The Pledge: to visit every gallery in Toronto during 2010

Casey and I are back in the galleries and video reviewing art shows. I realize many of the videos are in the proximity of where I live, so we have decided to visit every gallery in greater Toronto and do a review and all within this year.

We developed ALP with the idea in mind that anyone anywhere could submit a video review of an art exhibit or event. Anyone can post a video to ArtListPro at http://artlistpro.tumblr.com/submit and so I was doing some to get the ball rolling. One hundred and fifty video reviews later, I am actually starting to enjoy it and very excited by the possibility of getting to know the scene more intimately.

We also want to make sure we stick with the approach to videos that we enjoy the most – conversations and banter in the gallery space, with a feel of being with friends at a gallery and having some fun.

And we want more interviews with gallery directors, coordinators and arts professionals to talk about the industry of arts and culture.

Finally, part of this Pledge for me is to communicate more successfully that Art Listings Professional is a free broadcast and promotion tool for professional contemporary artists and galleries. It should be a place to browse for the latest interesting exhibits and articles and on every PR list to post announcements and press releases on.

With Casey working on our new Toronto art map, we mulled many approaches on how to define “every gallery in Toronto” – the answer was to list every gallery that has made an effort to be found. Thus, we are looking in the listings of NOW, Eye Weekly, MAG, Slate as well as Akimbo and will always add those who post to our site, of course.

Very exciting! See you out there – if you want to contact us (and to invite us to something!) please email us at artlistpro@gmail.com. We are always looking for more video review contributors.

Public Realm @ Propeller

guest curator … Christopher Hume
The exhibit looks at the demarcation lines between public and private space. Until Jan 31, 2010.

Propeller Gallery
http://www.propellerctr.com/
984 Queen Street West
Phone: 416.504.714

Top ten myths about art exhibits

10. Myth: “How much does it cost to go?” Reality: Unless it is a major museum or a specific fundraiser, art openings are free. If I put “free admission” on an invite, the numbers of attendees almost doubles. I think people assume there is an admission fee to your art show because they are used to museums and large galleries will charge, though I think they should be free as well.

9. Myth: “I went to the opening and saw the art” Reality: The opening is the worst time to look at the art. So many people and noise and distractions.

8. Myth: “There are no prices, these must not be for sale” Reality: Not everyone likes to have big red dots and dollars and cents pasted beside their work. Ask if you are really interested! The person in charge at the space has that information. Many like me prefer to not clutter or compromise a serious exhibit with that sort of stuff – it’s respect for the work and the viewer. Others won’t  agree with me.

7. Myth: “You are going to be at the gallery during the course of the show?” Reality: No. In a rental gallery space maybe yes, the artist will have to be there to babysit the space but it’s a special kind of hell to sit in a fishbowl of sorts watching people looking at your art who are aware you are watching them. Art is great because it works without the artist having to be there. Well, most art anyways. Just go see the show – it’s about the art, not getting points by being seen being there. That’s like expecting a director to be attending every screening of his film, or an architect sitting in the lobby of his new building for a month.

6. Myth: “Your work should be doing this and that and it would work/sell better.” Reality: Ok. If you can imagine art that the artist should be doing, it actually means you have a budding artist inside you and you should go home and make that series of work which seems so easy and obvious to you. Go on, git, go make it. Shoo.

5. Myth: “Don’t take pictures! Someone will steal the ideas.” Reality: This is a prevalent and persistent phobia many people and artists have. This will be an entire post on this blog soon, but in the meantime let me just say this – if you are making art that can be reproduced by someone from a photo and sold to other people, it means you are making bad art in the first place or more likely you have a overinflated and fantasy-based sense of yourself in relation to the world. If you want to get known, encourage the dissemination of your images whenever and however possible. The more accurate term for people “stealing” other people’s work is “Art History”.

