- ‘Between the Click of the Light and the Start of the Dream’ - Part 3
When I first stepped foot in MKG127 to view Dave Dyment’s Between the Click of the Light and the Start of the Dream, what truly caught my first spark of interest was not the many more valid issues I’ve already discussed so far but rather the creepily familiar image imprinted on a borderline kitsch dinner […]
- ‘Between the Click of the Light and the Start of the Dream’ - Part 2
In my last post introducing Dave Dyment’s Between the Click of the Light and the Start of the Dream at MKG127, I briefly mentioned the sparse economy of the exhibition’s composite parts - this is not a show of grand gestures but is rather made up of carefully selected gems that, to belabour the metaphor, […]
- ‘Between the Click of the Light and the Start of the Dream’ - Part One
I was first drawn to Dave Dyment’s practice around Christmas of 2008 when I learned about his Glenfiddich Residency and A Drink To Us (When We’re Both Dead), his 100-year-buried cask of single malt whisky. It’s the sort of conceptual work that immediately appealed to me on several levels - as a temporal work and […]
- Addendum to ‘Staying Critical in the Digital Age’
When I expressed frustration last week with VoCA’s early report from the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s digital criticism panel, I closed with a vague hope that fellow art critic and blogger Leah Sandals would be able to provide a more thorough picture of what, at first glance, seemed like utterly dismal goings-on between seemingly ill-equipped panelists.
As […]
- The best thing since stale bread
Not that I have anything against stale bread - on the contrary, David Rocco has imparted wonderful recipes that involve the use of stale Tuscan bread. But I’m already digressing on the first sentence.
David Rocco’s scrumptious panzanella
I had no pressing interest in driving into Toronto for the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s panel discussion this past Tuesday […]
- The 2010 Sobey Art Award Longlist
With spring blowing warm into my open studio door and bringing a fresh wave of bees and flies with it, it looks like it’s also time to kick off the slow march towards the 2010 Sobey Art Award with yesterday’s announcement (via Akimbo, anyway) of the longlist.
I took on the sport of trying to pick […]
- The Regional Dialect
If there’s anything truly symptomatic of my stubborn Hamiltonianism, it’s my refusal to believe that Canadian art begins and ends at the borders of Toronto. Much of my critical writing has been bent towards proving that point by championing art activity not just in Hamilton, but in other regional centres that fall outside the predominant […]
- Gatekeepers, Copyright and Curatorial Quandries
While there have been numerous developments as a consequence of Diana Poulsen’s criticism of Vantage Art Projects, I have been content to let Diana report those updates on her own follow-up post. Even at the expense of much dramatic name-calling and editorializing of certain actionable phrases, the value of the dialogue is clearly demonstrated in […]
- Steve Mazza: Unnatural Selection
I’m sure there’s a comment to be made upon the fact that I had to drive out to Cambridge to see a solo installation by a Hamilton artist the likes of which I can’t imagine having ever happened in the city itself. But it’s Friday and a week before Christmas, so I’d rather be charitable […]
- Honey vs. Oil: On Pedagogy in Art
While last week’s three-parter on The Big Picture Revisited revealed time and again that Hamilton sorely lacks a granting body for artists, that fact doesn’t save me from pending grant deadlines for both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council. And yes, both anecdotal and statistical evidence from that forum showed quite plainly the […]
