Sharpay Evans

since this is a blog about lowbrow art just as much as it is about highbrow art, please allow me to flex my lowbrow.

 

i’m not *entirely* sure what’s wrong with me, but for some reason i have yet to experience the brilliance that can only be Sharpay’s fabulous adventure.  but! if it’s as horribly cheesingly drippingly fabulous as the HSM2 song ‘fabulous’ i am ALL OVER THAT MESS.

it’s rather rare that disney designs a blonde haired, pink loving ditz as the ‘antagonist’.  but i must admit i’ve got a few questions.

• why do troy and gabriella’s lame ballads always win over sharpay and ryan’s upbeat pop songs?
• why is sharpay compelled to steal kelsi’s music?
• is chad aware of the irony of his actions during the ‘i don’t dance’ sequence?
• i mean, has he been aware of what he’s been doing for the past 1.5 movies or what?
• since tiara’s role is fairly superfluous, was her introduction into the franchise a way of protagonizing sharpay in order to ensure the success of her spin-off?
• why doesn’t sharpay have any friends [besides the 'girls' at lava springs] ?
• who wouldn’t be annoyed if you spent your entire high school career basically running the drama department only to have a jock and a new girl to upstage you?

contre sl’activisme

a very brief brainstorm on the nature of art, both in commercial and activist settings.

+++++

It doesn’t calm down.  It does calm down.  It doesn’t calm down.

Yarnbombing is a form of fibre based installation art.  It is both sculptural and painterly.  There is a line and a form.  It is not a genre of art, it is a technique.  It can be used as a form of graffiti and street tagging, it can be used in huge installations for international ad campaigns.

Knitta please has been yarnbombing for x amount of years, and being a grown woman, a professional artist, she can do as she damn well pleases.  Her installation in the gap campaign was executed very well and looked fabulous.  Commercial art, albeit commercial, remains art.

I, for one, am apolitical.  Call me a dirty capitalist [which I suppose has less credibility than a dirty communist, or whatever you people are calling yourselves now] but as the ‘occupy’ ‘movements’ were happening, I was pretty ambivalent to the ‘activists’, maybe even a little angry with them.  Was I ‘anti-occupy’?  maybe – not that I’m against the need to change our backwards society, but since nobody stood up and took any kind of control or desire to make any kind of actual change, the whole effort seemed to fall flat.  I don’t think people can realistically visualize what ‘99%’ really looks like, and I sure don’t align myself with these ‘99%ers’.  Thank god I moved out of montreal – or the non-philosophy of OM would have been shoved down my throat, or being shamed for not partaking.

But this is just part of the problem – if the occupiers are so upset about not having jobs, then why shame an artist who took on a commercial gig?  Why did they instead waste their time sitting around viger square and become vocally enraged at their own lack of employment?  Why not join the forces of the city of montreal and get paid to clean up the mess they made?  Is their a pride in remaining poor and bitter to fellow artists who have truly said ‘enough!’ and put their skills to real use?  To me, the life of the starving artist has less credibility than the working artist.  It is indeed a tough world for the visual artists – but we are creative people by nature.  Surely we can be creative, stay creative, not have to compromise our vision, AND get paid for it?  Our lives do not have to be mutually exclusive from one another.  This is a very very very old topic, one that has been covered countless times, both by myself and other artists who have the capacity to think beyond their own stinking ego.

This is where yarn bombing sets in.  the artists of graffiti movement of the 80s and 90s were confronted with the same dilemma.  Do I ‘sell-out’ or remain underground?  Both have their cons, both have their pros, I suppose.  But as I’m growing older, into a more adult form, the less I want to work some silly job full-time [even tho I really quite enjoy my jobs and are very flexible] and wish to focus more on my art and my farm and my husband – the things that are most valuable to me.  I’m not going to kid myself, I know that deep down I’m a Warholian.  I believe in the power of mass art – be it produced or propagated.

