of perception.

Rebekah holds a BFA (Theatre) and an MFA (Visual Art) both from the University of Victoria.

opening reception January 5, 7-10PM

Visual Poetry at Eclectic Gallery

2012-01-05T13:05:00.000-08:00

VISUAL POETRY - POETS AND ARTISTS COLLABORATE FOR A CAUSE
EXHIBITION: JAN 9 - 14 - RECEPTION: MONDAY JAN 9, 5-7 PM
ECLECTIC GALLERY, 2170 OAK BAY AVENUE

Something different is in store for the art world this January, as Eclectic Gallery and St. Michaels University School have come up with a unique concept. The gallery will host a special show featuring original artwork and poetry by SMUS Senior School students to raise money for two global charities focused on creating opportunities for youth.
All funds generated will be given equally to War Child Canada and to the Amma organization, specifically its primary and secondary schooling projects in India.
For the first time in the school’s history, creative writing students and art students in Grades 11 and 12 will combine their talents; the SMUS artists will illustrate poems from the young poets. Inspired by the verse from their peers, the students artists will employ print-making techniques to capture and contribute to the meaning of the written words.
“Art and writing are a natural collaboration, especially when the writers work with imagery as a theme,” says art teacher Jennifer McIntyre. “All of our artists are enthusiastic about working with the writers and incorporating their personal artistic styles.”
The exhibition, fittingly entitled “Visual Poetry,” is the first of its kind. The show itself was conceived of by two SMUS teachers. McIntyre, who is also an instructor at the University of Victoria and well-known local artist,suggested the idea to writing teacher Susan Stenson, an accomplished poet whose work has been short-listed for the CBC Literary prize.
“The writing calibre of SMUS students is well-known across Canada,” says Stenson. “Many of our students have won the Canadian League of Poets national youth poetry contest.”
The Visual Poetry show will open with an opening reception for general public on Monday, January 9 from 5 to 7 pm. The poetic prints will be on sale from January 9 through January 14 at Eclectic Gallery, 2170 Oak Bay Ave.
Everyone is encouraged to attend the show and support two vital organizations dedicated to helping children worldwide.

CONTACTS
John Taylor, Eclectic Gallery: 250.590.8095 or eclecticgallery@shaw.ca.
Erin Anderson, SMUS: 250.370.6169 or erin.anderson@smus.ca.
EXTRA INFO
War Child Canada, the charity selected by SMUS, helps children who have experienced violent conflicts to
overcome poverty and challenges of life in war-torn countries. Eighteen million children worldwide have been forced to flee their homes due to war. Amrita Vidyalayam is one of the many charities of Amma, an Indian based non-profit organization which has built 56 primary and secondary schools in India, providing a vital education to children. Eclectic Gallery decided to donate its portion of sales to Amma.
Eclectic Gallery

Jeroen Witvliet – January 2012 – Artist of the Month

2012-01-02T15:51:00.001-08:00

Statue, oil on wood 2011 18 x 14 inches

The paintings of Jeroen Witvliet respond to current events and happenings that find their roots in the past but shape our future. Without loosing a sense of the poetic, Jeroen's work explores the relationship between the materiality of paint, the failures of self and society.

He is intrigued by the way information is stored, manipulated and used for a plethora of different purposes and how this informs his own world view. The artist seems to be trying to discover parallels with past events in order to find some solace in the notion that maybe nothing is new and that there is a way to make sense of the world by regarding history as definite. Alas, his work shows a doubtful approach to the use of history. Recognizing that our perceived knowledge of the world has accumulated into a massive register of manipulations and falsification of the direct experience. Information has been layered, designed and obscured to aid and fit any agenda. By manipulating our ideas of public spaces, questioning media footage and creating fake monuments Witvliet's work engages in generating a dialogue between, perception, actuality and history.

www.jeroenwitvliet.blogspot.com
www.structure365.com

The Emergence of Architectural Modernism II: UVic and the Victoria Regional Aesthetic in the late 1950s and 60s at The Legacy Art Gallery

2011-12-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

During the late 50s and 60s, a small number of legacy architectural
firms changed Victoria's built environment with forward-looking planning and bold new architectural forms. Using plans, drawings, photographs and architectural models from the period, this exhibit explores a number ofplanning initiatives, design projects and building programs that definedthis important phase in the development of the Capital Region. This is the second in a series of exhibitions and publications exploring the relationships, personalities and projects contributing to the development of a regional modernist aesthetic in the post-war Victoria urban landscape. This exhibition develops themes of the earlier exhibition Town and Gown: Centennial Square and the Gordon Head Campus: Seminal Projects (1962–1972) March 10–May 2, 2011. This free exhibit runs November 30, 2011, to February 26, 2012, at the Legacy Art Gallery, 630 Yates Street. Hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile by Philippe Bordes - Book of the Month - December 2011

2011-12-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

This beautifully illustrated book, originally published in 2005 in conjunction with a major traveling exhibition, is the first to examine the transformation of Jacques-Louis David’s work during the post-Revolutionary period (1800–1825). Each of the works––many of which were previously unknown or inaccessible––is reproduced in color and accompanied by detailed scholarly information. Drawing on many new documents and close analysis of the works featured in the book, Philippe Bordes offers a revisionist view of this deeply reactive artist and the creative output of his “second” career.
“A beautiful book and a significant contribution to our understanding of David’s place in art history.”—Art Times"Bordes gives his readers the benefit of years spent looking at these paintings and drawings, as well as his encyclopedic knowledge . . . of the artistic, social and political histories of the period.”—Louise Govier, The Art Book“[A] marvelously produced catalogue . . . meticulous and informative.”—David A. Bell, New Republic

www.amazon.ca

Christmas Time !

