Time travel to 1970 (with Michael Snow) or 2013 (with Shary Boyle).
CBC

View in browser

Hi, Art!

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Hi, Art!

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Hi, art lovers!

 

If there’s an Aperol-spritz bender in my future, it won’t be happening in Venice. Maybe you can relate. But don’t let that dull your interest in a story the folks at Q are preparing. In a few days, they’ll air a conversation with Stan Douglas, the artist representing Canada at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale. The event launched last week, and from the reviews I’ve Googled, it already sounds as though the Canadian pavilion is a must-see. (One notable mention: the New York Times raved about it as a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing year.) 

So yeah. Maybe we’re not all planning a last-minute flight to Venice, but there’s still plenty to read about the scene, to wit: CBC Indigenous has a story about the Sámi pavilion (formerly known as the Nordic pavilion), a new all-Indigenous art space. (That project, FYI, has ties to Aabaakwad, an annual meeting of minds that’s led by Wanda Nanibush of the Art Gallery of Ontario.) And the war in Ukraine has apparently “seeped into exhibitions that weren’t explicitly designed to take it into account.” This piece delves into the creation of Piazza Ucraina, a “last-minute Ukraine solidarity show” organized days before opening. 

Other things: maybe you’d rather daydream about music festivals. (If so, use this tool to give yourself an incurable case of FOMO.) Maybe you’d rather stay home and watch Netflix … a streamer that’s on the decline, as you might have heard. (Here’s why.) Maybe you’d rather write something … and then submit it to the CBC Poetry Prize. (Deadline is May 31.)

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Photo of two people looking at a large photo installed on a white wall. The photo depicts a vehicle that's burst into flames. A crowd watches it burn from across the street. The name of the building is obscured but one word (Canada) is legible.

Getty Images

If we can’t be in Venice, at least we can peep some of the highlights from afar. (Thank you, Getty Images subscription!) Here’s a glimpse inside Stan Douglas’s exhibition at the Canadian pavilion. 

 
Photo of two visitors in a white-walled space. On the wall hangs an enormous textile sculpture of a red monster mask.

Getty Images

Over at the Arsenale, this work by Toronto-born artist Tau Lewis is appearing as part of the biennale’s main exhibition, the Milk of Dreams.
 
Gallery packed with visitors and art. In the foreground, though, a textile sculpture rests on a plinth. It's tan in colour and is a humanoid figure with long bunny ears and lipstick. Prone on its side, eight nipples are exposed.

Getty Images

Métis artist Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill has a few works appearing in the biennale’s Giardini section (this piece included).
 
Visitors fill a light-filled room with wood floors and skylight. An immense metallic sculpture hangs from chains and fills most of the space. It resembles robotic vertabrae and illuminated colour can be seen in the gaps of the structure.

Getty Images

If this picture of Chroma V by Yunchul Kim makes you gasp, imagine experiencing it in person. The piece, which is at the Korean pavilion, is a colour-changing kinetic sculpture.
 
Aerial photo of dozens of people stretching a giant tarp that's printed to display the portrait of a smiling child in winter clothes.

Getty Images

Earlier this spring, the French artist JR was in Lviv, Ukraine, to install this piece with the help of hundreds of locals. Stretching 45 metres, the tarp/portrait has been brought to Venice, where it’s appearing as part of this exhibition supporting Ukrainian culture.
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Old film still of the exterior of the Canada pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
Telescope/CBC Archives

50 years of Canadian artists at the Venice Biennale

 
Time travel to 1970 (with Michael Snow) or 2013 (with Shary Boyle). Over the years, CBC has spent time with the many artists who’ve repped our country in Venice, and we scoured the archives to pull these stories from the past.
 
Photo of the artist and musician Nick Cave, a thin middle-aged white man with chin length black hair. He wears a grey suit and sits behind a cluttered desk. Tall stacks of books line the wall behind him.
Susan Moss

What I learned about grief at the Nick Cave exhibition in Montreal

 
In a treasure hunt of an exhibition, the musician puts his life on display for superfans and curious lurkers alike. Caitlin Stall-Paquet writes about her deeply personal reaction to the show.
 
Flat lay photo of objects on an indigo backdrop: herbs, rocks, fruit, nuts, flower petals and a black bottle labelled

Dana Prieto

 

This perfume? It smells like art

 
Spoil, a fragrance by the artist Dana Prieto, doubles as a statement on consumerism and environmental destruction.
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Michelle Bui

@bui.michelle
Photo of torn flowers and leaves on either side of a wrinkled plastic film.

@bui.michelle/Instagram

This picture has wrapped the exterior of Vancouver’s Contemporary Art Gallery since the beginning of April, and there’s more from Michelle appearing elsewhere in the city. Images from her series Mutable Materialism are installed at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station as part of the Capture Photography Festival.
 

Share this newsletter

Facebook Twitter

or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you.

 
 

Got questions? Typo catches? Story ideas?

 

We're just an email away. Send us a note, and we'll do our best to get back to you.

If someone forwarded you this message and you like what you've read, here's where to subscribe for more.

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

 
XOXO CBC Arts
XOXO CBC Arts
 
Follow us
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instragram Subscribe on YouTube
View in browser Preferences Feedback Unsubscribe
CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
250 Front St. W, Toronto, Ontario M5V 3G5
cbc.radio-canada.ca | radio-canada.ca | cbc.ca

 
Get this newsletter delivered to you