Pierre Leichner uses grass to make sculptures — for The Grassroots Project, in the shape of faces of community workers and activists from Vancouver’s East Side. The living sculptures, pictured above, are beautiful and haunting. “The Grassroots Project” was featured at Britannia Community Centre (Vancouver). I recently caught up to
Continue readingTag: Visual art
Art Threat: Pioneer Ladies [of the Evening] – Photos of incarcerated women are transformed
An exhibition at PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts in Winnipeg is testing the sexualized and gendered boundaries of our Canadian history. Curator Dr. Laurie K. Bertram has taken archival mugshots of Western Canadian female sex trade workers, taken from the Winnipeg Police Museum Archive, and reworked them into
Continue readingArt Threat: Wild At Heart: Keep Wildlife In The Wild – New Contemporary artists paint the endangered and beloved
Animals inspire, intrigue, and move people in a way nothing else can. Andrew Hosner and Amanda Erlandson gathered together a group of incredible ‘new contemporary’ artists for “Wild at Heart – Keep Wildlife in the Wild”, to touch on that connection while raising awareness about wild creatures around the world.
Continue readingArt Threat: Quebec casseroles illustrated by Ben Tardiff
Montreal illustrator Ben Tardiff depicts the casseroles, the nightly pot-clanging protests that challenge the legitimacy of the Quebec government. The ruling Liberal party’s planned university tuition hike — and the implementation of a repressive “emergency law” designed to stifle dissent — has led to massive street demonstrations and over 2500
Continue readingArt Threat: Our “Emperor” Has No Clothes – Nude portrait of Stephen Harper sells for $5000
If an instant reminder of let-your-lesson-be-learned childhood story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, isn’t what comes straight to mind when you see Margaret Sutherland’s portrait of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, then … well… you need to read more children’s stories. The painting, called Emperor Haute Couture, is on display at
Continue readingArt Threat: How the West Was Won – Art of Nicola Verlato
Nicola Verlato’s “How the West Was One” is a visually striking series of oil on canvas that tells the tale of the culture clash between monotheism and polytheism throughout human history. Depictions of wild west cowboys versus natives, depictions of the sacred heart and more flare with brilliance in his
Continue readingArt Threat: Photographer seeks arrested student strikers
Toronto-based photographer Brett Gundlock is currently in Montreal capturing portraits of demonstrators who have been detained or arrested during the ongoing student strike. The photos will be a continuation of a previous series in which he photographed people who were arrested during the Toronto G20 protests. Gundlock will be in
Continue readingArt Threat: Portraits of WWII Veterans From All Sides – Jonathan Alpeyrie shares 210 diverse veteran faces
The aged faces of men of many nations look into Jonathan Alpeyrie’s lens for his collection of 210 photographic portraits of men who fought in WWII. The goal behind his project, World War II Veterans, on display until May 12, 2012 at Anastasia Photo in New York City, was to
Continue readingArt Threat: 7th Berlin Binennale highlights political art – Curator Artus Zmijewski creates exhibition of activist art
When you go to the website for Berlin’s 7th Binennale, you encounter a stream of changing photographs from occupy and protest movements from around the world — Venezia, Toronto, Florence, Malacky, Athens and on and on. It is emblematic of curator Artur Zmijewski’s approach the largest art exhibition in Germany,
Continue readingArt Threat: Art for social justice: 12 remarkable women – Roots to Resistance project shares stories of courage
Natalia Estemirova Twelve women. Twelve stories of political courage. Twelve portraits. The Roots to Resistance project is spreading word about the groundbreaking work of twelve women who have dedicated their lives to fighting for social justice. Artist Denise Beaudet is creating portraits of 12 remarkable activists. Postcards of these images
Continue readingArt Threat: Managing Public Art – An interview with the Bryan Newson of Vancouver’s Public Art Program
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas ‘Abundance Fenced’ Bryan Newson is the Manager of the City of Vancouver’s Public Art Program. He and his staff have been responsible for bringing you everything from Ken Lum’s Monument for East Vancouver to Rodney Graham’s Aerodynamic Forms in Space, and hundreds more. I met with Bryan
Continue readingArt Threat: Humour: The most vicious way to attack someone – Artwork of illustrator Zina Saunders
When I found Zina Saunders’ [pronounced Zai-nah] animations on Mothers Jones a couple weeks ago I knew I’d have to ask her for a chat. We got on the phone last week and by the time I was off I was texting my friends that she was one of the
Continue readingArt Threat: Infographic Weekend: Where does US Food Aid go?
The United States is doing it’s best to feed the world … or at least that’s what they’d like you to believe. US Food Aid may be more effective as a subsidy to domestic producers, agribusiness and shipping companies than it is at alleviating hunger in the poorest parts of
Continue readingArt Threat: Ai Wei Wei installs live webcams in home – Artists winks at Chinese authorities with a Big Brother flourish
Artist Ai Wei Wei has installed live webcams in his home so that authorities – and worried supporters – can keep track of his day-to-day whereabouts and welfare. Feeling hemmed in by increasingly invasive state surveillance – being followed day-to-day, round-the-clock surveillance on his home, searches of his studio, phone
Continue readingArt Threat: Step Right Up to See the GOP’s Amazing War on Women
Mother Jones’ illustrator Zina Saunders takes on the GOP’s oppressive and backwards stance on women in her illustrated political cartoon this week, in which you are invited to step right up and watch the greatest circus on earth – the 2012 Republican presidential campaign. Watch it over at Mother Jones’.
Continue readingArt Threat: News Remix: Mar 23 – April1, 2012 – A bricolage of (some of) last weeks news stories
Nairobi graffiti by artists Uhuru B, Swift, Smokilah and Bankslave Kenyan graffiti artists are painting the walls of Nairobi with reminders of government corruption. Executions are up in the Middle East – in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen – as governments there continue their efforts to quell political turmoil.
Continue readingArt Threat: Big Bang Big Boom: Animated graffiti – An endlessly fascinating warning against the temptation of war
BIG BANG BIG BOOM – the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo. For those who haven’t seen it, Big Bang Big Boom (2010) is yet another fabulous animated graffiti parable from the blublu art collective. Their work is endlessly fascinating — animated creatures sliding seamlessly from walls,
Continue readingArt Threat: Doonesbury “Shaming Room” too much for sensitive newspapers
Last week several newspapers censored the first of a series of Doonesbury comics addressing the current climate and discussion about women’s reproductive rights (specifically, in this case, abortion). The Center for Reproductive Rights has compiled a list of more than 60 newspapers who chose not to publish the strip, as
Continue readingArt Threat: Animals in the Hen House – Interview with Our Hen House executive director, Jasmin Singer
Back in January I posted an article highlighting a video about Sue Coe’s art that was produced by Our Hen House, a “Multimedia hub for people who want to change the world for animals.” Jasmin Singer, one of the founders of Our Hen House, immediately stood out as someone who
Continue readingArt Threat: Artists invited to join Occupy Arts Committee – 3rd gathering in Montreal set for March 17
Bryant Park, Manhattan. Photo by Eric Walton Montreal artists are invited to join the growing collaboration of the Occupy Arts Committee, a gathering of artists from all disciplines who want to support Occupy Montreal with creative practice. According to organizers, this meeting will be a creation workshop to start imagining,
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