Art can be used as a form of protest against being sold something; art can be used to sell you something.  THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO.  In both cases, once it leaves the artist, it ceases to have anything to do with the artist.  In either cases, once it leaves the artist, it belongs to the people.  Either left to the elements on a street post or encased in plastic on a billboard.  Just because I’m open to working commercially doesn’t ever mean that I’ll stop street tagging.  The purposes of both are so different that one should not have to choose!  The Artist has the right to exercise as many functions of art as they so desire without being castigated by those who choose to exercise as few as their ego allows.

Let’s not be hipsters about this – irony is no longer a valid argument.  Let’s push things forward and rebuild.  Is mercury in retrograde?  No.  there is no point in refusing to expand one’s art.

I put too much effort into remaining active to be an activist – too much effort into my own evolution and change to stand around and demand someone else to do it for me.

 

now that this is all said and done i can get on with my post about Sharpay Evans

Winter Muses

I happen to be lucky enough to have several jobs, one of them allows me to spend all day outdoors in the winter time. It’s a bloody good thing I love winter!  Winter-haters have never spent their brisk cold sunny days outside cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.  No, not alpine or snowboarding [boring and ridiculously expensive]. Skiing around our vast network of trails, I also happen to see a great many things.  Like trees!  Thousands of them.  In their wisdom and silence, they stand in mortal beauty.  Unfortunately, many are at the mercy of the greedy hands of Homo Sapiens.

Birch bark IS a real treasure – I can understand why Scandinavians cherish the birch tree for their myriad of uses.  But peeling off their skin?  Not cool.  I pass by this particular specimen everyday during job #2 and am deeply saddened.

This tree doesn’t need or want my help, or anyone’s for that matter.  It really just wants to be left the fuck alone to heal.  But my artist ego cries out ‘inspired!’.  It is not my job to change the landscape – my ego isn’t THAT inflated, but I do feel compelled to comment on it.  Like, ‘hey asshole go back to montreal and stop destroying our environment’.  Too harsh?

In any case, I’ve commenced a Yarnbomb for this tree!  It happens to stand at an intersection of trails – that is the Aerobic Corridor, the Portageur, and the Birkbeiner.

These are just some of the colours that may or may not make it into the Bomb, or, tree cozy.  Hopefully this artificial bark sweater will quell the prying hands of the unknown thieves, but also provide some sort of humorous element to the skiing experience.  All in all, ski people are good people.  I’m just here to spice up the highway a bit.  The materials I’ve chosen are more for layering and colouring ability, less so trying to replicate the unique papery texture.  Linen and mercerized cottons would be better suited on that front, but I think by making a base in beige, and layering strips of stockinette coloured pieces on top of one another would successfully translate as bark-like.  I guess we’ll see!

Here are some photos I’ve taken of other nearby silver birches as inspiration for this tag.  [Note the layers where others have taken the liberty to steal some tree skin.  LEAVE THE TREES BE!]

I’ve Said This Before.

but in case you weren’t listening —-

 

IGNORE ALIEN ORDERS

being so successful with last year’s resolutions [keeping all except 2 - that is moving to nyc and drawing everyday] that i’ve decided to push myself even further in 2012.  there’s a lot of eschatological clap trap floating around about 2012, so i’ve set the bar high – for myself and especially for the doomsdayers.  if you’re going to expect the apocalypse, i’m going to want to see a lot of the typical ‘get busy living’ action.  extreme zaniness.  real go-getters.  carpe diem.
so instead of the usual retrospective that i do, here’s a look forward – a toast to opportunity!

