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: