Yes, I’m sorry to report that Couture King Jean Paul Gaultier has left the building – that is, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

But don’t fret, fellow fashion fanatics. He’ll be back sooner than you think to launch his retrospective The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, which makes its international debut right here in Montreal before continuing on to Dallas and San Francisco. Mark your calendars now, people: June 17 to October 2, 2011.

Lucky, lucky me. (I do love my job!) I got to meet The Man at a hush hush press conference to officially announce this up-coming event. Full of energy – and anecdotes! – Gaultier clearly charmed the small gathering of starry-eyed journalists, including Fashion Television host Jeanne Beker who sat in the front row.

On the heels of two more style icon exhibitions, Yves Saint Laurent and Denis Gagnon (the latter presently on view), JPG’s show promises to be a major crowd pleaser, showcasing 120 of his avant-garde ensembles from 1976 to 2010 (Madge’s infamous cone bra is just the tip of the iceberg), Jean Paul’s personal “artefacts” (like “Nana,” his teddy bear and first-ever model), rare photographs, multi-media installations (presenting his cinematic, music video and pop star collaborations), and so much more I’m not at liberty to say… just trust me on this. It is going to be AH-MAY-ZING.

The idea of showcasing “fashion as fine art” was the brainchild of the museum’s lovely director, Nathalie Bondil. And it’s thanks to her that JPG’s first ever retrospective is here in Montreal. (Sorry Paris!). Set to cover about 1,500 square metres of space (yup, it’s huge), Gaultier’s colourful and oft controversial career will be showcased under five themes: Paris, Fusions, Multi-Gender, Eurotrash/X-Rated, and Metropolis. A 424-page tome will also be sold through the museum; I’m told it will be jam-packed with photos, illustrations, and 40 exclusive interviews with his mentors, muses, and a fabulous circle of friends like Madonna, Catherine Deneuve, and Martin Margiela.

Are you weak in the knees yet? I know I was nervous meeting Mr. Gaultier today. But see our photo below: Don’t we look cosy? He’s so warm and generous and genuine…and, oh yes, talented. I’ve already started the countdown till summer.

THE DETAILS

What: The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Where: The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts [www.mmfa.qc.ca],

When: June 17 to October 2, 2011

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Your chance to see the best and the brightest. FREE! Montreal’s Musée d’Art Contemporain is showing top young Canadian artists thanks to the Sobey Art Award.

The Sobey Art Award was created in 2002 by the Sobey Art Foundation. The Award is presented annually to an artist under 40 who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within the 18 months prior to being nominated.

Organized in conjunction with the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Musée d’Art Contemporain (known locally as ‘the MAC’) is presenting pieces by the four Quebec artists nominated for the Award, as well as the work of finalist Patrick Bernatchez ( picture above).  The prize is not only prestigious – it is pricey:  the winner receives $50,000.  Each finalist receives $5,000. The Quebec semifinalists being showcased are Pascal Grandmaison, BGL, Adad Hannah and Karen Tam.

BGL Collective is renowned mainly for its large-scale site-specific installations, which comment on work and play – a perfect commentary on the lifestyle of Montrealers, I might add!  Pascal Grandmaison’s films and still photographs are meditation on time and visual perception.  Adad Hannah transposes historical paintings and sculptures into videos and photographs with a contemporary angle.  His The Burghers of Calais, a riff on Rodin’s famed sculpture, will be shown.  Karen Tam’s works centre on the history of the Chinese diaspora, and the conflicted continuing relationships between East and West. This show is a great way to glimpse the creativity of young artists.

MEET THE FINALISTS IN PERSON    November 17, 2010.  5 p.m. Free.

Sobey Award finalists Brendan Lee Satish Tang (West Coast and Yukon), Brendan Fernandes (Ontario), Patrick Bernatchez (Quebec), Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby (Atlantic)

Daniel Barrow (Prairies and The North) will perform at 7:30 pm.

A fun thing to do? Attend this fun event and try and guess who will be announced as the winner – tomorrow. November 18!

Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal

185, Ste-Catherine West
/ corner Jeanne Mance

Montréal Qc

514.847.6232

www.macm.org

Credits : Patrick Bernatchez

BW (Black Watch), 2010

DON’T GO AWAY!  WHILE YOU ARE HERE.

You have to try Brasserie T. (sister bistrot to Montreal’s starred Toqué restaurant) Right next door. (I love…did I say love !…their fries. Oh, and the bavette is pretty good as well.)   The brainchild of Montreal top chef Normand Laprise (of Toqué fame) and Christine Lamarche, this new hotspot is in the Quartier des Spectacles and has received raves since opening a few months ago. Reservations are a must!

