January 12th, 2011
Artist Scott Everingham unveils a new show at the Galerie Trois Points in Montreal this month, focusing on the ambiguity of how paintwork can represent living and static masses. The show is aptly titled “Stirring Up Stagnant Time,” and will feature a series of Everingham’s oil on canvas paintings, which draw influence from everything from nature to literature. Each piece creates an environment and an encounter for the viewer to interact with, allowing the audience to be involved in the story that is taking place. As Everingham explains, art is often “grounded by moments of escape,” presenting “entries into parallel narratives.” In other words, this is an exhibition that will allow you to not only appreciate the beautiful colors and technique that Everingham displays, but also come away with a beautiful and personal connection to each painting on view.
“Stirring Up Stagnant Time” runs until February 12th. The opening reception takes place this Saturday from 3-5 pm. Details online at www.galerietroispoints.qc.ca.
Tags: Montreal, Scott Everingham
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August 29th, 2010
There’s something to be said about contemporary institutions and businesses that pay respect to the past. It’s something that made even more compelling when the past is steeped in rich tradition and heritage. This, we discovered, during a recent impromptu visit to Montreal, and a stay at the beautiful Le Westin hotel.
Housed in the former headquarters of The Montreal Gazette newspaper, the hotel took careful pains to acknowledge and honor the three heritage buildings they took over just a few years ago: the first Montreal Star building located on St-Jacques Street that dates back to 1899; its art deco-style extension designed in 1929; and the main Montreal Gazette building built in the 1950s. The buildings, situated among the cobblestone streets of Old Montréal, were once actively serving the presses of The Gazette, which rolled for more than 100 years. In addition to keeping the original elevator banks, many original window frames, and even an old Canada Post mailbox in the lobby, the hotel has accented its decor with work from Quebec and Canadian artists preserved from the original heritage buildings.
The modern accents are equally as stunning, with a glass bottom swimming pool that hovers high above the hotel’s indoor entranceway, a large-scale and textured painting that greets visitors as soon as they step inside (photo at left) and a massive art installation piece titled “Icicles,” that hangs precariously over the main lobby. Created by artist Kelvin Goddard from the “Unit 5″ art/metalworks studio in Toronto, the piece is made up of 50,000 pieces of individually hand-cut aluminum shards, hanging on 600 strings. This piece is 21 feet long and 13 feet wide and reportedly took workers more than five days to install.
We wanted to find out more about Le Westin’s novel design and its unique relationship with its building’s storied history, so we caught up with Robynne Moncur, the lead designer on the project.
Find out Moncur’s personal connection to the building and see more photos from Le Westin, after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Le Westin, Montreal, Starwood
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February 16th, 2010
If you’ve never heard of Canadian artist Marcel Dzama, check out this wonderfully macabre video for freak folksters Department of Eagles‘ “No One Doesn’t Like You”. Notice the ghosts in the background? Pure Dzama. Now Montrealers can see the in-demand wunderkind’s work for themselves, as earlier this month The Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal kicked off Marcel Dzama’s largest solo show.
While the video he co-directed with Patrick Daughters introduced plaid-adorned scenesters to this artist’s creative mind, austere, tie-wearing curators and gallerists already had him under their radar. After moving from Winnipeg to New York to get closer to David Zwirner (one of the top contemporary art galleries today) in 2003, his pieces are now featured in the MoMA collection and have been shown at the Whitney Biennale and all over Europe.
So it is with some excitement that Montreal welcomes this solo exhibit. Dzama’a ghosts and soul-searching amputees are there, as well as his armies of Napoleon-like figures and mini skirt dancing terrorists. Presenting a multitude of his drawings, sculptures, dioramas, and collages, the show gives an overview of the artist’s signature style; works with a muted palette, melancholic figures and eerie scenery that very often hide uncanny topics charged with sexuality and violence. To all our readers in Montreal: this show is not to be missed.
Marcel Dzama: Of Many Turns runs until April 25.
-Chloe Roubert
Tags: Chloe Roubert, David Zwirner, Department of Eagles, Marcel Dzama, MoMa, Montreal, Musee d'Art Contemporain de Montreal, Patrick Daughters, Whitney Biennale
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October 1st, 2009
Wanted to tell you about two beautiful shops we stopped by during our recent visit to Montreal:
1. Librissime is a gorgeous book shop located on Rue Saint-Paul near the outskirts of Old Montreal. Walk through the store’s striking double doors and you’ll enter into a dream library, with wall to ceiling mahogany shelves stocked with old tomes, photo anthologies and religious and historical literature in more than a dozen languages and just as many editions.
