Almost a month to the
day after my visit to Fiber Philadelphia I am on another Mega Bus destine for Montreal
and the opening of their month long province wide celebration of textiles. I have
been here four, days, have been to three openings and seen eight exhibitions. (Four
of which were not part of the festival line up but easily fall in with textile
themes as well as actual textiles)
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| Concordia University student piece "Hobby Horse 1" by Emily Kathleen McIntyre, Digitally printed silk organza, wood, glitter, double-faced satin ribbon, |
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| The Dress by Eva Muston, 2010 tapestry Tartu Art College Estonia, part of The International Textile Students’ Exhibition STATE OF EXCEPTION, organized by the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty of Art |
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| Chantal Traub: regional perspectives: Silk and Various fabrics, silk screened and painted
ACAD University Class of 2011
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| "What you Take off isn't always gone"2012 Sandra Chirico, Silicone, Forton moulds, and Video, Concordia fibre program. |
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| Sugar Childhood by Gertuda Zillute, 2011,VAA Kaunas Campus, part of The International Textile Students’ Exhibition STATE OF EXCEPTION, organized by the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty of Art |
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| Seathra Bell ACAD University 2011 Birdcage dress 2011, Menho Wool, silk, metal. |
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| Fabrication Lauren Osmond, Concordia University 2012, fermented tea bags, ivory buttons on light table (with video of the garment being worn by dancer Kim Flurry Bertrand |
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| Diana Perez , Concordia, " Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel Live" wire, cotton and polyester fabric Chains Plastic Beads thread, dye |
At the opening of the student show By Hook or By Crock, I asked Sandra Chirico maker of the silicone dress if she had heard of Eva Hesse or "The Meat Dress" ( I was referring to "Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic" (1987) by Canadian Jana Sterbak not the one Lady Gaga wore) she told me Eva Hesse sounded familiar. Granted Silicone isn't latex but for me it was a given that this piece even with its title "What you Take off isn't always gone" was referencing an entire genre with a large feminist context. Even the photographic and performance work of Martha Wilson came to mind. Give that Concordia students had the amazing opportunity to see Wilson's work last year at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery I. You might want to throw Karen Finley into the mix and her Chocolate smeared body that cause such a scandal in the early 1980s and think of this pieces with its accompanying video with in it fits and comes out even if the maker doesn't know any of these other pioneering feminist artist. I was a bit interested by this total lack interest in my question. Granted it was the opening and she had just been explaining her work to her parents. You might think it is unfair of me to bring this up, but one of the things about openings that young makers need to realize is every stranger has possibilities. Its great to party but dealers curators and collectors or heaven forbid "bloggers" may be lurking in the shadows and you need to be able to provide and intelligent sound bite.
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| Diana Perez , Concordia, " Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel Live" wire, cotton and polyester fabric Chains Plastic Beads thread, dye |
The next day while
talking with one of the instructors from Concordia about obvious references and
students awareness of if not textile history (Hessa and meat dress are recent
history) then at least what is happening else where. She commented that they
seem to be very insular and have no interest in what is happening outside the
walls of Concordia. Considering Diana Perez's “Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel
Live" direct riff on Jean Paul Gaultier corset come to life as a party
girl. I saw The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the Montreal
Museum of Fine Arts this past September a student or two must have stumbled
upon it and got the class mates to go and look I would hope. I overwhelmed but
determined to see the work rather then the elaborated 'decor" of it all.
One of the things that has fascinated me (and thousands others no doubt) are
his corset that photograph well and I was amazed by the number of years
the corset was part of his vocabulary and how there was a twenty years between
the next innovation or refinement to the making of these objects. Diana Perez's
is at that point now. The finish may be a bit rough but impact and gesture of
both confinement and support with all its social political intransigence
are there. I want to see this piece displayed to its best advantage, which it
wasn't. I won't say it was a student show there for the bad install, bad
lighting and general haphazardness of the show should be excused. It shouldn't,
this show have been presented just as well as the other student show "Out
Of Place" at the Yellow Fish Gallery.
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| Geodev#1, by Sophie Jaillet, 2012 wax, beads, leather felt and polyurethane foam. at Yellow Fish Gallery |
"Out of Place" featuring the work of Sabrina
Dufour, Florence Boivin, Sophie Jaillet and Stéphanie Coleman had some
intriguing things and some disappointing things. I seem to be drawn to the
things I am disappointed with, which may seem odd or just contrary. There is a Toile
de Jou, in this show, and with all Toile old or contemporary you can
anticipate what subtle frolics are happening in there bucolic
settings. Renée Green's "Mise-en-Scène: Commemorative Toile"
easily comes to mind since I was just at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia
where created this work. I saw that work in 1997 at the Harbourfront Centre in
Toronto and its gentile drawing room staging of upholstered furniture,
wallpaper and drapery the harshness of its imagery and "highly-charged yet
surprisingly subtle commentary on social class, race, and aestheticism," This piece installed in such a way as to look
like a scarp of wall paper remain on a wall that has been striped this bring to
mind the subversive Toile wall coverings the Scottish design firm
"Timorous Beasties" which have images of boys peeing behind brushes
near a bench were a couple is making out, to work with Toile as a concept could
have had a more surprising result then this piece has.
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| Stéphanie Coleman Toile de Jou |
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| Installation shot from Yellow Fish Gallery east
elevation Sabria Dufour's work is the black piece in the back corner, knitted sack by Florence Boivin |
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| looking west the knitted sacks are "Lift Me If You Can," Florence Boivin |
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| detail of Sky #2 by Sophia Jaillet, thread on printed polyester |
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| This a close up of In the Corner of My Head by Sabrina Dufour, 2012 papier et panneau secge / folded paper |
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| Live Wire, Selina Doroshenko, mixed media, |
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| Barbara Worden ACAD University, Quantum Soup, 2011, Weaving: wool, bamboo |
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| Part of Master program art project exhibited at “Kaunas biennial textile 11” called “Artificial River”
Vilnius Art Academy’s Master student, Kristijonas Bakas, Vilnius2011
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Montreal April 3 2012
To see more Images and get more information what is happening during this first week of "en avril" see my facebook album En avril.in Montreal
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Links to Makers referenced in this blog
Eva Hessa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Hesse
meat dress according to wikipedia Vanitas:_Flesh_Dress_for_an_Albino_Anorecti
MARTHA WILSON: STAGING THE SELF at Lenard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery Concordia University
Karen Finley http://karenfinley.com/
Renee Green/ Fabric Workshop
"Timorous Beasties" http://www.timorousbeasties.com/
Kristijonas Bakas The Back Page: “Artificial River” Master program art project by Kristijonas Bakas
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