4. Myth: “We use chains so as to not damage the walls.” Reality: Looks awful, impossible to hang nicely lined up and the corners of the work will damage the stupid walls anyways. If you the admin of a space that wants to show art but are that concerned about a hole or two in your drywall, then you should not be showing art, period. If you are an artist, stay away from these scenario – the artists who hang there are willing to compromise their work obviously, probably with a eye to selling.

3. Myth: “I don’t know much about art, so I won’t go.” Reality: Going and seeing art is the only way to develop a taste for it. See the oxy moron?

2. Myth: “This art is expensive.” Reality: It takes an average of  a year, probably two, to complete a series of work that is worthy of public display, and usually many many hours of applications and documenting and writing to arrange a show. Framing, invites, food and drink for the opening – if the artist is paying for it all, then it is in the thousands of dollars. Even if the artist sells a couple of works, that may just barely cover some of the costs. It is a remarkable amount of work and time, and this not fully appreciated the average person I find. There are only a very few artists who make a living making art outside of the decorative and commercial realms.

1. Myth: “I don’t get it.” Reality: When people say “I don’t get it” it is probably because they have the mistaken notion that art is entertainment, that somehow it is the responsibility of the artist to make sure that person “gets” it. Many people (if not most) expect to be pandered to, entertained and dummied down to and looking at art that requires contemplation, reflection and raises questions has somehow failed. It’s a sign of insecurity and often text about the work (in plain language) nearby on the wall goes a long way to addressing this. Otherwise, these people cannot see the benefit of the doubt about people’s intelligence that art really is and are conditioned by the lowest common denominator communications of advertising and TV shows. Good art has a strong first impression but great art has many layers to it that reveal themselves the more you look it. What is wrong with a riddle anyways?

uh-oh – Seth Godin is flatter marketing with the word “art”

I have been wanting to rant about this for a little while – as I am sure many in the arts and culture industry have – and finally seeing business author Seth Godin’s post today has inspired me to state for the interweb record that no, making something well and being clever about it DOES NOT make you an artist.

I model much of my own arts and culture marketing after Seth Godin and his vaunted teachings. He’s a marketing thought giant and well worth subscribing to. Now I understand that he has a new book, and a key part of this book is throwing the term “artist” loosely about to probably appeal to  fragile and vain egos of people in the marketing and business industry who desperately need to hear this kind of thing.  Seth sees an opportunity and develops it – I respect and admire that because that is the fundamental lesson in his  business teachings. However, this does not mean I, as a real artist, have to like this.

Art as a tired old cliché for every non-artist out there

Here is Seth’s definition of art:

“My definition of art contains three elements:

1. Art is made by a human being.
2. Art is created to have an impact, to change someone else.
3. Art is a gift. You can sell the souvenir, the canvas, the recording… but the idea itself is free, and the generosity is a critical part of making art.

By my definition, most art has nothing to do with oil paint or marble. Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work”

So, with all due respect and with humour, Seth’s definition of art contains three elements:

1. That as a human being, you can make “art” by doing whatever you are doing if you just try harder. (Whatever it take to feel special, I guess)
2. There are no such things as a happy accident, experimental research or exploring process – it’s about contriving messages, short-term value and designing to reach the most people possible (Sounds like advertising, not art, to me. )
3.  That art is has more in common with a motivation poster of some mountain climber with the words “Art is what we’re doing when we do our best work”.

Why do people feel so liberated to slap the “art” and “artist” on anything with the slightest of justifications?

There are some theories about this that I have heard over the years, and I will paraphrase them for you below:

Snapshots of the art work – up until the 30th

(going to the show? email me at artlistpro@gmail.com and I will be happy to appear in person and talk about the art. You may consider that as both a threat and a promise)

Art Listings Professional Group Exhibit #1 @ culturshoc, 1205 queen street west

Sean Hadley

Marinko Jareb

Charles Hackbarth

Andreanne Hudon

Ryan Rader

Trevor Laalo

Photo pictures and moving pictures of ALP exhibit, performance art

Without further adieu, collected media from the big exhibit and web launch party on the 7th. Thanks Joanne and Lauren for the photos and movies. Thanks to the visual and spoken word artists – we are inspired to do this all again.