2011-12-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

Have a wonderful Christmas time from all of us at exhibit-v !!

Coast Collective

2011-12-22T21:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing you Joyous Holidays and Happy New Year!

Seasons Greetings from Vancouver Island School of Art

2011-12-22T21:09:00.001-08:00

We wish you all a great holiday season and look forward to seeing you in the the New Year!

From Luz Gallery

2011-12-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

We hope you are simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

Warm Holiday Wishes from Lúz Gallery
Thank you for a Wonderful & Merry Year!

Madrona Gallery

2011-12-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

" The Winter Show " at The Sculpture Studio

2011-12-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

Watch the video for the opening

“ All Star Christmas Pageant “ exhibit at Dales Gallery

2011-12-11T18:54:00.001-08:00

Dales Gallery is proud to present the All Star Christmas Pageant :

- Stephanie Harding - Ira Hoffecker - Clive Powsey - Bob McPartlin

Dec. 9 to 23, 2011

537 Fisgard St. - Tel 250.383.1552

“ coLABoration “ at Emerging Art Gallery

2011-12-09T12:05:00.001-08:00

10 artists, 5 pieces
Sharing Creative Spaces

Cam Reid + Ben Westergreen
Samuel Jan + Pete Kohut
Tom McCabe + Liam Hanna - Lloyd
Rachel Wilmshurst + Kesley Boorman
Mandy Auger + Coral Clay

Please join us for this unique exhibition (and quite possibly the most dynamic show at VEAG!) during which pairs of artists share one canvas. Exhibition runs until Jan 1st 2012.

Opening Reception - Friday, Dec 9, 2011 - 6pm-8pm

977 A Fort St – Phone : 778 430 5585
www.victoriaemergingart.com

Watch the video for the opening

“ MONKEY BUSINESS ” by Philip Willey

2011-12-06T19:02:00.001-08:00

Dec. 4^th 2011

Art reviewers frequently find themselves with this problem. Sometimes it’s hard to come up with at least one original thought. Case in point. I’ve been intrigued by Thomas Anfield’s work for some time. So I went to the opening at Polychrome Gallery, looked at the paintings and had a chat with Thomas but when it came time to write something I felt like I was late to the party.

We are primates after all…if you agree with Darwin, so it’s hard not to see Anfield’s monkey paintings as a wry comment on the human condition. But it’s not overt. These monkeys do all the things we do….but they don’t stalk each other on facebook or Xray each other at airports. Anfield’s monkeys are dreamlike, soft and unthreatening. Fun monkeys that allow him “…to play with imagination and memory through a symbol that is majestic and mischievous” (artist’s statement).

Trouble is Adrian Chamberlain used the Darwin reference in the Times Colonist (1). He also expounded at some length on the origin of sock puppets. How the preferred sock is the De-Tec-Tip - originally manufactured by the Nelson Knitting Company (and still made by Iowa's Fox River Mills). Which accounts for the red mouth. Darned (joke) if Adrian didn’t even mention James Ensor. So there goes the historical reference. Human condition, yes he got that in. ‘The stuffed toys represent the everyman, or rather, the everymonkey.’ Well done Adrian.

The monkeys certainly are charming. Some of them do get a little raunchy, in a simian sort of way, especially during the ‘Temptation of Saint Anthony’, and sometimes they mimic Velasquez but mostly they just eat, drink (too much sometimes) and comfort each other. So basically all I was left with was Butoh and New Music.

Thomas Anfield rose to national prominence as graffiti artist Pablo Fiasco in the eighties before being awarded full scholarship to the New York Academy of Arts. He later worked as a muralist with the Arts in Action society touring Mexico twice and was also part of a five country tour of Africa that was documented in David Pettigrew’s film 'African Brushstrokes'. Anfield and Lance Olsen got together in 2008 to produce Chiaroscurious Blues, a collaboration of guitars and voices (2).

Anfield also cofounded the performance company Butoh-a-GO-GO with Kevin Bergsma (3). They’ve performed at The Vancouver Art Gallery and twice In Moscow at the invitation of the Moscow Ballet. In 2008 they received a production residency from the Banff Centre and then premiered their newest work at the Vancouver International Dance Festival in March.

Butoh? Glad you asked. Well I did some research. Turns out Butoh is a subversive (I hope that’s the right word), dance form that originated in Japan. Somewhere between Performance and Body Art, Butoh seems to defy precise definition. It can be practiced by men and women and in extreme forms it can involve putting the body in stressful positions. It has a lumbering kind of beauty. See video. Clearly Anfield is a man of many parts but how does Butoh relate to the monkey paintings?

