Alex Snelgrove's Weak Brave Light opens at the Emporium Gallery this THURSDAY!!!

Alex Snelgrove's Weak Brave Light opens at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, studio #74) on Thursday, July 24th from 7PM-11PM. The exhibition will be open Friday, July 25- Sunday, July 27th from 12PM-6PM. Private viewings will be available thereafter by appointment on Monday, July 28th and Tuesday, July 29th. For more information, click the virtual flier above or visit the Emporium Gallery website here. Hope to see you at the exhibition, Ben Pobjoy

Dennis Chow- new website now online

Toronto-based illustrator Dennis Chow, who is exhibiting at the Emporium Gallery in September, has relaunched a new website. Chow is unbelievably talented and the work on his website supports this fact. To see Chow's new website, click here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Mad Men

For the last week Shawn has come into the office everyday and been like, "Have you watched Mad Men yet? You have to watch it!" I finally got around to watching the television show this weekend and I'm totally hooked. I don't know if it's because I write copy for campaigns but I can't get enough of this show. If you work in marketing or advertising, I urge you to watch the show- it's awesome. To learn more about Mad Men click here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Matthew Koudys

Toronto-based photographer Matthew Koudys, who exhibited at the Emporium Gallery last fall, has launched a new website. You can see the website here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Alexis Mackenzie

Alexis Mackenzie is a San Francisco-based artist. Her collage work is top notch- she combines a variety of antiquated images taken from books and arranges them beautifully. I am tired as hell so this might seem nuts, but I like her work because it reminds me of Georges Méliès cinema work- namely his 1902 film Le voyage dans la Lune. You can see more of Mackenzie's work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

The Streets- Blinded By the Lights

I've never been a big Streets fan but Blinded By the Lights is a great song; I'm a sucker for stunted keys and pitch-shifted vocals in choruses. I know this song is a little old but I'm posting the video because it's good. Enjoy, Ben

Niall McClelland

Niall McClelland is a Toronto-based visual artist. His work is varied and dynamic. His graphic work, while very consolidated and original with regards to style, shares elements found in Stephen O'Malley's work- a penchant for the jagged, the presence of found images and geometrical accents. McClelland's paintings and collages expand on the aforementioned yet have a Dadaist 'Duchamp-ian' element; in that there is an anarchic confrontation of shapes. It's good stuff- keep your eye on this guy, I'm telling you! You can see more of Niall McClelland's work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Robin Cameron

Robin Cameron is a really talented New York City-based artist. Her gouache and ink illustrations are fabulous- they have this techinicolor, oozing quality. You can see Cameron's work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Colin Engel

Colin Engel produced this image. If you've been to Montreal, you'll get it. Enjoy, Ben

Marcelo Gomes- Love and Before, Green and After

Marcelo Gomes, who exhibited at the Emporium Gallery last fall, has just had 'Love and Before, Green and After', his debut book, published by Hassla. You can see Gomes' work here. For information on 'Love and Before, Green and After' go here. Enjoy, Ben

Phillip Toledano's Phonesex

Mother Jones is currently featuring some of the photographs from Phillip Toledano's upcoming book, Phonesex. The book will be published in September 2008 by Twin Palms. Phonesex reveals not just the identity of operators who answer the phone when you call a 1-900 number, but their desires, fears, motivations, and most memorable calls. You can see some of Phillip Toledano's Phonesex photographs here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Shangri-Lost 5 opening at the Emporium Gallery this THURSDAY

Shangri-Lost 5 is opening this THURSDAY from 7PM to 11PM at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, studio #74). Shangri-Lost 5 is the latest installment of the ongoing Shangri-Lost series by artists Jesse Harris, Jimmy Limit and Shawn Kuruneru. Disillusioned, dark and caustic, Shangri-Lost 5 is a raw amalgam of typography, photography and drawing; all in installation form. If violence had an official aesthetic, Shangri-Lost 5 would surely be it. This is an installation that should not be missed.

For more information click upon the invite above or visit the Emporium Gallery website here. See you at the opening, Ben Pobjoy

VBS' Art Talk

Danai from Vice UK just emailed us and wrote, "I've been browsing through your blog and thought that you might be interested in some of VBS.TV's content...I think you'd [be] particularly interested in "Art Talk."

You know what? We're longtime fans of VBS and Art Talk. We'd highly recommend both. You should check out Art Talk here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Zozobra

A new Zozobra song is online. It is fucking heavy. You can hear it here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Jamie-James Medina

I have long been a fan of Medina's work. You should be too. You can see his work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Nicolos Poillot- You will never walk alone kid

You know what I love? Two things- photography and football. So, when someone like Nicolas Poillot unleashes a wonderful photo essay about Liverpool and titles it after Liverpool's F.C.'s anthem ("You'll Never Walk Alone"), I'm sold. I don't know anything about Poillot other than the fact that he is clearly talented. You can see Poillot's photo essay here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

S Magazine

S Magazine is my favorite magazine. If you are a fan of fashion photography and portraiture I would urge you to check it out. To learn more about S Magazine you can visit their website here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

It's Friday- time to laugh a little

A lot of our friends and peers will tell you that everyone at Switzerland CS has a good handle on funny videos and oddities that float around the internet. The great thing about this reputation is that our friends and peers constantly send us hilarious videos or tidbits- which we try to match if not beat with some of the doozies that we have in our arsenal.