• DRAW EVERY DAY
• read 70 books [including infinite jest and tale of two cities to justify my reality tv addiction]
• participate in 4 shows
• win my k1 and mixed k2 races in halifax [this is going to be extremely difficult but with the right training i think i stand a good chance of achieving this]
• travel the american desert, GO TO UTAH <3 !!
• have the most kickass gardens and get the ducks going
• get my license and for the love of god don’t cause an accident
• learn to tat lace
• apply / study for chaplaincy certificate
• finish my tarot deck + get it printing
• stay on top of my liberal arts and history buffness
• STAY GOLD

In Defense of Throwing

Now that I’ve finally finished my degree in textile arts [I am no longer calling it fibres because no one knows what I’m talking about when I say this.  Mostly people think I’ve spent 4 years studying to be a dietitian.  At this point, it seems like that would have been the wiser choice.]

I was lucky to have learned how to knit from an instruction manual, because knitting wasn’t taught in the structures programs.  Neither was crochet or sewing.  But I did learn how to weave cloth and…baskets.  And because I wasn’t taught the ‘correct’ way to knit, I have spent the past 8 tender years as a ‘throw’ knitter.  For those of you who don’t know what throw knitting is, it is the method of knitting with the yarn held in the right hand, essentially ‘throwing’ the yarn for the new stitch over to the left hand to be knit.  It is considered inferior to the continental method, because it is the slightly lower method of knitting.  Granted, tension is better controlled through throwing, as both hands are used to control the yarn AND the stitch, instead of one for each. But as far as the debate is concerned – the divisive methods of knitting are about as logical as the Lilliputian war over how one’s eggs are cracked.  I know what I like and I am really good at throw knitting.  Like the rest of my artistic life, I would rather be awesome at sucking than suck at being awesome.

The problem with knitting is knitters.  Popular thought and craft respect is directly related to technical skill.  The only good knitters are those who knit well, who knit perfectly.  Imagination has little to do with the success of the project.  The determining factor is the degree of difficulty related to the project [and for the love of god, don’t even think of passing stockinette off as legitimate] and the final product.  You know what my problem with most knitters are?  Unless there’s something really progressive about the craft – like costuming or yarnbombing [I’m not just playing favourites, either] – it is so TWEE I want to vomit.  There.  I said it.  The kiss of death.  Contrary to popular hipster belief, doing something well isn’t going to make you a good artist, or any kind of artist.  Doing something badly isn’t going to make you an artist either [Damien Hirst and Tune Yards or whatever your name is, I’m looking at you].  Knit because you’re cold, or because you love a person and want to give them your heart.  Knit because you want your voice to be seen in broad daylight on Lexington Avenue.  Knit because you can’t imagine your life not knitting.

Or maybe you’re like me and would rather be crocheting.

Bog People, Bog People

a rather tragic amount of time has passed since my last real entry – mostly because i was incredibly uninspired, tired of school, and just tired in general.  but as i was sitting on the ‘gin couch’ watching josie and the pussycats yesterday, i felt the urge to reach out and pick mbls again.

i’ve finally felt some redundant relevance here in the bog [since the xx post i have graduated university, written and published 4 zines, collaborated on 2 more, joined a yarnbombing collective and proceeded to move out of montreal! phew!], this relevance due mostly to my diabolically theological leanings and intrinsically synchretic lifestyle.

the creative process is a ficklefuck of a pickle, but i’ve finally reached a point where i can map out my methods on a solar and lunar calendar.  those who know me know what i’m talking about when i say ‘holy shit sponge mode’.  the most recent sponge has been combining my many sources of herbal, planetary, and colour correspondences into one mostly gender and intention neutral volume.  FUN !  but i love my lore and superstitions and symbols and they deserve to be all together.

this is straying widely from my original intention, but my notes are pretty scattered tbh especially since i am now listening to traditional appalachian music so i’m never really ~here~, i have always been and always will be a bizarre oddity smattering the fringe theories of life, the universe and everything and like to think i have a slight grasp on the nature of pop culture and the relationships held in this circle.

for most of modernity’s mythologies now take place in light boxes which make one believe one is socializing while physically remaining in solitude.  there’s a story about a person, taking the role of the ‘hero’, who attempts to play the role of the outsider.  gains status of the inner circle, becomes disillusioned, and flees, or rather reverts to their former state.  one is either in or out.  happy mediums don’t exist in entertainment, but somehow the weirdo will prevail in all this.  the weirdo wins in cinematic experience, but something is lost in translation. 