Needless to say Alexander Varty covered that in straight Nov 5^th. 2009 (4)…
“Butoh was quite a logical extension of working as a figure artist, you know, working with your body in a theatre,” says Anfield, who has performed with Kokoro Dance and his own Butoh-A-GO-GO company. “And then from that experience, I feel that with the monkeys I can get a lot of figurative qualities in the way they’re arranged, but also a theatrical quality in the way they take up space, and in the way they’re lit. Without wanting to sound too corny, having had that experience of being on a stage and inside those lights does inform this work.”

Sometimes you just can’t win. Never mind. I enjoyed meeting Thomas Anfield and looking at his paintings and I learned a few things along the way.

1. http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Finding+monkey/5807241/story.html
2. http://lanceolsen.ca/?itemid=208)
3. http://youtu.be/r4sDp_1brFg
4. http://www.straight.com/article-268557/sock-monkeys-swing-their-way-fine-art

Linny D. Vine – December 2011 – Artist of The Month

2011-12-01T11:23:00.001-08:00

" Summer Evening - Fulford Harbour "

When I paint I bring my interpretation of this beauty to the canvas. Whether I paint with oils or acrylics in studio or en plein air, rather than doing any preliminary sketches, I take brush in hand and enjoy the freedom of spontaneously capturing my impressions of the light, color and feel of life. I love the magic that happens as imagination and inspiration dance together while I paint.

I'm intrigued with the unusual in the usual, the individual personality that I see in a tree, flower, building, boat, person, car, animal or cloud. I encourage these personalities to come alive in paintings of our rural, urban, and natural world. My paintings celebrate life with all of it's wonderful imperfections and character.

Life is good in Linnyland.

I treasure the compliments that I receive from my Art Collectors;

"Your paintings make me feel happy ... and I want to live in them!" I'm thrilled that my inspiration, the joy that I feel for our world's beauty, is felt through my paintings. To me, the visual world is a beautiful combination of colors, shapes and light swirling together in rhythmic patterns.

www.linnydvine.com

" Snowy Light "

Small paintings and wall hangings by gallery artists at the Gallery at Mattick's Farm

2011-12-01T11:09:00.001-08:00

Dec. 1 to 31, 2011
109-5325 Cordova Bay Rd.
Victoria, BC
Phone: 250-658-8333

Malcolm Barker at Sooke Harbour House Gallery

2011-11-30T19:07:00.001-08:00

Antoine Bittar, John Horton, Iola Scott & Adam Noonan at Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay

2011-11-30T18:04:00.001-08:00

Opening Reception: Dec. 1, 2011 - 6 to 8pm
2260 Oak Bay Ave. Phone: 250-595-2777
Oak Bay Gallery Walk Evening

Linda Jane Schmid and Nancy Dolan at Studio 16 1/2 in Fan Tan Ally

2011-11-28T18:36:00.001-08:00

Nov. 17 to 20, 2011
Victoria, BC Canada

Holiday Group Exhibition at Madrona Gallery

2011-11-28T18:22:00.001-08:00

Watch video for the exhibition

Suzanne Bessette at Martin Batchelor Gallery

2011-11-28T18:21:00.001-08:00

Watch video of the opening

Abstracted 2011 at Gallery 1580

2011-11-28T18:17:00.001-08:00

Watch the video for the opening

Stefanie Denz artwork

2011-11-28T18:11:00.001-08:00

" Art on the Avenue " at Luz Gallery

2011-11-27T23:00:00.001-08:00

Deirdre Roberts at Winchester Galleries on Humboldt

2011-11-27T22:51:00.001-08:00

Watch video of the exhibit

Xchanges Annual Members' Exhibition and Open House

2011-11-27T18:08:00.001-08:00

Watch video of the opening

Jean Paul Riopelle at Winchester Galleries Modern

2011-11-27T18:02:00.001-08:00

Opening Reception: Sat. Dec. 10, 2011

2 to 4 pm

758 Humboldt St.

Phone. 250 - 386-2773

Watch video of the opening

Thomas Anfield at Polychrome Fine Arts

2011-11-27T17:55:00.001-08:00

Thomas Anfield is a Visual Artist\Performance Artist based in Vancouver Canada.

In the early eighties he rose to national prominence as graffitti artist Pablo Fiasco before being awarded full scholarship to the New York Academy of Arts. He later worked as a muralist with the Arts in Action society touring Mexico twice and was also part of a five country tour of Africa that was documented in David Pettigrews film 'African Brushstrokes'.

He is cofounder of the performance company ˛Butoh-a-GO-GO with Kevin Bergsma.

Butoh-a-GO-GO has performed at The Vancouver Art Gallery and twice In Moscow at the invitation of the Moscow Ballet. In 2008 they recieved a production residency from the Banff Centre and then premiered their newest work at the Vancouver International Dance Festival in March. In addition to collaborative work with Butoh-A-GO-GO, some highlights of Thomas' performance credits include, Releasing the cd Chiaroscurious Blues with Lance Olson, 2008, Performing With Graham Clark and friends at the Gong Unconvention at the Melkweg in Amsterdam 2006, leading the Post Cecil Taylor Garage Music Orchestra with performances at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and New Music Across America.

