@ Galerie Walter Klinkhoff:


Marc-Aurèle Suzor-Coté, The End of Day, oil on panel, 10 x 14".

Marc-Aurèle Suzor-Coté, Twilight, oil on panel, 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 ".

@ the AGO:

Frida Kahlo, Mi Nana y Yo (My nurse & I), 1937, oil on metal.

Alexandra Luke, Epitaph to Eos, 1961, oil on canvas.

William Ronald, Exodus I, 1958, oil on canvas.

I don't want to create a monster, I want to make something which is new, exceptional, something that only I do...something that references tradition, but is still new.
­                                                                                                                             ––Georg Baselitz

@ MMFA:

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1664), "Landscape with man pursued by a snake", about 1637-1639, oil on canvas:

Quick visit to Galerie Yves Laroche:

Mainly 'Juxtapose-y' like crap, real bric-a-brac, but just behind the glass door to the private showroom, on the floor leaning against the wall, in the half-dark like a hustler, a Francis Bacon lithograph of two fleshy figures writhing, # 45 / 60. 

Next door at Lacerte, a stunning Edmund Alleyn gouache from 1962, "Untitled",($9 800).  Matted & framed beautifully.  Clearly from his "Indian Summer" days.  A knock-out of a piece.

Milton Avery "Green Sea", 1954, oil on canvas, 42 x 60 inches:

Mardsen Hartley, Mount Katahdin, Maine,1942, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 1/8 inches:

Mardsen Hartley, details (sky & trees)

Mardsen Harley, Evening Storm, Schoodic, Maine, 1942, oil on composition board, 30 x 40 inches

"Every true artist creates new values, new beauty...When you notice anarchy, recklessness, or licentiousness in works of contemporary art, when you notice crass coarseness and brutality, then occupy yourself long and painstakingly precisely with these works, and you will suddenly recognize how the seeming recklessness transforms itself into freedom, the coarseness into high refinements.  Harmless pictures are seldom worth anything.

                                                                                                                               -Emile Nolde

Chaim Soutine, "Windy Day, Auxerre", oil on canvas, 1939, 19 1/4" x 25 5/8".

Chaim Soutine, "View of Céret",oil on canvas, 1922, 29 1/8" x 29 1/2"

@ Galerie d'Arts Contemporains:

William Ronald, "Sans Titre / Untitled", Acrylic on panel, 1972 , $ 32 000 approx.

@ Galerie Claude Lafitte:

Joan Mitchell, "Sunflowers III, Etching & Aquatint, H.C., (30/75), 1982, 26 1/2" x 17", $15 000

Rita Letendre, "Jours d' été", oil on canvas, 1960, 16" x 20".

Marcel Feron, "Untitled ", huile sur panneau, 1960, 10" x 8".

Jean McEwen, "Unfunished Landscape, #26," huile sur toile, 1989, 60" x 60".

 David Milne, "Boiling a pot of coffee in woods, in winter", watercolour, 1939, 14" x 21".

Georges Rouault, "Couple", gouache, 1945, 11" x 9.2".

Set aside a room or a certain hour of the day
Where you do not even know what is in the morning papers
And bring forth what you are, and what you might be
This is a place of creation and incubation
A sacred space that you use every day
At first you might think nothing is happening
But something will happen
And you will eventually find yourself again and again.

                                                                      -Joseph Campbell

@ MMFA:

Amadeo Modigliani (1864-1920): "Young man with a white collar / Jeune homme au col blanc" (1918), oil on canvas.

The use of grey, like two columns on either side of the figure, coupled with the flat grey, almond-shaped eyes. The hair line is made of white scratches, dividing the head into two, showing how flat & thin the paint is...strangely, the most paint was applied at the cheekbones, fleshly, peachy & patchy highlights floating under the eyes.  The collar is shaped like an old school nun's habit, or white wings in flight (or the roof of  Le Courbusier's Ronchamp chapel), a slight touch of blue paint in the upper right hand side to keep it all balanced...slight dove-grey shadows on the edges of his collar...all so simple, all so splendid...starting to feel Modigliani a little more...

                                                                                                    (A. Modigliani in 1918)

Anselm Kiefer, "Das SonnenSchiff ", (1996-2009), Brambles, lead boat, aluminum-painted sunflowers, acrylic, oil, emulsion on canvas, steel & glass.

Leon Golub, "Mercenaires II", (1979), Acrylic on canvas.

We (E.A  & I) watched the new Gerhard Richter doc."Gerhard Richter Painting" @ Cinema du Parc last night, both sensual & serious.  Maybe 40 people in the room, all watching a painter painting.
A strong sense of tension ran through the film, mainly because of Richter's deep vibration of conviction.

