/ pulp / Arts Magazine by pulp Arts Magazine

pulp

pulp [p큼lp] n. the soft fleshy part of a fruit

/ E D I TO R - I N - C H I E F /

Jacqueline Mok / WR I T E R S /

Joanna Braund Julide Cakiroglu Romina Cortellucci Madeline Ferracuti Emily Fister Kasia Knap Nicole Patrick Emma Pipes Jag Raina Stephanie Stehr / C O P Y E D I TO R S /

Alanna Mager Matthew Palmer

facebook.com/pulpartsmag pulpartsmag@gmail.com pulp is in association with VASA fifty copies printed for November 2011

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in this issue: 6

november calendar

Barroco Nova: Wrestling with Change

in conversation with Patrick Mahon

to-and-fro: dōblĕ vā at it again

Nuit Zissou

Tying People Together

Summer Faves & Fall Picks

Watch the Throne: The Occupy Wall Street Image

featured musician: DD/MM/YYYY

Resurface of Process-Based Art

Parker Branch & No.16: Pupil Gauge

featured professor: Kim Moodie

Here, Then, and There & Not Bad For London

stay updated with current events this month

an overview of the outstanding exhibition

a close look at Barroco Nova with one of the curators

inspiring the modern textile artist

how to prepare for Nuit Blanche

recounting an extended performance piece

eight music selections for song seekers

a commentary on the <We Are The 99%> movement

an interview with a Toronto experimental avant-garde band

interpreting contemporary art development

experiencing the space and collection

revealing the artist’s mind in regard to his most recent work

fresh exhibitions for this November

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november M ONGOING EXHIBITION:

T 1

W 2

F 4

ArteMusea Here, Then and Festival, 7pm @ There, FCG @ 7pm Museum London Not Bad For London, Michael Gibson @ 8pm

Barroco Nova at Artlab Gallery McIntosh Gallery Museum London 7

Artist Talk: Colin Carney, FCG @ 7pm

Speaker Series: Glen Lowry, VAC100 @ 7pm

Knitting/Stitching, FCG @ 7-10pm 14

Artist Gathering, FCG @ 7-10pm

Speaker Series: Brendan Fernandes, VAC100 @ 7pm

Zeus, performing Charlotte Funk Night, at Call the Office Cornfield, Ben APK Live @ 9pm @ 7pm, $10 tix Caplan, Graham Nicholas performing at APK Live @ 9pm

Bruce Peninsula, Lonnie in the Garden, Weather Station performing at APK Live @ 9pm

<------------------------------------------------ Art Sale ------------------------------------------------> <--------------------------------------- Christmas Card Sale ---------------------------------------> <---------------------------------------- Free Market Trade ---------------------------------------->

december

Barroco Nova: Wrestling with Change

Joanna Braund

Much anticipation and excitement surrounded the recent opening of Barroco Nova: Neo-Baroque Moves in Contemporary Art. Curated by Susan Edelstein and Patrick Mahon, the exhibition inhabits three of London’s galleries: Artlab Gallery, McIntosh Gallery, and Museum London. Featuring striking works across a variety of mediums, eighteen Canadian contemporary artists engage with ideas of identity, culture, urban space, entertainment, and the body. The work reflects the Baroque by acting as a response to moments of change, while providing an emotional sensory experience through powerful and exaggerated imagery. As stated by Mahon, the exhibition features “art that is trying to wrestle with change”. Though the curators have made ties between this historical movement and the artworks, the exhibition remains relatable and reflects the contemporary experience. The works are KENT MONKMAN, THÉÂTRE DE CRISTAL, 2007, INSTALLATION VIEW AT MCINTOSH GALLERY, PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTIST powerful and confronting, but not grotesque. Consideration to detail and how the individual works relate to the space of the gallery allows the audience to take in the beauty of the work. Kent Monkman’s Théâtre de Cristal fills one room in McIntosh Gallery with an exquisite beaded teepee chandelier. The video projected from the chandelier onto the floor invites you to be part of the intimate space of this intricate work. Meanwhile, at Museum London, the array of textures and mediums draws attention to the detail of the works as well as their movement in the space. Rhoda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, who recently gave an insightful lecture at Western, are showing work in the Artlab and Museum London in which they cast objects in aluminum foil to explore how to push materials to limits where they must fail. Trevor explained that when you encounter the foil objects there is a “hypersensitivity to the self as you walk around them” because the fragility gives you some power over the objects. My initial encounter with Barroco Nova illuminated the power of the images, the detail involved and the space they occupy. Fortunately, there is opportunity for everyone to encounter and reencounter these works, as the exhibition will continue until the end of the semester.

