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Fury over Art Daily Arts Alert ... by Cathleen Bond Friday, Feb. 1 Do you remember what caused that political storm at the Vancouver Art Gallery last year, which led to the resignation of the director, half the board, and to further recriminations and accusations for most of the next year?
Well, it was all because rock star Bryan Adams' management company offered the VAG board some money -- not even a lot, according to the gossip -- to display the rock star's photographs on its hallowed walls. In other Canadian cities, some noble institutions had fallen for the same trick, but they were museums (like the ROM in Toronto) ... And the VAG's art committee didn't think a rock star should be allowed to buy his way into the joint. Well, another rock star is up to the same game. The legendary Diane Dufresne, Quebec's first female rock star and a larger-than-life personality in La Belle Province, is now showing at a small museum (not a gallery). Her work, according to The Montreal Gazette, "consists not of song-and-dance numbers, but rather paintings and drawings hanging quietly on the walls." Well, not that quietly. According to the reporter, many of the works feature explosive breasts, lots of flesh and a few vaginas "that might just be wearing lipstick."
The works are on display at the historic, old-fogey Chateau Dufresne Musuem (apparently no relation), which usually displays things like religious and Inuit art. The singer's work held up under scrutiny of the museum's art committee -- Dufresne had studied art in her youth and has emerged with a serious artistic vision.
Musee Chateau Dufresne
Laurence Lemieux's work is an exploration of the relationship between memory and loss. In the solo, we follow Michael Trent as "he journeys through the dark chambers of his recent past. This work joins Laurence's growing body of dances that reveals personal human experience with moving and unfettered clarity." The late American composer John Cage's work provides the soundscape. Sarah Chase is achieving an international name as a choreographer and story teller. In Falcom and the Walmer, she created a "whimsical yet highly personal duet" that she first choreographed for herself and Kate Alton. Tonight Falcom and the Walmer is the second invited work in The Memory Show and it sounds like a perfect fit for this particular bill.
The final piece on the program is Michael Trent's "latest creation for dancers Sasha lvanochko, Alison Denham, Karen Bennedsen, Zoë Poluch and Louis Laberge-Coté. The work is set to a score by Michael Gordon with lighting by Bonnie Beecher and set design by Don McGoldrick." In this piece, Trent examines the relationship "between memory and the senses." The Memory Show's only in town for five performances. Catch it while you can.
The Memory Show Until Feb 3rd 75 Portland Street Toronto, 416.408.2783 Musical Notes: Gilbert and Sullivan's magnificent Mikado starts tonight at Confederation Centre of the Arts. Yum yum. Need we say more?
Until Feb 3rd Charlottetown 1-800-565-0278
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 Updated each weekday by Cathleen Bond ... bookmark this page and come back for the latest news, reviews and gossip on the Canadian arts scene. RECENT FEATURES: More from our year-end review: >> Public Art >> Film >> Digital >> Visual Art >> Literature >> Dance >> Architecture >> Music and Opera >> TV or not TV
>> Bruce Mau: Big designs in LifeStyle >> Robert Service: Musical tribute to a Canadian hero >> Circle of Trees: Art and nature come full circle >> Atwood: The critics and The Blind Assassin >> Public Art: Who decides what art will fill our civic spaces and expand our imagination? >> Digital Art: Clickable Cancon, a quick tour of the latest in digital art. >>
Cancon Quiz >> Iron Road: The Arts & Culture forum follows the creation of a new Canadian opera >> Interview: Carole McDowell tells us how she and artist Helen Lucas made the transition from gallery walls to the www gallery. >> Public Library in Peril How should libraries be transformed to meet future needs of Canadians? >> Culture
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More than 100 local artists and curators signed a petition calling
for the resignation of the VAG board and the resulting scandal is still
hurting the community.
Dufresne, need it be said, is a flamboyant character in a flamboyant culture. According to her bio: "It must be said ... that a large portion of DD's following is made up of natural marginals: gays/lesbians, professionals in the liberal arts, other entertainers, actors, art/drama scholars and hopeless intellectual romantics, mostly aged between 27 and 45... but she's also been recognised by the old fogey men from l'Académie française, and children, I've noticed, spontaneously respond to her."
Dance Works:
Toronto-based choreographer Michael Trent, in co-production with The Empty
Collective, has finally announced the much anticipated dates for his first
full-evening dance event. The Memory Show brings two world premieres by
Laurence Lemieux and Michael Trent. Plus there will be a remount of a work by
Sarah Chase. Here's some highlights about the creative impulses and intents
behind The Memory Show:
"Joining performer
Michael Trent is the National Ballet of Canada's Jeremy Ransom. Jeremy and
Michael were roommates at the National Ballet School in 1975 and this
humorous work asks them to share with the audience some of their memorable
experiences as young men in the weird world of professional ballet training.
Now, 25 years later, Jeremy and Michael share the stage for the first time
since their last appearance together as children, clowns and courtiers in
Celia Franca's now retired production of The Nutcracker." Talk about dancing
down memory lane.
Twenty clicks through Canadian culture: Test your memory, from Anne
of Green Gables to Shift.