With a focus on rare and special-edition books (and accessories), Librissime is where the avid collector can find personally-signed editions by Chanel or Valentino, Massaï bookends, vintage crates and even a $4000 saddle-stitched white leather bookcase made by Coach. For the average reader, there’s also a fine selection of pocket books and comics, though we found ourselves enthralled by the neatly-arrange rows of Assouline art and photography books, featuring such iconic names as Serge Lutens, Helmut Newton and Peter Lindbergh. If you can’t check out the store in Montreal, don’t worry. The owners are preparing to open a second location in the Meatpacking District in New York this fall. Details at www.librissime.com.
2. Boutique Reborn is quickly becoming a top destination for trend-setters and fashion-minded folk in and around Montreal, with its carefully-curated selection of Canadian designers and hard-to-find international labels.
The clothing, like the store, is sleek and simple, yet unquestionably stylish. Savvy shoppers will appreciate the appearance of local designers, like Complex Geometries’ line of architectural tees and tanks, as well as old favorites like Acne and the house line from Opening Ceremony. We loved combing through their selection of Alexander Wang tees and dresses for women and their rack devoted to Rad Hourani’s new offerings for men (Hourani has been quoted as saying that storeowner Brigitte Chartrand is his “muse”). Indeed, Chartrand is one of those impossibly stylish women, whose eye for fashion is matched only by her pride in the tiny store. In many ways, it’s as if Chartrand has opened up her personal closet to visitors, inviting them in to browse and pick out favorite pieces from her collections. We know we’ll be shopping in Chartrand’s “closet” over and over again. Details about all the designers they carry and online shopping at reborn.ws.
- TC
Tags: Chanel, Helmut Newton, Montreal, Peter Lindbergh, Rad Hourani, Serge Lutens, Tim Chan, Valentino
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September 29th, 2009
We recently spent a long weekend in Montreal, where we had a chance to take in a couple of meetings and also catch up with some old friends. Montreal is one of our favorite cities in the world, though we may be a little biased: we spent four years there for college. Still, there’s a certain vibrancy and — pardon the French – joie de vivre in Montreal that we often miss and long for. Our short trip back proved to be just the tonic.
We’ll be blogging more about some of the sights and stores we took in during our time in Montreal, but we have to first write about our fantastic stay at the Opus Hotel, located at the (prime) intersection of Sherbrooke and St-Laurent streets. Though the hotel had all the modern amenities — free wi-fi in the common areas, LCD TVs in the rooms, and thick down blankets and comfy beds that we tucked into after a night out on the Main — it was the little things that made our stay memorable: like finding a basket full of L’Occitane en Provence products in the bathroom, the free trainer available for consultations in the gym, and the vintage black and white photographs that adorned the walls of the rooms and hallways.
We also loved the attention to detail and respect for design displayed by the hotel owners, who painstakingly preserved part of the building’s original avant-garde structure, built in 1914 as the first poured concrete building in North America. Blending old with the new, the hotel offers rooms located in the “old wing” next to an ornate concrete spiral staircase, as well as newer rooms expressing Opus’ fictional “personalities,” like fashionista “Susan,” whose rooms feature dark wood furnishings and glazed concrete ceilings (photo above) and Euro-chic “Pierre,” with bright, airy rooms in Hermes-orange (We prefer the former… the simpler and better for us).
Our stay was capped off with dinner in the outdoor terrace at KOKO — the hotel’s Asian fusion restaurant, followed by drinks in the hotel’s lounge, Suco. Again, the commitment to design was evident in both rooms, with an Art Nouveau theme highlighted by Attila stools by Philippe Starck at KOKO and steel sculptures by artist Scott Eunson on display in Suco. It was refreshing to stay at a hotel that respected both style and comfort and the fact that it was in Montreal… well, that just made it all the better.
- TC
(Special thanks to Fiona and Maria @ ZOI for the hospitality and for arranging the accommodations for us!)
Tags: Montreal, Opus Hotel, Tim Chan
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