Watch video of the opening

Steven Brekelmans, Heather Carey, Jessica Karuhanga Christopher Lindsay, Yang Liu, Dong-Kyoon Nam Sasha Opeiko, Paola Savasta, Anne Steves , Matt Trahan at Deluge Contemporary Art

2011-11-25T10:49:00.001-08:00

Surface To Air

Organized by the curatorial collective This Side Up for Deluge Contemporary Art, the exhibition surface to air features the work of 11 young international artists presently convened in Victoria, BC. Working in diverse media such as paint, metal, wood and thread, within a framework of considered materiality, the artists in this exhibition explore the optics of restriction and expansion as applied to space and surface. Through nuanced direction and quiet revelation, the work in surface to air asks the viewer to consider the power and depths of solitary constituents which, through their interactions, seek to evolve into a cognitive, yet ever-expanding whole.

Opening Friday, November 25, 7pm

Deluge Contemporary Art
636 Yates St.

Phone:250 385 3327

Watch video of the opening

Sandra Doore: Horizontal Desires

2011-11-22T01:02:00.001-08:00

by Christine Clark

I went to see Sandra Doore’s work, Horizontal Desires, at Xchanges. 3 times. The first and third times, the work had been removed to give room to the weekly life drawing sessions which take place in the gallery at Xchanges, leaving to see only three perfect holes in the ceiling and three perfect ceiling-hole sized plugs screwed into the floor. Nothing else, just remnants in a white room and little scattered bits of fluffy stuff, maybe insulation or something.

During my second visit, which was on a Saturday, during official gallery hours, I did indeed see the installation in its entirety. Three silver poles wedged between the holes in the ceiling and the plugs on the floor. And three bulging shapes. In a white room, nothing else, but bits of fluff scattered about on the floor.

People told me, before I went, that the work was very sexy. People told me this in the slightly breathless voices of early arousal. I remembered that some of Sandra Doore’s previous work incorporated panties and that they looked a bit like large grey penises encased in lace, some kind of man/woman blend suggesting intercourse or maybe cross dressing or the Transgendered.

But Horizontal Desires, no. If this is sexy, I wonder what is sexy? There are three shapes on silver poles in a white room, with bits of fluff on the floor. Extending from the top of each shape is a tunnel of wrinkled material clasping each pole, like vaginas encasing and giving, in rhythm, to the thrust of a cock, but the shapes are not women (or men for that matter).

The shapes are smooth and softly curving, the textures soft and varied like perfect skin. It’s easy to say yes, they are bodies, women’s bodies, they are sexy, clinging to poles, but I cannot. I feel resistance. They are not women’s bodies. They are not women. They are not sexy. They are disembodied, they are nothing but shapes with random, disfiguring splotches of stitching, clinging to silver poles.

The stitching is horrific. It makes me feel disgusted. It’s ugly and crazy. It scares me; it’s so relentlessly disordered, crossing and looping and making tangled senseless lines, completely useless. Who sews like that, unless you are a child, an impatient, stupid, greedy child?

I saw the installation with a friend, her 14 year old daughter and her daughter’s friend. Later in the car, the girls told me about a movie they’d seen where women were sewn together, mouth to ass, so that food became shit and shit became food.

It’s not sexy. There’s sickness there instead. I don’t know why. It’s so much bigger and endless than anything I could write in words on this page for this website. And maybe no one would care anyways.

There is some need perhaps. Some need for resistance.

--

http://artinvictoria.com/

Stefan Thompson at the Fifty Fifty Arts Collective

2011-11-15T20:12:00.001-08:00

Fantasy Bears is a series of new illustrations by Stefan Thompson. The work has been put together over the late summer and early fall of 2011, which included his traveling time from Ottawa to the West Coast. The pieces are made with a focus on using Eco-friendly and or 'nontoxic' alternatives to conventional art materials. Beeswax, soot, crayons, recycled paper and homemade paints factor heavily into the work of Fantasy Bears.

To learn more about making paints that are more environmentally friendly you can visit his website at www.stefanthompson.com.
To see previews of the work , his newest pieces are displayed at www.stefanthompson.deviantart.com.

Opening reception November 24th 7 - 10pm
Runs through to December 8th

Watch video of the opening

Jan Jonson retrospective at Collective Works Gallery

2011-11-15T19:59:00.001-08:00

Watch video of the opening

Birgit Priskor gallery sale

2011-11-15T19:52:00.001-08:00

"The 500 show " at Luz Gallery

2011-11-15T19:49:00.001-08:00

THE FIVE HUNDRED SHOW

Thursday November 17th 6 - 8 p.m.

Featuring 13 of the Red Gallery Artists -

All works will be $500 or less including HST.

Please join us and support your local artisans.

Over 75 wonderful artworks make excellent gifts of joy!

