bicycle paintings / taliah lempert

Starting Tuesday, I’ll be living in Fort Greene in Brooklyn, before moving overseas to live in Munich for an indefinite amount of time. Bless my boyfriend, who is a benevolent supporter of my independence and suggested that I explore NYC by bike. This may seem like a perfectly sane idea, except for that I selfishly cherish the continuous breath that circulates my body.

Maybe I’m being unreasonably paranoid, but from my experience as a self-righteous pedestrian, my impulsive maneuvering quirks would probably get me killed. I need practice on sympathetic streets, and promise to be less of a pussy in Germany.

For now, I’ll reserve the risk by simply staring at these ghetto gorgeous bicycle paintings by Taliah Lempert. All paintings and prints feature bikes that have been worn in by a constant presence of place.

douglas coupland / mom & dad

Last night I attended Douglas Coupland’s opening reception for his most recent art exhibit, entitled Mom & Dad, & held at the Monte Clark Gallery in South Granville.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Coupland’s work, he is a Canadian novelist who is most notably known for his international bestseller, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He’s since published twelve novels, seven non-fiction & has written work for both film & television. He’s also studied art & design in Canada, Japan & Italy.

In this solo exhibition, Coupland stands at the unavoidable intersection of Andy Warhol as he blends years of his own personal family experiences with his studies & work in pop-culture. The first visual component was a series of flat, framed wigs, made to represent the collection that Warhol use to wear. These were made out animal furs sourced from a taxidermist, which reflected Coupland’s family upbringing in British Columbia. The second part of the show was a vibrant & deeply disturbing re-work of Warhol’s Marilyn paintings & prints. Black, dripping eyes & cigarette foils were some of the peculiar materials used to define his own perception of Warhol. The last & certainly not least part of the show was tucked away on the gallery’s top floor & featured a series of graphic work displaying anime-style Japanese porn with a pop-culture touch. In my words, “pretty porn”.

As per the Coupland’s exhibit schedule, yesterday’s Mom & Dad show was the only one in Vancouver, but if you live in Toronto, do try & make an effort to catch this show there on June 18th. There will be free wine. Many a motivation.

Also, if you’re part of the twitter community like I am, follow Coupland’s tweets here.

| coupland.com