The Institute Parachute Review

Blowout Art Sale

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 03:21:00 +0000

Yes, it's true: Institute Parachute is having a clearance sale of our work. Lots of Josée's work is up on her studio blog for you to peruse, and Adam's work is available too—hopefully we'll get some images online soon. Interested in purchasing something or scheduling a private viewing? Don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

Doppelganger Chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. Josée) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:37:00 +0000

I'm working on some new paintings for my grad school application, playing with spatial concepts: double-sided paintings on transparent muslin vs. symmetrical reflection paintings of objects on board.

Parade: La Fabrique Fashion Show

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:50:00 +0000

The Royal Bison Pre-Party Friday 28 November at Teddy's (11316 Jasper Ave., Edmonton)
Doors at 8:00 PM

Fashion Show at 10 PM: Malorie, Myrtle & Pearls, La Fabrique
Art by Aryen Hoekstra, Travis McEwen, Erin K. Hooper
With live music by Crazy Feelings & Mountain House, plus DJ Adam Waldron-Blain

Facebook event

PARADE: Art and Fashion Show

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. Josée) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:39:00 +0000

Thursday November 26th at Teddy's:

La Fabrique is organizing a Fashion show with friends and designers, Malorie Urbanovich of "Malorie", and Genevieve Savard, of "Myrtle and Pearls" featuring art by Aryen Hoestra, Travis McEwen and Erin K. Hooper, and music by Crazy Feelings and Avant-Guard music to dance to by DJ Adam Waldron-Blain.

OR WHAT?!

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:24:00 +0000

Institute Parachute is exhibiting in this show:

OR WHAT?!
A Visual Exhibition From Residents of Downtown East Side's CityMarket Apartments
Since being converted into living spaces from one of Western Canada’soldest Farmer's Markets, The City Market Apartments has been home to a some ofEdmonton's brightest and youngest artists, designers and musicians. Fromemerging to established, individuals and collectives, residents of CityMarket live and work in the newly deemed "Quarters" district, thestretch of transitional property east of 97 St and Jasper Avenue. As thecity and developers focus their attention on revitalizing this oncepropserous area of downtown Edmonton, OR WHAT?! aims to showcase what isalready happening in downtown’s east side.
Partnering with the ARTery, a discrete multidisciplinary venue withinthe Quarters district, OR WHAT?! looks to showcase the diverse artisticvoices already living and working in East Downtown before our cityscapechanges once again.
Featuring works by:Jayme Chalmers, Aryen Hoekstra, Loyal Loot Collective, Laura O’Connor, Josée Aubin Ouellette, Aaron Pederson, Jordanna Rachinsky, Adam Waldron Blain, Laurel Westlund, Gabriel Wong and Greg Swain.
Live Music by ARoots Bazarr & Guests
Doors at 8 p.m.
Music at 10 p.m.
Friday, October 23, 2009
ARTery 9535 Jasper Avenue

Playground Architects, Paintings by Josée Aubin Ouellette

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. Josée) — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Playground Architects by Josée Aubin Ouellette, is an exhibition of five life-scale paintings you can climb into. Inspired by the daycare playroom across the hall and by the concept of Adventure Playgrounds, it is located at the Don Wheaton YMCA, downtown Edmonton from May-October 2009, presented by The Works Art and Design Festival.

See images of the works at instituteparachute.ca/josee, and read a review in this week's Art Box in See Magazine.

Institute Parachute in print

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:32:00 +0000

Sarah Hamilton has written a nice piece about Chelsea Boida's show at the Hydeaway right now, Yet again, and again.... Read it here or in this week's Vue Weekly. In that same issue, I review two shows at Harcourt House, Cesar Forero's The Box and Christine Koch's Entropy. I also recently wrote about Jon Sasaki's Some Unabashed Optimism.

