Colour Is The Keyboard!

Colour is the Keyboard:
Whippersnapper Gallery
587A College Street, Toronto
April 4-13, 2008

Reception: FRIDAY, APRIL 4 @ 7pm
With a performance by Toronto’s DD/MM/YYYY.

From video works to Edward Gorey-esque ink drawings to vibrant screen-prints, Toronto's Whippersnapper Gallery will feature an art exhibition of stunning visuals by an exciting crew of indie rockers.

Exploring a free interplay between mediums, Colour is the Keyboard presents a dynamic relationship between the visual and the auditory. The “Indie Art Extravaganza” (Exclaim) will feature east-coast rapper Buck 65, Polaris Prize nominee Chad VanGaalen and Jace Lasek of Montreal’s psych-rockers The Besnard Lakes, among others.

Colour is the Keyboard was co-curated by Toronto photographer/OCAD thesis student Rachel Verbin and Whippersnapper Gallery director Luke Correia-Damude.

Musicians showing work include:

Buck 65
Bev Calder (The Rock and Roll League of Tomorrow, Nipplewhore)
Matt Collins (Ninja High School)
Luke Correia-Damude (Boys Who Say No)
Dan Deacon
Tomas Del Balso (DD/MM/YYYY, Romo Roto)
André Ethier
Sandi Falconer (The Guest Bedroom)
Matt King (DD/MM/YYYY)
Marco Landini (Ghostlight, Lullabye Arkestra, Mean Red Spiders)
Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes)
Alexandra Mackenzie (Machetes, Romo Roto)
Sean Maxey (The Doers)
Justin Peroff (Broken Social Scene)
Seripop: Yannick Desranleau and Chloe Lum (AIDS Wolf)
David Stein (Key Witness, Boys Who Say No)
Ian Vanek (Japanther)
Chad VanGaalen
Dallas Wehrle (Constantines)
Will Zimmerman (Shout Out Out Out Out)

Practice Is Good.

This weekend I printed Wellsy's birthday poster. Last night D and I were talking about how far we've come from our first poster printing project: back when our paint was too thick and tacky, when we foolishly tried stretching our own screens, when we had frequent problems with under/over exposure, etc. We've got to a point where we can confidently print with no big surprises. That's not to say we don't have much more learning to do, but it feels nice knowing that our ghetto little set up is yielding us the results we're currently craving as far as printing posters is concerned!

This glorious 4 day weekend has reminded me how great it is to have more than 2 days off in a row. Tomorrow = back to reality.

On Friday I came home to a treat in the mail I had ordered: 2 zines (Space Junk + Pit Sweat) by Andrew Neyer. The zines are great and both came with poster inserts/buttons too! Check out his very reasonably priced store here. He's also got a blog.

Doll Cheeks + Beards = YES.

This poster is dedicated to Wells (Buckets Of/Ancestors/rad dude) who will be celebrating his 30th birthday at this show. Party!

Layering (It's Not Just For Winter Wear!)

The bored (and potentially sleepy) cat from the previous post has been inked!

1st Layer - Orange

2nd Layer - Pink

3rd Layer - Black

We have a bunch of poster projects coming up in the next few weeks that will be super exciting to work on. It feels like I haven't made a poster in months - the time is now!

Yawn, yawn, yawn.

Cat's yawn because everything we do is so boring to them. Attitude can be so charming.

This weekend was productive to the max. This yawning kitty will be the star of my 5th print for the Whippersnapper show.

Band practice and bad weather made my miss Jesjit's FREE DRAWINGS show at XSPACE on Friday. Boo to me. Jesjit makes inspirational multi colour prints that expand your mind! FREE DRAWINGS is a newsprint collaboration he put together featuring a wack of great artists. I can't wait to get my hands on one in the near future to check it out!

DESIGNER GUMS.

He just got new designer gums. They really show off his pearly whites.

Golden Years!

I found this picture while sorting through some old photo albums that my dad had recently inherited from his mother. I've always been particularly charmed by older couples (I haven't been around many and find them as intriguing and exciting as science) so finding this picture was like uncovering a treasure. What sort of party are they having? Does he refuse to wear a crown for any other reason that it looks silly? Mystery = fun.

The Heat Is ON.

This weekend I started printing a couple of pieces for The Whippersnapper show. They are bright and the colours have been predictably modified (I tend to change my mind on colour choices when I finally get to printing). I'm going to make a limited run of 15 or so copies per print. Fun times.

The Haggard Beast release weekend is officially over and went really well! People seem to really enjoy the artwork and I hope to do more rad print collaborations with friends and inspiring strangers in the future (though hopefully on a smaller scale, ha)!

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. Life can be such a hilarious series of cliches!

An Ode To Mr. Clean

I am in love with Mr. Clean and his Magic Eraser (AKA Melamine Foam - thanks Wikipedia!). It's made screen printing at home a reasonable experience, as I tend to leave paint marks all over the place (doors, counters, the floor, my clothes, etc). Though I'm no brand devotee (Life Brand works just as well) these wonderful chunks of microporous material do things I never thought possible without breaking a sweat. How mundane and delightful.

Photo: Apartment Therapy

Lately I've found myself really enjoying pictures of other people's homes.