© Ian Wallace, The Wall, Gandia II, 2009. Courtesy Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris / New York.

Ian Wallace, an artist and art historian, has been producing, teaching and leading the contemporary photographic art scene in Canada since the late 1960s. I only came across Wallace’s work last year when visiting the National Gallery of Ottawa. The image above was my introduction to his work and this past May Wallace was exhibited in Montreal’s biennale. I was excited to see a full room of his work.

My knowledge of the history of photography up to the 1960s, I would say, is pretty good but after those years I’m pretty scattered. I guess after that point it was simply my preference and style of photography that brought me to learn about specific photographers. Now I hit myself on the head in disbelief that I don’t know certain photographers or photo-based artists. Regardless, I still remember standing at Wallace’s image and just nodding. It was that rare moment of the “Ah Ha!” “Yes, that’s it” without really knowing what the “it” was, but more like feeling the “it”. At about that time I had started mulling over the question “what is photography?” Typically, Wallace laminates his photographs onto monochrome paintings on canvas and for me at that specific moment, that question resonated strongly because it wasn’t a photograph, it wasn’t a painting and it wasn’t an installation. This may seem simple as an explanation but seeing Wallace’s work, so clean and canny, it was like a switch was turned on and permitted me to ask more questions.

Wallace, not only played a critical role in contemporary photography but also taught the likes of Jeff Wall and Rodney Graham. Behind every great artist it seems that there is often somebody just as brilliant. Still influential with his work, Wallace exhibits internationally. There is a film of the three Vancouver artists that I would love to see, here is the trailer for Picture Start.

© Ian Wallace, Abstract Drawing with L’indifferent, 2009 Courtesy: Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris / New York.

© Ian Wallace, Untitled (at The Crosswalk Ii), 2007. Courtesy: Yvon Lambert Gallery, Paris / New York.

© Shirin Neshat in collaboration with Shoja Azari. Film still of "Women Without Men" 2009

When I first moved to Montreal, more than 10 years now, one of my first exhibits I remember going to was Shirin Neshat‘s retrospective exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Montreal. It was Wednesday free night at the museum and it was packed but Neshat’s work was just so incredibly striking that sitting on the floor watching Rapture, I was momentarily lost, alone and captivated in her work. That exhibit, the memory of how I felt watching her work has stayed with me all this time and Neshat remains a very favorite artist of mine.

© Shirin Neshat, Rapture, 1999, video still - Barbara Gladstone Gallery

A couple of months ago Neshat’s first feature film Women Without Men, based on Shahrnush Parsipur’s novel, was screened at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art. She was even there for an introduction to her film and a Q&A after the movie. After viewing the film, on my way home, I sat down and wrote some notes about the film and I’m happy I did (because now I can share this little bit with you!). Neshat introduced her film as a magical surreal genre and told the audience (I’m quoting her as close as I remembered that night) “Imagine your grandmother telling you stories, where things don’t make sense but because it’s your grandmother you believe her. Imagine me as your grandmother.”

The film was beautiful. The imagery, the story, the characters, the light, the entirety  of the movie was incredibly compelling and moving. Scenes are still lodged in my head, like Zarin planting paper flowers or Faezeh digging Munis from her grave and unveiling her face and the forest where the women find refuge. How I had felt some 10 years ago at my first introduction to Neshat’s work, in awe and visually enlightened, happened again while sitting in a small theatre.

Here is the official trailer of the movie. If this plays near you don’t pass up the opportunity to see it.

©Adam Magyar

This is a small detail of Adam Magyar’s panoramic work from his series Urban Flow. His images are captured on the streets of major cities with his self-developed digital slit-cam. The camera is like that of a photo-finish camera in a sports race. The objects need to be moving to be recorded so the lines in his images are actually buildings and non-moving vehicles – no photo manipulation here! Go now and check out his website to see these really interesting panoramas, the motion of the people and expressions are really impressive to see. (found via lens culture)

©Wawi Navarroza

Wawi Navarroza is a decorated artist, awarded with grants, residencies and exhibited throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. Her conceptual work is unique and stunning and just makes me want to see more. Her website is presently under construction but for now you can find a selection of her work on Flickr. I believe that this image is part of a larger body of work for the 100th year remembrance of Frida Kahlo, titled Santa Frida: 100 Años Entre Nosotros /100 Years Between Us.

