01 is a Vancouver based bi-monthly, online magazine and daily blog. Its contributions come from creative-minded Vancouverites, as well as a handful of individuals outside the city. 01 is launching its first art exhibition this month at the 107 Shaw Gallery in Toronto. The exhibition runs from March 11-April 3 and will showcase international artists from Germany and New York along with a great crop of Canadian talent. Some of the Vancouver roster includes photographers Jennilee Marigomen and Jeff Otto O’Brien, as well as LES Gallery artist Dan Siney. Holding down the home front for Toronto are local photographers Maryanne Casasanta and Niall McLelland.No matter who you bring to this exhibition, you’re guaranteed to be in good company. —Alysa Lechner
Considering the art he produces is so awe-inspiring, Indonesian- born Toronto artist, Tessar Lo, is surprisingly modest. You won’t find him trumpeting about his talent (which, for the record, is worth trumpeting about). In fact, he confides that after he completes most collections he doubts himself, and has to convince himself to go on. Tessar’s latest collection at The Show & Tell Gallery in Toronto is titled Everything We Wanted In Our Nostalgic Future and is a testament to the exceptional talent he possesses. It’s also the first time he’s felt really happy with a completed body of work. (more…)
Justin Gradin makes Vancouver a more interesting place. He runs Cassette or Die, an anachronistic micro label that only releases music on cassette. He fronts the band Random Cuts, a rock outfit where two of the band’s members are mannequins. And for years he ran The Emergency Room, a now defunct studio, jam space and venue that was a hub for this city’s weird punk music scene. (more…)
Vancouver-based artist the dark (aka Devitt Brown) has had many evolutions over the course of his career, changing mediums from stencils to posters, oil pastels, photography and more. He has spent years as one of this city’s most impressive and consistent street artists and has shown at many contemporary fine art galleries both at home and internationally. Throughout these transitions the dark has maintained a strong and immediately identifiable through
line to his work. (more…)
Andrew Pommier does a lot of things. He skateboards, he listens to T.I., he eats porridge, but most notably he does art. If any of Andrew’s work looks familiar, it’s because it probably is. Though Andrew’s roots are in skateboard art, he has done graphics for a number of different companies from the likes of Adidas to RVCA to Stüssy to Zune, and is also a successful gallery artist. ION recently got to hang out and have a chat with Andrew at his studio. (more…)
Hear ye! Hear ye! Painters, sculptors, illustrators and photographers— the good folks at The Cheaper Show want you! (Well, they want your artwork, at least.) The ninth edition of the wildly popular art exhibition takes place June 2010 and submissions are now being accepted. The only requirement—you must provide two pieces of artwork that you are willing to sell for the low, low price of $200. What’s that you say? Your artwork is worth far more than the 200 bucks that cheapskate ION writers and their lowlife acquaintances are willing to shell out? Well, fear not. The Cheaper Show is more than just an art sale—it’s a priceless opportunity to gain exposure (the last show drew 5,000 people, with more expected for #9), attract gallery representation and meet with fellow artists from Canada and abroad. And it’s a great way to turn new audiences on to art made by both established and up-and-coming artists. Deadline to submit is March 1st.
When Brian Donnelly titled his most recent show “Blasphemies, Monstrosities and other Perversions,” he was bound to start some dialogue. Factor in his actual artwork, which consists mostly of large portraits of nude people with animal heads, and you’ll have more dialogue than a Tarantino movie. This young Toronto painter’s relationship with his work is complex in reception and creation, which can often lead to polarized audience reactions—sometimes intrigue, sometimes disgust, sometimes both. (more…)
Nothing about 25-year-old Vancouver artist Robert Mearns is ordinary. For starters, note that Robert is pushing the six-foot-five mark dramatically, complete with a wild mane of spectacular hair. And just in case that didn’t make him conspicuous enough, he’s got the head of a deer tattooed defiantly across his chest. Ordinary is not in Robert’s vocabulary, nor his DNA for that matter—and this trend follows into his work. (more…)
Tim Barber takes pictures for “Me and You.” I’m not sure if Tim knows me well enough to make a statement like that, but I’d say it’s fairly accurate. Tim’s interest in photography started at an early age and his work and subjects range from shooting fashion campaigns for the likes of Stella McCartney, to a series called “Kitty City,” which contained a number of kittens in urban diorama-like scenes. His most recent show, titled “Mystic Heather & Virgin Snow,” contained a number of his personal photographs, all evoking a feeling of eeriness… plus the series contains a lot of boobs. (more…)
Here it is! Limited Edit[ION] #2. For the next few issues we’ll be producing a shirt collaboration with an artist we’ve profiled in the magazine. Our second release features the artwork of Michael DeForge. Check it out… (more…)
