Author: Leah Garrett

Contemporary

The trope of woman as nature

Leah Garrett / July 19, 2015
Though the trope of woman as nature (or vice versa) had been a conventional one long before the various Interwar artists took it up, Brassai’s use of this trope is unique. He presents us with an eerie landscape that, within the historical context of World War I, seems at once precise and vague. He offers us a body of water…

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Contemporary

Male and female homosexuality were not always viewed in the same manner

Leah Garrett / July 19, 2015
Male and female homosexuality were not always viewed in the same manner. Female homosexuality, while reviled by the general populace, was generally acceptable for the artistic purposes of the Surrealists. For them, lesbianism was sometimes parallel to idealized heterosexuality (l’amour fou). The representation of lesbian lovers in their art, I would suggest, often becomes heterosexualized. It often assumes a male…

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Contemporary

The sense of depaysement

Leah Garrett / July 17, 2015
The sense of depaysement implies an overtly political project as much as it does an aesthetic one; the Surrealists of the 1930s conceived of aesthetics and politics as closely allied. As Brassai’s work was an important addition to Breton’s Surrealist journal Minotaure, it seems logical to consider the political philosophies espoused within the journal as well as the photographs themselves,…

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Contemporary

Taylor Savvy’s 2002 recording Ladies and Gentlemen

Leah Garrett / July 17, 2015
Taylor Savvy’s 2002 recording Ladies and Gentlemen is among the greatest musical accomplishments in the history of mankind. To say that it is also unique is an understatement. Having noticed that the chorus is the catchiest part of the song, Savvy decided to compose songs consisting exclusively of choruses, which he calls slogans (sample lyric: “Big dicks are all I…

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Exhibitions

DOWNES POINT

Leah Garrett / July 16, 2015
Throughout her work, Judy Radul has articulated an interest in the idea of theatricality as a sort of repressed unconscious of the visual arts–banished by Michael Fried in his seminal text “Art and Objecthood” (1967) in favour of a transcendental ideal of “presentness” that excludes the corporeal materiality of the viewing subject. This reference is useful in describing two recent…

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Music

Music performances

Leah Garrett / July 16, 2015
In 1960, a then-struggling Yoko Ono invited minimalist composer La Monte Young to curate a series of music performances at the Chambers Street loft she shared with her husband Toshi Ichiyanagi. Powered by a line from next door, and warmed by a gas stove, these pre-Fluxus events included performances by Richard Maxfield, Jackson Mac Low, Ben Patterson, Robert Morris and…

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Contemporary

I REALY SHOULD

Leah Garrett / July 15, 2015
Kelly Mark’s sound installation I Really Should … (2002) is mounted discreetly in the long entry corridor at Paint My Photos Gallery. Entering the space, visitors hear Mark’s quiet monologue: “I really should try to absorb all I can, I really should take a walk on the beach, I really should focus on my career, I really should have cropped…

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Contemporary

Art by Wicks, PARIS, FRANCE

Leah Garrett / July 13, 2015
One of the few Parisian contemporary galleries open in early August is called Art by Wicks, found in the old Marais quarter. By chance, I stumble upon this exhibition while trying to find the Marian Goodman Gallery in a maze of tiny streets. Being lost has paid off. I find L’Autre Amerique: Art contemporain du Bresil, a show put together…

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Film and Video

KATHRYN WALTER REMNANTS ZSA ZSA GALLERY, TORONTO

Leah Garrett / July 12, 2015
Virtual capitalism assures us that economic production is now dean. Industrial spaces are transformed into expensive lofts or tourist centres, supply shops become art galleries, manufacturing has moved offshore or is hidden away in sweatshops. As the meanings associated with these spaces are exchanged for new ones, older histories are erased We are left with vestiges of the old way,…

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Film and Video

ROBERT LEE MINIMA MORALIA IMAGES FESTIVAL 2005, TORONTO

Leah Garrett / July 12, 2015
“Every visit to the cinema leaves me against all my vigilance, stupider and worse.”–Theodor Adorno I suspect Robert Lee must approach his own images with a reluctance similar to Adorno’s. If the Toronto artist’s past attempts at suspending his videos from distribution are any indication, he harbours troubled sentiments towards image-making. With only rare glimpses at his work possible in…

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