Monday, January 30, 2017

Theresa Casey at Arcadia

Last Saturday afternoon John and I visited the opening of REMNANTS: New Work by Theresa Casey at the Arcadia Gallery across from Little Norway Park in Toronto.
 Casey, a friend of ours, is a brilliant interior designer as is immediately obvious when one enters the gallery.
She is also a deviously subtle artist.
 The inspiration for Remnants was the chance discovery of a set of slides at St Lawrence Flea Market
that led the artist to five years of development
of themes of birth
separation
and the fostering of orphans.
Casey kept a journal of collages as she developed her themes.
 Xerox copies of page spreads taken from the journal line one wall.
These provide the clearest statements of the themes of the show.
One delicate drawing hanging on its own wall left us wanting to see more graphic work.
John and I always get to openings early so that we get a chance to see the art 
and talk to the artist (Theresa Casey, right).
The last weekend for REMNANTS is this Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m to 4 p.m.  Show closes Feb 5th. Arcadia Gallery, 680 Queens Quay West (at Bathurst).

Friday, January 20, 2017

Francis Alÿs at the AGO

You can be forgiven for not having heard of the Belgian-born Mexican artist Francis Alÿs. But for decades he has been creating -- off the radar -- political, conceptual and performance pieces.
John and I recommend his latest exhibition The Story of Negotiation at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
 We loved the small paintings in Bridge (2005)
a collection paintings, models, drawings and videos
 set at the Straits of Gibraltar
and dealing with issues of immigration in a playful, imaginative way.
 Look for this line of boats made of cheap flip-flop shoes.
Around the corner you will see this video featuring a line of Moroccan children carrying the handmade boats into the surf
of the Straight of Gibraltar.
A set of videos observes Europeans looking at the coast of North Africa from Gibraltar
 and Moroccans looking toward Gibraltar. Fascinating differences of dress and body-language emerge.
  In Don't Cross the Bridge Before You get to the River (2008) we find the artist himself
co-ordinating a piece in which boat owners from Cuba and sailors from Key West, Florida attempt to reach each other across a bridge of boats.
We alternate between Cuban and American boat owners lashing their boats together.
On-screen flags identify the Cuban and American sides.
 Don't miss the film Tornado (2000-2010) in which Alÿs locates tornadoes in the post-harvest Mexican corn fields
and runs toward them with his hand-held movie camera.
The results are spine-tingling.
 We'll mention one more film -- REEL-UNREEL (2011).
 The setting is Kabul, Afghanistan where the Taliban had recently burned a number of films. (Happily they were copies of the originals.)
 Young Afghani boys are given films to examine
 and then to play with in the streets of Kabul.
Alÿs follows one boy who unwinds a reel of film as he runs.
Another boy runs behind winding the film back on to the reel. The innocent play of the young kids is touching in their war torn country.
 We'll leave you to contemplate another pair of videos.
Sometimes Doing is Undoing and Sometimes Undoing is Doing ( 2013) is set in Afghanistan and shows an Ajmal Maiwandi  soldier and a UK soldier efficiently cleaning their weapons. They both do it so well the effect is fascinating.
If you can, give yourself an hour or two to appreciate this exhibition. It will be time well spent. The Story of Negotiation continues at the AGO until April 2, 2017.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

At the Quattro Fontane in Rome

Bill and I climbed the Quirinal Hill to have a look at the Quattro Fontane.
Four hundred years ago an ancient Roman sculpture was placed at each of the four corners of the intersection of the Via delle Quatro Fontane and the Via del Quirinale.
The design of the intersection was a gift to the people of Rome.
It immediately filled with traffic of all kinds which continues to this day.
It took us a while to figure out
that what was keeping us from seeing the sculpture
was entertaining in itself.
Life goes on.
Explanations are made.
Modern Rome steals the show from old Rome.
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