Exhibit continues at Culturshoc until the 30th.

1205 queen street west. Featuring visual work by Charles Hackbarth, Sean Hadley, Andreanne Le Hudon, Marinko Jareb, Trevor Laalo and Ryan Rader.

Okay, there was a bit more adieu.

The Art Listings Professional website launch party, group exhibit and performance art incident at CulturShoc Jan 7 2010. Exhibit continues until Jan 30.

Rob O'Flanagan performs

Trevor Laalo peforms

Jan 7th ALP exhibit – debriefed!

First of all, I received my art school education in Montreal and used a variety of French words to describe many normal activities in the art process – such as “vernissage”. Vernissage is a much sexier and elegant way to describe an opening reception than, well, “opening reception”. The word literally translates to “varnishing day” and harkens back to the practice of oil painting; it would take many months for the linseed oil in the paint to dry enough to be able to apply a final coat of varnish on a painting that probably took many months, if not years, to complete. So when it was time, it was kind of a big deal so you would invite your friends, frenemies, supporters and critics over for some drinks, music and a good time would be had by all as you applied the final coat of varnish.

Now that I am based here in Toronto and organizing my first exhibit, I could not help but notice that this word “vernissage” caused much puzzlement amongst many of the locals. So I used plainer language but to me “opening reception” is more formal and quiet, which is cool, and “vernissage” is more of a party and an event.

A lively party full of hipsters at a varnishing day ( via http://www.nationalacademy.org )

The Art Listing Professional opening reception was an awesome vernissage. Over one hundred and fifty people in total stopped by CulturShoc in Toronto’s gallery district of Queen W and Dufferin and I was super-pleased that I did not even recognize half of these fine folks – a testament to the potential of social media for arts and culture events.

You see, the big thing with this event was that I had managed to slip into a spot at a downtown gallery that became available only a month before. Plus, I have no budget but my time and expertise and knowing how to say “pretty please” in a pretty and pleasing manner. Add to this the holidays being right in the middle and I was presented with a interesting set of challenges to organize and market this event. So the buzz and invites were 100% digital, and 100% social media distributed.  I know that a print component would increase the numbers, but in a professional interest I wanted to study just how well a social media campaign would work. Fairly well, but there is much work left to be done in marketing for the rest of the exhibit run – my thinking on this is a series of posts with each individual work and bio of the artist and see how that works. Tomorrow, I post pictures and videos from the event. A bit late, as it should be posted a few days afterwards in good “after-event marketing” practice but of course I got a cold flu right afterwards as tends to happen.

A lively party full of hipsters at a varnishing day.

So in lieu of a budget, I have many thanks to make. Thanks Dana and Val for all the hard work, the bricks and mortar, the opportunity and taking care of the bar. Glad I managed to introduce many new people to your great store and space. Thanks Tony and Cristina (of Guerilla Magazine fame) for driving down from Ottawa.  Thank you Trevor and Lauren for coming down from the valley as well (for those of you in Europe, this is actually a really long five-hour drive). Andreanne and Fabien traveled from Montreal and Paris – thank you.

Thanks Jen and Casey and Casey’s Mom for making and bringing food. Thanks to Charles for his interest in Art List Professional and contributing his work. Thanks to Sean for walking his large in, thanks Marinko for finding the time to participate and thanks Ryan for keeping it surreal, and thanks of course to Casey for her half of the exhibit and all the ooo’s and ahhh’s provoked.

Big thanks to Rob O’Flanagan and Trevor Laalo for the spoken word performances – simply brilliant and there is still quite a buzz about it now. More when i post images and video from their performances.

