"Once There Was Only Dark, But If You Ask Me, The Light's Winning"*

Two new art galleries have opened in London recently, so I decided to visit both of them this week and get my culture fix.  Coincidentally, the exhibits at both galleries incorporated the theme of light and dark.

 

 Drop and Rug (foreground)

DNA Artspace, run by Allison Matic and Thea Yabut, has a mandate to expose the public to contemporary art via exhibitions, talks, screenings, performances and other events.  Located at 123 Dundas Street, between Talbot and Richmond, the gallery is only a block away from Museum London and very close to 3 other downtown art galleries.   The gallery's first exhibit features metal sculptures by Canadian artist John McEwen.

 Liquid Air (Skull)

McEwen is best known for his steel sculptures of Canadian wildlife, some of which are displayed in public spaces in Toronto.  McEwen's recent work is constructed of small laser-cut steel stars fused together.  The resulting shapes allow light to shine through and add a lightness to them.  The sculptures in this exhibit are inspired by objects that can serve as vessels of some sort - a pitcher, skull, egg, etc.

One-Eyed Crow With Four Letter Word

Beauty Beneath the Bone continues until August 13th.  DNA Artspace is open Tuesdays - Saturdays

And Now.....Back to the Fuchsia

Back to the Fuchsia is an antiques and vintage store and art gallery under one roof.   Located at 1034 Dundas St. near the Kellogg's factory, it's a bit out of the way (not for me, that's my neighbourhood) but definitely worth a visit.

Mary Hinton (above) runs the store (and I think she owns the place too)

 Mary's store has an eclectic mix of the old and new.  Sarah Legault's pillows mingle happily with vintage cannisters and WWII instructions regarding "initiation and jointing with detonating fuze".

I was immediately drawn to this display of stainless steel silhouette jewellery by Fable and Fury and agonized over which one to take home (Nick Cave! Christopher Walken! Dali!).  I'll let you guess which one I decided on, and I'll show you in my next post.

The current show, curated by Sarah Legault,  is called Nebulous, and features works by Sara Deck, Sarah Legault, Michelle Di Pinto, Richard A. Kirk, Jeremy Hobbs and Phantom City Creative.    The black blob on the rug is Mary's cat Minou.

 Minou was trying her hardest to distract me from looking at the art with cute poses

One of Sarah Legault's pieces in the show, titled "Royal".  Legault is one of those people who make everyone else look like a serious under-achiever.  She's a multi-talented artist - painter, creepy-doll maker, illustrator, photographer, film-maker, and now curator.  You can see her work on her website.

Cthulingus - Jeremy Hobbs

Unfortunately the placement of the lights made it impossible to get a shot of this photograph by Jeremy Hobbs without getting the reflections of the works on the opposite wall and of me.  Yes, that is a real octopus.  Hobb's photography delves into the dark parts of the human psyche and sexuality is a major theme in his work.

Persona - Jeremy Hobbs

There were some film posters designed by Phantom City Creative, a Toronto-based independent design studio that does entertainment design for film, music and television.

Left to Right:  Ocean Song, Sweet Surprise, and Pettifog - all by Sara Deck

London Artist Sara Deck's work features women in rather dark and mysterious circumstances.  The exhibit included some of her original pencil sketches and finished paintings.

The final painting version of Ocean Song featuring yet another octopus

Michelle Di Pinto creates art dolls from polymer clay, and her work has been shown at Dollirium Art Doll Gallery here in London (and has appeared in previous posts on this blog).  Her contribution to Nebulous is a trio of human/chicken hybrids titled "Morning Ritual, #1, #2 and #3.

Their feathers are individually sculpted from polymer clay

This piece, titled "Harrowing Sediment" by Canadian artist, illustrator and author Richard A. Kirk could easily command your attention for hours with its fantastical detail.

Detail from "Harrowing Sediment"

Kirk has illustrated books by Clive Barker and it's easy to see how his illustrations would fit perfectly with Barker's fantasy and horror fiction.