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: butt . davison . evamy . fields . kowalyk . litton . lowden-pidgeon . melville . pfeiffer.

schappy . shields . thorarinson-betts . yardley

Show Runs: November 15 - December 24

Red Art Gallery 2033 Oak Bay Ave Tuesday - Saturday Noon to 4 pm

www.redartgallery.ca

" Imprint " at Luz Gallery

2011-11-15T19:44:00.001-08:00

Politics, sex and a few stops in between by Philip Willey

2011-11-11T10:41:00.001-08:00

Sandra Doore

GJ Pearson

Heather Keenan

Luis Merino

Tim Schumm

Government Street was occupied by the People’s Assembly of Victoria on Saturday and I had to pass through protestors to get to Madrona Gallery. Perhaps bankers are worried… as well they should be….but it’s hard to tell how the protests were resonating with the mainstream. The general public appeared sympathetic but it will take more than that for numbers to grow. Most people just seemed mildly curious.Inside the gallery no politics were in evidence. Michael Warren has mounted a show of young artists from Cape Dorset…..but it isn’t quite what you’d expect. Times have changed. The community still makes beautiful carvings and stone-block prints but younger Inuit artists are dealing with modern reality in their own unique way. They may be remote but they are far from unconnected. This is a chance to see fascinating work by a new generation. The challenge for them will be in preserving the mystique.

There is lots of interesting art at View Art Gallery. G.J. Pearson’s whimsical creations are the main feature but there’s work by other gallery artists and guests. It’s called the Toy show and it deserves a long review. I did make a few notes but with so many artists in the show I just didn’t feel up to it.

Then outside Winchester Galleries on Humbolt I spotted somebody who looked just like Luis Merino! Yep it was him alright…..same bushy hair and beard, same twinkle in the eye. I can report that he looks well and so does his recent work, mostly painted in Baja. Anyone familiar with Merino will recognize the elements immediately. There are no great artistic breakthroughs here…the chess pieces are new to me but the women, guitars, bottles are all reassuringly Merino. The colour and vitality are as strong as ever.

And up at the other Winchester Gallery are some dynamic landscapes by Tim Schumm. Dramatic composition and the way he balances light areas with dark give Schumm’s paintings a visual strength not often seen in the landscape genre.

Heather Keenan’s new work at Martin Bachelor Gallery is impressionistic at first sight but she also seems to be searching for the essence of things. In her statement she talks about ‘erasing and building until a storyline emerges’ as if allowing a subconscious almost metaphysical process to take over. There is clearly a debt to Turner here and French Symbolists like Redon and Moreau though Keenan is generally less specific in her subject matter, perhaps wanting to isolate the precise point where the impression becomes abstract much as Monet did in his later work. In one group of paintings, which reminded me of Dore’s illustrations for Dante, figures migrate and gather across the canvas against ethereal backgrounds reflecting what Keenan calls her ‘sense of the universal collective. Ultimately mysterious and unknowable.’ With these new paintings Keenan certainly seems to have struck a rich vein.

Lastly, suffering somewhat from art overload, I found my way into Xchanges where I was confronted by some distorted torsos impaled on chrome poles. A sort of Francis Bacon strip joint you could say. Definite sexual connotations here I thought…but it was probably just my dirty mind (smiley). Fortunately Sandra Doore was there to put me straight. Sandra is very articulate. She didn’t deny the sexuality of the work but that was by no means the whole story. She described the forms as props she uses to illustrate a concept.
Actually several concepts. The title of the show, Horizontal Desires, is inspired by tango dancing. The desire to free oneself from feelings of repression. She sees society as supine, horizontal, easily manipulated by the vertical i.e. the media. Then there’s the consumerism element and the way human sexuality is used to make people buy things. Sex sells. It can also bring down governments.

Doore likes juxtaposing opposites…the serious versus the ridiculous, ugliness versus beauty, pleasure versus pain. She also likes to make people think. From the manipulation of primal instincts to the stitching of weather-proof fabrics….there’s a lot going on here….far more than I can do justice to in a couple of paragraphs.

Nov. 2011

Exhibit "Never Dine Alone - Surreal Friends"

2011-11-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

" Never Dine Alone - Surreal Friends "

Nov. 5 to 13, 2011

at the Sculpture Studio

211 Harbour St., Victoria, BC Canada

Henry Shimizu at The McPherson Library - Uvic

2011-11-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

IMAGES OF INTERNMENT: PAINTINGS BY HENRY SHIMIZU

In 1999, Dr. Henry Shimizu created a series of oil paintings based on his
life as a teenager in the New Denver Japanese Internment Camp, BC, from
1942 to 1946. Images of Internment is an attempt to highlight the
activities and lifestyle of the internees in this camp; they are the
memories of a teenager and his friends.

According to Shimizu, despite isolation from mainstream Canadian Society
during this time, the development of young Japanese Canadians progressed
in almost the same pattern as any other Canadian teenager. One would have
thought that this internment experience would have embittered this group
and led to widespread despair and depression. Instead, says Shimizu, they
came away from the experience more determined to be successful Canadians,
contrary to the intention of those who promoted and carried out this
injustice of internment and exile.