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Barroco Nova: in conversation with Patrick Mahon Madeline Ferracuti Patrick Mahon, co-curator with Susan Edelstein, shares his insight on the ideas behind the exhibition with Madeline Ferracuti. Madeline Ferracuti: To begin, just for people walking in to the exhibition, can you tell us a bit about the Baroque movement? Patrick Mahon: The baroque is a historical era that really spanned form the 17th to the 19th century. And, although it’s associated with the Counter Reformation, it probably needs to be thought of foremost as a kind of movement or a resistance to the kind of classical that the Renaissance was so preoccupied with. The art of the baroque was exaggerated, and often times it was an art that was about trying to convince the viewer of a certain idea or position. The neo-baroque has some of the same sensibilities. It’s an art of exaggeration, an art that attempts to convince us through its opulence or its strength, and I think that the question is: what is it trying to convince us of? Well, we’re living in a time of change, dramatic change, and the Baroque era was also a time of dramatic change. So, really I think it is art that’s trying to wrestle with change. MF: What are some of the different ways artists in this show understand “neo-baroque”? PM: Well, one thing that’s important to say is that none of the artists would necessarily say that they intended to make work that’s Neo-Baroque. So none of these artists are intentionally referring to the Baroque as a particular era of art history. But, I think that we have various themes that we go on in the exhibition. One relates to post-colonialism, one relates to urban life, and kind of what we might call a “heterotopia” in urban life, and the other relates to ideas around the body, and a kind of excess. MF: How did you come to select these particular artists? PM: There was a big exhibition in 2000 that came out of South America, although it was mounted by the San Diego Museum of Art. And it was called Ultra Baroque, and it tried to show that the art of Latin America has a strong kind of affinity with Baroque tendencies. So, when Susan Edelstein and I became involved in this project (which relates to a big research project at Western called the Hispanic baroque) we knew that we needed to look at what had been shown in this Ultra Baroque show. Also, to try and see if there was contemporary art coming from Canada and North America that has some relation to that. MF: The exhibition is separated into 3 parts: urbanesque features, surface features, and the fold and possible worlds. Can you tell me about the three locations? PM: To start with the post-colonial, we basically have four artists whose work related to post8

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RHONDA WEPPLER & TREVOR MAHOVSKY, 1985 CAMARO, 2011, INSTALLATION VIEW AT ARTLAB GALLERY

colonialism. In one case the artist is aboriginal, born in Canada, and in the other three cases, the artists are immigrants to Canada, or are from immigrant backgrounds. But all of their work is not so much involved with what we might call identity politics in a more conventional sense, but I think all of them use their identity, and questions around identity, to in a sense make a performance, or a kind of an exaggerated spectacle out of their own kind of investigation into identity. In terms of the urban space, we see several artists working with ideas of suburbia or the urban environment as highly complex, and like a world of mirrors. There is a way in which urban life is shown as something that surrounds us, and at the same time as something that creates wonders and conflicts. Around the body and ideas of excess, there’s a whole kind of myriad of ways in which artists are working, but I think you would note by looking at some of the works that relate to the body that the body seems like it’s fragmentary, and also you could say a site of contestation, we’d call it: some kind of debate. Then, there’s also work that’s simply visually excessive, and really works with some of what we might call the historical sensibilities of the baroque. MF: How would you explain the fold in accessible terms? PM: The fold is not a preoccupation that we’ve ended up being as invested in as we had thought we would, in part because of its complexity. We didn’t want to emphasize it as something that we felt the work was illustrating, but the idea of the fold in simple terms is really about a kind of

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in conversation with Patrick Mahon experience or idea that turns back on itself, and in some ways creates inversions and contradictions within itself. We feel that there is a lot about the exhibition that actually does that, right across the board. For example, you could say that the artists who are dealing with cultural and racial identity appear as if they are both parodying the culture that they come from, while they’re also taking on that culture and they’re claiming it as a site of power or agency. That kind of embedded contradiction is something that we could relate to the idea of the fold. MF: The Barroco Nova website mentions that the work in the exhibition speaks to our cultural moment. How would you define this moment then, in relation to the neobaroque? PM: I think that when you see the exhibition, you have a sense that it comes out of a world that is quite, in many ways challenging, and even troubled, and yet it is also a world of wonders. There is a way in which the exhibition is unflinching, or it’s very honest in showing us challenging images and ideas, but it does so DAVID ALTMEJD, LE BERGER, 2008 AT MUSEUM LONDON in a way that can make them beautiful or entertaining. So in a certain sense, I think it operates in a language that is somewhat familiar even if we think of film, or other forms of entertainment. MF: Do you think these works speak to a specific audience? PM: No, I think it really will appeal to a broad audience, the show at Museum London is up now, and there are 12 artists there, and I was there on the weekend, and there were a lot of people there. They definitely didn’t look like art students, or artists, and they were taking pictures, and they appeared to be very fascinated. So I feel that it’s an exhibition that has a lot of appeal to a broad audience. I think that if one is an artist or an intellectual, they might experience the show on a certain level, but I think that it is equally available to other people who don’t have that kind of background as something that’s kind of exciting but also thought provoking. ■

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observing the modern textile artist through

to-and-fro: dōblĕ vā at it again

Emma Pipes to-and-fro: dōblĕ vā at it again is an exhibition at the Masonville Public Library in the Sifton Room. The exhibition itself features handwork by René Vandenbrink and her friend Jacqueline Venus. Jacqueline is a local artist who embroiders in a delicate style over thoughtfully picked fabric. She draws inspiration from surroundings we are familiar with. René is a former student of UWO and was the print technician last year in the Visual Arts department. René and Jacqueline are members of the Canadian Embroiders Guild in London. A rebirth of textile art emerges as these women continue to work in this traditional craft and share their passion with us. I had the opportunity to have a conversation with René about textiles. Handiwork has been significant to René since she was about 10 years old. Whether it was the simple stitching, the long work process, or RENE VANDENBRINK, DETAIL OF FISSION, 2011 the final results, it has always been important for her to “push the limits of the materials”. She places importance on the process of stitching by hand and feels that there is a need for the preservation of textiles and the handmade. She believes there IS a resurgence of textiles in today’s art world. There is a rich history behind hand-crafted material – its origins, functions, and creativity. Processes such as sewing, quilting, and embroidery have been kept alive over many years and are significant reminders of the past and what we used to know. Could it be that there really is significance in physical tokens and scraps – that such things may inspire us? A simple pattern or a stain on a fabric can represent a moment in our lives; like a trigger it can release a wave of memories that are precious and mysterious to us. In this way, it is understandable that René incorporated fabric from her old studio into her current work. Belongings from a larger space had to be given up as she moved into a smaller studio in her home, however it seemed right for the scraps and materials to be used because they represented so much of what happened in the old studio; that feeling made itself present. This exhibition gave René the opportunity to capture her feelings of moving from one place to another, or as the title puts it: to and fro.

