The Belgo Report Bettina Forget
Highlights from 2008 - 2011
The Belgo Report Bettina Forget
Highlights from 2008 - 2011
ABOUT THE BELGO REPORT From Screen to Print
A typical scene: during a vernissage in my gallery, a visitor is casually clasping a glass of red wine while we’re talking about art. “So, how come you set up your gallery in this building?” he inquires. “It’s a great spot” I reply. “Besides being downtown and close to Place-des-arts, I also love the cultural vibe of the Belgo.” I take a sip of wine. “You know, there are over thirty art galleries and artist’s studios in this building.” His eyebrows rise and he cranes his head out of the door, peering down the long, yellow corridor. “You’re kidding! I guess I should come back to visit.” When I opened my gallery about five years ago, this happened all the time. I am amazed at how many Montrealers are unaware of the Belgo building, and its host of art galleries, dance studios, and artist’s ateliers. A great number of Montreal’s high-profile artists and gallerists exhibit and work here, and there are at least three vernissages every week, not to mention the myriad of book launches, art and dance performances, workshops, lectures, and artists’ talks. I decided something needed to be done to make Montrealers - and the world - aware of the Belgo building and its fantastic cultural offerings; and so the Belgo Report was born. At first it was an unassuming blog, featuring bite-sized write-ups of some of my favourite art exhibitions taking place in the Belgo. Over the years the blog grew into an online magazine, featuring a calendar, interactive panoramas, a video module, and regular features such as Friday’s Favourite Four and This Week in the Belgo. As of 2011 the Belgo is also sent out as a weekly digest to those too busy to surf the internet. Readership has soared, and reviews from the Belgo Report have been picked up by gallerists and artists alike; the most exotic being an artbook publisher in Korea. This positive feedback inspired me to consider publishing highlights from the online magazine as a printed art catalogue. You are holding in your hands Edition 1 of what I am hoping will be the first in a long series of Belgo Report books. See you at the next vernissage! Bettina Forget Producer and Writer The Belgo Report
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LES TERRITOIRES
Jessica Auer Unmarked Sites Jessica Auer’s rich, highly detailed C-prints transport you to the edge of the sea. In her series of works titled Unmarked Sites currently on show at Les Territoires, she explores ancient cultural sites and settlements in Newfoundland and Labrador. Like an archeologist, but with a camera instead of a pick-axe, Auer tracks down isolated villages, remnants of pre-historic structures, burial mounds, sod huts, fjords. Some of these remnants of civilization are barely visible, and you may have missed them had the artist not captured them on film. What is evident, however, is how both time and human activity have subtly changed the landscape, each on their own time scale. The majestic, rugged landscape is dotted with tiny homes and a spider-web of foot-paths. Erosion and the sea wear away at the massive boulders. Auer’s work examines how change to the environment is caused by humans and by nature, but also at the efforts made to preserve the region’s cultural identity.
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Ancient Quarry
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GALERIE TROIS POINTS
Olga Chataoutdinova In the Time of Sakura In the hectic bustle of “la rentrée” Galerie Trois Points feels like a calm oasis. Delicate shadows of cherry trees cast intricate patterns across half a dozen large-format photographs by Russian artist Olga Chagaoutdinova. Actually, it took me a moment to realize that I was indeed looking at shadows, the tight shots of softly blurred branches reminded me of a Sally Mann print until I spotted a few sharply focused leaves hugging the edge of the frame. This is a wonderful series of prints, but their strength lies not just in their aesthetics, but in the artist’s deeply personal narrative: they tell a story of family and loss, and illustrate the ephemeral nature of our existence. At the back of the gallery, behind a partition wall, hangs a solitary photograph, showing a white piece of fabric with a few awkward scribbles on them. These are the last words of Chagaoutdinova’s grandmother, written moments before her death. This simple bed sheet forms the backdrop of the Sakura tree shadow photographs. Chagaoutdinova chose the Sakura tree (a type of cherry tree), because it symbolizes her grandmother’s ethnic heritage; the tree grows in her grandmother’s homeland, the far Eastern region of Russia, near the border with China. The tree’s stunning pink blossoms only last for one week, expressing the transience of life and beauty. Just as the blossoms fall and the shadow of the Sakura tree glides across the picture frame, the people closest to us also flower and fade. In the Time of Sakura is a poetic, cathartic work; an expression of Chagaoutdinova’s personal grief, which finds an echo in us all.
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In the Time of Sakura #2
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GALERIE JOYCE YAHOUDA
David Elliot Lullaby The sheer size and colour of David Elliot’s works currently on show at Joyce Yahouda Gallery are imposing. You feel as though the canvases are going to suck you in, like Alice stepping through the looking glass. Luminous, smooth, and in a seeming jumble, a random collection of images are scattered across the picture plane: realistically rendered fruit, cats, and toys, super-sized computer icons, wood-cuts, and newspaper clippings. Sometimes the elements float on Pop Art inspired backgrounds, sometimes they seem trapped in a tight box, fighting to get out. At first blush Elliot’s works look like giant collages, but the recurring motif of the shiny, delicious apples betrays clear signs of careful brush strokes, and it’s this painterly quality which holds all the pieces together. At the core of Elliot’s work is the concept of the still life, in particular the “vanitas.” What used to be a somber contemplation of the transience of life in 17th century European painting has been given a contemporary update by this artist. Instead of skulls, decaying fruit, and hourglasses he conjures up a disorienting riot of 20th century symbols, both mundane and profound. In a world as perpetually rushed as ours, a meditation on the impermanence of life becomes ever more poignant.