"One has to believe in what one is doing, one has to commit oneself inwardly, in order to do painting. Once obsessed, one ultimately carries it to the point of believing that one might change human beings through painting. But if one lacks this passionate commitment, there is nothing left to do. Then it is best to leave it alone. For basically painting is idiocy.” (From Richter, "Notes 1973", in The Daily Practice of Painting, p. 78.)

Quick visit to Landau Fine Art, Montreal:

Hans Hoffman, oil on canvas (1954):

Kees van dongen, Le clown, oil on canvas (1906):

Amadeo Modigliani, 'Bride & Groom (The Couple), oil on canvas (1915):

Picasso pencil drawing, (28.11.1971).
Joan Miro, oil on canvas, mid-40's.
A small Miro bronze statue:

A small guoache by Rene Magritte.
Ferdinand Leger, oil on canvas, 1929.
A small work on painted cardboard, Max Ernst.
Picasso pencil drawing, (29.67.)
Two Paul Klees, oil on burlap.
Jean Dubuffet, oil on canvas, 1975

Jean Dubuffet, oil on canvas, 1952:

A riveting early Dubuffet, apparently hidden in a European vault for 40 years:

 Jean Dubuffet, "Dechaumage Au Brabant", 1943 ?:

 

Pablo Picasso, oil on paper, 1953.

Pablo Picasso, The Sleepers, oil on canvas (13 April 1965), 114.2 x 195 cm

The "world's greatest art critic", Robert Hughes, dead @ 74.
Oh, the shock of the new, indeed.

"The shock of the new, 2004."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TigWa7k9L28

Great interview (in English!) of Gerhard Richter in his studio with Nicholas Serota:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/video/2011/oct/13/gerhard-richter-tate-modern-video?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3486

"The Sun will not rise or set without my notice, and thanks."

-Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910)

Visit to "A matter of Abstraction" & "On Abstraction" @ MAC MTL.

(Inordinate # of monkeys milling about, Wednesday night is free admission after all)

Upright Motive No 5, 1955 -1956, bronze 4/7, by Henry Moore had a red Gerbera w/ yellow stigma tucked into one of the three holes on the vertical statue, a stunning effect in the sculpture garden at sunset, no less.  Total but temporary completion, now & then, Life & Art., Bronze & petal fused momentarily, just for me.

"Pur Laine",2012 (for Jan Wong) came into my mind while I strolled around.
White sheep (101 of them?) in a snowstorm, oil on canvas, big.
 Maybe mirrored snowflakes.

John Fox: Abstractions, @ Battat Contemporary, MTL:

"Scamel", 1981, acrylic & collage on canvas, 87" x 65".
"Medlar", 1981, acrylic & collage on canvas, 79" x 57".

Visit to Olga Korper Gallery, Toronto:

Stunning paintings by John Brown

"Stupid 1", 116 " x 96', 2011, oil on panel, ($70 000.)

"Waiting", 96" x 108", 2011/12, oil on panel, ($35 000)

"Speaking", 84" x 72", 2011, oil on panel, ($35 000)

@ Christopher Cutts Gallery:  Michael Amar, each painting had a very strong & distinct energy field.

"The thicker you paint, the more it flows."

-John Singer Sargent
(1856 - 1925)

Gustave Courbet "The brook of the black well", 1855, oil on canvas:

George Rouault, "Christ & Pilate", n.d., oil on paper mounted on canvas.

Milton Avery "Trees against the sea", 1959, oil on canvas:

Discussion of the Cy Twombly & Nicolas Poussin show (July 2011) between Sir Nicolas Serota & Nicolas Cullinan at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Rukq7Px6w

 "You spend your time ranking the names of the greatest.  Beware of that.  Be modest, and stop looking for a rule."                                                                                                                                          

 -Emile Nolde

"Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time. "


"Art is not a pastime but a priesthood."


"Mystery has its own mysteries, and there are gods above gods.  We have ours, they have theirs.  That's whats known as infinity."

-Jean Cocteau

A reporter asked Mr. (Gerhard) Richter how it felt to be “celebrated at the moment like no other artist has ever experienced,” as a “titan, an Olympian.” Mr. Richter smiled slyly and replied, “Being ignored would certainly be a lot worse.”

The last of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" (1895) goes on sale next week, est. price $80 000 000 (US).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/21/edvard-munch-the-scream-auction#

Visit to Galerie La Centrale (4286 boul. St. Laurent):

Fantastic contemporary Inuit drawings by Ningeokuluk TeeVee & Shuvinai Ashtoona.  Excellent stuff.