Shimizu will also present a lecture on Nov. 23 at 3:30 p.m. titled " A
Journey to the Past and Present: The History of the Japanese-Canadian
Internment in 1942 to 1946; Life in the New Denver Internment Camp" at the
Mearns Centre adjacent to UVic Archives.

This free exhibition runs November 19, 2011, to February 2, 2012, at the
Maltwood Prints and Drawings Gallery on the lower level of the McPherson
Library, University of Victoria.

For more information, please visit uvac.uvic.ca

TJ Watt and Don Denton at Dales Gallery

2011-11-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Photographers TJ Watt of the Ancient Forest Alliance and Don Denton are teaming up for a photographic exhibit focusing on the coastal rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. The two present images of this quintessential West Coast landscape in very different, yet complementary ways.

Opening Reception : Wed., Nov. 9th 7 - 9 pm

537 Fisgard St.

250.383.1552

www.dalesgallery.ca

Craig Sibley at Slide Room Gallery ( V.I.S.A. )

2011-11-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

Artist Talk with

Craig Sibley is the owner and director of Trench Gallery in Vancouver. Prior to art school and after, Sibley explored a variety of occupations some of which included becoming a Journeyman Baker, an Urchin Diver, a forestry worker, a Yacht Salesman and an entrepreneur. As an artist he was represented in Vancouver by Bjornson Kajiwara as well as Winsor Gallery. He has exhibited throughout BC and was awarded a public sculpture commission for Kelowna, in 2005. Sibley sees his current project Trench as a way of letting his life speak and being able to make a broader contribution to the visual arts and its supporting community. Craig Sibley received his BFA from The University of Victoria majoring in sculpture and art history.

Wednesday Nov. 9, 2011 @ 7 pm
Slide Room Gallery
2549 Quadra St. Victoria, BC Canada

Doug Jarvis at G++ Interactive Media Gallery

2011-11-09T02:10:00.000-08:00

Kate Scoones at Polychrome Fine Arts Gallery

2011-11-09T01:48:00.000-08:00

The cliché phrase "Wish You Were Here" reflects a desire; a nostalgic yearning for something else, such as one's childhood, a first love or better hair! Kate Scoones paints in response to this desire. Scoones' imagery is often sourced from vintage b&w photographs which lay bare the personal and the poetic of the everyday snapshot, exposing unintended awkward moments of self-consciousness. She mixes a colour palette influenced by 1950s film noir artwork; holiday postcards and Kodak slide film. Often beginning with a wood panel of a discarded painting, she will sand and rebuild the paint several times resulting in a worn and scarred yet smooth surface. Her intention is to create a visual experience of sweetness which has been eroded away, of banality that has been transformed and of a time which has past.

Christmas in November at the Sooke Harbour House

2011-11-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

Linda Molloy,Elizabeth Allen,Elma Tankink and more at the 4th Annual Christmas Show

2011-11-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

Linda Jane Schmid & Nancy Dolan at Studio 16 1/2

2011-11-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

Evan locke at The Ministry of Casual Living

2011-11-09T01:32:00.000-08:00

Island Artisans Association at The Da Vinci Center

2011-11-09T01:25:00.000-08:00

Sandra Doore at Xchanges Gallery

2011-11-09T01:21:00.000-08:00

Tanta Pennington – November 2011 – Artist of the Month

2011-11-03T12:44:00.001-07:00

Euphoria Mixed Media 36" x 30"

Jubilation Mixed Media 36" x 36"

Tanta DeStaffany Pennington is an international artist based in Victoria, BC and is a Fine Arts Diploma graduate from the Vancouver Island School of Art. Tanta has exhibited work in the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria International Airport, The Victoria Conference Centre, and various galleries, bistros,
and cafes throughout town. Art enthusiasts in Western Canada, Hawaii, Singapore, and Italy have privately collected her work.

Tanta’s practice includes painted relief structures using materials such as wire, wool, screws and objects made from metal, wood, and plastic fastened on canvas supports. Currently, she is focused on exploring a range of scales and formats including abstract watercolour paintings, installation, and canvas relief structures.

While Tanta’s curriculum vitae shows her diversity, there are two upcoming noteworthy events; from December 3 to 11, she will be a Canadian representative as a contemporary artist at the International 2011 Florence Biennale, joining artists from 84 nations. She is also the Artist in Residence, at The Oswego Hotel
in Victoria, BC.

www.tantapennington.com
tanta@shaw.ca
tantapennington.wordpress.com

Jenn Robins, Melanie Furtado, Leigh Peirce, Samantha Mann, Nancy Murphy, Kelly Dabous and Cara Makinga @ Scupltor's Studio

2011-11-03T11:37:00.000-07:00


Opening Reception: Nov. 17 6 to 8 pm

Marnie Miiler & Deryk Houston at Goward House Gallery

2011-11-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Opening Reception: Sun. Nov. 6 - 1:30 to 3:30 pm

“ Munch at St. Charles “

2011-11-02T10:07:00.001-07:00

Cool display on a front yard on St. Charles St. – Victoria, BC

Mary-Lynn Oglvie,Anne Vaasjo and Laurie Tzathas at Cinder Block Gallery

2011-11-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

" The Toy Show " at View Art Gallery

2011-10-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

Luis Merino at Winchester Galleries Modern

2011-10-29T17:32:00.000-07:00

" Baja Paintings " - Opening Reception: Sat.Nov.5,2011 - 2 to 4 pm - 758 Humboldt St.

