Connect4

This past week I was asked to help out at the merch table at the Connect4 vernissage.  The pop-up art show was brought together by the artists' themselves in conjunction with Mural Festival and Station16.  Alex Scaner, Kevin Ledo, Labrona, and Mathieu Connery busted out their works for an eager art-buying audience.

signature works by Alex Scaner

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Plantlife! Works by Mathieu Connery

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Left, sunflowers by Mathieu Connery  Right, a large Labrona (one of my faves!)

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and a quick stroll down St-Laurent to try to catch some of the art in progress.  Chain-link fence work by Fafi

ok, found another Labrona in a doorway.

Roadsworth for Amnesty International

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Winded down the art tour at Station16 where the insane felted works of Lucy Sparrow transformed a room in the gallery into Lucy Sparrow's Erotic Emporium: Le Sex Shop Feutré.  Holy moly EVERYTHING was made of felt!  From little condoms, to DVDs, porno mags, and giant butt plugs, all rendered in fuzzy felt giving the works caricature absurdity.  Do yourself a favour and check it out if you're in this fair city.

mural festival '14

This year's Mural Festival saw fourteen new walls go up along St-Laurent and surrounding side streets.  In addition to the remaining fourteen murals from the 2013 edition, the art installations and the usual street sale cacophony there was a lot to see and do.  Above: Alexis Diaz's intricate crosshatched creature.

I only caught Kashink's giant man-creature in progress-a repeat visit to view the final wall is in the plans.  Fun and colourful at first reading, dig a little more and learn that Kashink uses her art as activism with a sense of humour. Check out 50 Cakes of Gay and enjoy.

Oh man, this one is a good one.  This is Bezt from the Etam Cru.  I had a chance to sit and talk with Bezt while he contemplated the scarf's color and pattern which had gone through a couple of incarnations.  At first grey with pattern, then brown with flowers, an attempt at a skull motif followed before it became the textured brown scarf seen above.  Loving this.

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photo by mark unterberger

The above piece is by an awesome friend, artist Kevin Ledo whose portraiture skills just blow my mind.  The image is of an Edward Curtis photograph taken in 1923 of a Hupa woman.  Ledo's figurative body of work often focuses on feminine icons, divinity and holiness.  Ledo's newest wall fits right in.

I can't show the whole Mural Festival contingent to you, as these walls are way more amazing in real life, but if you're in Montreal you can find the rest here.

Station16 Gallery x Mural Festival

Mural Festival is a brand spanking new urban art affair that celebrates the artists that contribute to city landscapes.  In its inaugural year, LNDMRK has curated, as its main event, the production of over twenty murals up St-Laurent boulevard to be created by local and international artists.  Station16 hosted a pop-up gallery to showcase their screen printing prowess and original works by many of their collaborators.  Vernissage yeah!

 patrons add vernissage booze to the paint can display

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garbagebeauty trunk and prints

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oyster collab

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zema up close

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tava on canvas-who's got a red dot?

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editions of prints by stikki peaches, labrona and whatisadam

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botkin

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botkin creature on a wall

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look for nuggets of garbagebeauty's script up and down st-laurent