mini interview and stuffs

Very quick update, just on my way out of the apartment.

I did a fun mini interview with Toronto artist Tara Krebs the other day, you can see it here. You can see move interviews and a bunch of her work on the rest of her blog.

Also, I forgot to post these awhile back, two of the group shows I was involved in over the last few months were reviewed by Magenta Magazine, Jamiyla got a nice mention and image in one. You can see them here and here.

Artist talk at TSA, benefit auction, new piece, tattoo

Hey Everyone, just a couple of things.

This Wednesday I'll be doing a talk at the Toronto School of Art for the 'I do my own stunts' artist talk series. It's pay-what-you-can, there will be beer for sale, and I'll be talking about my work and showing some images that go back as far as 1992 (I was 11) and some will be as recent as half an hour before I leave my studio to go do the talk. Come on out of you are free, here is the facebook page, below is the poster.

The next thing is a fundraiser I am taking part in in Naples Italy. It is a benefit auction for Mattia Amf Onlus Fagnoni, a young boy born with Sandhoff Syndrome, a generic, degenerative and lethal disease. Very little is known about the disease, and there is no standard treatment, and the disease is lethal. In fact, Mattia is the only person in Italy suffering from the disease, which made it extremely difficult for his parents to have him diagnosed and to figure out his needs. They have started a foundation to raise awareness of the disease, and to generate money to go towards research and to help the families of children suffering from it. There are over 1000 works available for auction, and over 800 artists participating. You can visit their facebook page if you would like to learn more, the auction starts Tuesday. If you are in or around Naples, it seems like it is going to be a massive event.


Here is a piece that has actually been finished since the winter. I didn't want to post it though because it was a gift for the girlfriend of the person who bought it, so I didn't want to post it too soon and potentially ruin the surprise. It's 18" x 24".


The last thing is this tattoo that India Amara Nicholls of The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop recently did. I think it turned out fantastic. I'm not sure who had it done, but if you read this, thank you.

Rudele Artist Residency

My friends Srdjan Segan and Jenny Wing Yee Tong are organizing a fundraiser to support Rudele Artist Residency, Srdjan's artist residency he is setting up in Croatia. There is a lot of great work in it, and I have a few prints. The invite and press release is below. There is also a blog featuring the works available.

Dear friends in the art community,

I would like to invite you to an art exhibition and silent auction I have organized. Happening this Saturday, April 9 at Lonsdale Gallery from 7-10, the event will fundraise in support of RUDELE ARTIST RESIDENCY - an art residency I am founding in Dalmatia.

The evening will feature a silent auction of donated artworks: drawings, prints, photos, paintings and sculptures given very generously by artists in support of my project of creating a venue for artists to convene and create projects in my ancestral home in the rural village of Rudele, Croatia, which had withstood partial destruction during the civil war of the 90s and has since been reconstructed.

The residency had its inaugural run in summer 2009, and will reconvene August 20 – September 6, 2011. The funds raised will go toward supporting home-cooked meals, supplies and local travel costs for participating artists.

To preview some of the artworks you can visit the Rudele Artist Residency's blog at

http://rudeleartistresidency.blogspot.com

or view the event at Lonsdale Gallery's news page at

http://www.longsdalegallery.com/news/

There will be refreshments and a presentation about the residency at the exhibition. Artists who are exhibiting and/or have generously donated work:

Aleks Bartosik

Erik Jerezano

Ilyana Martinez

Jenny Wing-Yee Tong

Joshua Choi

Jesus Mora

Julie Oakes

Kevin Bishop

Luke Painter

M. Eileen Murray

Michael Farnan

Momir Bulovic

Nahum Flores

Nicolas di Genova

Olga Dermendji

Oscar de las Flores

Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo

Ortanza Moraru

Rita Camacho Lomeli

Robert Farmer

Srdjan Segan

Stanzie Tooth

Tyler Bright Hilton

Victoria Cowan

Z’otz* Collective

I sincerely appreciate your interest and support and look forward to seeing you all.

