Hayden Menzies at the Emporium Gallery!

Hayden Menzies' Things Change exhibition will open at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, #74) on Thursday, November 6th from 7PM-11PM (artist will be in attendance). The exhibition will also be open Friday, November 7th to Sunday, November 9th from 12PM to 6PM. Private viewings will be available by appointment only from Monday, November 10th to Wednesday, November 12th.

About Things Change-
Hayden Menzies is a Toronto-based artist. His exhibition at the Emporium Gallery will feature new artworks created specifically for his Things Change exhibition. Exploring such themes as hope, anxiety and duality, Menzies is set to exhibit mix media paintings that combine acrylic, pastel, charcoal, ink, and graphite.

Artist Statement-
"My work deals with various subject matters but most commonly explores themes of family, stability, security, home life along with immediate issues that affect me personally. Larger issues are often integrated into these topics but are done so through experiences and examples that I can relate to personally- and, shed personal sincerity and conviction into issues that seem microcosmic, but lend themselves quite easily to a macrocosmic mentality. " - Hayden Menzies

About Hayden Menzies-
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1979, Hayden Menzies moved frequently as child due to his father's service in the military. After living in many Canadian and European cities, Menzies settled in Ottawa for a number of years. After high school, he focused on art- studying at both the Ottawa School of Art and Concordia University in Montreal. Hayden Menzies currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario. To see more of Hayden Menzies' artworks click here.

For more information click the eflier above or visit the Emporium website here. Hope to see you there, Ben Pobjoy

Hey New York City- TV Books Series Launch

Tim Barber's TV Books will be releasing new books by Kenneth Cappello, Allan Macintyre, Jason Nocito, Robin Schwartz and Jaimie Warren at a special 'launch' event on Thursday, October 16th from 6PM - 9PM at the Aperture Gallery and Bookstore (547 W. 27th St., 4th floor) in Manhattan. All artists will be in attendance. If you live in Manhattan, you'd be crazy to miss this. Click on the eflier above for more information. Thanks, Ben Pobjoy

Kit Malo's the Art of Getting Along exhibition

Kit Malo's the Art of Getting Along will open at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, #74) on Thursday, October 23rd from 7PM-11PM. The exhibition will also be open Friday, October 24th to Sunday, October 26th from 12PM to 6PM. Private viewings will be available by appointment from Monday, October 27th to Wednesday, October 29th 2008.

About the Art of Getting Along-
Through the non-narrative storytelling of imagined (or real) beasts-on-paper, Kit Malo's artworks explore notions of what it means to get along- be it with each other, in this vast landscape known as the daily-grind, or simply through the minor and major melodramas we encounter as we go.

Artist Statement-
An analytical beast by nature, my practice centres around inquisitive and humourous treatments of the 'community encounter' and the ways in which subsequent documentation and re-documentation of daily lived events can challenge or confront ideas of reality, truth, and perspective. My illustrative works speak to an (potentially) unspoken shared experience, from a very instinctual, immediate place within.

About Kit Malo-
Kit Malo is a stubborn donkey who likes pencil and pen scratches a bit too much. An illustrator active in the Montreal arts scene for quite some time, Malo has recently been pursuing live-action/animation sensor-based installations after completing a BFA in Classical Animation this past spring.

While maintaining a home base in Montreal, Malo has exhibited around the world- from Finland to Mexico and back. Works from this beast of a person can be seen gracing the cover of new albums by Snailhouse and Gentleman Reg, as well as on some backstreets and alleyways. Currently, Malo is having a blast co-curating Art Pop, Pop Montreal's visual arts festival. You can see more of Malo's artworks here.

For more information click the eflier above or visit the Emporium website here. Hope to see you there, Ben Pobjoy

Bob Kronbauer is awesome!