Brasserie T

425 Jeanne Mance  Open every day from 11h30

www.brasserie-t.com

514-282-080

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The first glimpse of Liliana Berezowksy’s work at Galerie CIRCA is inviting. A soft, pink suede chair-like piece sits on the floor to greet you. Indeed, for a nano-second, you think it is a contemporary chair, offering comfort. Therein lies the rub: Your first clue are the nails… A large roundish piece – can I call it ‘sculpture’ I ask myself ? – sits in the middle of the gallery.

A big sink-into seat, sensually inviting in suede. But it isn’t a chair at all. It is one of Liliana Berezowsky’s ‘’sculptures’’ – most of which communicate in contradictions. Her pieces make one look, and look again; and think. Influenced by the industrial landscape- by machinery – the artist creates perfectly-made pieces. They don’t look crafted: They look manufactured. They serve absolutely no use at all – except that they are beautiful. Each piece at the show suggests pleasure – but each harbours hidden danger. The pink suede that could swallow you up is framed in a beautifully-made semi-circle – studded with polished nails. Indeed, everything has a polished look and feel. The viewer is drawn in to admire – and then we are confused. We feel a slight frisson of fear. Spikey shapes counter the allure of softness. Berezowsky combines these two directions in her pieces that have no resemblance to anything in our world. A stunning, six-foot work undulating in one corner has a siren call. It looks like a sea creature. But like the call of the deep – there is a sense of apprehension. Simultaneously you hold both feelings – a visceral pleasure tinged with a touch of foreboding. Suddenly you realize the artist has succeeded: Liliana Berezowsky has totally involved you in her art.

Galerie CIRCA 372 Ste.Catherine Street 4th floor, # 444 514-393-8248 Tuesday – Saturdays 12 – 5:30 pm Until October 10 www.circa-art.com

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Billed as ‘The World’s Largest Photojournalism Exhibition’, World Press Photo 10 is at the Just for Laughs Museum until October 3. This amazing exhibit features the finest photojournalism from around the world. There is something for everyone, as the ten themes include sports, nature, portraits and daily life. Selected from over 100,000 submissions, the 65 chosen photographs will travel to over 100 cities.

There are also two other photography shows included in the exhibit at the Museum. In honour of the World Press Photo 10, presenting sponsor The Gazette chose 8 of its photographers, and showcased their work in Best of the Gazette. And Haïti Exposed is also up for viewing. These chosen images are by 5 photographers who bore witness to the tragedy in Haïti. The show is curated by Emmanuel Galland, who selected La Presse and The Gazette photographs that bear witness to the incredible, indelible destruction in that country. Take some time to stroll around the whole show. The exhibition is truly moving. One of the most striking photos for me was a series showing how starving villagers in Zimbabwe stripped a dead elephant down to bones in just 2 hours. A short time later, even the bones were gone. All of the photos document a moment in time – and remind us of it.

Just for Laughs Museum 2111 St. Laurent /Sherbrooke Street 514-845-2322 www.hahaha.com Daily from 11 – 10 pm September 3 – October 3, 2010 Students & Seniors $8 Family $30 Adults $15 Under 8, free Métro: Place des Arts Or #24 bus on Sherbrooke Street. St. Laurent stop.

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What a great idea!  Take images of the moment from the planet’s most techno tracker – Google Street – and pair them with black and white photographs taken a few years ago.

Artist Jon Rafman, soon to be shown at New York’s prestigious New Museum, is part of a really interesting show at Art 45.  The exhibit, curated by Chloé Roubert, pairs work by photographer Gabor Szilasi with images downloaded from Google Street and enlarged by Rafman.  Gabor’s scenes are black and white.  Rafman’s are in glorious colours…the reality of the moment.  Gabor’s scenes have a reminiscent recall.  Rafman’s have an immediacy.  Rafman pulled images from North America. Chloé perused Szilasi’s portfolio to find photographs that paralled the Google images:  his street scene of sex shops is set beside a neon-bright Google Street/Rafman photo of a similar area.

Possibly Rafman’s most famous ‘photo’ is one of a nude woman with her back to us.  She is standing – seemingly in reflection – on a rocky shore.  The wavelets can be seen with their little tidal white caps.I saw the photo as a meditative moment – she is admiring nature before a secret (or not so secret:  is she alone?) skinny dip.  However, other people have apparently been bothered by this photo.  Their ‘reading’ of it is that the photo is an invasion of privacy.  But, we know not who she is, nor where.  Whether she has contemplations other than an appreciation of nature – we shall never know.  Google Street has taken this particular image down, by the way.  But you can see it – and buy it.  There are only three.