Cheers,

Srdjan Segan

Japan Fundraisers

I'm taking place in a couple of auctions for the relief efforts in Japan here is the info:


Time: Tuesday march 29th at 7:00pm - Wednesday March 30th at 2:00am

Location:

The Great Hall

1087 Queen Street West

Toronto, ON

Our heart and minds are with the Japanese people and now its time for action!
The Toronto arts community felt the shock much like everyone else when images first started to appear on the news and stories through friends started to come in

Many of the artists have traveled to Japan as visiting artists or to study its rich culture and its embrace with nature and nurture. We have made many friends and built bridges through collabora...tions and deep friendship

Curator Rafi Ghanaghounian and Artist Daisuke Takeya are organizing a fundraiser event that will bring the arts community of Toronto together to support our friends in Japan both mentally and financially. All artists and performers will give their time and efforts for this very cause

This night will include musicians, artists, poets from both Canada and Japan. As well galleries have donated books and other items available for purchase

Thank you for your support!

Participating groups, sponsors and partners:
The Great Hall, GUU restaurant, K6cards, Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Japanese Visitors Association (JAVA), Nihongo Art Contest 2011, Toronto Artists Fund Raising, Orange LLP, Healing Japan, Hardboiledinc for doing our shirts!!

Special Thanks to: Kateryna Topol, Christine Seki

Participating galleries (more coming!):
OBorn Contemporary, Le Gallery, Show and Tell Gallery, Art Metropole, Koyama Press, Narwhal/Magic Pony, OUCHI Gallery NYC, Orbital arts

Participating artists (more coming!):
Howard Podeswa, Laura Horne, Fiona Smyth, Yuriko Kubota, Tomori Nagamoto, Winnie Truong, Nicholas Di Genova, Shigeko Okada, Keiko Tokushima, Ayako Bando, Sonomi, Kobayashi, Bernice Lum, Ron Loranger, Pierre Julien, Richelle Forsey, Jae-hong Ahn, Juno Youn, Miki Shinozaki, Keita Morimoto, Shinobu Akimoto, Yumi Onose, Shinya Kumazawa, Martin de la Rue, Joshua Choi, James Fowler, Martin Ouellette, Patrick DeCoste, Daisuke Takeya, Matt Evans, Martin Reis, Aisha Simpson, Harvey Chan, Peter Chan, Shary Boyle, Akira Yoshikawa, Rie Aikawa, Bud Fujikawa, Laura Adams,Tanya Reed, Dasar, REN, Amy Wong, Risa Kusumoto, Chrisopher Hayes

Participating performers:

Your MC's for the evening:
Rafi Ghanaghounian and Nana Akimoto

music:
Clara Venice and Ken Ogawa
Nobu Adilman: Choir!Choir!Choir!
Rambunctious featuring Michael Louis Johnson
Ashely Ingram

performance:
AKA Dance (Keiko Ninomiya, Amy Hampton, Mike Dell)
Natasha Bailey, Nayeon Kim, Adam Herst, Yumi Onose
VPV (Daisuke Takeya, Ayumi Sawada, Tatsu)

tea ceremony:
Tomori Nagamoto and Mika Sato

poetry by:
Ewan Whyte, Bonnie Bowman

DJ
Luis Jacob
Derek Mainella

Time: Thursday, March 31 at 12:00pm - April 5 at 8:00pm

Location: Gladstone Hotel, 2nd Floor

Narwhal Art Projects, Invisible-Friends and friends are excited to host Toronto Hearts Japan, a fundraiser for our far-away loves. Our hearts have been broken by news of devastated towns and people separated from their homes and families, and we want to help. This event lets all of us who feel a special connection to Japan lend a hand in our own way. All proceeds will be donated to The Red Cross and to helping rebuild the Birdo ...Flugas Artist Centre and Community in Shiogama.

Toronto Hearts Japan is an exhibition, silent auction, and two (count them!) parties at the beloved Gladstone Hotel (with DJ Paul E. Lopes and DJ Jun). Featuring works from local to international artists (and other surprises too), everybody can find a way to offer our hearts to Japan and help them soldier on.

