Share the "love" with a book from Blue Heron in Uxbridge

Writers love bookstores and bookstores love writers and writers write about love and name their books after love and if you buy a book from Blue Heron Books in Uxbridge, any book with the word "love" in the title, between Feb. 1 and Feb. 14, 2016, the good folks at Blue Heron will donate a book to Syrian refugees arriving in their community. Lovely.

Photographer Holly King exhibit on at the RMG in Oshawa until Apr 17

The Photograph as Architecture? The photograph captured reality much more easily than previous media; painting for example. But the still photograph has been overtaken by the moving image; after all the world is not static. A photo nailed the moment with light but the moment moves on. If the photo can not capture the world in all its many many moments, whats the purpose of photography? For a photographer what is the option? To build a world within the camera perhaps, one whose moments only occur when faced with the lens, a world that is woken up by the flash? 

Montreal born Holly King manufactures her worlds inside the scope of her camera. She is the architect of an idealized landscape, of an artful landscape, one trained into being for her gaze. The resultant image is then shot and shared with us in all its depth, vastness and hugeness. This is no trickery, King is honest about her process. Two of her image boxes are present at her mid-career retrospective exhibit at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa. Beyond the boxes the show is comprised of four of her most recent series: Twisted Roots, Mangroves: Floating Between Two Worlds, Grand Canyon: Unscene and the recently completed English Cliffs series.

The wonderful Forest of Enchantment series is not included but seek it out in her accompanying book titled "Holly KIng: Edging Towards The Mysterious" available at the Gallery. The landscapes photographed are as if Tom Thompson took Dali along on the camp and canoe trip. These worlds do not exist but the photograph brings them into existence. They are as real as any other image you see daily on those little devices in your hot hands, you just have to learn to trust the source. 

Holly King, Into the Mist, photograph, 2012

Into the mystic at RMG Fridays with Ugly Horse, Shayne Travis and Janice E. McHaffie

There is something of the intrigue to the Ray Mead exhibition continuing at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa until Jan. 24 2016. Mead, born in England, settled in Hamilton, and became part of Painters 11. The current show showcases the evolution of the artist. What comes to mind quite quickly is Mead' sense of balance, which draws perhaps on his years as artistic director with the McCann Ad agency. Mead works within the confines of the frame, acknowledging the border and ensuring that whether he is working with colour fields, or loose forms, there is a balance to the elements. What is intriguing about his art is the placement of slivers of colour which act like shadows, slices, or cuts, adding depth to the images. The slivers which create the fine balance of his work mirrored wonderfully the works of the young Whitby artist Mike Drolet whose work, Equipoise, on display in Gallery A just closed. Janice E. McHaffie has her exhibition opening at the Gallery A this Friday Jan. 8. Holly King's "Edging Towards The Mysterious" will also open and as its the Gallery's monthly Friday event Celtic musicians The Ugly Horse will be performing. Fittingly Shayne Travis will have the premiere of his film, "My Vivid Life's : Ireland" webisode. The RMG Fridays is all-ages but there is a cash bar for anyone wanting to get their Irish on with the Horse.

Do the Write thing at Bookapalooza Nov. 21

Bookapalooza 2015 is a writer/reader/book lovers dream festival taking place at Bistro67 in Durham College, Whitby, Ont., Nov. 21. The all day event (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) features authors, vendors, readings, meet and greets covering a wide variety of genres. The Writers Circle of Durham is behind this annual festival for readers and many of its members will be in attendance to offer advice on navigating the dark aisles of the publishing world. Many will be selling their own work. Brain Lag Books, DA Owen Publications, Humber College Publishing Services, Signal Fire Coaching, The Write Angle and Writescape will also be exhibiting.  Admission is free as is parking.

Celebrity Readings/Signing Schedule
Storyteller 10:30 – 11:15
Heather Whaley / Kim Michele

Romance 11:30 – 12:15
Mary Sullivan / Molly O’Keefe / Marissa Campbell

Historical 12:30 – 1:15
Barbara Kyle / Susanna Kearsley / Alissa York (pictured) / Tom Taylor

Young Adult 1:30 -2:15
Eve Silver / Maureen McGowan / Morgan Rhodes

All Genre 2:30 – 3:45

Bistro67 is located at the Durham College Centre For Food Building, 1604 Champlain Avenue, Whitby (just off Thickson Rd/401)

Andy Warhol Revisited, Pop-Art pop-up gallery in Toronto

"You would hardly believe how difficult it is to place a figure alone on a canvas, and to concentrate all the interest on this single and universal figure and still keep it living and real." - Edouard Manet

Andy Warhol, Marilyn_credit_ © 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.  Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Revolver Gallery in Los Angeles is presenting Andy Warhol Revisited, a pop-up exhibit at 77 Bloor East in Toronto’s iconic Yorkville. The show was curated by music impresario and Revolver owner, Ron Revlin, from his own collection, along with some borrowed works. It features a comprehensive selection of Warhols including his infamous soupcans and famous folks; Mick Jagger, Liz Taylor, Mao, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammed Ali and the King of Pop Michael Jackson. The King of Pop-Art also “painted” fruit, flowers and sunsets, and they are also on display. 

I’ve always thought French painter Edward Manet’s idea of framing everyday life has echoes in Warhol’s framing of modern life. Both chose working girls to focus in on, creating a new Mona Lisa, a new icon that would best represent their times and their lives.

Manet said there are no lines in Nature only colours. When we draw lines around something, border it, frame it, we give it special consideration. We elevate the subject. Most of us now carry the ability to frame something and make it famous. We only need to snap with our Iphones and the image can be famous, occasionally longer than the Warholian decree of 15 minutes. The question becomes if we are all framed, are we inside or outside the frame? I would suggest we are all inside the frame now. And from where I stand it looks a lot like a gallery full of images of famous people. Time to revisit Warhol and see your world for yourself.

Andy Warhol: Revisited exterior. 77 Bloor St. West Toronto. Image by Anthony Cohen

The show runs until Dec 31 2015. The show opened July 1 but new works are been added this week. Admission is $10 for adults however I would suggest the $30 VIP ticket  which includes unlimited admission, (plus a one-time plus one), plus a T-shirt and a poster. Seniors are $8, students and youth are $5 and children under five are free. Starting Nov. 3 entrance will be free to all on Tuesdays with a donation to the Daily Food Bank. Revolver is asking for, appropriately enough, a can of Campbell’s soup.

Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup II. Image credit: © 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photographer: Leila Tisdale.