Monday, July 27, 2009

"Nail Gun" by Mark Mushet - FRESH PICKS V1E20

Nail Gun by Mark Mushet is from a series attempting to wrest some beauty from a typical worksite at one of the area’s many beige condo developments. Rather than focusing on the endless opportunities for “abject landscape” images the artist went for the macro view of the tops of a coiled string of partly oxidized, blued nail-tops. Intrigued by the idea of a casual spray of nails holding together countless square miles of beige stuccoed wall, Mushet likes to imagine the area’s future when only the nails are left on the concrete footing. This image is old-school film photography treated with cross-processing film developing techniques.

Born in North Vancouver in 1963, Mark Mushet has created images in many forms since 1985. He first trained in film and video, producing arts documentaries and shorts for television. In the late '80s he began work in still photography (self-taught) merging macro photography with contemporary music for a series of live slide-projection performances at galleries such as the Western Front and Helen Pitt.

By 1995, Mushet had established a career in editorial and design photography. He has contributed award-winning portraits of cultural, entertainment, business and sports figures to a variety of Canadian publications including Elm Street, The Globe & Mail, The Georgia Straight, Western Living, Vancouver, BC Business and Vancouver Review. He has also contributed to the British new music magazine WIRE and the US publication Fretboard Journal.

He was nominated for a Juno award for photography in the “Best Album Design: Photography” category in 2003 and has received 12 nominations and one win for “Best Photograph” at the Western Magazine Awards and nominations for “Best Portrait” at the National Magazine awards. He continues to produce images for contemporary-music packaging providing CD cover art for pianist/composers Wayne Horvitz and Robin Holcomb, composers Paul Dolden, Dennis Smalley, John Young, Bradshaw Pack, Sergio Barroso, Stephane Roy , Darren Copeland, David Berezan, Forrest Fang and many others.

He is currently co-publisher and Creative Director of Vancouver Review magazine www.vancouverreview.com and is curating its Centrefold visual arts section. His latest photography commission is a set of large format B&W portraits for the Museum of Vancouver’s Velo-City exhibit.

Monday, July 20, 2009

"Best of the Wurst" by Michael Swaney - FRESH PICKS V1 E19

With summer barbeque season in full swing, Michael Swaney's collage and gouache on paper artwork "Best of the Wurst" whets our appetite.

The artwork is a first for the artist in the way in which he created his reference material. Michael built a desk-top installation in his studio, photographed it and then used the photo as the reference material for the resulting collage. This process is a new movement in Michael's work, one where he is investigating the idea of documenting an ongoing performance through illustrating residual elements of the stage set or backdrop upon which a performance may have just taken place.

Michael Swaney was born in Kimberly, BC and has studied both fine arts and graphic design. He was a founding member of the Vancouver Art Collective "Human Five" (2001-2008) and now lives and works in Barcelona, Spain. He has recently published a book with Stickit called "The Performances". Other book projects include "Artifacts of Finland" with Le Dilly and an upcoming project with Picnic Editorial. He has an upcoming solo show in September in Barcelona with Iguapop Gallery.

Although now based in Europe, Michael has kept up his North American connections. Last year he attended the Fountainhead Residency in Miami during which he prepared and installation shown at Miami's Locust Projects during the December art fair mayhem. Additionally, Michael is working with Katharine Mulherin in Toronto and has upcoming projects with Trepanier Baer Gallery in Calgary.

Click here to buy "Best of the Wurst" starting at $45+ !


Monday, July 13, 2009

STONE SOUP - GRACE GALLERY - Photo Documentation on Flickr

Photographs from all three weeks of the Stone Soup Exhibition and the progress of the artworks are now available for your viewing pleasure Vantage Art Projects Flickr account.

Browse and enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37046356@N06/collections/72157620785735514