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Nuit Zissou

Julide Cakrioglu

Ah, Nuit Blanche... how can I describe such a spectacle? I had never been to Nuit Blanche before, but, of course, had heard mostly good things – tales of dodgeball fights with DJs and museums open beyond midnight. Doesn’t that sound intriguing? No one told me how to handle it, but I made the journey and would like to share a few tips. So, here is my very informal and desperately honest guide to experiencing Nuit Blanche. Tip 1: Carry a map with you and don’t rely on that newspaper article you vaguely skimmed while you were two glasses of wine in about there being a Zone A, B, and C. You wrote Bloor, Yonge, Queen, and Downtown South and West on your hand thinking you would understand what that meant later. Well, perhaps if you were from Toronto that would have worked out but now, four glasses in and one handwash later, your palm looks like it says Bloonge Quetown ouest (you begin to think you attracted the attention of a tropical French debutante). Tip 2: Expect to get lost. Going to Nuit Blanche is like going into one of those colourful ballpits for children. You walk a fine line between staying afloat and suffocating in unhygienic doom; in other words there are lots of people. Looking around I thought to myself, only Toronto or populationequivalent cities could pull this off. With over one million people in attendance, the crowds become your evening’s fortuneteller. The transportation you take, art you see, and bars you stay at are determined by capacity and reach-ability. With this knowledge keep in mind my next tip. Tip 3: Go early. Well, at least earlier than I went. Me and my university friends (oh, just wait for tip number four) thought leaving any time before eleven thirty was harmless. Learn from my mistake: go earlier, and get some good art-appreciation-time in. The thing about Nuit Blanche is that it is spread throughout the city, which is both good and bad. It’s nice that people from all different areas can have access to a slice of what’s up all around the city, but the real art enthusiasts have to put in a great deal of effort to plough through the crowds and see all the work. Which segues into... Tip 4: Likely to be the most vital advice here: do NOT see Nuit Blanche (or any festival type of event) with a large group of people. If you must, break off into smaller groups and meet up later. Big groups of people trying to travel around together are an inevitable disaster. If you do go out with a large group, make sure to tape your phone to your hand because you’re going to be on it for about two hours as you try to play mother goose to your herd of duckling friends. Keep these tender tips in mind as you travel to Nuit Blanche or any other similar event. You may or may not have a good time if you heed my advice, but at least you’ll have a better shot at writing a Nuit Blanche review than I did. EVENT PHOTO COURTESY OF AUTHOR

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Tying People Together

Nicole Patrick

“All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together.” - Jack Kerouac My perception of Nuit Blanche was greatly altered as I encountered a quiet but very unique relational aesthetics art piece. The streets of Toronto were littered with people who were flocking around the humongous installations that were advertised as the night’s main attractions. The most interaction people had with the hundreds of other art seekers was bumping arms as they attempted to catch a glimpse of the installations, which were generally swarmed with such large mobs of people that the art pieces were barely visible. Although these installations brought enormous amounts of people together, they did not provoke the same interaction as the balloon piece. As I was walking away from a particularly obnoxious installation that shot flames high NICOLE PATRICK AT NUIT BLANCHE into the air, I was approached by a stranger who proceeded to silently take my hand and tie something around my finger. Once the girl securely knotted the string she smiled and walked away. I looked down at my hand from which a large blue balloon was now hanging, and I noticed an inscription that gave me a newfound appreciation for relational artwork. The quote that was written in black on the side of the balloon was by the French-Canadian novelist Jack Kerouac: “All human beings are also dream beings. Dreaming ties all mankind together”. I began to interpret this quote in relation to the distance amongst the people who were traveling between art pieces. This small act of approaching a stranger and tying a balloon to their finger created more of a connection between two people than all of Nuit Blanche’s other art works. I was inspired to continue the relay of passing a balloon on to another stranger in an attempt to make a small but memorable connection with someone. This balloon piece encouraged social interaction between strangers and managed to do so with a simple concept. I was fortunate enough to experience this interaction, and when I approached a random person in the crowd and tied the balloon to their finger I felt as though I was a part of the artwork and also a part of someone else’s experience at Nuit Blanche.

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/////// Summer Faves Westcoastsynthesizerbeachbumgangstermusic King Fantastic

Don’t question, just blast this.

Leave You in Love

Velvet Elvis (RAC Remix)

Gold Motel

Love lost is lead singer Greta Salpeter’s gain in this jangle pop jam. Vivid images of a sizzling summer fling are masked by her sweet-but-snarky croon: “Shut it down, start it up, didn’t mean anything, didn’t mean much.” Straight up sugar-coated sass.

