What Was 2010 (2 of 2)

Top readings for 2010:

David Sedaris's Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk—brilliantly illustrated by Ian Falconer and published by Little, Brown and Company.


Shawn Micallef's posts, commentaries, columns, articles and even a book (Stroll; Psychogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto) published by Coach House Press.


Slavenka Drakulić's They Would Never Hurt A Fly; War Criminals On Trial in the Hague. Published by Penguin Books.


Top listenings for 2010:

Britain's Wild Beasts. They make really really good records.
Thanks Adrian.


This is Michelle Gurevich's second record under the moniker Chinawoman. It's glorious.


I never got much exposure to Toronto's veteran band Constantines. So I'm looking forward to the bunch of records of theirs I'm still to discover. This one here played many times—confirmes my iTunes song play counter. Truly a wonderful record and band.


Photo of Shawn Micallef by Liz Clayton. Photo of Wild Beasts from www.dominorecordco.com.

What Was 2010 (1 of 2)

Here's a first nod to what made my 2010:

German Montana's new line of paints. High fives all around.


This here painted with Sight, which made both of our day that day. It sadly lasted no more than a week.


One of my favourite personal designs of 2010, the smoking Vanessa t-shirt.


Steve Ferrara and Lisa Martin—the folks behind Well and Good—took very good care of me in 2010. Besides "collaborators" and "facilitators of local and international talent", I'm happy to call them friends.


I realise that Andrea Arnold's film was released last year (2009) but Cindy and I caught it this year. Truly amazing.





Photos: Montana Gold from www.montana-cans.com; Steve and Lisa by Eugen Sakhnenko; Bushmills Black Bush from www.bushmills.com.

Work In Progress

Further on that obsession with coiffure... here are a few recent studies.

Reggie Pedro

Shown above are works by the late British artist Reggie Pedro. He remains mostly unknown, except to the rock group Gomez which frequently commissioned art from Pedro to adorn their record sleeves.

From top to bottom: Gomez (Bring It On, inner sleeve #2, 1998); Gomez (Liquid Skin, detail, 1999); Smiley (detail, 2000/01); Walk For Road (2004).

(RIP) Doris McCarthy

Doris McCarthy passed away last Thursday. She was 100. Here's from the CBC.

Above: Hoodoos at Dinosaur Park (1982).

Kehinde Wiley

Here are works by American artist Kehinde Wiley. These are incredibly precise and beautifully detailed photographs or large-scale oil paintings, all qualities that don't exactly translate well on the web. Lucky for all of us, he's busy and shows extensively. Read more about Wiley here and find his site here.

From top to bottom: The Virgin Martyr St. Cecelia (oil, 2008); After Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres' The Virgin with the Host (c-print, 2009); After Pontormo's Two Men with a Passage from Cicero on Friendship (c-print, 2009); Unity Painting (oil, 2010).

Brand New Mini

I've been toying with the idea of designing a version of my website geared exclusively for iPhone users. I made use of my discarded spray paint nozzles. On an iPhone, go here to see the showcase.

From top to bottom: Used spray paint nozzles (2004–ongoing). Site built by Ryan Taylor.

123 Klan and Vachon

Cindy and I spent the weekend in Montréal and while getting a few things from the store we found the re-designed Jos Louis boxes done by French artists Scien and Klor. The duo moved to Montréal in the late-2000's and opened for business using their original graffiti collective name 123 Klan. The Jos Louis boxes are adorned with one of their character Jay Louis, a French hip-hop gangster marionette. Catch up with what he's up to here. Find out more from the 123 Klan camp here.

Rebecca Ward

Here are works by Texas-born, Brooklyn-based artist Rebecca Ward. The installations she makes with duct or electrical tape are incredible. See for yourself.

From top to bottom: Newton Would Be Proud (2010); Stella Was Right (2010); Black Mountains (2009); Tape 3 (2006).

Work In Progress

Here's what's going on these days.

In Toronto

If you're in Toronto this month, try and catch these two exhibitions: David Hoffos, Scenes From the House Dream at Mocca and Shaun Gladwell, Portrait of a Man: Alive and Spinning/Dead As a Skeleton Dressed As a Mountie at Georgia Sherman Projects.

From top to bottom: David Hoffos, Scenes From the House Dream, Circle Street (2003); Shaun Gladwell, Composite Portrait As Boards (2010).

Love, Anna

The new Love, Anna record—The Cowboy Gods of Rockandroll—is available. Get it on iTunes. Photography by Cindy Blazevic.

At 52 McCaul

Sadly, 52 McCaul is closing at the end of the month. Well&Good, the duo comprised of Lisa Martin and Steve Ferrara, who are behind 52, will continue on without the massive space and with more accessible and community-based projects.

Anyway—and as a last blast, they've prepared a raffle of artworks done by many artists that have come and gone through their door. The idea is simple: You bid $20–$100 on an artwork, depending on the tender price tag, and when all tenders are sold, they pick a winner. The catch—it's is in your favour—the number of tenders per artwork are very low, 20 and under. Which makes the odds of ending up with an artwork for very little money very high. [sic]

Read all about that here, and browse the catalogue of artworks here.

Above: Roadsworth (Vulture Capitalism); Patrick Thompson (ADD with HD); Elicsr (Funnel Cake); Gene Starship (The Cause and Effect); Case [aka] Ryan MacKeen (Soft Ball); Pascal Paquette (My Drinking Has A Graffiti Problem).

Andrea Fraser

Drew Toal writes:
"There are plenty of people whose inner dialogues I would love, and perhaps kill, to see acted out. Schopenhauer, Jesus, Keanu Reeves... Is Andrea Fraser one of [them]?" continued.

Ironic, humorous, challenging, completely exposed, that's Andrea Fraser and her work—which are absolutely one. American-born, NY-based, her performances are cleaver, loud, socially relevant and holistically played out. More here and here.

From top to bottom: Projection (2008); Untitled (2003); Official Welcome (2003); Museum Highlights (1989).