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.

En Masse - Full Circle

Was it only yesterday that En Masse has a mega coming out party that epic Nuit Blanche at Galerie Pangée?
Hella no!!
This ever morphing collective art project celebrated their five years with a big birthday party- Station16 styles.  Have you ever seen a vernissage with a line up? Me neither, at least until this night came along.  So a toast to En Masse for blowing up and bringing this crazy, black and white collab party to the Montreal masses (and beyond)!

 

 happy art goers

.

 

wall detail-so much to see

.

love this, will take a print please

.

last look-installation view

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

.

garbagebeauty trunk and prints

.

oyster collab

.

zema up close

.

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

.

editions of prints by stikki peaches, labrona and whatisadam

.

botkin

.

botkin creature on a wall

.

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

DJAB x En Masse

Your favourite art collective and mine (with love here), En Masse have been getting busy.  In fact they've been blowing up since their giant coming out party during Nuit Blanche that February of 2009.  More recently, members of the collective have returned to lend their artistic hands to La Maison Simons' streetwear division DJAB for their spring 2013 campaign.  Given the direction of a Japanime/manga smorgasbord, the artists veered from their characteristic black and white images to throw down a very colourful mural.

a composite of the mural (can you see the seam?)

RRAWR! Godzilla battle for Tokyo

Not quite Hello Kitty

Treeline

Detail: steady hands, steady circles

Anyone remember the DJAB Escape Artist series?  It was a limited edition series of t-shirts designed by serveral grafitti/lowbrow/street artists back in 2008.  Many of these artists have also contributed their talent on En Masse walls. It all comes full circle sometimes...

Lifetime Collective

I got to peruse the fall/winter12 collection of Lifetime Collective, a laid back west coast line with dotted with the street/skate/art collab vibe, if I may boil it down in a couple of words.  While there are snow tires are still on my car, here is a taste of next fall.

Above is a super cozy cable knit grandpa style cardigan and a detail of a knit motif that appeared in scarves and sweaters.

The jacket above was a my favourite piece from the men's line, on me it became an oversize shell that would be easy to layer with sweaters in the fall.  (I know it's not even summer yet! And we're talking about fall!)

A shot of some images in Lifetime Collective's zine.  Want to play the six degrees of Montreal connection? Ok, so the zine's launch party will take place at the HVW8 art + design gallery in LA. HVW8 (Heavyweight) was a crew of artists from Montreal that toured doing live art installations.  Bam! That was barely three degrees of separation!
Just for fun here's some vintage Heavyweight paraphernalia that I have kicking around:

Also in the showroom were the footwear from Generic Surplus, these spotted and floral beauties were an Obey collab, just hanging out with their zine.

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.