Our pal Bob Kronbauer, who exhibited at the Emporium Gallery last fall, has unleashed a great 'is awesome' blog project. The idea is that a wide range of people from various cities post on city-specific blogs which are all linked. The interface is great and you can easily check out what's happening in different cities. The cool thing is that you get to learn about 'under the radar' events, shops and places thanks to local contributions by natives from each city. The Vancouverisawesome, Torontoisawesome and Montrealisawesome and Calgaryisawesome blogs are already live with the Oshawaisawesome blog to launch soon. To check this out click here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

Hey Toronto- Bad Day Issue #2 Magazine Launch Event next week!

Bad Day will be launching their second issue at Studio Gallery (294 College) on Thursday, October 16th from 7PM-12:00AM. Bad Day is a fantastic magazine that I would urge you to check it out. It's a really great read and the event looks awesome. To see Bad Day's website click here. For event information, click the eflier above. Support this, Ben Pobjoy

Sanza-Hanza by Jamie-James Medina and Matthew Salacuse opens at the Emporium next week!!!

Sanza-Hanza by Jamie-James Medina and Matthew Salacuse opens at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, #74) on Thursday, October 16th from 7PM to 11PM. The exhibition will also be open from Friday, October 17th to Sunday, October 19th from 12PM to 6PM. Private viewings will be available by appointment on Monday, October 20th and Tuesday, October 21st.

About Sanza-Hanza-
Jamie-James Medina and Matthew Salacuse are New York City-based photographers. Taking its name from a Zulu-dialect term for King Surfer, Sanza-Hanza is a collection of photographs that Medina and Salacuse took of train surfers in Soweto, South Africa. Human and beautiful, Sanza Hanza will surely be a thought provoking exhibition.

Artist Statement-
Soweto is South Africa's largest ghetto, a sprawling stretch of townships on the outskirts of Johannesburg. With an estimated population of one million, this former centre of the anti-apartheid struggle faces chronic problems of poverty and overcrowding, and remains a notoriously dangerous place to live.

It is here where you’ll find Train-Surfing, the semi-suicidal act of climbing outside, on top and under the city's public trains while in full-flight. Born in the early Nineties out of a restless desire to embrace life (and death) after years of oppression, Train-Surfing has evolved into something of an underground sport, not unlike skateboarding in the 1970’s.

‘Sanza-Hanza’ follows V.I.R.U.S. (Very Intelligent Riders Usually Survive), a gang of young Surfers searching for the ultimate ride or ‘play’, as they call it, testing their already weak embrace on mortality.

About Jamie-James Medina-
Jamie-James Medina is a 26-year old London-born, Bangladesh-bred, New York-based photographer. He has shot features and cover-stories for every major UK-broadsheet.

He supports the Arsenal Football Club, the Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Pirates and, for the sake of argument, the Ottawa Senators. You can see more of Medina's work here.

About Matthew Salacuse-
Matthew Salacuse is a native New Yorker who has been shooting for 9 years- for magazines such as XXL, Spin, Blender and Maxim. He holds the record for shooting 6 covers of the Canadian hip hop magazine, Pound.

He has had solo gallery shows at New York's Wall Space gallery and the Jack Spade store. He also participated in a group show at the Museum of Sex.

Salacuse, firm but fair, is proud to be showing his work in Canada for the first time. You can see more of Salacuse's work here.

For more information click on the eflier above or visit the Emporium Gallery website here. Thanks, Ben Pobjoy

Dave Arnold's Man International opens next week at Blizzarts!!!

Dave Arnold's Man International exhibition will open on Monday, October 13th from 8:30PM - 11PM at Blizzarts (3956A Boul. St. Laurent). The exhibition can also be viewed October 14th - October 26th from 9:30PM - 3:00AM. Man International is presented by the Emporium Gallery, Switzerland CS and Blizzarts.

About Man International-
Dave Arnold has once again prepared an exhibition of mammoth proportion. Man International is a collection of 50 new paintings executed in Arnold's signature pop art style.

Celebrating a bygone era when men were men, Man International will indubitably excite babes and distress baby men throughout the land.

50 original paintings for $50 each!