Balance

Future Islands 14

Alex Winston

This Detroit-based singer will have you bopping along to this upbeat tune as you bicycle your way through the falling leaves of the changing season.

A band that can pair an accordion intro with multi-layered synths is a-ok in our books. With a new school New Order feel, this track chugs right along for a radical road trip.

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& Fall Picks /////// Bonfire

Childish Gambino Donald Glover has done it again. He is not just a pretty face or a comical genius (currently playing Troy on NBC’s Community) but also lyrical master. Listen to this and then become acquainted with anything he has ever touched, ever.

Anser

Ohbijou This Toronto folk-pop group melds militaryesque drums, sweeping violin, and boy-meets-girl melodies. Sounds like a sequel to The Suburbs? O Canada.

Gucci Gucci Neon Hitch

The American rapper Kreayshawn has been popping up everywhere in the blogosphere. Never heard of Kreayshawn? No worries, British singer Neon Hitch (and former Amy Winehouse roommate) takes her mediocre rap and remakes complete anew in this sultry version.

Don’t Move Phantogram

Electro-pop duo Phantogram present a sonic paradox, with a hushed order to “Keep your body still” over top of a staccato horn riff. Be warned, this alt-dance track will force you to move. Fight off the cold and dance with somebody.

artists and songs contributed by Romina Cortellucci and Emily Fister

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Watch the Throne: The Occupy Wall Street Image Emily Fister From an Adbusters apparition to the mainstream New York Times, the Occupy Wall Street movement has found its voice. Now that demonstrations have been underway in the United States for over a month and have continued in Canada, Average Joes and media moguls alike are watching the throne. It’s time to see who wants to fight the powers that be – and for what reason. Kanye West, college dropout and reigning king of the rap industry, has immersed himself in the 99 percent. Is this a mockery of social protest? After all, last week he was in his other-other Benz. As a West fan and like-minded rap prodigy (kidding, but I did pen a verse or two at my office job this past summer), I give him props. It’s hard to sift through what’s being done for a cause and what’s being done simply to gain capital in 2011. This is the paradoxical media age we live in, when TV shows like 16 and Pregnant are debatably educational. Adbusters is controversial, not only in content, but also in its pro-activism image. Despite its adfree counterculture tone, the magazine is cashing in on the rebel cause at around 10 bucks an issue. For an “anti-capitalist” publication, the magazine seems to bask in its own image, promoting pages of “Buy Nothing Day” between subscription cards. Moreover, the magazine’s endorsement of the ethically-made Blackspot shoe as a “tool for activists” has inspired similar movement with the product lines TOMS Shoes and Skecher’s BOBS Shoes. These promotions beg the question: is Adbusters just a trendsetter? In the same way, trendsetter Kanye West is (to quote rapper Tyler, the Creator) a walking paradox. Raised in a middle-class family, West hardly appears humble. At a recent Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) award show, he professed his near-tear-worthy love for designer Phoebe Philo. Yet, when he sheds his shutter shades, West reveals empathy for the everyday American. During the Katrina relief days, his infamous statement “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” stirred up a media frenzy. At the end of the protesting day, the difference between making a change and making some change is blurred. The media is on the fritz again about the West way of making grandiose statements. The New York Times featured the short article, “Kanye West Visits Occupy Wall Street Without Removing Gold Chains”, depicting the rapper/producer as merely flashing and flaunting his wealth and then fleeing the scene. Some may call this a taunting tactic, but I think it’s an empathetic symbol of rags to riches. He shows that there doesn’t have to be a divide between the haves and have-nots. West bridges the gap between picketers and fat cats. Standing on Wall Street, his image says: “No one man should have all that power.” And no one really should – not Kanye, and not Wall Street. But if they do, they should at least consider their impact on the 99 percent.

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featured musician:

DD/MM/YYYY

interview by Jacqueline Mok

DD/MM/YYYY members: Tomas Del Balso – vocals, guitar, drums / Matt King – vocals, synth, drums, sax / Moshe Rozenburg – drums, synth, omnichord / Mike Claxton – bass, synth, clarinet / Jordan Holmes – keyboard, synth, guitar

Back in September during Oh! Fest, I had the privilege of interviewing DD/MM/YYY (spoken as “day month year”). Amping up Dundas Street with a mix of stellar drum beats, discordant vocals, and video game-esque sounds coupled with melodic guitar and bass, their charismatic stage presence lit up the crowd on the chilly night. Since then, they have announced an indefinite break after playing together for eight years. Amidst the anticipation of their next move, enjoy this full interview. The candid conversation that took place after their set was well worth the wait. JM: I first saw you last year at a live show here in London, and the real appeal for me was your synergy: you play very cohesively together even when you stutter the hits, clash over each other, and switch time signatures. What is your process for making music? MK: I think it’s just a matter of playing so many times together that you start to get this intuition. You kind of turn into an elastic band where you can stretch and change speeds and feed off of what other people are doing. It’s just knowing what they are going to do, having an idea and understanding of what’s going on. MR: Also, I think that it’s about listening more to what everybody else is doing than to what you’re doing; it’s not like, “I’M DOING A GUITAR SOLO and it’s so good, listen to what I’m doing!” It’s really a lot of hearing other people’s mistakes and accommodating them. JM: Musical influences?

“Maybe if you could just make music, put a roof over your head, and people appreciated what you were doing – I think that would be success”

MK: Umm… I dunno. Need New Body. MC: John Mayer. TDB: Marilyn Manson. JH: Metallica. MR: Captain Beefheart!