Scarlett #2, 2005 ©Spring Hurlbut

Deuil from artist Spring Hurlbut is absolutely wonderful. She works with cremated remains and deals with death on a whole other level. She evokes humbleness through a plastic bag, through numbers and shapes. She creates constellation-like forms in a void of endless black as if setting the soul free. This series grows on you the more you observe and contemplate the process. These are truly touching and beautiful pieces of work.

Cloture,2007 ©Alain Bonder

©Julie Ouellet

Earthliness under clawed toes ©France Jodoin

Today i’m straying from photography. This past weekend in Montreal, the Paper art fair was on. So work with mainly painting and drawing. I went to the opening night and it was really crowded but did manage to see some really nice work. There was a small piece by Julie Ouellet, who is represented by Simon Blais Gallery. I really can’t wait till Julie’s website is launched. I’ve seen a show of hers and her work is so textured and minimalist, it’s really intriguing. I’ve really gotten into Alain Bonder’s work since the fair, he’s represented by the Orange Gallery. I was also reminded of Amelie Dejardins work, which is very stunning and is extremely particular how she mixes mediums. She is with Gallery Sas. But i think my new favorite is France Jodoin’s work. I had never seen her work before but i absolutely loved it. The tone of her paintings and the mysticism that she evokes is really beautiful. You can find her work at Beaux-Arts des Ameriques.

Mathieu Bernard-Reymond’s dreamy work,  his Disparitions series is really quite nice.

©Mathieu Bernard-Reymond

I love how Michael Corridore mixes his commercial and artistic work.

©Michael Corridore

Dorota Mytych’s work is absolutely beautiful, the detail is amazing.

©Dorota Mytych

Untitled(James Osterberg) 1970, 2004 ©Tim Lee

Yesterday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the winner of this years Sobey Art Award was announced.

Short listed were artist Daniel Barrow from Winnipeg, Terence Koh from Mississauga, Ont, Raphaëlle de Groot from Montreal, Mario Doucette from Moncton and Tim Lee from Vancouver.

Tim Lee is the artist that captivated the Sobey’s Curatorial Panel this year. “His work is a meditation on the unreliability of vision and the shifting nature of identity,”

Lee works with photography, video, text and sculpture, he reinterprets artists that have marked his life.“If you think about someone’s career — take that of Neil Young — you can think of several different moments in time that are tipping points into something new,” “My work is articulating my own creative abilities through theirs,” Lee said.

This is the type of work i like seeing in galleries or museums, i don’t think it ‘s possible to get something out of it through the net or even through books. Even if some of this work is photography i still feel more of sculptural aspect to it and i think i can only realte if i’m face to face with the work.

endangered_species, oil on canvas, 2007 ©Marc Seguin

A couple of months ago, i was in Toronto and stopped in at the Corkin Gallery. One of the exhibitors was Marc Seguin. I was really intrigued by his work and the rawness that he delivered. His pieces were quite big and i loved the empty space, the untidiness and the texture that he used. Not only is he visually interesting but his creations are politically aware and daring. Marc Seguin is an artist from Ottawa but now works between Montreal and New York. I just read on his site that he has a book out with Editions les 400 Coups tittled Survol Overview. I’ll be on the look out for that one, if anybody as seen it let me know what you think.

©Damien Hirst

Just read an article titled “Damien Hirst’s art ‘absurd’ and ‘tacky’, says critic Robert Hughes, in the London Telegraph. The article writes that if Hirsts‘ empire continues to grow at this rate that he will soon be worth more than auction house Sotheby’s. Now that’s an artist making money, he’s not looking for any federal grants. That’s for sure! Maybe he can buy an endangered species carcass and lather it up in gold next.

Yesterday i was listening to Q on CBC Radio 1, and host Jian Ghomeshi was interviewing Michael Tonello about his book Bringing Home the Birkin. A had no clue what a Birkin was but soon found out that it’s a bag that starts at around $9,000 and can go up to $34,000 for crocodile skin. WHAT! who would want crocodile skin?

So with Hirsts’ $200 million record-breaking sales at Sotheby’s with his show titled “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” of animals in formaldehyde, apart from the cash what does he take away? Has Hirst’s art become just another commodity as the redicusly priced as Birzin bags? and I’m sure Hirst probably even has one!