In an ocean full of debris, a polar bear with burning fur balances atop a corroded floating fridge and a red gas can. Flaming objects fall from the sky into arctic water where icebergs are a distant memory. Saints Preserve Us, a painting by artist Martin Wittfooth, is a scene from the worst collective nightmares of humanity, a grim forecast of the potential future of our planet. (more…)
On a recent trip to California I found myself eating lunch at In-N-Out Burger. As we rounded a bend on the 101 its smart yellow arrow soared into view and we raced into the parking lot, stomachs gurgling with hunger. For someone who likes to consider herself more of a Michael Pollan than a Queen Latifah (official celebrity mascot of Fatburger), the idea of eating a fast food burger with fries (and a milkshake!) should have been horrifying. But instead it was gleefully enjoyable, the entire experience was a trip back in time to that classic American era of drive-ins, sock hops and hoop skirts. The food was, to be honest, a mere accessory to the visit. What we were really there for was the adorably kitsch experience of the place, the retro uniforms on the staff, the quaintly simple menu (you want a burger or a cheeseburger?), the unflagging delivery of service-with-a-smile. We practically made “aw” faces at each other when we saw a guy chopping potatoes for french fries by hand. In-N-Out burger is a locus of warm fuzzies for the good ol’ days. In its staunch refusal to evolve aesthetically, it taps into our unconscious attraction to the simplistic optimism of that golden age. Looking at Ryan Heshka’s work gives me almost the exact same feeling. Minus the calorie-coma. (more…)
Perched above that little slab of Main Street where Mount Pleasant greets the Downtown Eastside, a young man is working (and drinking) industriously amid a camp of artists known as the Cartalera Talent House. It is here in his ghoulish grotto that Danny Vermette awakens the misunderstood souls of a paradise lost: creatures furry, frozen and towering as high as eight feet. Danny conceptualizes and crafts larger-than-life creatures, then, when they have reached maturity, releases them into the wild. Danny’s monsters have become a staple of Vancouver’s streets, storefronts and urban vistas—sculpted and situated in ways that demand attention and evoke immediate and unforgettable gutspins. As I write this I can’t help but wonder what would happen if Dr. Frankenstein were alive today, only younger, better looking and… Oh, hello Danny. (more…)
Those familiar with the social media world know that the most successful bloggers are those who can encourage active participation from their followers. The founder of Booooooom.com, Jeff Hamada, noticed that this was lacking from many of the graphic design blogs he frequented—and in the year since its founding, his website has helped change that. “A lot of sites I would visit, there was no encouragement for comments or feedback. I wanted to get to know my readers and encourage people to work together to create something interesting.” (more…)
We’re very excited to announce Limited Edit[ION]. For the next six issues we’ll be producing a shirt collaboration with an artist profiled in the magazine. Our first release features the artwork of Raif Adelberg. Check it out… (more…)
Raif Adelberg’s body is covered in tattoos but the cutest is of a peanut on his palm. It’s there as a reminder to never to let things slip through his hands. Darker by comparison, he has the Charles Manson quote “I can never be in love. Because I am love,” tattooed on the inside of his arm. It’s there because he finds Charlie very interesting. This is just one of many amusing contradictions surrounding this Vancouver artist/fashion designer. (more…)
At first glance, Sarah Joncas’ paintings of pouty, buxom damsels in distress seem like intense glimpses into the mysterious mind of a tortured Robert Smith-infatuated artist. But the reality is quite the opposite: Sarah’s artwork really reflects her love of pop surrealism, dichotomy and subjects that provoke a second look. Whatever her inspiration may be, it’s obviously working as Sarah who, at 22, has already had multiple showings in L.A.’s Thinkspace Gallery, including her recent series called “Beneath the Seams.” (more…)
There is something of the Old World in Montreal artist Heidi Taillefer’s work, a reminiscent and romantic air. So it was no surprise when she disclosed that just the other day, as she was walking through the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, she found herself daydreaming about being a member of the Medici family during the birth of the Italian Renaissance. She had wandered its marble halls and imagined rubbing elbows with Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, envisioned taking part in the creation of one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the western world. This seems only fitting coming from an artist who populates her paintings with figures from ancient myth, religion and history. Her classical figurative style of painting and her archetypal, legendary subjects—the medieval Chinese Empress Wu Zeitan, the Marquis de Sade, Salome, Damocles, Aphrodite—couple to convey a practice that is steeped in historical and religious study. The work is nostalgic, aglow with reverence, up to here with the charm of the archaic. (more…)