JM: What do you try to do with each album progressively throughout the years? MK: In an album, we’re trying to do things that we can’t do when we’re playing on stage: make it a little more dynamic, add some little studio wizardry, some squiggles, and some little sketches of songs and samples. Just make it not boring, you know what I mean? It’s so easy to get bored. TDB: When we wrote our first album, we had a certain kind of idea and the way it should go, but it

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featured musician: DD/MM/YYYY sort of broke into song writing and writing these songs that can represent different ideas. Our last album Black Square was about these potentials of song writing that we can do, and what we can achieve using our strengths and avoiding our weaknesses. JM: Is there a new album in the works? Possible collaborations with other fellow artists?

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: MIKE CLAXTON, MOSHE ROZENBURG, JORDAN HOLMES, MATT KING, TOMAS DEL BALSO

TDB: We released a single of two songs on Invada Records in the UK: Gimme Pizza Mind and Surfed Devices, and it’s a 12” vinyl split. The other band that contributed to the split is called BEAK>, who is Geoff Barrow from Portishead’s private project. It’s kind of an interesting mix. They are really mysterious and really keep to themselves, but they’re an amazing live show and all the members of BEAK> are really awesome, so you should check it out.

JM: DD/MM/YYYY seems to be playing tons of shows throughout the year – clearly you like being on tour. Where is the most interesting place you’ve played? JH: I think one of the most interesting places was in a small town in the Netherlands. We played in a kind of crumbled castle. The only part left was the old cathedral, a half-shell ruin that we got to play in the middle of. It was really old and pretty interesting. MK: The roof was gone, it was outdoors and just the shell was left. We played on the altar. TDB: My personal memory of an interesting show was in Prague. We played at the oldest university of central Europe, and it was 40 ft away from where Mozart did a residency and wrote music. It was really old architecture everywhere in the downtown. Old is really key, we’re not used to the old styles. MK: One time we played outside in this park right on the Hudson River, and that was pretty cool because I remember looking at Moshe and behind him was the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the whole New York skyline. MR: One time, we played on the beach in Albany, California. We were actually looking at the ocean as we played. The crowd was facing us, and we were facing the Golden Gate Bridge. Earlier that day, we got a tour from this guy named Jimbo the Hobo, and at the end of the tour, he said, “Check out my website, bumsparadise.com”.

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JM: What are your eating habits like on tour? Cheese and crackers, or … MK: Depends, are you talking about North America or Europe? JM: Both. MK: Our cheese and beer and bread intake highly goes up about 200% when we cross the Atlantic Ocean. In North America, it’s strictly 89 cent menu at Taco Bell. JM: What projects have you been up to lately, art wise? MK: I’ve been working on a bunch of things lately. Jordan and I have this project where I modified a super Nintendo so that you can control street fighter characters by playing the drums and synthesizer, so Jordan and I battle against each other. I’m also doing this other thing in October where I’m controlling some LED strobe lights by playing music at InterAccess (Toronto). It’s a collaboration between me and this artist, Philippe Blanchard, who made this big installation with strobe lights. When they change colours, the colours on the screen prints change as well and worm around. We went there last night for the opening and it was awesome! MR: Yeah it was pretty psychedelic. It was like a rainbow cave. MK: Totally a psychedelic rainbow cave. Other than that, I’ve been making a lot of sculptures and screen prints. I’ve got a website, mattkingdotcom.com. JM: Would you say that music influences your art, or art influences your music? MK: I think it goes all around. I started getting into art because I made t-shirts and CD covers for my band, and I’m like, “Oh, I can do this? There are schools that you can go take art at? Oh cool, there are all these different types of things you can do!”. You can do media art, you can play music, sound is an art, and then you learn about art things and that changes how you think about music. I think that goes for everything—walking down the street or riding your bicycle—that’ll influence how you play music, hopefully. Or [else], don’t play music. JM: What are you listening to right now?

DD/MM/YYYY SILKSCREEN TOUR POSTER

MK: I’ve got a Moondog record, and I got a whole bunch of Bollywood records for $1 at this shop in Richmond Hill. Burmese music, African music… yeah.

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featured musician: DD/MM/YYYY MR: I’m listening to this compilation called Psych Funk 101. It’s really good, mostly Matt likes it. I like a third of it and it’s a compilation of more aggressive Thai pop. Also, I’m listening to Romantic States, which is Jim from Video Hippos, and it’s so much better than that genre of low-fi pop. TDB: I’ve been listening to a lot of older music lately, it’s weird. I think I’ve been listening to nostalgic music, and I’m not really a nostalgic person. I’ve been listening to Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto, which is a really awesome jazzy piece for Woody Herman’s band. Then I would switch to something funny like RuPaul “Supermodel”, and then I would switch it to Pet Shop Boys, and then I would put on a Captain Beefheart song, and then I would look for a really good ambient track by Aphex Twin. I’ve been listening to the Aphex Twin ambient selections because it’s really good to draw and meditate to, and the other songs sort of perk you up and get ready for work. MC: I’ve been listening to a lot of Ray Charles, and Kanye West. JH: I’ve been listening to a lot of terrible house music mash-ups that I made at work. JM: How do you define something that is successful? What does success mean to you? MR: I think it changes because right now, I think we’re at a pretty decent level that I might have called success when I was younger. I think success is really having people appreciate what you’re doing, and maybe not needing to have a more formal profession that pays the bills. JM: A “4/4 time” job.

