Hollywood Inferno | Part of the Images Festival 2003, Toronto
“Loosely based on Dante’s Inferno” as the teaser reads, we find a Virgil who is a scriptwriter and a Dante who is an 18 year old girl named Sandy, “which rhymes with candy”. At Easter in 1300, Dante found himself in a dark wood – 701 [...]
Videograms of a Revolution | Part of the Images Festival 2003, Toronto
Don’t ever take voting for granted, since these people had to take over their TV station to get that right. The North American self-absorption (which is even reflected in the fact that most people don’t consider Mexico a part of NA) means [...]
Tamala 2010 | Part of the Images Festival 2003, Toronto
As the opening night film, this received much Images Festival hype. What was really intriguing about this movie was how it was an analogy for Japan’s postwar economy as manifested through the Hello Kitty product line. The majority opinion towards it was lukewarm. I [...]
Unbalancing Act by Jo Cook | Site 19, C-21 Quadrant, Mayne Island BC, VON 2J0 10$ | zine
This is an elegant little book, printed on heavy paper in colour, with a nice juxtaposition of printed text (computer) and handwriting (human touch). I appreciate the fact that the narrative is oblique as much as I appreciate [...]
Afield by Florentine Perro |f_perro@hotmail.com | Site 19, C-21 Quadrant, Mayne Island BC, VON 2JO 10$
Produced with cardstock and color copying, the strength of this zine is in its craftsmanship. It tells an abstract story, the plot of which “could be summarized as the search (eventually succesful) for someone who is having trouble making a [...]
untitled zine, James Whitman 536 E20th Ave Vancouver BC V5V 1M8 jameswhitman@hotmail.com
There’s not much to say beyond the fact that I really liked this zine. One: I appreciated the use of cardstock rather than paper, to give the book a secure feeling in the hands. Second: I liked the drawings, simple squiggly abstract line drawings [...]
Passenger & Tour Guides Exhibition catalogue, Kevin Rodgers, Derek Sullivan, published by ArtSpeak Gallery, Vancouver.
As the intro says best, “Rodgers and Sullivan explore the construct if the West Coast as it is seen from the outside, with its attendant romanticization and associations with the ‘frontier’”. The package overtook the content, consisting of a beautiful card [...]
Losercore Issue 1 and Older Man Younger Woman zines, 2$ each. c/o Pleasure Point RR 2 Barry’s Bay ON KOJ 1BO weetzie@webhart.net
There seems to be a need in our narrative culture to tell our stories no matter how banal; Maureen MacMillian has shown her ID card at the gate of humanity with these humble [...]
small dead woman Exhibition catalogue, Kevin Yates, Diana George and Charles Maude, published by ArtSpeak Gallery, Vancouver
I recently saw Kevin Yates’ “small dead woman” at Toronto’s YYZ gallery, where its art world charm seemed rather forced, since in essence it just looks like some child’s forgotten doll. This catalogue is part of Artspeak’s series of [...]