ÉGRÉGORE: YVES LAROCHE

Égrégore at Galérie d'Art Yves Laroche was a jam packed crazy confluence of all sorts of styles, artists, mediums and messages.  And somehow it all worked together: the lowbow, the pop surrealism, the graffiti or street art influenced and the classically trained brought forth a dynamic show that will be on Yves Laroche's walls until the 20th of December.

Click on the photo above to learn about the word "égrégore" or to marvel at the insane work of AJ Fosik's Nighttide for Idols (2012)

I checked out the show during the opening and will share a handful of faves here, but the show is massive! Worth an in-person visit, unless you can't make it/feeling lazy you can check out the online visit and start picking out works that will look great above your sofa.

Whoa! Upon walking into the gallery Dave Cooper's bronze Crittergirl (2014) is the first work that greets you.

Two beauties by Miss Van: Diablada (2014) and Lady Blue (2014)

Jeff Soto's Man (2014)

Ok, this piece isn't from Égrégore, but from the adjacent gallery Lacerte, whose space we ambled through during the opening.  Jean-Robert Drouillard's Mini Love Louve (2014) is barely a foot tall and was sitting on the floor.  I crouched down trying to take this image, causing another art reveler to almost trip over me.  Art party!

Back to the show! The insane awesome cardboard sculpture work of Laurence Vallières

Liam Barr's Wed to the Wheel (2014)

An Immaculate Conception (2014) by artist and friend Kevin Ledo.  I've had the pleasure of sharing gallery wall space with Ledo in the past and have seen his work evolve over the years, but still remaining distinct in his figurative style. We chatted about this evolution and getting ethereal with gold foil.

Regarding your new works (Arsenal, Yves Laroche, Muralfest) portraiture always remains strong and present and dominantly women, but recently you have integrated elderly faces and men, where did this direction come from?

I never really planned this progression, though I've been wanting to explore some new subjects and themes. Once I began painting murals I found that it was the perfect outlet for it.

The use of gold foil is consistent in your work and it first appeared as glowing halos in your Guiding Light (2006-10) series.  How has the use of the foil evolved and what does it represent to you now?

It still represents an ethereal energy in my recent work.  It is still speaking some of the same language that it did for me in older paintings, though it's not literally a halo anymore.

Any words you can share about you work in Égrégore?

That piece, like most of my recent work, wasn't planned to convey any particular idea before I began working on it.  I just went on feeling and a vague direction and then began understanding what it was about more and more as it progressed.  I titled it "An Immaculate Conception" because it seemed to me that that was what it was about.  There is a clear religious reference there, and the fact that it's "An Immaculate Conception" and not "The Immaculate Conception" plays with ideas surrounding Christian beliefs and how similar story lines were told in religions before Christianity existed."

Voilà, a little art insight for the day.  

These works and so much more on Yves Laroche's walls until December 20th.

ALLKIN:Jason Botkin, LNDMRK

Jason Botkin, Galerie Yves Laroche, LNDMRK ( some members formally of Safewalls), and Station16 have come together to throw down ALLKIN, the second show to take place at Projet Beaumont after the inaugural INSA show in August of last year. Phew! That's a lot of links yo.  I asked Botkin how this exhibit came to fruition with the the many minds invovled:

"I've had the pleasure to work with the guys of LNDMRK many times in the past through the EN MASSE project. [...] They are very active members of Montreal's artistic community, from an underground arts perspective. I was thrilled when they approached me to take part in this new initiative with them...a rare opportunity for me to settle down for a bit and focus on my own shit!! "

Yeah! Lots of love here. Let's get to the art now!

As a highly anticipated show, the opening was packed with parka covered art goers checking out the large scale masks, prints, and one giant-all in brilliant technicolour. The show veered away from Botkin's signature black and white palette which has characterized not only his work for the past ten years but also recalls his work as one of the founders of En Masse.

Being greeted by a gaping mouth

installation view, Botkin's wild oversized masks

While whimsical and slightly creepy upon first glance, when I learned that the large faces on the walls were indeed "masks" I was curious about what these figures represented. A few words from the artist:

"Masks, marionettes, and puppets intrigue me enormously. I've always been drawn to these theatrical artifacts. They are interesting ways of addressing identity, acting as ‘second skins’. [...]  Masks are tools which enable us to change identities and assume new personalities. I think we all feel a deep need to change ourselves and the environment around us. I guess these works allow me a chance to offer up a different sense of my ‘self’. Not necessarly a 'truer' sense, but one that is at least often hidden away from sight. "

yeah, even the floor is awesome

Adam from station16 giving me the EV (edition variant) print tour-thanks!

the colourful and sinewy giant

paint on wood detail

party bonus! pop on those 3D glasses and watch the colours closest to magenta and cyan come out at you!

Want to know more? Lots of love here and here.
Get your art on! Until the 29th of March (so no excuses!)

Underground art sale & OMEN

In the mid to late nineties I remember reading the Mirror's Best of Montreal polls and seeing Omen's name over and over in the graffiti category.  When we met for the first time in the mid-00's, I remember thinking to myself that I imagined him to be much older in my teenage mind.

The other day I met Omen in the afternoon to do a little art shopping.  The pieces that I was interested in were from the 2008 show So Low back when Gallerie Yves Laroche was down in Old Montreal.  The works were a series of small black and white paintings on Canadian Tire money.  We went down to a basement where the works were being stored.
By the light of Omen's mobile telephone, I picked out two pieces and took them home.
Sweet.

Safewalls

Yves Laroche Galerie D'Art hosted a Safewalls exhibit of the original works and prints of the new Cirque du Soleil poster art project.  The artists selected for the project hail from the broadly termed movement of "lowbrow art," which has its relations to street art, grafitti art, outsider art , diy art and surrealism (or pop surrealism if you like).  Whew! Did I cover all my bases?

I was very pleased to have almost pressed my nose up against the Ron English and Travis Louie pieces (his black and white Zarkana poster is above) and to gawk on their insane technique!  Merci beaucoup!  Now I would like to do the same to a Chuck Close please.