“Noise is important to us because it’s the last frontier in music right now”

MR: Yeah, exactly. Maybe if you could just make music, put a roof over your head, and people appreciated what you were doing – I think that would be success. JM: How do you work around artist blocks, in music or art?

MK: Just keep practicing and changing. Go on tour, forget about the songs, then try to relearn them and think about them in a different way. MR: Or, we just go outside for five minutes, and then we go back into the practice space. Sometimes it’s a whole other vibe where things are really flowing and we just needed some fresh air. JM: In another interview, Tomas said that pop music was like commerce and noise was like art, would you like to expand on that a little bit? TDB: I love dichotomies and distilling things into dualisms, I’m really obsessed with Gemini twins and mirror images and stuff like that, and all sorts of splitting up one into two. Like sexual reproduction, that’s pretty cool. 20

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MK: That’s two into one!

ALBUM COVER OF BLACK SQUARE, 2009

TDB: Damn, backwards sexual reproduction you know, like dying and living your life and being reborn. Honestly, pop music is commerce because that’s what commerce is built around. When I distill that into noise being art, I think that noise as a concept in this day and age has been integrated into music in lots of different ways, and noise can be very visual when you’re listening to it. So noise is important to us because it’s the last frontier in music right now. Maybe there’s a new technology that will come out and will change the way we think about noise and music all together. Pianos have only been used for so long, and now we have guitars, and they’re not going to last forever. Next thing is going be nose hairs.

JM: Can I ask what happened in Paris this past summer? MK: We played two shows in Paris at different venues, but they got stopped by the police because we were too loud. They have a really low decibel limit. JM: Couldn’t you just have turned the down the volume? MK: Literally, our drums were over the limit, without mic-ing. MR: They put a glass case over the drums to make it quieter and it was still way too loud. So all five of us are on a small stage with all of our stuff, and this plexiglass prison is dividing us in half. Then the police shut down the show. But it was an awesome show, and it was kind of cool that that was how our performance ended. JM: What does it mean for you to hail from Toronto? MK: It’s a good place to meet people who are doing different things. There’s enough going on, but it’s not a huge city where you feel like you’re getting trapped. Compared to other cities, it’s way more multicultural—which is amazing—and the food is good. MR: It’s a little bit hard to pinpoint why, but I have a lot of Toronto pride. Growing up, when I was more impressionable and younger, the music in Toronto was really mind blowing. I just really appreciate the music that comes out of Toronto. A lot of the music that stays in Toronto that people outside of the city will never hear is pretty awesome. ■

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2011

a short but sweet history of

Parker Branch & No.16: Pupil Gauge Jag Raina and Stephanie Stehr If you haven’t visited Parker Branch, you’re missing out big time. Not literally, because this cozy micro-managed museum can comfortably fit about six people. Co-directed by Jason Hallows and Anna Madelska, Parker Branch is a space dedicated to showcasing collections of found artifacts. These objects are thoughtfully combined in order to explore how they interact with one another. September’s exhibition titled No. 16: Pupil Gauge débuted on a blustery day, making us all the more appreciative of the museum’s intimate and warm atmosphere. Stepping in from the rain, one of the first pieces we saw was a furry, life-like cat figurine lounging on a bright yellow chair. After looking through old viewfinders we spoke with Jason to dig deeper into what Pupil Gauge was all about. Space is an important factor behind Parker Branch. The owners use the small setting to escape the conventions of a gallery and create a space that revolves around oddball collectives. Past exhibitions have been AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF PARKER BRANCH interactive, where viewers experience the show based on touch and feeling. The combination of the small venue and the interaction between the viewers is what makes Parker Branch a memorable experience that is different from a gallery setting. The various items found throughout this particular show are an eclectic mix of everyday objects, ranging from spectroscopes to vintage photographs. These objects were brought together by the theme of stereoscopy and domestic cats. Often the objects are chosen arbitrarily, allowing different meanings to come out afterwards. This can be best described through one image of a cat that had a 3D quality about it, making the viewer feel as if they were the ones being observed rather than observing. It was this particular image that sparked the idea behind Pupil Gauge. Whether it is flea markets, thrift stores or even eBay, the owners of Parker Branch go above and beyond to find and collect the objects that are used in their shows. Parker Branch is also known for its collaborative projects with other artists. Pupil Gauge focused on two that were tied into the show; Photographer Dickon Bou, and FASTWURMS, a group of practicing wiccans. Their latest exhibition, No.17: Speed Flex Fibre Face, is on display now with a new collection of items to divulge in, so visit this curious space if you haven’t yet already.

