I have been in the mood to watch some art-related films currently out.

The Milos Forman movie Goya's Ghosts, starring Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem, known from the Academy Award film "No Country For Old Men", is a lovely film. The painter Francisco Goya is the thread which runs through the movie in the backdrop of France through the Inquisition to Napoleanic times.

A controvercial film, My Kid Could Paint That is a serious challenge to what is considered contemporary modern art. It is a documentary about a four-year old whose paintings are compared to Picasso. Is it miraculaous or an elaborate hoax? The documentary follows the rise, the fall and the rise again of the small prodigy as she makes hundreds of thousands of dollars for her work.

Finally, Who the *&% Is Jackson Pollack, is an amusing film about a semi truck driver who buys a painting for five dollars. When she is told it may be an original Jackson Pollack, the quest is on to prove that it is truly an original.

Spring is blooming in Vancouver and so are art shows.

Attended the opening of Seymour Art Gallery's Serious Women Artists: Don't Do Flowers. The exhibition has been organized and curated by Kriss Boggild and includes the work of: Amona Ra, Cindy Anderson, Lois Klassen, Elizabeth Mancini, Elaine Mari, Bettina Matzkuhn, Alice Philips, Katherine Polgrain, Famous Empty Sky, Kathy Tycholis, Mia Weinberg and Madeleine Wood. The show runs in Deep Cove April 15 to May 11, 2008.

This past weekend there was also an international sonic and media show at Video In Video Out Media Gallery here in Vancouver called Signal + Noise. I found the show to be very good this year with the theme being Media Intercourse. The pieces were very engaging and represented a wide cross section of what is going on in media arts today. The show ran April 16, 17, and 18. If you missed it stay tuned to next year at this time.

As mentioned in a previous post the Cue Up Collective of which I am a member, is hosting Hospitality nights at Video In Video Out the last Tuesday of every month. Guests are invited to present their special take on the idea of hospitality which often engages the audience to directly participate, and follows with producers screening their lastest works for critical feedback. The next event, with guest host Greg Borowski, will be at 7:30 pm, Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at VIVO 1965 Main Street, Vancouver.



And finally, 7 - 9pm May 3 will be the opening of the undergraduate show at Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. This year 350 undergrads will show works in a variety of media in the Concourse Gallery and the South Building, 1399 and 1400 Johnston Street on Granville Island in Vancouver. The show runs 10 am to 6pm daily, May 4 - 11.

2008 marks the inaugural graduate student exhibition for the Master of Applied Arts Program. The Graduate Exhibition takes place May 1 - 11 at the ECI Studios, located at 1535 West 3rd Avenue. Opening reception is at 7pm, April 30.

It's been a busy winter for attending art shows and openings.

Took in the Georgia O'Keefe show at the Vancouver Art Gallery in November. Displayed were a variety of her work over the period of her career, many of which involved the desert of New Mexico.

Also in November attended the opening of Emma Hendrix and Julie Gendron's show 'don't stop' held at the CSA Gallery, which is formerly The Blanket Gallery. Their work was an interactive audio piece/installation which consisted of a number of white cubes that played an audio loop of a sound once you slotted it on a jack to a mixer. The interesting think is that you could have any number of loop sounds playing simultaneously and could even record your own sound into the box to play back. The ulimate result was an ever- changing and weaving mix of audio sounds and rythms. Quite a successful project I thought.

January brought a change in my video collective's Cue Up screening night held monthly at Video In Video Out. This year we will be dedicating the theme of Hospitality in choosing our guests and presentations. Our first guest was Jackline Ochieng, who hosts Kenyan dinners in the quest to display hospitality between cultures. While sipping on chai and eating Kenyan mondazi, videos were screened by the producers in the audience. Again, a very good turn out for the launch of this new themed night.

February 1st a artist friend of mine and I attended the opening of Derek Von Essen's show 'Horizons + Intersections III' at the new gallery on Main Street, the E.3rd Gallery. Though known for his paintings, Derek presented a set of digitally manipulated photographs of urban streets and freeways. The show addresses the modern presence through constructed environments with a fluid visual transitions.

The Eastside Culture Crawl is an annual three day visual arts festival. This event involves artists who work on the east side of Vancouver, BC, Canada in an area bounded by Main Street to Commercial Drive and from First Avenue north to the waterfront. Information of all participants can be found at East Side Culture Crawl

I have been asked to include three sets of three artist books by Lois Klassen and Light Factory Publications in the presentation of Artist Books from the Art in Action category. They will be shown alongside a variety of book projects by eighteen artists at #5, William Clark Studios, 1310 William Street and Clark Drive in Vancouver. The Studio is open Friday, November 16, 5 - 10pm; Saturday and Sunday, November 17 and 18, 11am - 6pm. Come out and support community art!

Attended the exhibit of French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria several weeks back. This was a very comprehensive exhibition of over 60 works in bronze including studies for monumental works such as "The Gates of Hell," “The Burghers of Calais,” and "The Monument to Balzac."

Set in two galleries large works dominated the rooms showing off the wonderful patina that only bronze can produce. In one corner of a gallery was a display showing the lost wax process to producing these bronzes accompanied by a video showing the attempt to cast "The Gates of Hell" all in one pouring. "The Thinker," "The Kiss" and many interpretations of Balzac dominated the space and in the back gallery were portraits of Rodin by friends including his lover Camille Claudel.

I was very impressed with this exhibition and the sheer number of works. The accompanying information panels provided just enough information about his work that you didn't feel overwhelmed or inundated. Moving around the work you could see exquisite detail in the rendering of bodily features and the expert rendition of hands and feet in particular. You walk away from the exhibit with a sense of awe at the sheer power of the works and the realize why he was considered the greatest sculptor since Michelangelo.

The exhibit is at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria until July 29th.