About Dave Arnold-
Dave Arnold was born and raised in Oakville, a cruel settlement just minutes from sunny Toronto! In 2003, a frustrated Arnold went five hours East in search of a new world; a world where creativity was King; where the buses ran on Sundays; a world where the female was inexplicably hornier than the male. Find that world he did, and it was in that world, that a young man, put brush to paint, and paint to canvas, and canvas to screw in the wall, and screw in the wall to little plastic doohickey that keeps the screw from popping out of the wall.

Hope to see you there, Ben Pobjoy

John Baizley

Beyond handling guitar and vocal duties in Baroness, John Baizley is one of the most talented 'heavy music-oriented' visual artists around these days. His artwork, which combines a 'texture-heavy' style popularized by Pushead (Brian Schroeder) and the fluid sensibilities of Alfons Mucha, has adorned countless album covers in recent years. Baizley's work is consistently technical and consistently interesting. You can see more of John Baizley's work here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

The Emporium Gallery website has been updated

The Emporium Gallery website has been updated! All current programming is now listed (there's 4 exhibitions this month alone!). In addition, you can now see the virtual tour for Dennis Chow's the Horrible World of GlamNation exhibition- this can be accessed from the toggle bar that is in the right hand corner of the website's main page. You can see the Emporium Gallery website here. Enjoy, Ben Pobjoy

When I Get Back Home opens at the Emporium this FRIDAY!!!

When I Get Back Home by Scott Lewis, Jim Holyoak and Matt Shane opens at the Emporium Gallery (3035 St. Antoine Ouest, #74) THIS FRIDAY from 7PM - 11PM. The exhibition will also be open from Saturday, October 4th to Sunday, October 5th from 12PM to 6PM. Private viewings will be available by appointment on Monday, October 6th through Wednesday, October 8th. This exhibition is part of Art Pop 2008.

About When I Get Back Home-
Scott Lewis, Jim Holyoak and Matt Shane are Montreal-based visual artists. When I Get Back Home is a collection of black and white ink drawings that detail dream-like architecture, creatures, and landscapes. Working together on each drawing, When I Get Back Home is as much about final artworks as it about the interesting collaborative process that produces them.

Artist Statement-
A successful collaboration is one where each artist's individual style remains distinct, and simultaneously works to create a coherent whole. To do this is not easy. In solo work, art is a place where the Artist is King, whereas collaborative work requires co-ordination, compromise and the ability to deal with circumstances not of one's own. All collaborations are balancing acts, just as every conversation is. The best ones engender a new kind of magic, something that one could never create alone.

About Scott Lewis-
Born in the dusty plains of Alberta in 1981, Scott Lewis spent his childhood living deep in the pines. Relocating to BC in his formative years, Lewis studied the arts at both the University of British Columbia and the Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Lewis later moved to Montreal to further his studies at Concordia. Having called Montreal home for over 5 years, Lewis has been a true contributor to the local arts scene- he has exhibited numerously, runs the Storyboard Label and plays in Barn Burner.

About Jim Holyoak-
Having grown up in Aldergrove, BC, Holyoak developed a deep appreciation of the natural world, and also a clear idea of what to do with a rainy day indoors: the exploration of his interior universe. Diagnosed with some generic learning disability in his youth, Holyoak had a horrible time with the mechanics of reading and writing - drawing became his way of telling stories. Having recently returned from an apprenticeship with a master ink painter in China, Jim has now begun his MFA at Concordia.

About Matt Shane-
Matt Shane was born in Vancouver, BC in 1981 and raised in Tsawwassen, BC. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria in 2004, then moved to Istanbul to teach and draw all day. He now lives in Montreal, plays drums in a band, works at a bookstore, and tries desperately to find time to paint and draw.

For more information click on the eflier above or visit the Emporium Gallery website here. Hope to see you there, Ben Pobjoy

The Foot Fist Way

Danny R. McBride is one of my favorite up and coming comedians. The Foot Fist Way is a hilarious comedy that McBride (who was in Pineapple Express) stars in- you should check it out. It's awkward, crude and has amazing dialogue. You can see the film's website here. Ben Pobjoy