our lives are not walking commercials no matter how often we might be told this.  while many creative people do have to market themselves as a brand in order to reach their own level of success [infinite variable], it is considered ‘dirty’ because art must be noble and perfect and float about the material world while offering the world material objects.  i am stuck on this point.  i have become more sensitive and aware to the placement and role of advertisements now that i watch most of my beloved reality tv on the computer, where i can close any popups and not have my daisy of love interrupted by 3 minutes of wonkwonkwonk for every 5 minutes of showtime.  these things are important to me – the changing  role of hero worship dependent on progressive technologies should not i repeat not be spoiled.  i will be a better person by observing psychologically behaviour in realtime, not by spending $10 on the most technologically advanced oral health system.

so why is it so effective?  teenagers are surely not as empty and vapid as Big Money wants them to be.  they are the last bastion of rebellion.  if i can connect with a group of 13 year old boys when i’m ‘bombing, and they can see the value in my work [as valueless as it really is, these kinds of groups are my target audience] then i know i have succeeded in someway.  there’s no subliminal messaging, there’s no fooling these monsters.  we’ve lived every minute of our lives having been forced perfect life images upon us and yet no one lives this way.  there’s a realization that no one knows what they’re doing AND ITS OKAY. 

what’s not ok is having a place of constant one way dialogue.  when defacing advertisements in public places, the defense is always for the ad.  here we have a culture where pieces of paper and plastic have more rights and are valued more than the citizens who habit it! 

so.  what do we do?  these bogs aren’t big enough for us all.  the conversation is old, but there’s no resolution readily available, other than ‘know thyself’.  stop victimizing yourself and take a risk on a homemade venture.  i’ll pick up the ‘like art, god is a verb’ some other time.  how do i still miss america after all this?

THIS JUST IN

EVERY DAY IS SATANIC SATURDAY !

smiles all around

we’ve made it.

through february.

[an excerpt from elisabeth belliveau's wonderful book, 'the great hopeful someday']

miss belliveau has been at the forefront of the great inspirators of the ilhu industries ever since i picked up this book some years ago. some people turn to the bible or to that girl who write the harry potters [what's her name?  doesn't matter] for spiritual guidance and everything that is down and needing a great uplifting – well, i’ve been using TGHS as this type of guide ever since i laid my filthy paws all over it. [no seriously the once immaculate white cover shows the marked wear of a graphite abuser].

and recently a dear _r gave me her then newest book ‘don’t get lonely don’t get lost’ for x-mass and i just about wet myself.

i am constantly haunted by her writing – the story of being mugged in london has stayed with me ever since the night i cracked it open.

SO IT HAS BEGUN.  THAT LONG LETTING GO.

you get the idea.  i essentially covet e’s work and often find myself melding life scenes together in her line drawing style.

ALL THIS TO SAY

i am so so pleased to see that she will be showing her work at MONASTIRAKI [get there!]

opening tonight!

oh! can you just ~feel~ my excitement oozing out of your screen??

and if anyone has $500 kicking around, my love is once again officially for sale.

i could tell you about the river or we could just get in

 

OPENING THURSDAY MARCH 3RD AT 5

I COULD TELL YOU ABOUT THE RIVER OR WE COULD JUST GET IN

a text-based group show presented by art matters and les territoires

anxious about tomorrow’s installation, putting the finishing touches on my HIVE MIND piece.  i’ll also be showing my massive crocheted panel and TO THE FUCKING BONE.

so

opening is thursday!  be there!

Les Territoires
Belgo, suite 527
372 Sainte-Catherine street West
Montreal (Quebec)

Beauty #0

 

it all comes down to the strange fact that i am 2 days behind and 1 day ahead of myself.

#mostannoyingspringbreak