Accompanied by talented poster artist/music afficionado Tyler K. Rauman I recently spoke with someone in New York about freelance music scouting in Montreal. She suggested that I look in the "Alt Weekly" newspaper for shows, though in this city it's hardly necessary. There is a great poster art culture that stems from the music scene here and one needs only to wander the length of a city block to find shows on any given day of the week. Amazing, printed, collaged and hand drawn posters advertising bands, shows and venues plaster every lampost on Saint Laurent and most are half-peeled from passer-bys like myself who appreciate and admire the work that goes into this great art form.
It seems every artist is a musician and vice versa in Montreal ... and there's a healthy dose of friendly competition in the streets to keep it killer in CA.
(look for Tyler at Expozine this weekend...he's fantsy):
things I've seen in, about, around Montreal this week:
Screening at Concordia's Cinema Politica of Roadsworth: Crossing the Line,
a documentary on the rise of fame of street stencil artist and reluctant hero Peter Gibson after his arrest in Montreal and subsequent commissions by the very city that had admonished his work. I just wonder how much lasting power the actual taboo of this stuff really has and once it's gone what the next step in subversive art will be?
Jamie Campbell at Galerie Push Walking by, I saw the photos in the gallery window, decided to pop and had a really nice chat with Director Megan Bradley about the artist and how easily we relate to oversized donkey heads.
PERDU! Sign for a lost walrus-looking parrot posted by the bus stop. Everyday I scan the treetops . . . looking for Lewis
I really think shopping at Goodwill may the closest thing to a religious experience I've ever had.
Have you ever noticed the completely Zen nature Salvation Army seems to posess? Am I the only one who, on a really shitty day on the brink of a nervous break down, can be transformed in to a relaxed, calm bundle of love after just 30 minutes in a thrift store?
I'm not sure if its the anonymity one is able to maintain between racks of polyester and bad jeans, the thrill of the hunt for one decent, truly vintage t-shirt or the humor and humility of looking at other peoples' old shit but there's something about second-hand shopping that makes me feel really ... happy.
I love the eighties skirt suits, the fake fur, the cheap, trashy department store stuff that faded and lost shape after just a few months of diligent wear. I love the bad cd's, that one box of tapes in mismatched cases and the small stack of 8tracks. I love the the horribly cheesy vinyl jacket covers ... and I love watching other people sift through them. I love the old illustrated science books and encyclopedias (but have yet to see a fullset). I especially love the coffee mugs. Flowers, stripes, "Somebody in Idaho Loves you" and all that.
I'm actually not terribly interested in the stories or histories and don't spend a lot of time picturing the previous owners but am drawn to the objects themselves in the context of the bin they're in or the rack they hang on. I like they way they look stacked, toppled, overturned, crumpled up, unzipped, half-hung, incomplete, out of order.
It's a great lesson in appreciating odd beauty even if something is ripped or fucked up, finding redeeming qualities in any forgotten piece of crap and allowing something to exist in the present without any precondition. As is. No Exchanges. No Refunds.
I kind of think friends should be like that, not so easily tossed aside and forgotten.
Goodwill thinks so too.
plus sweaters make me think of hugs. And that's a good thing...
If you'll kindly recall my innaugral post of oh so many (three) months ago I had moved to New York with blind ambition to stroll into a really fucking cool art gallery and land a job where I could waste my days away looking at interesting things and meeting interesting people, talking shit about Bad Art and schmoozing with kids who make Good Art, all while ideally maintaining the requisite 5 or 6 hours a day I need to waste online from behind a comfy reception desk. I thought it'd be easy because, for three years, I was a Professional Time Waster at a gallery in Los Angeles. I was hopelessly addicted to Ebay, Perez Hilton and could, in one day, watch three feature length films (a record achievement envied by gallery sitters nationwide).
I assumed, if anything, I was overqualified.
Not so.
For some reason, not a single gallery director seemed to think that my non-existent fine art sales record, the year I spent basically fucking around in Seoul and traveling all over Asia, the fact that I didn't know a single critic from the New York Times, New Yorker, New York Magazine, or my lack of familiarity with every fucking 22 year old painter getting crapped out of the bottomless bowels RISD, Parsons or NYU would benefit their fine establishment.
What a bunch of pretentious jerks, eh?
So. I'd like to share with you, dear reader, some of the amazing occupations and projects I've pursued, stumbled upon, been forced into (or at least considered) to tide myself over financially..and sometimes just for fun.
1. "City Of Others" In Los Angeles I was approached in a bar in Silverlake to model for a new denim company's Spring 09 lookbook. Sounds kind like the classic "I was discovered on the street one day...." scenario, and it was. I showed up at a sketchy warehouse downtown with stylists, makeup artists, models, photographers running around like crazy, loud music blaring, set light lights burning, cool people dressed cool acting cool. The whole deal. I was a little nervous and probably cracked some really dumb jokes. Well, the lookbook was just published on the company's website and looks AMAZING really "hip" and "urban" ... except one model is suspiciously missing from the collection. That's right, yours truly had officially made the Cutting Room Floor. But I got paid cash and six weeks later they mailed me a pair of jeans (which I sold at Beacon's Closet). $100 cash $25 for the Jeans
2. "Rumspringa Break" Also in Los Angeles, two dear friends in Venice were filming a series of web TV episodes they had written about a young Amish guy who, during his Rumspringa, ends up in all kinds of wacky, hilariously stereotypical "LA" scenarios. I was cast, appropriately, as the "Hipster Chick".
My role? To dress "Ironically" and act "Pretentious."
