Episode 43 Of Wyeth, reading habits and meeting new friends

Why do we torture ourselves reading about Trump ?  Mark talks about his reading habits and recounts memories of the last time he played a video game. Perhaps video games have changed to allow more fun instead of being all stressed out. Mark met a new artist with Natalie, a patron of the arts. They met her at The Arts Project in London. We might meet Angie soon!  

Music credit : Zaz, On ira

Image: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9wpU_wtRyHs/VFY8xLgT0dI/AAAAAAAABTQ/BWwxC2mc1e8/s1600/AndrewWyeth_CowinaPasteur.jpg

 

Episode 42 Photography, cinematography and other tidbits

Sally Mann's talent is indisputable. Using her own children, to create that amazing series, was perhaps a bit exploitative. Where are your limits as an artist ?  As with most of our conversations, we go a little bit everywhere. This week was no different!  Lately though, we've spent a bit more time talking about our families and the past. Mark and I grew up in the 70's. The saturated colours, the excessive styles are excellent periods for tv shows, Fargo in particular. We discuss painting, photography and what is the Avant-Garde. 

Episode 41 Ben Portis

This week, Mark has some bad news, he lost a dear friend, Ben Portis.  Luckily, Mark had a chance to spend some time with his friend back in April. They went to see an orchestra. To his family, colleagues, friends, and all the artists who knew him,  we wish to offer our deepest regrets on this tragic loss.

http://canadianart.ca/features/ben-portis-1960-2017/

Episode 40 A conversation with Sam Decter

In this episode, Isabelle has a conversation with a musician friend from Toronto.

Sam was the co-owner of the Gore Street Café, in Sault Ste. Marie (2015-2016). In this episode, I reconnect with him through the magic of social media. He talks a little bit about some of the shows he saw recently in Toronto; Jessica Karuhanga does performances based on dance and projections (see link below.) Sam has a very experimental side to his artmaking. He blogs and podcasts on Instagram. He plays music and hosts open mic nights at the Belljar Café. I talked to him a bit about the Dawaa Dazhi Gallery and a little bit and my summer activities. I feel happy to have had a conversation with Sam, he is always full of surprises. I think he laughs a little bit at my old fashioned ways.... haha! That's ok, he's allowed. 

Intro song: Stargazing by Sam Decter, 2015. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND41Rs8PnjQ

https://www.instagram.com/sa_me_di/

http://www.belljarcafe.com/

http://boxesofboom.blogspot.ca/2016/

https://soundcloud.com/sam-e-m-decter

https://vimeo.com/184163619

Episode 39 Cindy Sherman and Transformation

Why are clowns so creepy? It could be the ambiguity we feel about these characters, are they safe or not? Is it the fact that the brain is wired to find average features attractive and therefore trustworthy? Is it something learned socially about jesters and characters that have populated our childhoods ? Maybe all of this together ? However, Cirque du Soleil clowns are not as scary.  Making art 24\7 is not necessarily my choice, I do make a lot, maybe not up to the point of some artists. Cindy Sherman creates staged photography. She transforms herself to create different moods, with a vacant look in her eyes, inspired by the women in advertising around her in the 60's and 70's. 

https://art21.org/artist/cindy-sherman/

https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s5/transformation/

 

Episode 37 Christoph Niemann in the Netflix Series "Abstract: The Art of Design"

Christoph Niemann talks about his work and his process. He designed many of the magazine The New Yorker front covers. There is a new series on Netflix Abstract : The Art of Design which we are watching. We talk about when is the time when kids start not drawing emotionally and instinctively but according to standards set by whoever around them. Why is it that they are not encouraged to continue along that line. As usual, our conversations take on a meandering of its own.  (PS a little scratchy here and there.)

Abstract: The Art of Design   https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80057883

Christoph NIemann :  http://www.christophniemann.com/

Episode 36 Katarina Grosse, Joan Jonas and Omer Fast

We watched an Art21 movie on three artists.  Katarina Grosse makes gigantic sculptural paintings involving trees, dirt, and the space of the art gallery itself.  Joan Jonas makes performance drawings involving dancers, musicians, and herself in her installations. Omer Fast makes experimental/journalistic-like movies about Drone Pilots or Porn Actors. We agree that performance art is problematic. Becoming the body that is viewed as the art is a little bit problematic. Where is the line? How much of that happens out of peer pressure? My definition of art is pretty broad and I would not say performance is "not art" however, I would definitely say that I cannot engage in it the same way that I would with physical space. 

 

http://www.art21.org/artists/katharina-grosse

Episode 34 Diana Thater and Stan Douglas

Mark did some computer programming and he liked that, it's a creative program solving that he likes. Stan Douglas of Vancouver brings us inside the old neighbourhood he grew up in. He did a show called "Les détroits" of photography and prints of Detroit. He is focussed on Urban Decay.  Diana Thater produces installations that are movie based, or influenced by film. Abstraction in film for her is abstraction of time. Diana Thater builds a maquette, she photographs the animals that she displays.

As viewers of videos on the Art21 website, we are really fascinated with the process of art making. As viewers we are seeing the complete arc of artmaking from the development of ideas in the studio to the actual installation of the pieces, to interviews with the artists during the exhibition. Immersive installations because they involve all the senses and the space require so much knowledge and also so much money to get the right kind of equipment, they might not be the easiest thing to get into. However... it can be done!

