Plus eye candy made with "creepy" paper.
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Hi, Art!

Sunday, July 07, 2024

Hi, Art!

Sunday, July 07, 2024

Hi, art lovers!

 
Photo of Tig Fong and Kayvan Novak. Medium close-up. Fong has short hair and a navy blue suit. Novak has long hair and wears red velvet and gold brocade. Both men are smiling at the viewer.

What We Do in the Shadows stunt coordinator Tig Fong (left) with actor Kayvan Novak (Tig Fong)

 
Canada is one of the hardest-working actors in Hollywood — it’s a fact folks from Vancouver to Almonte, Ont., know too well. And even if you’ve never seen your hometown on screen, everyone knows you can’t believe everything you see in the movies. 

Toronto is just anonymous enough to play anything from New York to an alien planet. Sometimes, a location brings more meaning to the story than you’d expect (I was today years old when I learned the Ontario Science Centre was crucial to the making of Station Eleven). More often than not, however, the city’s just doing its job — and recognizing a local landmark is just a weird little Easter egg that’s yours to discover. Take the case of What We Do in the Shadows (my favourite vampire comedy of all time — and not simply because I’ve never seen another). For six seasons, Toronto has played a suitably dreary version of Staten Island, the setting for the show. Production on the series’ final season wrapped earlier this year, and in this week’s roundup of top stories, you’ll find a feature about the show’s local design crew. If the prospect of nerding out on behind-the-scenes minutiae doesn’t sound like a trap set by Colin Robinson, then please direct your attention to these bonus links: decoding a season’s worth of wardrobe with the show’s costume designer; how art history is part of the show’s (hilarious) world-building; plus unpacking the art references in the opening credits. And if that’s still not enough, here’s an analysis of one painting from the set: a portrait of Nandor.
 

And because we promised you eye candy ...

 
Abstract mixed media artwork in shades of light brown, purple and pink. The backdrop is a grid suggesting gingham fabric. The form dominating the top half of the canvas resembles coils of patterned fire hose. It is strewn with many rows of pink and purple striped bunting. Checkered ticker tape appears to fly and fall.

Chris Hyndman

I’m about to tell you way too much about my browser history. Because I was reading about What We Do in the Shadows, I decided to Google a scene from the first season. It’s the one where Nandor’s out shopping for party supplies and he keeps on calling crepe paper “creepy paper” (I think it’s funny. Maybe you do too). So I searched “crepe paper” + “art” (I was feeling lucky). This is what popped up! It’s a piece called Monster and it’s by Chris Hyndman, a Chicago-based artist who was born in London, Ont. Technically, it’s acrylic and tissue paper on canvas — but wow!
 
Photo of an abstract collage hanging on a white wall. The cavnas is an irregular geometric shape, patterned to suggest a wonky 3D form. It is patterned with strips of colourful wallpaper in a rainbow palette.

Amy Feigley-Lee

From “creepy”’ paper to wallpaper. This collage is by Amy Feigley-Lee, and you’ll definitely want to zoom in for a better look. She has some close-up photos on her Instagram.
 
Realistic oil painting of outstretched white hands with long glossy fingernails cradling a crystal seashell. Background is jet black.

Emily Pope

Illusion of Another World by Emily Pope. Emily will be showing some of her paintings in Picton, Ont., later this week.
 
Photo of a room at Contemporary Calgary. The walls are painted in an abstract pattern, largely sage green in colour with amorphous bands of coral pink and slate grey. Abstract paintings hang on the walls.

Victoria Cimolini

Here’s a peek inside Derek Liddington’s solo exhibition at Contemporary Calgary. The show “examines how we experience the landscape rather than how we see it” and it’s on through Aug. 25. 
 
Pastel artwork of a female figure (all lilac) with no nose and all-black eyes. She stands against a black backdrop. The drawing suggests a spectral blur.

Natalie Jean Mizzen

Beth by Toronto-based artist Natalie Jean Mizzen. 
 
 

You've got to see this

 
 
 
Cast photo from What We Do in the Shadows. Five performers in a group appear against a purple backdrop. They are bathed in green light.
FX

What they do in the shadows

 
The sixth season of What We Do in the Shadows will be its last. Meet the team behind its spooky sets and stunts.
 
Photo of a person wearing headphones looking at a painting of a nuclear explosion. Their back is to the viewer.
Art Gallery of Hamilton

The only way to hear Jeremy Greenspan’s new album is to visit this terrifying painting

 
Junior Boys producer Jeremy Greenspan has released a five-track recording based on This Is the Nemesis by William Kurelek. The painting depicts a nuclear attack on southern Ontario, and it’s a key work in the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s permanent collection. It’s hanging there now in fact, and should you visit, you’re in for a one-of-a-kind audio experience.
 
Performers in the musical Ma-Buhay! perform on stage. Group of seven performers of Filipino descent stand in a row, slightly bowed, holding one hand under their chins.

Robert Tinker

 

It's Manitoba’s first all-Filipino musical

 
Ma-Buhay! is the story of three young Filipino performers competing in a major singing contest. Now playing in Winnipeg, it’s written by Joseph Sevillo, who was inspired by another all-Filipino production, Prison Dancer.
 

Follow this artist

 
 
 
Instagram

Pegah Peivandi

@pegahpeivandi
Digital illustration of the CBC Arts logo. The CBC gem appears on a dark grey background. The sections of the gem have been styled as surreal botanical forms with jagged and curved edges. It is mostly green with pink and blue blossom-like details. Text below reads "CBC Arts." The type is in blue and is similarly flocked with thorn-like curved spikes.

Pegah Peivandi

Pegah’s CBC Arts logo design was inspired by summer in Toronto. “The city rapidly bursts with life and plants that have been defrosting for months,” she told us. “It's almost like you blink one second, and there's an explosion of exponential warmth.”
 

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

 
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XOXO CBC Arts
 
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