Catch Jon Rafman before the New Museum makes him a star.  And admire the documentarist photos of famed photog Gabor Szilasi. Rush to Montreal’s own ‘new museum’ – the Belgo Building features great emerging artists.  Smart buyers from all over the world are finding art they love, and buying them – before they are at shown at Art Basel Miami Beach – or the New Museum.

Gabor Szilasi images.  No edition.  $1,800.

Jon Rafman photos.  Edition of 3.  $225.

Until October 3, 2010.

Art 45

Belgo Building

372 Ste-Catherine Street

2^nd floor, # 220

514-817-0436

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Many Montrealers know Nicolas Baier’s in situ work:  the large  – 6,000 square feet!  – leafy glass mural installed at Concordia University, high above wandering students. Now there is a chance to see Baier’s latest art up close and personal.

Baier’s Vanitas 2008, an installation of digitally-scanned damaged mirrors, was an eye-catcher at the Musée d’art contemporain’s Triennale 2008. I loved it! Vanitas grabbed your attention. Ink-jet prints of darkened and scratched mirror surfaces were mounted together creating a large statement piece.  But the mirrors no longer reflected. You could not see yourself, but you could ‘see’ what you know. For example, in looking closely at one of the scratches, you might ‘see’ a flower. Imagination comes to the fore.

Baier’s new show is called Paréidolies. This title is a perfect description of his art. The word means when the human mind perceives the familiar in the abstract – such as ‘seeing’ a face in a cloud’s shape. Paréidolies, the travelling exhibition of Nicolas Baier’s work, has arrived in Montreal at Galerie René Blouin, the light-filled space in the Belgo Building.

Baier offers an intricate optical originality.  His images are carefully composed through the magic of modern technology:  Digital scanning.  Baier is inspired by all around him – but never humans.  In a zen-like way, he finds a cosmic beauty in the smallest moment.  His computer failed.  The screen turned red.  He found this so amazing that he framed the red image, and called it…Failed (2008).

Inspired by a lovely piece of green and orange rock from Tuscany, he scanned it.  The enlarged image (Paesina 01) is stunning. His crinkled up and stained bit of brown paper are re-framed, literally; Nuages is lovely, hanging on the main wall of the gallery. The mundane becomes magnificent. Art acts as a mirror to Nicolas Baier.  ‘’Objects, people – the smallest surfaces on which our eyes come to rest, are but a reflection of who we are.  We only see what we know.’’  This might explain why some gallery-goers swear they ‘see’ Monet’s famed water lilies in one of Baier’s works.  Another person sees a labyrinth.  Remember when you lay on your back as a child and watched the clouds turn into elephants, or a giraffe?  Rush to see Nicolas Baier’s beautiful images.  You will have that sense of wonder once again.

CREDIT

Pierre de rêve 1, 2010
Failed
Nuages
With permission from Galerie René Blouin, Montréal

Until October 9, 2010 at
Galerie René Blouin
372 Ste-Catherine Street West
5^th floor, # 501
514-393-9969

Tuesday – Friday 10 – 5:30 pm
Saturday 11- 5 pm
And by appointment.

STAY AT THE BELGO

After looking sip a cup of tea and try the carrot cake at the Belgo’s main floor café.  You will probably see artists (and collectors!) doing the same thing!

The post ARTIST NICOLAS BAIER PLAYS WITH YOUR MIND appeared first on Tourisme Montréal Blog.

Love animals? Run down to the Old Port.  The photos are fabulous!

On Bonsecours Island (sounds like a pirate place, non?) at the Quais / piers of Old Montreal’s port area, there are 140 of the best animal photos in the world.  Fifty of these are being shown for the first time.  The exposition also has a video, which is really great to watch.  The show is a partnership between the famed Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the National Geographic Collection, and the renowned international photographer Vincent Munier.  It’s fun for everyone.  And the animal photos are amazing.  They should be.  Vincent has been awarded the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award – three times!

DETAILS

www.etat-sauvage.com

Bonsecours Island, Old Port Métro: Champs des Mars

Admission:

Adults $12

Children and 65+ $8

Children 0-5 free

Family of 4 – $35

Hours

Sunday – Wednesday 11 – 7 pm

Thursday – Saturday 11 – 9 pm

Until September 6, 2010

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