Opening song: Ratatat Loud Pipes

Photo : Diana Thater, Knots and Surfaces (2001)

For more information on all these awesome videos we are talking about:  www.art21.org

 

Episode 33 Liz Magor and Matthew Barney

Today we watched the Art21 website and we both picked an artist to view and we discussed these artists. Mark went for the work of Matthew Barney who made a film series called "The Cremaster" which he started in 1995. I believe he made 4 movies based on his study of Male Sexuality.  We also watched Liz Magor talk about her gloves that she is casting and we saw an aluminum house on stilts in Coal Harbour British Columbia. Amazing work. Matthew Barney's work, I must admit to not understanding and it almost seems like the biggest extension of a man's ego I have ever seen, short of the Trump Tower... but maybe I am missing the point. Who knows? 

Opening Theme: Blink 182 I miss you

Image: Liz Magor Being this 2012 http://catrionajeffries.com/artists/liz-magor/works/#25

Episode 32 Pixels versus Pigment

Pixels and technology have inundated our lives. Charles Baudelaire said that urban living or the city was  "an immense reservoir of electric energy." in his essay "The Painter of Modern Life" (1863).  In the rise of industrialisation and mechanisation,  "the eye was never allowed to rest." (Geiger, Rutsky, 2005) The same anxieties felt in the fin du siècle are mirrored in the Twenty-First Century whenever we talk about technology.  Bombarded by pixels and movies, video games, apps, memes, pinterest images and instagram, the pixel is ubiquitous. Mark and I are still on that topic!! Join in, anytime you feel! Drop me a line at isabelle.michaud@gmail.com

Intro song by Félix Leclerc, Hymne au printemps 

Photo: Isabelle Michaud Une journée dans la vie de Madame Michaud

Episode 31 Digital and Physical Media's Awkward Moments

Mark's new phone works, which is good. We discuss my projects in Advanced Studio and in Painting IV. The mixing of drawing and digital work in in my mind, where is it going? I am not sure. Mark used Corel Draw in the past to help with his studies of paintings.  We both find zebras fascinating. Join us in our meandering conversations. Do you want to join us? If you're an artist interested in joining the "That's not Art" conversations. Please email me at isabelle.michaud@gmail.com. 

 

Music : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfnaQ9Cuw5k

Episode 30 London Artists Laura Woermke and Frank Caprini

Summer meanders led the wheels of our Jayco Tent Trailer to the Bruce Peninsula then to London where we visited family and with co-host Mark. The first part of this podcast is a free conversation we had at Kelsey's and the second part is a Skype conversation about a visit we made to the Thielsen gallery in London on Adelaide street. Frank Caprani's amazing mylar paintings were on display at this historical location. It would be an understatement to say that Caprini is as colourful an individual as his paintings are. Indeed, Caprani's masterful treatment of colour and composition was skillfully orchestrated to evoke true joy.  It was a delight to meet Mark's friends who are all seasoned and accomplished artists. Brian Saby's invitation was most welcomed.  Next time Brian, we're visiting you in your studio!! Another fine «rencontre» was to meet Gerald Pedros and Laura Woermke. Mark had the occasion to visit Laura's installation at Pedros' studio. What an amazing woman she is!! Woermke is not only the Curator of the St. Thomas Public Art Gallery, she is also an innovative and current artist. Thanks for listening, this time around I decided to mix things up a bit, we'll be enjoying 3 songs. Songs: Nina simone Aint got no , Shannon Moan Old blue sofa and Abd Al Malik Mabrouk .

http://www.thielsengallery.com/

http://www.stepac.ca/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFd7dEMBpaA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jI9I03q8E&list=RDMML5jI9I03q8E

 

Episode 29 Kelsey's Meetup

Isabelle and Mark meet at Kelsey's in London Ontario and share impressions on recent exhibits they recently saw. As it turns out, they both saw the work of Barbara Astman especially the exhibit Clementine. The Amy Friend exhibit Dare Alla Luce is amazing, the stars shining over sienna coloured photographs as little fireflies was so good I could have sat in front of those forever.  I thought Museum London was really great, there was a big educational room downstairs about water, also an exhibit about Mementos and Memorabilia, and a great contemporary exhibit All is Well.  

http://www.barbaraastman.com/ 

Thanks to the Swingrowers for their remix of Pump up the Jam - The Lost Fingers

Episode 28 Kiki Smith and Barnett Newman

Back after a 6 week break, we touch on my recent trip to Ottawa and Montréal. The Kiki Smith / Tony Smith exhibit at the National gallery was a great exercise in trying to find similarities. What blew me away was a painting by Degas "Woman with an umbrella."  By the way, I made a mistake about a painter I really liked, I said his name was Monkhouse but it was in actual fact the work of Kent Monkman that I enjoyed so much.  Mark talked about how when you're starting out, you might not like some forms of artwork but when you mature a bit your tastes start changing.  I totally agree. We talked about Barnett Newman's Voice of Fire. My family got really passionate about talking about it.  Mark loved it and it really inspired him to paint. We totally invite you to experience that painting for yourself. It might surprise you! Oh, check out my new website www.isamichaud.com if you're interested. Let us know how we're doing on "That's not Art."

A conversation with London Artist Brian Saby

As an art student, I find it humbling to listen to the passion in Brian Saby's expression as an artist. Brian is from Windsor, he studied at Fanshawe. As you are listening, you will hear that he is a zero bullshit kind of guy. I guess this sharpshooting and clarity of purpose shows up in his amazing paintings. Looking forward to meeting that dude!! I think he even started painting while we were talking.