Fish Griwkowsky spoke to Emilio Rojas about his project for Visualeyez, which he performs this Sunday afternoon:
Part of the project is a pair of sealed letters he and his mother wrote each other, never to be opened. As we walk from the gallery to his hotel to retrieve hers, Rohas discusses how equal they are in the project, and how after working with him a few times she has started to ask questions of his artistic motivations. “I like that we are equal partners. With another performance artist you may have a disagreement and move on. But my mom and I are bound together,” he says peacefully.
“The collaboration began because we were really close and I’ve been in Vancouver for 3½ years,” says Rojas. Besides keeping track of how each other are doing, working together over the past two years has made their relationship stronger. “I have to say this to anyone out there, if you get a chance do something with your mother, whether it’s painting or writing or whatever you can, just do it.
We’re getting set to kick off the Canada Day weekend with our fun-filled patio happening tonight from 5-11pm.
Celebrate the sunny skies with a special performance from The Cedar Tavern Singers, guest hosts BlackFlash Magazine, and great company during our extended hours from 5-11pm. Tell your friends about tonight’s fun on Twitter with our new hashtag—#yegrooftop.
Want a free download card of The Cedar Tavern Singers’ new single How To Talk About Art?Arrive early—the first 200 guests at tonight’s patio will receive a copy of the card featured in BlackFlash Magazine’s summer issue.
Also be sure to check out Aryen Hoekstra’s video work in the community gallery as part of the Summer Incubator Series. Our great summer shows, SPACES&PLACES and VITUALAZIO are also on show in our Main Space and ProjEx Room.
With more music on the patio from DJs Fish Griwkowsky and Curtis Ross, food from Haweli and el Jimador Mojitos and Southern Comfort Woodland Punch, this evening can’t be beat.
Fish Griwkowsky took this video on the patio last night, and writes:
This is Shawn Pinchbeck, Gary James Joynes and Scott Smallwood performing an electronic sound experiment on Latitude 53′s rooftop patio Thursday in the late afternoon. Inside, dozens of lanyard-wearing Marshall McLuhan enthusiasts from all over the world enjoyed the gallery’s reaction to the philosopher’s upcoming 100th birthday in Edmonton.
There was dancing and conversation as an expected thunderstorm failed to materialize overhead. I say this all the time, but anyone who thinks downtown is dead should actually hang out with all of us here. It’s an open invite.
Our friend Fish Griwkowsky wrote about our new show Spaces&Places:VisioningMcLuhan@100 in the Edmonton Journal this week:
“All of Canada, the world, the World Wide Web wants to lay claim to McLuhan,” Todd Janes says at the downtown gallery where he’s executive director. “A link to his birth here and formative years is great, but Edmonton can be proud of Marshall McLuhan the same way we’re proud of Wayne Gretzky. I think he would appreciate it, even find it funny.”
Fish also talks a little bit about some of the works you can see on the walls starting today. The opening is tonight at 7pm, but you can come early and have a drink on our Patio starting at 5.
And yes, die-hard writer-in-residence fans, part two of Anne Pasek’s primer on Marshall McLuhan really is coming soon. It should be worth the wait. In the mean time, come on down to Daniel Evans’ artist talk this evening for your fill of discourse!
OK, just kidding! I have one more nugget I’d love to share, David Lynch in the Egyptian Theatre down in Hollywood, before he showed us the powerfully shot and written Sunset BLVD. You didn’t really think I was going to leave on such a whiny note, did you?
Q: What’s the most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard?
Lynch: “Well, I would say I love the sound of wind. I worked with Alan Splet - great sound man. On an island off Scotland Alan recorded a wind one day and I use this wind a lot. It’s very, very, very beautiful, a mowing wind. I also like the sound of silence.”
Ah, the memories of a successful writer-in-residence completion! Remember that in-depth breakdown of Latitude 53’s administrative structure? The long-form interview of musician/painter Gord Downie, talking about his poetic influences? The video map of director Todd Janes’ impossibly taut muscles? The interviews with Aaron Sorkin, Werner Herzog and David Lynch?
No?
Well, yeah, I suppose you can’t really remember best laid plans that never quite made it, like so many barn kittens in the winter, to see the green and verdant bloom of spring. Wait, cats don’t have kittens in the winter. You get the point hopefully. If I had to gauge my barely-over-half-fulfiled expectations of commenting on art and ideas in our community using Hustler magazine’s famous rating system, let’s just say there would not be a glut of engorged genitals on the page. Despite what I thought were some pleasant, curse-laden rants on millionaire-funding schemes, stupid censorship of established cultural material and a few name-dropping travelogues, I kind of blew it.
The travelogues, of course, reflect the problem. Compared to being permanently crippled – which I foolishly believed would afford me more spare time to ruminate and shed light on local artists – travel with the short film killed a number of my dreams, including putting any more work into National Portrait Gallery and co-writing a 99-page book about the skewed arena politics. Not that I’m complaining about success, just making pathetic excuses.
Here’s a video I shot especially for Latitude 53 of Edmonton visual artist Smokey playing his pretty music. Hope you like it.
Over at GigCity.ca, our Factory Party made it into the Photo of the day last weekend. The famous Fish Griwkowsky explains:
Last weekend’s art auction fundraiser at Latitude 53 was a heck of a success – the curse on the wall wasn’t for sale; it was a gallery in-joke left from a previous show that made for some pretty funny photos all night.
When I first noticed Lisa Rezansoff, it took about half a six-pack of Pils to realize I was at the table of a born artist.
Fish also wrote about Lisa Rezansoff’s show in more detail for GigCity.ca. They spoke about her work, her residency at SNAP and more. Go read it
If you love getting this kind of inside information, you should come to our upcoming artist talks. Mathieu Valade will be in the gallery this afternoon at 2, and Lisa Rezansoff will be giving one later this month on the 24th.
