This article appeared in Vie des Arts English Edition, N. 217, Winter 2009-2010.

Genesis is the Biblical version of the beginning of the world. Stories like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah’s Ark, stream through kindergartens replete with talking snakes. Western culture is imbued with medieval attitudes towards race, sex, gender and the animals that stem from accepting the Bible either literally or metaphorically. Even the theory of evolution follows the religious paradigm and hypothesizes a linear ascent of humans.

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by hollindaze, aka Rhonda Olson

Group Show ‘Looking Ahead’ til Dec. 13.

I like the artist’s commitment to explore his medium. I love that Wilson’s chosen medium is beautiful in its own right but, rarely used to make art, and in general, has little respect – the lowly toothpick. A tool most often used to unwedge food caught between one’s teeth.

Common indeed, but in Jay Wilson’s hands the toothpick is dressed up and ready to go to the ball in a pinkburgundydress! Making the toothpick his own, Wilson’s pieces are not only labour intensive to create, these works are sometimes made with the help of friends, but they also speak to the intricacies of design, engineering and construction.

Read the rest of the article at flight + hotel.

by hollindaze, aka Rhonda Olson

Group show ‘Looking Ahead’ til Dec. 13

Iíve been thinking of them as light collages using the medium of photography as a base. Scratched negatives, both personal and found, and old-fashioned burning and dodging make up his methods of reconstruction.

Read the rest of the article at flight + hotel

http://www.akimbo.biz/akimblog/?id=278

Image: Stanzie Tooth, Floating, 2008, acrylic and oil on canvas

Street youth show art at Gallery 1313
By: Erin Hatfield

Art is the only thing that brings David Michael Rendall fulfillment.

The 22 year old says painting helps him grow and express himself, but at the same time it can be his downfall.

“Art is kind of the only thing I have ever been really good at,” he told the Villager in an interview.

In pursuit of his passion for painting, Rendall found himself broke and living off soup kitchens.

“It is really hard to focus on your creative expression if that is what you are doing to survive,” he said.

He has been living at Eva’s Phoenix for about two months. It’s a place that offers transitional housing for street youths. But along with giving him a warm place to rest his head at night, it’s awarded him an opportunity to showcase his work at Gallery 1313 on Queen Street West, as part of the 6th Annual Juried Love Exhibition: Mask.
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Parkdale art show empowers street youths

By: Francine Kopun

David Michael Rendall keeps monsters under his bed