Just before our holiday break, Carolyn Jervis wrote about our two December shows, Taxonomia and Working Order in Vue:
Usually my first reaction upon seeing taxidermy, or representations thereof, is to be creeped out. The posed, stuffed animal skins with their vacant glassy eyes are so transparently false in their imitation of living breathing things. Somehow Maria Whiteman’s Taxonomia, Latitude 53’s current Main Space exhibition, manages to create a space for intimate relationships with these and other preserved creatures.
Read the rest at Vue Weekly.
Avenue Magazine highlights our new show by Margaret Dragu and Freya Björg Olafson, FOMD Laboratory:
The meta-art project is about the process of putting together a collaborative show, which the artists have watched and documented as a process itself, a kind of “slow-moving reality television series,” jokes Dragu.
The artists and their work are in the gallery this week—so come by and have a look, or come to their artist talk Saturday afternoon at 2:00.
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.
Read the rest on the Edmonton Journal site
The Edmonton Journal was out at In/stall/ed on Saturday:
Empty parking lots and concrete spaces were transformed into art installations in Edmonton’s McCauley neighbourhood Saturday.
In the middle of the Sacred Heart Centre parking lot at 96 Street and 108 Avenue, 81-year-old Nick Shostak Sr. and his granddaughter Amy set up a coffee table, rug, some books and chairs. Shostak Sr. sat back in his burgundy recliner and told the audience stories of a youth filled with failed get-rich-quick schemes involving unsold umbrella hats and cafeteria trays.
Shostak’s performance was part of a free outdoor art show sponsored by the McCauley community revitalization project, where artists explored the divide between public and private life.
The article also includes a few comments from Kelta Coomber here at the gallery, as well as a little more on other projects in case you missed.
Of course, we’re still in the thick of it: come see our untitled project with Jasper Place High School students in the windows of the Artery tonight!
Our last patio is this week! It’ll be a late-night affair with some of Edmonton’s best-loved shops helping us out. If you haven’t made it out yet, you owe it to yourself. Here’s what Vitamin Daily says about our patio season:
Top 5: Edmonton Summer Patios – Latitude 53
Rain or shine, this contemporary downtown art gallery is throwing unmatched rooftop patio soirees every Thursday evening until August 18 alongside a rotation of incubator artists and fresh DJ’s.
Yes: unmatched. This week only.
That’s right, our exciting rooftop patios were recommended last week by the National Post. Because they are exotic. See for yourself
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.
Read the full story at the Journal’s site or pick up a copy on the street.
Take a look at a copy of today’s Edmonton Journal—Janice Ryan reviewed our two current shows, Where Are We Going? and Sanctuary.
Art with the muscle to snap one’s busy mind out of autopilot and get the grey matter churning is worth a look. There is satisfaction in being offered a platform from which to reflect and ponder. It is all too easy to get muddled with day-to-day routines and forget the freedom and joy that lies in taking the time to simply think and imagine.
Latitude 53’s two shows offer a chance to admire art for art’s sake and at the same time, get the cogs turning.
Catch both shows at Latitude 53 through June 20th.
If you didn’t already pick up a copy of Vue this weekend, Paul Blinov penned a bit of a preview of Where Are We Going?.
Going? is the second show Wong’s curated that draws inspiration from a quote by post-modern visual artist Paul Gauguin: “Where do we come form? Who are we? Where are we going?” The first question was the crux a show back in 2009; Wong’s skipped the middle question, for now, and instead forged ahead.
“I was planning to do ‘who are we?’ though everyone thought ‘where are we going?’ is much more interesting. I think ‘who are we?’ is also a big question, but I think that’ll be my third one.”
Where Are We Going? is up in our main space until June 18, so come have a look this week.