Performance artists announced for art blog launch party and exhibit

Performance art, group exhibit and Art Listing Professional website launch party on Thursday, January 7th @ culturshoc gallery, 7-11pm, 1205 queen street west. The ALP Exhibition continues until Saturday, January 30th. Admission is free.

Featuring spoken word performances by O’Flan Man (Rob O’Flanagan), Trevor Laalo and guest b.

“I dream of drunken butterflies.” declares Trevor Laalo.

“Trevor is a nightcrawler.” confirms Rob O’Flanagan, ” He has compromised the very foundation of hell with his burrowing. I am a simple ant, trying to repair the damage.”

“Put something obtuse in as a quote from me,” adds a member from guest b.

“Getting a good quote from spoken word artists is surprisingly difficult,” observes Chris Healey, publisher of ArtListPro.com, “Needless to say, our participating visual and performance artists plus the hip social media crowd really powers this celebration of Toronto’s newest arts and culture blog.”

O’Flan Man (Rob O’Flanagan) composes music electronically using various music programs. Most of his music is used in spoken word performances. He created the group Bump in 2007 with performance poets Trevor Laalo and Tony Armstrong, who had both done work with the Dadaist group Dylan Thomas Is Dead. O’Flanagan is a journalist, visual artist, photographer and writer. A collection of his short stories, The Blown Kiss Collection, was published in 2000 by the now defunct Catchfire Press.

Trevor Laalo is a poet, visual and performance artist based in Ottawa and has participated in projects such as the L.A. Quilting Society, 2005 and The Burt Lancaster Attack. It has been over eleven years since Laalo has performed in Toronto and that is huge – so huge that the performance “may have to spill out into the parking lot.”

Guest b is an experimental spoken word collaboration and project involving artists, writers and musicians between Toronto and Montreal.

Featuring visual work by Charles Hackbarth, Sean Hadley, Andreanne Le Hudon, Marinko Jareb, Trevor Laalo and Ryan Rader. Curated by an act of Chris Healey versus Casey Woodfine

For more information please contact:

Chris Healey
647 347 4586

www.artlistpro.com

email@artlistpro.com

Thanks to culturshoc for hosting our event and exhibit.
www.culturshoc.com

RSVP @ our Facebook Event Page: facebook.com/ArtListPro

you cannot stop this.

-30-

Contemporary art trends over the next decade

Identifying recent art trends is tough enough – we can’t see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Everything around us is so different and madly off in all directions, but art trends emerge clearly upon retrospect over time with the comforting tilt-shift vision of art history. Though I can see trends in current art making, I accept the fact I cannot perceive some (if not most) of the important developments in contemporary work around me.

In a sense a collector is investing in a perceived future trend when he or she buys a work – an inherent hope that you are planting your flag into the tip of an iceberg. Rooted in the practice of the present, we attempt to interpret current art with an informed art history eye as well as an abstract projection of various departure points for this work, this artist.

So with the recent slew of  art-in-the-last-ten-years reviews, this blog has decided to boldly scrutinize the last tens years in an attempt to divine the next ten years in contemporary art.

Being an artist who writes, I am perfectly allowed to attempt such leaps of bold lateral logic.

Top 10 art trends over the next ten years (they are all erringly connected):

A glib list of the top 10 major art trends over the last ten years:

(Some obvious trends (to me anyways) I am saving the future Top 10 of the next ten years list coming out in about an hour)

1. Net and Digital Artists.
2. A return to the popularity of figurative work.
3. The attempted murder of ceramics and printmaking.
4. Hordes of photographers making art.
5. Design programs as the economic engine of art colleges.
6. Studio artists attempting to “learn HTML” in an unprecedented self-marketing movement rooted in technology.
7. Animation = video games industry.
8. Intellectual Property and Copyright bru-ha-ha and general absurdity.
9. Inter-disciplinary approach as standard rather than specialty.
10. Flash mobs in social, political and professional cultural circumstances.

happy holidays everyone

from Chris, James & Mr.Thomas Redwood