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Lullaby
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INDEX
PHOTOGRAPHY Les Territoires Galerie Trois Points Art 45 Galerie Lilian Rodriguez
Jessica Auer Olga Chagaoutdinova Angela Grauerholz Josée Pedneault
Unmarked Sites In the Time of Sakura Recent Works So You Don’t Forget About Me
29/04 25/08 06/04 01/05
-
14/05/2011 01/10/2011 26/04/2008 05/06/2011
2 4 6 8
Carlito Dalceggio David Elliot John Heward Robert Houle Harlan Johnson Kirsten McCrea
Fear of Death - Death of Fear Lullaby Recent Works Artifact Abstractions Show de Groupe Hot Topic
29/04 - 29/05/2010 17/02 - 26/03/2011 22/11 - 20/12/2008 15/10 - 19/11/2011 01/12/11 - 14/01/12 03/08 - 08/09/2011
10 12 14 16 18 20
Kent Monkman Natalie Reis Ben Sloat Yadir Quintana
The Atelier Toxic Cornucopia His Eyes Were Like Mine In Time of Silver Rain
14/05 04/30 11/05 15/06
25/06/2011 28/05/2011 11/06/2011 23/07/2011
22 24 26 28
Davide Bertocchi Anne Cherix
Empirical Resolution Attempts MOTUS
16/11/11 - 18/02/12 31/01 - 09/02/2008
30 32
Jérôme Fortin Pierre Gallais
Autoportraits MatHérialisation
03/09 - 17/10/2008 11/06 - 09/07/2011
34 36
PAINTING Galerie [SAS] Galerie Joyce Yahouda Galerie Roger Bellemare Galerie Nicolas Robert GEspace Robert Poulin Maison Kasini Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain Galerie Trois Points Laroche/Joncas Laroche/Joncas
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SCULPTURE AND INSTALLATION Galerie Pangée Visual Voice Art Gallery Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain Centre d’exposition Circa
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Galerie B-312 Galerie Donald Browne SCB Gallery of Contemporary Art Centre des arts actuels Skol
Geoffrey Jones Valerie Kolakis Michael Rakowitz Ian Wojtowics
A Plan for a Northern Hemisphere Lost in the Supermarket Recent Projects on Baghdad and Montreal The Betweeners
11/04 - 10/05/2008 23/04 - 04/06/2011
38 40
13/05 - 20/06/2010 16/04 - 22/05/2010
42 44
Chrysalides
04/04 - 03/05/2008
46
Why Photogenic?
01/05 - 19/06/2010
48
Bic la Bohème All Systems Normal Remarkable, Decks New York Blues
05/06 29/10 06/09 02/07
50 52 54 56
FILM AND VIDEO Centre des arts actuels Skol Patrick Bernatchez SCB Gallery of Contemporary Art Emanuel Licha PRINT AND DRAWING Galerie Illustration Québec Arprim Optica Galerie Luz
Julie Deschenaux Stefan Hoffmann Janice Kerbel Andre van der Kerkhoff
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26/06/2008 03/12/2011 11/10/2008 26/07/2008
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GALLERY LISTING
1ST FLOOR
4TH FLOOR
Galerie Illustration Québec space 123 www.illustrationquebec.com
Galerie B-312 space 403 www.galerieb-312.qc.ca
2ND FLOOR
Galerie Lilian Rodriguez space 405 www.galerielilianrodriguez.com
Art 45 space 220 www.art45.ca Pierre François Ouellette Art Contemporain space 216 www.pfoac.com
Maison Kasini space 408 http://maisonkasini.com Galerie Laroche/Joncas space 410 www.larochejoncas.com
3RD FLOOR Galerie A. B. space 313 www.galerieab.com Centre des arts actuels Skol space 314 www.skol.ca Espace AGAC space 318 www.agac.qc.ca
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Galerie Luz space 418 www.galerieluz.com Galerie d’art contemporain Visual Voice space 421 www.visualvoicegallery.com Arprim space 426 www.arprim.org Centre d’exposition CIRCA space 444 www.circa-art.com 5TH FLOOR
Espace Robert Poulin space 411 Galerie Pangée space 412 www.galeriepangee.com Galerie [sas] space 416 www.galeriesas.com
Galerie Roger Bellemare, Galerie Christian Lambert spaces 501 and 502 www.rogerbellemare.com SBC Galerie d’art contemporain space 507 www.sbcgallery.ca
Optica space 508 www.optica.ca
Galerie Donald Browne space 528 www.galeriedonaldbrowne.com
M du B, F, H & g space 512
Les Territoires space 527 www.lesterritoires.org
Le 514 space 514 www.le514.ca
Lobtha space 530 http://lobhta.com
Galerie Joyce Yahouda space 516 www.joyceyahoudagallery.com Galerie Trois Points space 520 www.galerietroispoints.qc.ca
Previous residents Galerie Simon Blais Galerie Push Galerie KÊrozène
Galerie Piccini da Todi space 523 www.piccinidatodi.com Galerie Nicolas Robert space 524 www.galerienicolasrobert.com
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