Small Works at Eclectic Gallery

2011-10-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Tim Schumm at Winchester Galleries on Humboldt

2011-10-29T17:00:00.001-07:00

" Seven Milles "

Nov. 5 to 26, 2011

Opening Reception : Sat. Nov. 5 - 2 to 4 pm

796 Humboldt St.

Isa Sevrain & Pete Rockwell at Collective Works Gallery

2011-10-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

David Blackwood at Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay

2011-10-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

" New Watercolours "

Nov. 5 to 26, 2011

Opening Reception: Sat. Nov. 5 @ 1pm to 5pm

2260 Oak Bay Ave.

25 Years of The Island Illustrators Society

2011-10-28T16:37:00.001-07:00

Peekaboo at the Opening Reception for their exhibit celebrating their 25 Anniversary as a society .

The Exhibit runs until Nov. 27, 2011 at The Gallery Café @ Cedar Hill Rec. Centre – 3220 Cedar Hill Rd.

" Bring A Friend Art Event 2 " - School House Studio Artists

2011-10-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

Allison MacTaggart at The Lab Gallery - AGGV

2011-10-26T19:25:00.000-07:00

Coastal Expresions at The Coast Collective Gallery

2011-10-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

Looking In: The Art of Viewing by Mieke Bal - October 2011 – Book of the Month

2011-10-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

Mieke Bal is one of Europe's leading theorists and critics. Her work within feminist art history and cultural studies provides a fascinating alternative to prevailing thinking in these fields. The essays in this collection include Bal's brilliant analyses of the:

Myth of Rembrandt, Imagery of Vermeer, Baroque of Caravaggio, Neo-Baroque of David Reed Culture of the museum, Visual representation of rape, Closet in Proust

Bal brings a keen visual sense to these studies, as well as an understanding of how literature represents visuality and how the ethics and aesthetics present within museums affect the cultural artifacts displayed.
In his engaging commentary, eminent art historian Norman Bryson shows how Bal's original approach to the interdisciplinary study of art and visual culture has had wide- reaching influence.
www.amazon.ca

Hiromi Suzuki & Minori Dewa at Collective Works Gallery

2011-10-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

Collective Works Gallery

1311 Gladstone Ave.

Victorira, BC Canada

Heather Keenan at Martin Batchelor Gallery

2011-10-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

New Work by Heather Keenan

Opening Saturday, November 5, 2011

2:00 - 6:00 PM

Exhibition continues until Thursday, December 1, 2011

MARTIN BATCHELOR GALLERY

712 CORMORANT STREET, VICTORIA 250-385-7919

OPEN MONDAY - SATURDAY, 10:00am to 5:00pm

Jillan Valpy at The Ministry of Casual Living

2011-10-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

Jillan Valpy

Sky Magnitude

October 23^rd to 27^th, (just one short week.)

Please attend:

Closing Reception

Thursday, October 27^th 7 to 10 pm

(Dress warm)

Ministry of Casual Living

1442 Haultain St.

Morgana Wallace at Olio Cooperative

2011-10-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

Morgana Wallace has a special place for fantasy and children’s books. In her work she uses water colour, paper collage & mixed media to create striking and soft pieces of mythology. Her pieces tell small pieces of much larger stories with vivid detail.

MASK & MIRROR OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, NOV. 4th • 7:00PM – 11PM • BY DONATION

614 1/2 Fisgard St.

Victoria, BC

Phyllis Serota a book launch " Painting my Life " at AGGV

2011-10-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ramona Struthers at the Fifty Fity Arts Collective

2011-10-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Paper Shell is a collection of modular origami works by Ramona Struthers. The pieces in Paper Shell celebrate handmade craft and explore the potential of paper as a structural material.

Ramona is interested in geometric structures and in the permutation of line, colour and text. The pieces in this show are made using pages from old books. In doing this, Ramona creates original juxtapositions of text; playfully questioning traditional definitions of literary interpretation.

This is Ramona's first showing of origami work. She has previously published poetry in Edmonton's Notebook Magazine. Other written work has previously appeared in Vancouver's Memewar magazine, and in the Paper Shell anthologies at UBC Okanagan. She has a Bachelor's Degree in English.

Opening Reception: October 27th, 7-10pm
Runs through to November 17th

2516 Douglas St.
Victoria, BC.

" Contemporary North " at Madrona Gallery

2011-10-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Jan Johnson - " Reprostective Work " at Collective Works Gallery

2011-10-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

Mark Schmield exhibit - " Strange Fruit in Ghostland " - at Polychrome Fine Arts

2011-10-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

2011-10-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

An artistic collaboration between Grade 11 GNS Art Students and Elders from Shannon Oaks Retirement Residence

RED Art Gallery

2033 Oak Bay Avenue

*Show runs October 12 - 29. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday Noon to 4 p.m.