Silent Auction Art Exhibition:
Thurs March 31- Tues April 5th
12-5pm daily, Gladstone Hotel 2nd Floor

OPENING RECEPTION
Friday April 1st
7-10pm

$20 admission (includes raffle ticket)
*Special one night only auction and raffle with art gifts and surprises*
With DJ Paul E. Lopes (Bump N' Hustle) & DJ Jun (Cr8apes.com, Invisible-Friends.com)


CLOSING RECEPTION
Tuesday April 5th 5-8pm
Winners of our silent art auction will be announced at 7pm. Art pickup from 7-8pm.

More info and art preview at: www.torontoheartsjapan.com

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PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Sonja Ahlers, Paul Aloisi, Nicholas Aoki, Stephen Appleby-Barr, Andrew Remington Bailey, Ashley Barron, Marc Bell, Diego Bergia, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Shary Boyle, Mat Brown, Robin Cameron, Tyler Clark-Burke, Trudie Cheng, Mark Connery, Robert Dayton, Taku Dazai, Brett Despotovich, Yuri Didrichsons, Nicholas DiGenova, Brian Donnelly, Dave Dyment, Shayne Ehman, Matthew Feyld, Melissa Fisher, Brendan Flanagan, Theo Gallaro, James Gardner, Shannon Gerard, Dana Gils, Heather Goodchild, Adrian Hayles, Sachi Hirano, Derrick Hodgson, Jay Isaac, Melinda Josie, Nathan Jurevicius, Adrienne Kammerer, Patrick Kyle, Christy Langer, Tessar Lo, Amy Lockhart, Jamiyla Lowe, Derek Mainella, Chris Martin, Derek Mainella, Megan McKenzie, Jason Mclean, Alex McLeod, Julie Moon, Jennifer Murphy, Alicia Nauta, Tibi Tibi Neuspiel, Noel Middleton, Luke Painter, Roula Parthenou, Sandy Plotnikoff, Brad Phillips, Katherine Piro, Andrew Pommier, Lauchie Reid, Tony Romano, Kathryn Ruppert-Dazai, Tania Sanhueza, Jennifer Rose Sciarrino, Seth Scriver, Emiko Sekiguchi, Germa Shible, Lisa Smolkin, Jordan Sonenberg, Jennie Suddick, Derek Sullivan, Team Macho, Jon Todd, Michael Toke, Celeste TooGood, Karen Tracanelli, Howie Tsui, Lara Vincent, Andrew Waite, Meichen Waxer, Jacob Whibley, and Balint Zsasko.

RAFFLE PRIZES FROM:
The Arcade Fire, Art Metropole, The Beguiling, Cabaret, Carte Blanche, Coupe Bizarre, Dark Horse, Fieldguided, Films We Like, Honeybea Designhive, Hunter & Cook, Jayna Corbett, Kid Icarus, Klaxon Howl, Koyama Press, Living Face Photography, Liz Milkau, Magic Pony, Ministry Of the Interior, Monster Factory, Robber, Sweet Bliss Baking Company, Sydney’s,The Ten Spot, Turning Point Training Methods/SBG Toronto, Warriors, (and the list keeps growing!)


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Drawing Now in Paris, Maclean's Magazine, and more stuff.

Here are a bunch of things I consider noteworthy. I should be making smaller posts more often, but I tend to forget to update my blog, until I have a bunch of things piled up...

The first thing is that I'll be participating in Drawing Now, a fair in Paris that is centered on contemporary drawing.

I'll be represented there by my gallery in France, Dukan et Hourdequin. The fair runs from March 25th -28th, you can check out more information here. Below is one of the pieces I'll be exhibiting, its pretty large, 24" x 24"...


If you click it it gets bigger, but I guess every knows that because computers have been around for so long.


The next bit of news is that I was mentioned, along with a picture, in an article in this week's Maclean's Magazine. The article revolves around the rising importance of an online identity in the art market. My friend Alex McLeod was mentioned as well, his art is fantastic. I was really happy to be included, there is something really legit feeling about being included in a magazine with such history here in Canada.

Here is the article online.


The next thing is that Jamiyla and I are now selling our prints through a really nice print shop in Paris called Sergeant Paper. You can check out our, and many other people's, prints there. They have some really nice stuff available.



Awhile back I posted about The Dazzle, a group show at Narwhal Art Projects that included myself and a bunch of my friends. The people at Narwhal just released a book containing much of the work in the show, you can purchase it at Magic Pony.