Another piece by Kirk titled "Phantom Limb"

Legault did an amazing job curating this show, which closes on Sunday.  I would have written about it sooner, but I just found out about it this week.  If you can get down to the gallery this weekend, they are open tomorrow, 10 am - 5:30 pm and Sunday, 12 noon - 5 pm.  London is home to some of the best artists in Canada, if not the world, and if dark and creepy is your thing, you don't want to miss it.  I can't wait to see what she has lined up for the next exhibit, titled Chimera, which opens on July 13th.

*The title of this post is the last line of dialogue, spoken by Rust Cohle, in the HBO series True Detective, some of the best television I've seen in a long, long time.

Nuit Blanche - Fire Play, Robots and Talking Skulls

Nuit Blanche ("White Night") is an annual, all-night, or night-time, arts festival that started in St. Petersburg, Russia.  I was lucky enough to be in Paris in May 2007 during their Nuit Blanche, and the museums stayed open until the wee hours of the morning offering free admission, concerts, and other special events.  I remember the thrill of strolling the streets of Paris at midnight, surrounded by other arts lovers, including families with children, and thinking how magical it all was.  Nuit Blanche has since been adopted by cities all over the world, and in 2010 even little old conservative London, Ontario adopted the tradition, in conjunction with the London Fringe Festival.  Unfortunately, our Nuit Blanche tends to be on a much smaller scale than those in larger cities like Toronto which has support from the city and corporate sponsors.  There's no financial support here for the one night event, so it is up to local artists and performers to put on a show using their own creativity and resources.

It was still light out when I got downtown, and this was the first thing I saw.  It seems that during Nuit Blanche, all the rules about playing with fire go out the window.  

The Arts Project was hosting "Visual Fringe" featuring the works of 25 local and area visual artists.  Above left is "Compartmentalize" by Cora Linden, and on the right is a metal sculpture by Jerry Vrabec.

Museum London, which is the largest public art gallery here in London, always has events scheduled during the evening including art-making sessions, films and music.  I preferred to stick to the street and discovered a new gallery space on Dundas Street called DNA artspace, where an installation created especially for Nuit Blanche by Canadian sculptor John McEwen was on view.

McEwen's installation was part of an exhibit titled "Beauty Beneath the Bone" which is part sculpture and part video.  McEwen is best known for his sculptures that depict Canadian wildlife, and the bear in the photo above is constructed of laser cut metal stars and other celestial shapes.  The bear could be seen from the street through the open doorway of the gallery and its glowing blue presence drew people in for a closer look.  McEwen's show continues at the DNA artspace until August 13th.

A new addition to Nuit Blanche this year was the Retro Electro Sideshow, the creation of Uber Cool Stuff in partnership with UnLondon and various other creative folks in town.  Billed as "a crazy collection of contraptions and contrivances constructed to engage, amaze, and amuse the milling masses", this sideshow took over the block on Dundas between Talbot and Ridout and delighted viewers with a mix of interactive old-school video games, robots and a carnival style sideshow.

Ringmaster and creator of Retro Electro Slideshow, Chris McInnis, owner of Uber Cool Stuff

The Time Cops roamed the streets questioning people as to the whereabouts of Space-Times' most wanted man, whose name I can't remember...

You could play ball with a robot...

Play a wall-projected game of Pong

Mingle with some shady-looking characters

Live out your Princess Leia fantasy

Get your fortune told by a disembodied skull.....  

When I asked the skull if my blog would bring me fame and fortune, she  (as it was apparently female) said that it already had, as she even knew about it, and she was from another dimension.  I then asked about the "fortune" part, but she didn't have any answers for that one.

There was some very cool fire play performed by (left) a sassy redhead whose name I didn't get, and (right) Chris Campbell (aka FenyxFyre).

Campbell got up close and personal with a couple of members of the audience

The Retro Electro Sideshow was a welcome addition to Nuit Blanche and I was impressed by the creativity and hard work that went into creating something that was enjoyed by all ages.  I can't wait to see what Mr. McInnis has up his sleeve for next year.