Musee des beaux arts de Quebec:

Guido Molinari, "Red angle", 1955, oil on canvas.

Edmund Alleyn, "The shadow of a doubt", 1959, oil on canvas.

Patterson Ewen,  "Feathered Skull", 1958, oil on canvas.

Alfred Pellan, "Venus & the Bull", 1938, oil on canvas.

Jean-Paul Riopelle, "Sun Spray", 1954, oil on canvas.

Marc Aurele de Foy Suzor-Coté., "Temps orageuax, passage a Arthabaska", 1923,  oil on wood panel.

Marc Aurele de Foy Suzor-Coté, "Coucher de soleil en automne", 1911, oil on wood panel.

Visit to Bigué Art Contemporain with HK:

Edmund Alleyn, Paintings : 1953 - 1964

Superb!  Mainly work from private collections, very seldom seen.

                                                                                      "Painters table", 1954, oil on canvas,

                                             
                                                                                          "September", 1962, oil on canvas

                                                 
                                                                                       "Garden soul", 1963, oil on canvas.

                                                                                              "Papoose", 1962, oil on canvas.

Sketch for 12 great Canadians:

1.  Harold Klunder
2.  Agnes Martin
3.  Tom Thompson
4.  Emily Carr
5.  Attila Richard Lukas
6. Oscar Cahen
7.  Norville Morriseau
8.  Marc-André de Foy Suzor Coté
9.  Kenojuak Ashevak
10.  Jean Paul Riopelle
11.  Patterson Ewen
12.  Phillip Guston

"Do something, do something else.  Do something else to that."
-Jasper Johns

-an artists' responsibility is to craft an object that will hold the viewers' attention & engage his critical, emotional, psychological & spiritual faculities, time after time after time.
-?

"Concentration is one of the most important things in painting."
-Lucien Freud

(Vibrations give rise to form)

-searching for nutrition for the paintings, the role of the artist is to make peoples' lives a little bit more complicated.

-The painting IS the subject.

(painting in solitude & isolation, in two small rooms down near the cold river)

OK WALL POWER

-Life cannot be negotiated in isolation

"Points of civilization & illumination within the surrounding cultural darkness"

"A picture lives by companionship, expanding & quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer.  It is, therefore, a risky & unfeeling act to send it out into the world."

-Mark Rothko


(colours as performers)

Antoni Tapies, dead @ 88.

(@ Saint Josephs Oratory, Mtl)

Spent time with the wooden 12 Apostles hanging on the walls of the sides of the great, main Modernist chapel, elongated & stern, a Nordic moral council glaring down from the walls.  Saint Thomas' eyes are particularly penetrating & fierce.

Via Positiva, 2012

Vernissage @ Simon Blais:

Irene F. Whitcome, "The Route of San Romano", 1963, oil on canvas. ($75 000)

Paul-Emile Borduas, "5.45 our petite abstraction grise", 1946, oil on canvas  (private collection).

Piet Mondrian, "Landscape with irrigation ditch", 1900-01, oil on canvas. ($110 000)

Marcelle Ferron, "Opaque Transparence", 1945-46, oil on cavas.


Small beer with HK in a busy, cozy Plateau micro-brasserie

Francesco Clemente interview with Charlie Rose, 2008:

Clemente: "In painting, waiting is very big part of the effort."

Charlie Rose: "Waiting for what?"

Clemente: " Waiting for both the mind & the material to explicitate their narrative, to develop their narrative.  Painting is not so much about decision, it's more about acceptance."

Charlie Rose:  "Acceptance of, of what?"

Clemente: "  Of the fact that certain structures and orders and narratives they really have their own saying, and all you have to do is listen."

Rose"  "So one of the principle things of an artist is to listen & be able to hear."


 "I am a painter by default.  I'm a painter because I didn't really want to be anything else."
                                                                                                                            -Francesco Clemente

@ MMFA w/ JPC (12h00) :

Sapphic Weave, 2012

Kenojuak Ashevak, "The Enchanted Owl",  1960, stonecut.

Pudlo Pudlat,"The big Lemming", 1961, graphite.
Pudlo Pudlat, "The big Lemming", 1961, stonecut.

Luke Anuhadluq, "Untitled", 1970, coloured pencil.

Marc-Aurele de Foy Suzor-Cote, "Sketch for the Death of Montcalm", 1902, oil on canvas.

Tom Thompson, "Early Autumn, Algonquin Park", 1915, oil on wood.
Tom Thompson, "Rock-Burnt Country", 1917, oil on wood.

Guido Molinari, "Untitled", 1955, oil on canvas.