Ok, just two more things and then that's it. My friends Adrienne Kammerer and Jesjit Gill just released a book of Adrienne's drawings, its fantastic. Adrienne drew it and Jesjit printed it. I asked Adrienne how people should go about buying it, and she said to either contact Jesjit or get it from Magic Pony. It's an extremely limited edition, so if you want one, you should get it soon. Adrienne's going to take off soon, so it will probably be worth a lot of money in 10 years.


Ok, very last thing. My good friend Stephen Appleby-Barr has a solo show up at Nicholas Metivier Gallery here in Toronto. If you are in the city, you should check it out. It's a really great show. Stephen's a great guy, when I had nowhere to live a few years back, he let me sleep under his ping pong table for $50 a month. He lets me come to his studio sunday nights and we draw together. Well, we did last week, but I'm going to come every week from now on. Anyway, check it out, I was really impressed with the show, and apparently the public was as well, it sold out opening night.

Anyway, that's it, thanks for reading.

Group Show in London, NYC Art Fairs, New Interns

A few exciting things are coming up in March, here they are:


OK, NOW THE FLOOR IS LAVA! is a group show that my friend Tyler Bright Hilton from London (originally from Toronto) has curated. He's put a lot of hard work into finding some great artists and a great space. The opening is March 10th, below is the press release...

OK, NOW THE FLOOR IS LAVA!

Club Row – Rochelle School

Arnold Circus

London E2 7ES

11 March – 17 March 2011 (closed Monday)

Private View: Thursday 10 March 2011, 6-9pm

This exhibition collects the work of a group of artists whose practice focuses primarily on drawing. There is a shared ambition to create relevant contemporary art engaged and fuelled by a relationship with craft and narrative elements in a conceptually integrated way. Each artist is invested in creating their own environments, histories and stories, with content varying from entomological to autobiographical. Using a labour-intensive approach to craft, they aim to create a unique aesthetic married to, and further articulating, this content.

Given their developed use of rendering and immediately apparent debt to popular art forms such as classical Victorian era illustration or Marvel comic books, it can be challenging to position this type of work within a contemporary art setting. Comparisons can mistakenly be made with artists who have an interest in rendering but rely heavily on irony as a contemporising tool; or, who prize surface above innovation and believe industry can be equated with aesthetic or imaginative merit. The artists in this exhibition strive to avoid both.

The show’s title takes its name from a children’s game, where navigating through a space can only be done by moving from one piece of furniture, playground equipment, etc., to another without touching the floor, which is imagined to be lava. This simple metaphor refers to the imagined worlds represented in the work and playfully suggests the artists’ motivating impulse to progress through dangerous territory. One false move and it’s straight into twee illustration, tediously obsessive rendering, incomprehensibly idiosyncratic iconography or worst of all: thick, ironic, contemporary art discourse goo.

Including work by:

Alexander Brenchley

Nicholas Di Genova

Tyler Bright Hilton

Meaghan Hyckie

Amanda Nedham

David Price

James Pyman

Srdjan Segan

Andrew Wilson

It’s pretty easy to find:

I'll also be participating in two art fairs in New York at the beginning of the month, The Armory Show with Fredericks and Freiser Gallery, and Scope New York with Dukan et Hourdequin (who is in the process of relocating their gallery from Marseille to Paris)... If you are at the fairs, check out their booths. Both galleries show some incredible artists...

As I mentioned before, I now have two interns helping me out in the studio. They both fit in with the studio dynamic right away, and are great artists. Below are photos of them looking like they are having a really great time (although I think they were faking), and links to their respective blogs..

Melissa Luk

Vivian Rosas

Lastly, my studio mate Patrick was recently featured on the BMX website The Northern Embassy. Pat's been BMXing for years, but this feature focuses on his paintings, and a large part of the images are of our studio... Oddly, there are not a lot of images of his work, but there is a photo of his newest painting, his watercolours are amazing, and he's a great guy to share a studio with...

Here's the link.

And here's a painting of his.

Elle Canada

I have a small photo and mention in the March issue of Elle Canada in an issue on collecting Canadian art. The perfume ads gave me a headache when I read the article...