Renaissance, the new album from Beyoncé, is a tribute to queer joy in the face of adversity.
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Hi, Art!

Sunday, August 07, 2022

Hi, Art!

Sunday, August 07, 2022

Hi, art lovers!

 
Photo of Beyonce reclining on her back, riding a silvery holographic horse. She has long curly blonde hair and wears nothing but dripping silver chains. She sings into a microphone and holds a white cowboy hat aloft. The backdrop is an old-fashioned equestrian painting draped with red curtains.

Mason Poole for Parkwood Entertainment

 

Renaissance is all anyone (anywhere!) seems to be thinking about, and that includes the folks at CBC Arts. It’s up for discussion in our top promoted story (find that article after the jump), and CBC News has this extensive primer on the making of Beyoncé’s new record for those who haven’t already skimmed a bajillion breathless reviews). 

When it comes to Renaissance, there have been too many headlines to digest, mostly focused on the fuss over lyric revisions (which is hardly a new phenomenon) and album credits (which has sparked some debate on the politics of song sampling). And if you’ve been bombarded with all those stories already, maybe it’s time for a few “well, actually” takes on the discourse. What are people actually saying when they claim Beyoncé is “saving” house music? Also, that album cover? It’s not actually a nod to Lady Godiva.

Other things that aren’t directly about Beyoncé: Instagram really, really, really sucks now — and on top of making photographers sad, changes to the platform are driving artists and activists away. Yep, concert tickets are definitely more expensive than they used to be. Is DALL-E art borrowed or stolen? How do celebrities (say, Kim Kardashian … or Beyoncé) use art to build their personal brands?

 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Photo taken in Sonoma wine country at daytime. A wide open landscape with a hazy sky. Outdoor seating is pictured, with a low-walled perimetre bordering a series of round tables and banquette seats. A canopy of rainbow-coloured glass tiles appears above. The sun shining through the glass forms colourful patterns on the ground below.

@studiootherspaces/Instagram

Summer 2023 vacation goals: drinking wine in California under this rainbow-coloured canopy. (It’s at the Donum Estate in Sonoma. Olafur Eliasson’s Studio Other Spaces designed it.)

 
Figurative painting of two young women with long dark hair wearing loose dresses, one mauve one white. They are seated outdoors on a blue-sky day. Three small bread rolls are on the floor near them, alongside a knife, burned out candle and a glass of red wine. A single red rose leans against a blue wall in the background.

@riancaboco/Instagram

Meanwhile in Toronto, Project Reframed has put up a bunch of new billboards. Work by emerging artists will be featured as part of ArtworxTO. Look for this painting by Bianca Roco at 288 Lawrence Ave. W.
 
Aerial photo of a Toronto street. The road is painted with white type that reads in wavy sans serif lettering:

@yorkvillemurals/Instagram

Toronto’s Yorkville Murals festival is set to return Aug. 20 to 28, but this piece by local artist Ben Johnston is already up — or should I say down? He’s painted a stretch of road at 55 Bellair St.
 
Daytime photo of a large crow sculpture made of rubber tires, flopped on the grass near a body of water.

@geraldsbeaulieu/Instagram

Charlottetown’s late-night art thing (Art in the Open) is scheduled for Aug. 27. Gerald Beaulieu is one of the first participating artists to be announced … and yes, you have seen this giant crow before. 
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Photo of Beyonce reclining on a black couch under a disco ball and hanging vines. She is nude and wearing silver chains and star-shaped pasties and reclines in black furs. Her hair is loose and worn long in blonde curls. She looks directly at the camera.
Mason Poole for Parkwood Entertainment

Release the love. Forget the rest

 
Renaissance, the new album from Beyoncé, is a tribute to queer joy in the face of adversity.
 
Movie still of Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Chase Sui Wonders and Rachel Sennott in the film Bodies Bodies Bodies. They are four young women, lined up shoulder to shoulder in a dark living room. Their makeup is smeared with sweat and blood and the look with fear at something in front of them.
Fantasia International Film Festival

Fantasia festival recap!

 
For fans of horror and genre film, Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival is the place to be. After two years of pandemic pivots, it fully returned this summer with plenty of scares (including some of the COVID variety).
 
Painting of the CBC logo. A watercolour and gouache painting depicting a moose printed with floral motifs peers through the geometric shapes that comprise the gem.

Sara Khan

 

Think this logo’s gorgeous? You wouldn’t be moose-taken

 
Sara Khan painted this CBC gem, and the design has personal meaning for the Vancouver-based artist.
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Emerik

@dirtyl00ks
Photo of tattooed hands with magenta nail polish.

@dirtyl00ks/Instagram

Does this picture look familiar? Maybe you read this trend piece about “deliberately weird” tattoos. Or maybe you’ve just seen something similar on Instagram already. Emerik’s a tattoo artist from Montreal, but he’s not the only person working in this “bathroom stall drawing” esthetic (his description, not mine). As he says in the story, social media’s responsible for the look taking off.
 

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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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