My little brother sent us a link to an old news story today that we could not beat; it is too funny. You can read the news story here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Ami Sioux does Nike

Ami Sioux, who exhibited at the Emporium Gallery last fall, recently photographed 4 female athletes as they prepared for the Olympics games in Beijing. The aforementioned photographs are part of a NikeWomen EU SS08 Campaign and have been released in all NikeWomen and Niketown shops across England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Egypt. Ami notfied me earlier and I could not be happier for her! To see more of Sioux's great work, please visit her website here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

ANP Quarterly

A friend just offhandedly mentioned ANP Quarterly in an email and I figured that I would zip over to their website as I have yet to do so. Anyway, it turns out that they have uploaded a full, flash version of Issue #1. The issue has pieces on Margaret Kilgallen, Ian Mackaye, etc. If you want to read the issue go here and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click VIEW THIS ISSUE. You'll likely need a web browser that is flash friendly Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Joel Birch creates gnarly boardshorts

Joel Birch, who is exhibiting at the Emporium Gallery later this year, recently designed some killer boardshorts for Ripcurl. Joel's an outstanding illustrator- we're pretty excited to have him come from Australia to exhibit at the gallery. Ripcurl recently interviewed Joel. You can read the interview here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Shangri-Lost 5 opening at the Emporium Gallery next week

Shangri-Lost 5 is opening at the Emporium Gallery next week. Check out the video below (start at the 1:30 mark) to see one of the earlier versions of the ongoing Shangri-Lost series. This piece was filmed at LE Gallery in Toronto which is a great gallery that you should support. Enjoy, Ben

Bad Day, Fucked Up, Interviews, etc.

The good people at Toronto's Bad Day magazine have asked me to interview the good people in Fucked Up. I'm excited; I know the Bad Day people well (and love the mag) and I know some of the Fucked Up people well. Hilariously, I have never seen Fucked Up play live. If you know me, you know that I hate going out BUT I love staying in to write. So, stay on the lookout for this interview; it will surface in the next few months. Ciao, Ben

Ben Pobjoy Vice interview

Vice recently asked me a few questions about Land of America, my recent photo installation. You can read the short interview
here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Boogie

Brooklyn by way of Belgrade photographer Boogie is, well, exceptional. His raw, black and white photographs document society's underbelly. If you're a fan of either classic Magnum photography or immersionist photography, you'll dig Boogie's work. And, you have to respect the great lengths that he goes to capture images; I kid you not, he's probably one of the most 'on the road', globetrotting photographers I know. Every month I get an email from him with samples of his new work and it blows my mind; he's an international photographer with an international scope. And, if you ever get the chance, go to one of his exhibits. I had the privilege of seeing some of his oversized prints in Paris last fall and they were exceptional. To see more of Boogie's work, go here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Kit Malo to exhibit at the Emporium Gallery this fall!

We're proud to announce that Montreal-based visual artist, Kit Malo will be exhibiting at the Emporium Gallery in late October. You can see some of Kit's work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Dave Arnold's D-DAY now archived

A few of you have inquired about Dave Arnold's recent D-DAY exhibition at the Emporium Gallery. You can now find some photographs from the opening of the exhibition in the Archive subsection of the Exhibitions Subsection of the Emporium Gallery website which can be found here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Land of America: the Book

Land of America: the Book is the textual supplement to Ben Pobjoy's photo installation of the same name. It's 226 pages: 54,000 words and features over 150 captioned images from the photo installation. Acerbic yet insightful, Land of America: the Book details the ups, down and peculiarities of Pobjoy's 7000 mile trek across America and Mexico.

The first edition is almost gone. If you want to get your hands on one of the remianing copies, email Ben at ben@benpobjoy.com . Thanks!

Demon's Claws

Demon's Claws are a great garage rock band from Montreal. They are criminally overlooked. You can visit their Myspace page here. Check this band out- they rule! Ben Pobjoy

Listen to King Khan!

Berlin by way of Montreal rocker King Khan kicks ass. We can't get enough of his music; it's on high rotation in our office. You can check out King Khan's Myspace page here.

Ryan Foerster- New York City

Our pal Ryan Foerster is exhibiting photographs at the Bortolami Gallery in NYC until August 22nd. If you live in the NYC area you should check out the exhibit. For exhibition information, please visit the Bortolami Gallery website here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Montreal Mirror writes about Ben Pobjoy's Land of America

The Montreal Mirror, a free weekly with a readership of 287,000, wrote about Ben Pobjoy's Land of America here.

Pobjoy's installation opens tomorrow (July 4th) at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, studio #74) in Montreal from 7PM-11PM. Come out if you live in the Montreal area!