We filmed all day in Venice near the boardwalk and in a gallery in Santa Monica. It was a bright sunny summer day and the guys were literally pulling people off the streets to be extras. It was fun to see two friends working really hard on such a great, creative thing. I was really proud to be a part of it even though it was the longest day of filming ever. I'm not an actress and am not used to waiting around for hours for shit happen. So that part sucked. Don't tell anyone else, but I got paid, too. $100
Hare Krishna parade in Venice the day of filming
3. "Wear a Corset ... and body paint" My friend Monicais a stylist and photographer. She's working on some projects and asked me to model for some photos. I agreed for the hell of it. We set up an impromptu studio in her house in Santa Monica one afternoon. We drank lemonade and ate Trader Joes pizzas and talked about life and junk. Here's one of the photos (scandalous!):
Photo by Monica Diventi
Compensation: $0, good conversation and some seriously hot pictures of ma'boobs.
4. "Nanny" Before leaving Seoul in July I had this great notion of living with my sister in Illinois, getting back to my roots and reconnecting with Family and All Things American. I left LA and flew to Chicago and took a train to Rockford to settle in. I had a blast with my little niece drawing, taking walks, making lunch, chillin in the backyard. It was great to be in a real Home, having real Meals and being able to hang out with my beautiful sister and her family.
This lasted 10 days.
Then I got an offer to assist on a photo project with a friend in New York.
BUT before I packed my bags yet again I had the opportunity to collaborate with the young, talented Rosalie Johnson-Doyle on a project I call "Bunny and the Band do Menomena."
It was an honor work with Ms. Rosie and I hope to join forces again one day: Compensation: $0, lots of "Awwwwe!!'s from Mom and Dad Johnson-Doyle
5. Photo Assistant for Nang Brookie P'Artie Productions (a working title...) This was the impetus for moving to New York in the first place. My friend Art (who you may know from such adventures as That Time I was in New York on Business and We Partied our Faces OFF or That Time we Almost Died in Bangkok or That Time Art Flew to LA for His Birthday and we Drank Champagne and Drove a fucking TUNDRA).
So. I had a place to stay and a gig in Brooklyn. Mostly Art did all the running around and attended all the meetings with the jewelry designer whose work we were supposed to shoot for her website. I just styled the fuck out of some necklaces and earrings, tried to keep everything in focus, haphazardly edited a few files and bitched about why it was taking so long. It was way fun. We shot in Jane's studio (where scotch was always in abundance) and also in the bathroom of Art's apartment. The final result: PURE GENIUS
Compensation: I'm not really sure yet....maybe like $500 bucks? And a rad time with my friend Ahhhhhhtie!!
6. Buffalo Rising We started a band, too:
Photoshoot!
Video by Artie Boonparn
Music Video! Compensation: hours of entertainment, songs to sing while stumbling home
7. Let's see...wow, I haven't even gotten to the craigslist stuff yet!! Here's a quick rundown:
Hair Show Model Compensation: $250 and a Mullet
Mexican Restaurant Waitress Compensation: Tips from the pool and bottomless Margaritas.
Chinese Restaurant Phone Order Taker: Compensation: 10$/hour and free plates of slimy rice at the end of the night.
Furniture Mover, Estate Sale Assistant Compensation: 10$/hour and free shit ADs I've Replied to: English Telesales Agent Pop Culture Blogger Music Scout Montessori School Teacher CoatCheck Film Extra Editor Consultant Executive Assistant Fine Art Archivist Art Handler Registrar and ... of course Gallery Assistant (x about 57)
That's it for now....I've been on more bunk interviews than I can count, replied to more scam messages and have gotten a few laughs of the shit people try to get away with .
If nothing else it's all a great study of the human condition, kind of a sociological experiment in instability ...
I say that because this is the city I happen to find myself living in for the moment, and don't really have a choice but to believe its just that wonderful. If I doubted it, I'd have to pack up and move again (and that's getting a bit old).
To support my claim I offer the following evidence:
1. Its gorgeous. Goooorgeous. Strip clubs and ancient cathedrals happily coexist on the streets, the graffitti is bananas (and seems to stay intact, nobody really messes with the good stuff), its clean as hell ... the air, everything. I can breathe. I don't have to step over knee-high piles of trash to cross the street. There are neighborhoods brimming over with history and charm, some houses are completely nuts and the mountains serve as a great reminder you are on the brink of some crazyinsane Quebec wilderness.
2. There's cool shit going on. ALL the time. There's cool shit going in every great city, but the quality of music and art I've seen here is amazing. It's not too saturated of a scene, and there's a sincerity to it you just don't get in New York or LA. If you ask somebody about their store or band, or photos or installation it seems they are happy to engage without any extra air of "this is the SHIT and I did it first..." For some reason going to shows here is way more fun:
3. And then there are the Bagels ... and everything else:
New York, as everyone knows, is a way too cool for school kind of city. People constantly check each other out and assess one another in the street. Like openly glance you head to toe to see what shoes, jeans, vintage, designer shit you're wearing (or not). Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg is a veritable runway packed with 20 somethings; everybody's a fucking freelance graphic designer, tragically trendy (yet oddly uniform) and a little too beautiful.
Its a little annoying.
BUT I found that if you randomly ask someone to make Bat Glasses so you can take their picture, it almost automatically shatters that force field of overly conscientious coolness....the range of reactions is awesome and all of a sudden it doesn't matter what you're wearing.
The Acorn
I recently spoke with someone in New York about freelance music scouting in Montreal. She suggested that I look in the "Alt Weekly" newspaper for shows, though in this city it's hardly necessary. There is a great poster art culture that stems from the music scene here and one needs only to wander the length of a city block to find shows on any given day of the week.