I also wrote a longer piece about the current state of things in Edmonton over at Prairie Artsters. I think that it is important: it goes over some things that maybe people are not really talking about. For example:

Overwhelmingly, we shy away from real discussions of the faults in our community, making only quick-and-easy statements that we can almost all agree on (often about how something is wrong with our city), and Fung's short and therefore inevitably simplistic articles are the best that we generally see. So what is wrong with Edmonton and why are we all so upset about it?

And:

Reliance on authority is an explanation for the constant reassertion of modernist theory, as well as explaining for a simpler time in criticism, and Peacock's recurring comments to his classes about how the AGA is now afraid to show abstract work. The result is resistance to attempts, like Fung's, to construct a new critical discourse, which is met with disheartening attacks on the credibility of writers, or a passive lack of acknowledgement.

And it gets better!

Ars Ex Machina

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Sun, 03 May 2009 17:47:00 +0000

The BFA grad show got a couple of similar reviews this week:

Each of the graduates demonstrates what they have learned over the past four years, an important part of an art education. There is nothing surprising here, nor anything disappointing. (Sarah Hamilton, Vue Weekly 30 April)

The reviews of this year's University of Alberta BFA show, Ars Ex Machina in the weeklies both come to the same conclusion. A few pieces are discusse, but they hardly seem important – Jill Stanton even says that they are not. Instead, we are left with some slightly positive remarks about how we can expect better things from these artists in the future. It seems a little disappointing to me.

Of course the show is a bit of a hodge-podge by it's nature, which is our excuse for having such low expectations of it. I remember well enough showing my own work with a significantly larger class in an even more cramped show, which was met with its own mixed reactions. But I also remember being excited about putting up my work for it, and I hope that this year's grads felt the same about theirs. If they do, then this noncommittal "let's wait and see what's next" is maybe a little bit insulting.

I have no problem with critics insulting art shows – that's the way things work. But this doesn't seem quite right. It seems, in fact, like it was done in a misguided attempt to avoid that insult. For some reason, this show isn't considered a real one, and these reviews try to gently deliver the message that it is unimportant.

But I don't think this is true.

I don't expect our anemic commercial galleries to be knocking down doors to get to these young artists because they are uninterested for other reasons (assuming that the work is good enough to provoke that kind of interest anyway), but this show should be tremendous. It is our first real chance to see what the kids have been working on, and although it isn't aggressively curated, if Sarah Hamilton can find themes to talk about then its about as cohesive as any other random group show, including those that these same artists may soon be participating in if we don't forget about them, or them about us.

Clearly, neither Mandy Espezel and Jill Stanton nor Sarah Hamilton feel really comfortable making any real statement about the show collectively, and why should they? But they still try. There is some bad stuff up in FAB and some better stuff. Can't we just get excited about the good works instead of packing it all into a big nothing? In both articles the authors try to highlight some of their favourite works but I think that the conclusions undermine their choices. How can we take their selections seriously when they go on to say that either the whole thing was good (despite the fact that there is unarguably some pretty boring stuff there), and further that even though they liked some things a bit, it still doesn't even really matter?

This week at Institute Parachute

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:10:00 +0000

Reviewed in Vue Weekly: Jesus, is it OK if I have a girlfriend? at the ARTery.
Jesus, is it Okay if I Have a Girlfriend? is undoubtedly one of the best shows the ARTery has hosted in its one-and-a-half years of existence. Although, like many other local shows, it contains its share of undifferentiated work, especially in the large north room, the core of the collection is a number of very sharp pieces by Mark Traficiante, Kyle Kowosan and Cassandra Tobin, with solid supporting material from the other artists. Since the ARTery is apparently going to be open Saturdays for lunch, eliminating the unpredictable hours which made seeing some exhibits there difficult, there is essentially no reason why you should not go to see this show.
We celebrated the opening of Chelsea Boida's Yet again, and again... at The Hydeaway. It is up until the end of May, visible during any hydeaway events (see the website for dates and times).
Work continues on other Institute Parachute Projects, including the upcoming Portable Festival of Portable Art.