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Resurface of Process-Based Art Kasia Knap Initially, the art form or anti-form, seemed like a cop-out to me. The common understanding of visual art is that there is an end product, no matter the form it takes. Of course there is a creative journey, but it culminates in a physical manifestation at its completion; the finalized tangible object is the ultimate goal. With traditional notions of what constitutes art, be it painting, sculpture, video, etc., the artist generally tends to exclude their process work in the final exhibition, focusing instead on what has been brought to fruition. With process-based art however, the primary aim is not the finished artifact but the process of discovery. It is more explorative and spontaneous in nature than product-based art, for there is no predetermined goal. The final product holds less significance than the act itself. Rather than a controllable system, an artwork becomes more like an experiment. Meaning and expression emerge from the discoveries realized through the manipulation of materials and act of creation. The completed work is ultimately a contingent aesthetic. The original movement began in America in the mid-1960’s. It has precedents in Abstract Expressionism and a basis in the works of Jackson Pollock. In a work of Pollock’s or other of its kind, it is quite evident the work is not the by-product of a linear production line. Material is wielded impulsively, creating an intriguing composition wherein the final appearance is not predetermined. Dave Ford, an American contemporary artist, depends on this process of making in his art practice. His series of truck drawings serve as a kind of document of the movement of Penske transport trucks. Ford suspends bottles from lengths of rope joined to straps in the vehicle, subsequently attaching pencils onto each of these bottles. Beneath these suspended pencils, he stretches out paper spanning the whole of the truck’s floor. Ford essentially creates a kind of seismograph that records the movement of the truck. This process creates continuous, desultory marks that result in a final composition the artist has limited control over. Ford also has done similar process drawings by recording the movement of doors and mailed packages. While spontaneous work of this kind is still prevalent today, artists have taken the idea of the action-centered component and pushed it to another level. There are works now that are entirely ephemeral; literally no object resides at the end of the process. Artworks can consist purely of theoretical research and still reside within the realm of visual art. Upon returning to UWO after the summer, I’ve heard this term being repeatedly discussed by professors and MFA students. It appears process-based art is experiencing a resurfacing at least within the confines of the academic art world. Under closer scrutiny, this resurgance is logical and perhaps inevitable. Art is constantly evolving and setting higher standards for itself. It has seemingly ventured into every conceivable territory, and is now redefining what may perhaps be one of the most radical streams of visual representation.

issue no.1 / november

2011

KIM MOODIE, HEART RUBBISH, 2008, INDIA INK ON PAPER, 96 X 76 CM

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featured professor: Kim Moodie

interview by Stephanie Stehr

I have to admit, I was a little bit intimidated to do an interview with Professor Kim Moodie.Though I never had him as an instructor, he is very well respected among the studio students. On top of that, his work is exceptional. I sat down with him recently to talk a bit about Western’s visual arts studio program as well as his most recent exhibition, All But Not, currently at Museum London. As it turns out, he is not only a brilliant artist, but a great conversationalist as well.

“These works are not meant to be an answer, but meant to ask the questions”

Stephane Stehr: You completed your honors BA here at UWO in the 70s. How has it changed since then? Do you find the values and approaches to teaching have changed or stayed the same?

Kim Moodie: In the 70s there was an emphasis on conceptual art in relation to painting, more expressionistic art. To some degree we had classes that dealt with technique, in a lot of instances it was more about what you thought you wanted to do with an idea. There was not an enormous amount of guidance. The critique process was where you would get any feedback. Most classes now are formally organized, at least in lower undergraduate levels. In some classes students are getting more technical guidance. It’s about how you express ideas, how you think through ideas, and what your methodologies are. SS: How do you tend to approach your studio courses? Are there any ideas or concepts that you are trying to get across to students? KM: I am trying to teach how to develop processes of creativity, and how these processes work in relation to constructing ideas. When you create a work it doesn’t normally function on one level, so you need to be conscience of what your ideas are. We need to have technical processes to present these ideas, when I talk about the ideas of artists I present, I talk about how they construct their ideas. I think that’s important. I can’t teach theory until students have language, the language of painting. I believe in teaching in both directions, conceptual and technical. I am a huge vessel of layered information over these years. I’m very visually orientated so I am able to discuss ideas such as philosophy, and what the connection is between why they made it and what they are trying to say. SS: What sort of trends are you seeing from students? Is there something you would like to see more of? KM: Being educated from high school backgrounds in terms of materials and technique, I don’t feel that many students are taught about contemporary art. Part of this is teaching about an awareness of contemporary art and why it is valuable. What have contemporary artists done that makes them good? I teach people discipline, about applying themselves, about rigorous routine. I can’t teach anyone to be an artist, but I can teach them the skills they need to be one.

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2011

featured professor: Kim Moodie SS: All But Not consists of substantial descriptive work in ink on paper. In the past year, I have been exploring ink detail on canvas and I find the process can be extremely tedious and frustrating. What is the process of drawing in such detail on a large scale like for you?

KIM MOODIE, DETAIL OF RAG DROPS, 2007, CALLIGRAPHY MARKERS ON RAG PAPER, 38 X 35.5 CM (ORIGINAL WORK)

KM: I have processes that I use, a structure that I start with, I have a concept. So, all these are in place before I begin. My working method is pretty organized, but conceptually I have particular concerns. One of the big issues is to make sure my work does not become too repetitive, that I don’t force it. I think about how I can better present these concerns. I think about how I can better express [these ideas], or even reconsider them, how can I look at it in varying ways, how might this or that make it better. You can’t be complacent, [the tediousness] doesn’t bother me in the least, it makes it more interesting. What’s the point of being creative if you’re complacent about it? These are labour-intensive projects and I find value in labor.

