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Hi, Art!

Sunday, August 01, 2021

Hi, Art!

Sunday, August 01, 2021

Hi, art lovers!

 
I was texting with a co-worker this morning, brainstorming a list of real live events in the real live world 一 debating whether any of these attractions might have the potential to lure us away from our COVID-free cocoons. Outdoor theatre? Day camp for adults? A giant severed head soaring over Lake Ontario? Speaking for myself, I don’t know that I’ll add any of that to my weekend to-do list, but she’d already managed to tick one item off of hers: a trip to the Art Gallery of Ontario. The AGO is newly reopened, and a blockbuster Andy Warhol exhibition is among the big attractions. (Their supplementary virtual programming continues, FYI, for the benefit of those all over. Vogue lesson, anyone?)

In further Warhol-related reading, take a trip to the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, which the artist looted as a sort of “proto-Pinterest.” And in thoroughly unrelated reading: after 25 years, Arthur is ending … and this grown-up Canadian child star is finally asking the tough questions, namely why was D.W. always played by a boy? (This podcast grapples with the “mystery.”) Treat yourself to a Leonardo da Vinci … NFT.  If you took that last suggestion seriously, this Frank Lloyd Wright might be a more interesting investment. Robot art is one Olympic event I can get behind. Billionaires aren’t the only things being blasted into space. Have you seen these phoney Indigenous artworks in a gift shop near you? 
 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Photo print with washed out colour to the point of the colours appearing to be pastel. A sandy beach scene. A light-skinned woman lounges at the fore. She wears a printed bikini and her face looks skyward. A plastic cup half-filled with amber liquid is in front of her. Beach bags are assembled to the left near her head.

@birdiseyeview/Instagram

Wherever you’re spending this August long weekend, may you be blessed with beach weather 一 and fingers crossed, access to an actual beach. Photo print by Jaspal Birdi, who opens a solo exhibition at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa, Ont., Tuesday.

 
igital collage with layers of blue water background, bottom left hand side there are purple, pink and green leaves and petals on top of the water. In the center hidden behind an opaque layer of water are green and blue gemstones. At the top, there is a large floral arrangement with orange, yellow, pink flowers.

@laurakaykeeling/Instagram

When It Gets Dark, I Have Shallow Breath by Laura Kay Keeling 一 an artist who happens to have a project at the RMG too. Try your hand at making a digital collage via Layers of Love. It’s a site Laura created with Khadija Aziz and it’s being presented by the museum right now.
 
Photo collage of birds of paradise flowers in orange, assembled in an abstracted web against a white backdrop.

Joseph Staples

Another collage for you. This one’s by Joseph Staples and it’s part of Together Again, an auction and exhibition organized by the Burrard Arts Foundation in Vancouver. 
 
Photo of a room filled, floor to ceiling, with synthetic hair in rainbow neon colours. At the back, a human figure can be seen in a doorway, appearing in shadowy silhouette.

Shoplifter

One day, when the pandemic is long behind us, I will travel to Iceland to see this. (But first, there’s a Kickstarter goal to reach.)
 
Photo of textile art by Rock Vandal installed on a wall of blue-green siding. The piece is in the shape of a green cartoon fish wearing a yellow crown. It has googly eyes and big white toothy grin.

@rock_vandal/Instagram

Meanwhile in Newfoundland, Nina Elliott is yarn-bombing Twillingate, making the town her own personal art gallery. Follow her progress on Instagram.
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Orange yellow and black typographical graphic. Text reads: FreeUp! Emancipation Day 2021.

CBC Arts

 

Watch FreeUp! Emancipation Day 2021

Celebrate Emancipation Day with a CBC Arts special featuring performances from coast to coast. The show kicks off Aug. 1 at 1 p.m. ET. Stream it live on CBC Gem and YouTube.
 
Vintage photo, possibly from the '80s or '90s, of Jerry Lewis (right) pretending to strangle Andy Nulman (left), cofounder of Just for Laughs. Both are white men with short dark hair wearing navy blue. Lewis, who wears aviator glasses, sticks his tongue out at the camera. Nulman, seen in profile, appears to laugh. They are surrounded by many smiling people in a dark hallway.
Courtesy of Andy Nulman

‘There is a Quebec Jewish humour that doesn’t exist anywhere else’

 
From the days of Yiddish vaudeville to the birth of Just for Laughs, the Montreal comedy scene owes a debt to the city's Jewish communities.
 
A collage of dozens of comedians' faces.

Gay AF Comedy/Robert Watson

 

On the subject of comedy ...

Live comedy is back in Toronto, and starting Aug. 7, Elvira Kurt, Martha Chaves and Tamara Shevon will be headlining Courtyard Comedy outside the Campbell House Museum. Hear from those comics as they gear up for an entire month of weekend shows.
 
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Alannah Margaret

@am.illustrates
Digital illustration of a park scene. Backdrop is pistachio green. At centre, a beige pathway is used by various figures who walk and play or rest on picnic benches or blankets. Leafy trees line the path. At left, a man and woman walk hand in hand under pink blossoming trees. At top left, three dogs chase frisbees. At top right, a greenhouse resembling Allan Gardens. At centre, a white squirrel holds a nut.

@am.illustrates/Instagram

The CBC Toronto team has been running a project whereby they commission local artists to make illustrations inspired by the city and its communities, and Alannah’s work was featured in July. (Either the white squirrel population has migrated beyond Bellwoods or this one’s meant to be a fanciful tribute to Toronto’s favourite parks.)
 

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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time!

 
XOXO CBC Arts
XOXO CBC Arts
 
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