Reviewed: Liz Miller at Harcourt House

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:42:00 +0000

Read Adam Waldron-Blain's full review of Liz Miller's Cataclysmic Rescue Mission in Vue Weekly.

As you enter the Harcourt House main gallery, Liz Miller’s Cataclysmic Rescue Mission presents a bold first impression. The space has been a popular target for attempts at this kind of installation, which specifically calls to mind Stephanie Jonsson’s recent show there. Miller is more successful than many in her attempt to transform both the space and her mundane, crafty materials into something beautiful. Miller quite capably makes use of the room, and for once Harcourt House’s underfunded flooring can almost be forgotten. But after this initial success, Cataclysmic Rescue Mission doesn’t seem to know exactly where to go, and the colourful beauty of the installation is ultimately unfulfilled.

Probably the only art review you will read this week that mentions new-rave.

Submit to The Third Annual Portable Festival of Portable Art

noreply@blogger.com (Ms. Josée) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:31:00 +0000

Call for Submissions (pdf)
Institute Parachute is seeking submissions for the Third Annual Portable Festival of Portable Art, to take place 27 June 2009 at the Centennial Pavilion on Sir Winston Churchill Square.
The Portable Festival of Portable Art is a one-day festival invented in 2007 as an experimental means of exhibition meant to challenge the relationship between art-making and exhibition. For the first time, the guerilla festival is to be included in the larger institutional context of the Works Art & Design Festival.
The basis for the festival is an art exhibition without gallery walls and with an inverted curatorial structure. It is an experiment on the effects of gallery space and institutions on art production, and in part a criticism of Edmonton’s current shortage of organization, professionalism, and ambition among young artists. The ephemeral appearance of the festival highlights this point: it is impossible to know if it is real or not unless you participate.
Surprise contributions at the event itself are encouraged, but to be officially included on the bill of events, or for an art consultation, please contact Institute Parachute with a brief description of your project by 31 May. Participating artists will be expected to personally present their work as part of the interactive nature of the festival, although submissions by post from abroad will be accepted with appropriate documentation and instructions for presentation.
Submit your puppet shows, collapsible or flying objects, balloon sculpture, time machines, science experiments, dramatic play, speeches, research presentations, robots, magic tricks, concept bands, bicycles, etc. to:

Attn: Josée Aubin Ouellette
instituteparachute@yahoo.ca
#410, 9662 101A Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T5H 0A7
www.instituteparachute.ca

PS: There will be cake.

In Vue Weekly: Attila Richard Lukacs / Polaroids

noreply@blogger.com (ADAM WALDRON-BLAIN) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Originally from Vue Weekly, 19 March 2009
Attila Richard Lukacs / Polaroids / Michael Morris
Reviewed by Adam Waldron-Blain

Lukacs’ paintings are delicately balanced between logical unity and a jarring sense of the unreal, and each one contains several layers of reality that we understand separately as we experience the work, starting with Lukacs’ most clearly visible artifice in his paint and in nonsensical or non-naturalistic elements in the paintings, as he invokes a flock of flamingoes or floating text in “Camouflage.” The central figures of the paintings are where most of this complexity lies, as we are forced to reconcile the presentation of these figures, which exist between the heroic nude and the salacious, perhaps pornographic photograph, with our ideas of what the subcultural aesthetic they carry with them represents, as well as what the are doing.
Beyond this play of sex and violence, explicit or implicit depending on the painting, the Polaroids present another tense level of fiction. Separating the figures from their unreal surroundings and isolating them, their sense of exaggerated, muscly masculinity is changed significantly. In the paintings, despite their performances, the figures often seem curiously unaware of themselves, as to permit too much self-reflection would be to endanger their value as either fascists or pin-ups, by allowing just a touch of what is perceived as a femininity into their sealed-off, painted realities. Instead, their situations and actions seem routine, despite their nudity and sometimes absurdity, and Lukacs leaves his subjects with their grim facial expressions which are themselves a part of their uniform, a kind of posture of hardness and authenticity.

Read the full article at vueweekly.com