SS: It seems like you have a great deal of self-discipline as an artist. KM: I try to be self-critical. I’m not making art for commercial reasons. I have particular goals and to reach those goals I feel I have to be quite critical. I try and slow things down in my drawings [so that] people have to slow down to look at them, in order to have a comprehension of what’s going on. SS: When I saw these drawings I had a similar feeling as to when I enter a Walmart Superstore: an overwhelming sense of organized chaos. What are your expectations of the viewer, if any? KM: I think you are reading these works well. You can focus on certain points or figures in one spot, on another part you see other figures and you can’t remember what you looked at before you get lost. I use the same figures in different parts so it becomes difficult to remember the one you looked at before. I believe the value systems we have change their appearance but maintain the same ideas, so things don’t really change. The entertainment is in the shifting: stop and try and focus and not get caught up. These works are not meant to be an answer, but meant to ask the questions. I don’t have all the answers, I just have questions and I’m trying to work out some 26

/ pulp / Arts Magazine

KIM MOODIE, RAG DROPS, 2007, CALLIGRAPHY MARKERS ON RAG PAPER, 38 X 35.5 CM

methods so that I can change and consider changing, [to] alter my own inclusion in this. This work is a big expanse, you can’t take it all in. I would like to see a change [in these values]. We always have a sense of feeling inadequate. You feel like you have to be a success, but the success is tied with something you may not want to identify with. You’re looking at all these dense drawings that contain a great deal, but is it everything? [These works] attempt to suggest that they contain an immense amount, but it is not all. At the same time, many people want to have a great deal in terms of success, materialism etc. In the end they’re still dissatisfied because they can’t satisfy themselves. I think that’s the norm of how people live these days, [having] an insatiable need for things. SS: It’s true. We always crave the newest, fastest, best thing. KM: Sure, I got an iPod for my birthday about two years ago and it’s way out of date now. SS: What ideas or plans do you have for a future project? KM: I’m going to try and make a drawing I don’t think I can make, one that is a technical challenge. To reference what Philip Guston says, when you’re making art, satisfaction is nothing, frustration is everything. ■ issue no.1 / november

2011

/////// new exhibitions

Here, Then and There BELOW: A DISPLAY OF COLIN CARNEY’S PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES RIGHT: SPECTATING IAN MCLEAN’S PARTS PER VOLUME, 2011

Forest City Gallery opened Here, Then and There on Friday November 4 presenting works from Colin Carney and Ian McLean. After the gallery’s previous text-based exhibition of ... and then the city recalling selected memories from the city of London, the space was graced with evocative imagery in the form of multi-layered digital photographs and vivid oil paintings. Split between opposing walls in the oneroom gallery, the disparate works were notably unified through the exploration of two spaces: the natural environment and human-created home. Using photographs taken at an annual retreat in rural Ontario, Carney builds and manipulates his photos in a way that allows an image to be seen, but it is viewed in a broken, staggered manner, playing on notions of memory, experience, and the viewer’s overall relation to the subject matter. The series of work exhibited is described as a “collection of pauses [that] both tells a story and asks for one at once”. McLean’s paintings full with decorative elements are intended to both “lure viewers into familiar environments and unsettle them once they are there”. The interior and exterior are blurred through his use of ornamentation and colour, leaving the viewer intrigued with hallucinogenic imagery and inviting them into the surreal, luxurious space. Entering the gallery, eyes dance around the room taking in the compelling imagery. Upon leaving, the mind is perplexed and left contemplating the relationships between different surroundings and the environments we inhabit. Here, Then and There will display at Forest City Gallery until December 10.

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for November ///////

& Not Bad For London Opening on the same evening as Here, Then and There was a distinct exhibition at the Michael Gibson Gallery. Not Bad For London features seven local artists: Marc Bell, James Kirkpatrick, Amy Lockheart, Jason McLean, Jamie Q, Peter Thompson, and Billy Bert Young. The rooms of the gallery are abundant with playful drawings and lively sculptures, creating a fantastical, imaginative space. Forms, colours, shapes, and lines are entwined and flow from one work to another, allowing the viewer to navigate through the gallery with ease and piece the works together as part of a grand narrative in a spectacular other-world. Not Bad For London showcases the work of seven young artists creating their own identity and establishing their relevance in comparison to prior London icons, such as Greg Curnoe and Jack Chambers, as well as differentiating themselves from the art culture of neighbouring cities Toronto and Detroit. With individual works distinguishing the artists apart from this history, the exhibition also contains a room full of collaborative work, including Saving Face, 2011 (pictured below). Several artists also practice sound art, and the audience was treated to a performance on James Kirkpatrick’s sound sculpture featuring the artist himself, Peter Thompson, and Jamie Q towards the end of the opening night. Producing eclectic electronic sounds layered by the performing artists, the crowd was curiously engaged with the organic show. Various pin-back buttons were offered during the opening night. Each printed with different drawings by all the exhibiting artists, these quirky items were able to be collected as a souvenir, and in remembrance of the group’s contribution. Not Bad For London will be on display until November 26. ■

LEFT: JAMES KIRKPATRICK AND JASON MCLEAN, SAVING FACE, 2011 ABOVE: KIRKPATRICK PERFORMING ON HIS SOUND SCULPTURE WITH JAMIE Q

issue no.1 / november

2011

Missing Summer? Thinking about Winter Vacation?

We are, too. send us your best escape photo by wednesday december 28 by email at pulpartsmag@gmail.com for a chance to appear in our next issue.

We would love to hear your comments and feedback. Write to us at pulpartsmag@gmail.com Like us? Share this book with a friend and spread the word. Visit our Facebook at facebook.com/pulpartsmag Thank you to the writers, editors, interviewees, and VASA for making this possible. We would also like to graciously thank the Department of Visual Arts at UWO for their support.