Marcelle Ferron, "Untitled", 1947, oil on canvas mounted on cardboard.

Fourth encounter with Tom Thompson, "Northern Lights" about 1916-17, oil on wood:

(seen from the left side of the room)
An old couple enters while we are there as well, spend more time with the painting than most, then leave.

 The painting still feels veiled, somehow separated, as if always at a distance.  The power really opens up when up close. The painting is above the eye-line, for most people, so is seen looking-up at a slight angle.

Watched "The Mona Lisa curse", a documentary by Robert Hughes, 2008.

"If Art can't tell us about the world we live in, then I don't believe there is much point in having it.  And that is something we are going to have to face more & more as the years go on, that nasty question which never used to be asked because the assumption was always it was answered long ago:  
What good is Art? What use is Art? What does it do? Is what it does actually worth doing? And an art which is completly moneterized  in the way that it is getting these days is going to have to answer these questions or it is going to die."

Third visit to the MMFA, with EA:

Paul-Emile Borduas, "Composition No. 11", 1957, had titled slightly, two or three degrees up to the right.

Spent about 30 minutes in front of  Tom Thompson, "Northern Lights", about 1916-17, oil on board.

(I sit about 6 or 7 meters away from the painting for the duration of my visit)

Q?:  How do people approach such an iconic painting?
A:  With crossed arms & general confusion.

(A man in his 50's yawns in front of the painting, covering his open mouth with the back of his hand.)

Does the small size of the painting limit or restrict a viewers ability to enter into it deeply?
What is the key to access this painting?
What is the key, to me?

(The fresh snow from Fridays' snow storm still blankets the skylights, making igloo light inside the room.)

Mandarin Stumblebum, for Philip Guston, 2012.

"Genuine art just cannot be made effective through hurly-burly and propaganda in a journalistic sense. Everything essential happens apart from everyday noise, only to attain a more far-reaching effect. The weak and unoriginal try to obtain shabby fame for one day, and should get it. But this is not for us. One has to wait patiently for things to happen. - Most important is the silent show in your own rooms. By this, as time goes by, you will obtain a central force with which to direct everything, if you submerge yourself completely and consider the game of life as a contest for spiritual power - the only game which is really amusing. But this must happen almost in secret. Everything too public diminishes your strength - at least during the birth of the will and during its youth...Politics is a subaltern matter whose manifestation changes continually with the whims of the masses, just as cocottes manage to react according to the needs of the male and to transform and mask themselves. Which means - nothing essential. What it's all about is: the permanent, the unique, the true existence all through the flight of illusions, the retreat from the whirl of shadows. Perhaps we will succeed in this."

-"Herzlichst" Ihr Beckmann
(Max Beckmann, 194?)

@ the MMFA, 11h00.

Tom Thompson, "Northern Lights", about 1916-1917, oil on board.

-seen under a skylight covered with fresh snow at 11 AM in an empty room.
-the balance of the image is superb, especially from a distance.
-the paint & luminosity have visibly darkened, giving a different energy to the piece, especially under the pale, weak winter light. The pink hi-lights have faded into a dirty peach colour. A very tiny bit of exposed board show through in one spot. The board is slightly warped, when viewed from the side.
-The painting still emanates a sense of "spiritual urgency" as HK would call it.
-it looks like it was painted in two sessions. The first being the rays of sunlight and the approaching night sky painted at the same time. The dark clouds cutting across the center & the black treetops were painted later. The trees are formed out of the brush strokes nicely.
-a slash of dark purple in the center of the trees at the very bottom, something I've never seen or seen reproduced.

-practiced Leonardo da Vinci's  regarde irratante with it from different angles for a while.

-I had a strong desire to take my heavy winter boots off in front of it & be very quiet in my wintery wool socks.


Paul-Emile Borduas, "Compositon No.11", 1957, huile sur toile.

-attracted to the row of old-school nails along the sides like in a Picasso or Guston painting. The slight slip of green into the white slabs of white paint across the muscular surface. Six black splotches just frozen. Very dynamic, after 55 years.

Patterson Ewen, "Nuit d'ete", 1958, oil on canvas.

Patterson Ewen, "Star eruption", 1981, Acrylic on gouged plywood.

@ Galerie Samuel Lalouz:

Anselm Kiefer, "Melancholia", 2005, Oil, acrylic, rust and polyhedral sculpture on canvas (sculpture made out of iron and glass, containing ash, iron dried flowers).

Anselm Kiefer, "Der Herbstes Runengespinst /  The Web of Autumn Runes", 2003, Oil, lacquer, emulsion, cork and wood on canvas on steel support.

Visit to the Triennale @ the MAC. Disappointing.