The Ministry of Casual Living last call !!

2011-10-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

We are looking for artist interested in doing 24 hour art shows at The Ministry for the month of November - this is your LAST CHANCE to show At MOCL - 1442 Haultain Street!!!!
There will be an opening every single night for this month - and we would love to show your work! This will be part of our "BURNOUT" event - come and enjoy the party!
Please send us - a short statement of proposal - and a picture of your work!
ministryofcasualliving@gmail.com

Thank You!
MOCL

" A Traveling Exhibition " at Open Space - curated by Peter Morin

2011-10-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Oilspill: the Inevitability of Enbridge
Marianne Nicolson Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations
Acrylic on wood, 2011

There will be 11 indigenous artists exhibiting, one artist per month in different parts of the gallery.Exhibit starts October 18, 2011 and goes to August 2012.

Out of The Mist Gallery " Two Chilcotin Baskets and The Horse " exhibit

2011-10-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

Dorothy Field at Martin Batchelor Gallery

2011-10-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Oak Bay Artists' Studio Tour - Fall Edition - 2011

2011-10-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Island Illustrators Society celebrating 25 years of sucess - exhibit

2011-10-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

The Cafe Gallery

Cedar Hill Rec. Centre

Oct. 25 to Nov. 27, 2011

Opening Reception: Thurs. Oct. 27 - 7 to 9 pm

3220 Cedar Hill Rd. Victoria, BC

“ In search of the absurd “ by Philip Willey

2011-10-18T19:13:00.001-07:00

Steve Chmilar, Horst Loewel, Brad Pasutti and Haren Vakil make up a group show at the AGGV Massey Gallery called Art of the Delightfully Absurd. None of these artists are easily labeled but bringing them all together in one place makes for an interesting little group show. In fact it’s hard to isolate a common factor shared by these four artists beyond a taste for the surreal.

I thought Chmilar’s work could best be described as social satire. He employs a meticulous technique that must be incredibly time consuming. The paintings have a 16^th Century Flemish/Dutch texture. Breughel and Bosch come to mind. The settings are dreamlike, the characters are from a parallel world and time. If there is an underlying message here it’s the inequality of wealth. Rich people dangle carrots, poor people do the donkey work.

Horst Loewel deals with specifics much as Dali does by placing familiar objects in an unfamiliar context. The viewer is drawn into the paintings by a mandala-like symmetry and taken on a journey. Lush welcoming landscapes, clouds, waterfalls create a heightened reality verging on the psychedelic. Loewel describes his work as fantastic surrealism. There is something didactic about the work that obliges the viewer to reflect on his or her own consciousness.

Brad Pasutti’s work looked a little out of place I thought. Certainly it leans to the surreal but Pasutti seems more concerned with time, space and the realization of ethereal ideas. It makes him difficult to pin down but in his statement he cites artists like Matta and de Chirico as prominent influences. Finely focused objects and vaguely defined areas create a tension between foreground and background. Perhaps because of this multi-dimensional approach it’s easier to see Pasutti as a classicist rather than a surrealist. One painting in particular…a large work called Echoing The Architecture of Thought seems to embody all his major concerns.

The artist that best fits the description of absurd is Vakil. His figures are human but with various anthropomorphic features. In his statement he talks about the juxtaposition of unrelated elements and describes himself as an obsessive doodler….one thing follows another. His paintings are playful with no immediately apparent meaning. He creates puzzles which the viewer is invited to solve.
The delightfully absurd title may not suit them all but as a group show it works fairly well. Mica Marsh the curator has responded to the elements the four artists have in common….a desire to communicate their feelings through an alternative reality. - watch video -

There is some interesting work by Sarah Houghton at Exchanges. Sarah was exhibit-v artist of the month back in February this year. In a comprehensive statement about her work she talks about the disconnect between her public and her private lives. The actual physical process would seem to involve emphasizing marks and imperfections in the field, adding touches of colour, scraping, then introducing minute areas of writing. These writings are her uncensored thoughts. From a distance these written areas look like grey paint and the writing is so small as to be almost indecipherable. Perhaps it’s meant to be. Emotions are incorporated into the work. An ongoing personal record is created. Houghton’s intensity is palpable.
- watch video -

It’s been a good year for the Xchanges balcony. Back in May Helen Rogak, Betty Meyers, and Cheryl McBride transformed it with tar paper and paint. Later Christine Clarke’s vultures flew down from Deep Cove. It’s a conceptually challenging space and now it’s Deborah Alanna’s turn to tackle it. She has hung out some laundry. Clothes dipped in plaster of Paris to be precise. It’s about being frank, letting it all hang out, exposure. And by some curious piece of synchronicity she has been watching a film about the Franklin Expedition and the poor souls who died of exposure in the Arctic. - watch video -

So there we stood in the parking lot behind the Dairy Queen looking up at a balcony. LED lights in the frigid laundry stared back at us like a row of eyes. A very strange experience. Debora Alanna never disappoints.

October 2011