Upcoming Exhibitions + Events: Summer 2011



Feminist Art Gallery presents

A.S.M.K. + F.A.G.

F.A.G.’s second exhibition features a new body of work by Alison S. M. Kobayashi:

Throughout 2011 I have been collecting objects in Toronto’s west end that contain traces of the previous owner; a notebook with only a few pages filled in or photo albums that were not thoroughly scanned before being sent to the donation bin. Although these objects provide glimpses into the previous owners’ lives, there is still much more to be imagined. I am taking this opportunity at F.A.G. to experiment with these objects and contextualize the world where they came from.

Image: A.S.M.Kobayashi’s Dear Dorothy, 2011
Curated by Deirdre Logue + Allyson Mitchell

Thursday, June 30, 2011
5pm
Feminist Art Gallery
25 Seaforth Avenue [Side Gate]
Toronto, Ontario
Image: A.S.M.Kobayashi’s Hungry Kitty, 2011.


Feminist Art Gallery presents
New and Lesser Known Works
A video screening and artist talk including early works and rarely seen videos such as; Eat Your Words and Period 4L, along with new video, Hungry Kitty, and a 16mm short made with the support of LIFT’s Poetry Projections Grant.


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

F.A.G. + A.S.M.K. exhibition closing,
screening and artist talk.
Feminist Art Gallery
25 Seaforth Avenue [Side Gate]
Toronto, Ontario
Become a MATRON!
FAG does not depend on formal funding sources nor will it ever be tied to one government or corporate controlling purse string. Instead, FAG has created a web of matronage whereby people contribute to a pool of resources insuring that artists will always be paid for exhibiting their work.

e-mail: fagfeministartgallery@gmail.com for more information!

Miss issauga: Alison S. M. Kobayashi
+ Jessica Vallentin
The video works From Alex to Alex and Dan Carter, by emerging Mississauga-born artist Alison S.M. Kobayashi, and the work Smithissauga by Mississauga-based artist Jessica Vallentin, explore the suburban experience from unexpected and experimental perspectives. Using found objects, in the case of Kobayashi, and setting up experimental scenarios, in the case of Vallentin, the artists use narrative and performance to consider how identity –in particular, female identify – can be shaped by the convention, expectation, and setting. Kobayashi and Vallentin reframe tired, black and white depictions of suburbia as either alienating or idealistic, and instead present the suburbs as a space for self-exploration and contemplation.



Curated by Jennifer Matotek

June 10, 2011 to July 8, 2011
Panel with Jennifer Matotek and
Jessica Vallentin tonight!

Galerie Sans Nom

Aberdeen Cultural Centre

140, Botsford St, #13 & 16

Moncton, NB

E1C 4X5



Film Festival presents
Karaoke Summer Party

Come for the fun, sing your heart out and win some fabulous raffle prizes – prize list will be available at reelasian.com as they are confirmed! A portion of funds raised will go to support the Japanese Earthquake Relief.

A copy of ASMK’s video, Lose Yourself (2008), will be part of VTape’s prize package.
*About Lose Yourself: a silent film actor performs literal interpretations of the lyrics from the rap, Lose Yourself by Eminem. Commissioned by the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, Gendai Gallery Empty Orchestra Video.

June 10th, 2011

9pm, $10
The Rivoli

322 Queen St West

Toronto, Ontario


www.reelasian.com
Celebrity Still Life


Sadko Hadzihasanovic, Andrew Harwood, Jane Hook, Alison S.M. Kobayashi, Braden Labonte, Suzy Lake, Derek Liddington, Viktor Mitic, Charles Pachter, Reeta Saeed and Jennie Suddick.

Celebrity is a complex form of idolatry; icons are simultaneously worshiped and reviled. The current age of uncensored communication has made achieving notoriety possible through a variety of channels. Conversely, the shelf-life of the everyday icon is diminishing more quickly than ever before. In this way, celebrity is like still life. The photographs, films, online videos and tabloid articles that thrust one into the public eye are akin to the Dutch vanitas; they are both snapshots of the glorious present and a reminder of the fleeting nature of prominence in our society.
Celebrity Still Life closely examines the pop idol phenomenon within a multifarious, global context. The works discuss the ephemerality of celebrity culture and the influence of public perception on the lives of our heroes and heroines.


Image credit: Sadko Hadzihasanovic, I Love You, 2006
Curated by Cole Swanson

June 4, 2011 to July 3, 2011

Opening Reception on Thursday June 16 at 7pm


Living Arts Centre

4141 Living Arts Drive

Mississauga, ON L5B 4B8

www.livingartscentre.ca
That’s So Gay: The New Queer – Second Annual Pride Exhibition

FASTWÃœRMS, Team Macho, Michael Comeau, Shary Boyle and Emily Vey Duke + Cooper Battersby and Alison S. M. Kobayashi.

For the second installment of Gladstone’s annual Pride Show, That’s So Gay, curator Sholem Krishtalka continues to poke and prod at what the word “queer” means now, and what it’s evolving to mean. Pride shows tend to focus on the artist’s sexual identity; but queer art isn’t, and shouldn’t necessarily be a product of whom you take to bed.
The artists involved in this show are not necessarily gay (some of them are what society at large would deem heterosexual couples). But they are all certainly queer. Pride shows tend to focus on the sexuality of the artists but what about the sexuality of the work? For The New Queer, Krishtalka has chosen queer work. These artists’ practices challenge heteronormative modes of art-making: the polymorphously perverse manifestos of the FASTWÃœRMS, here in collaboration with Cecilia Berkovic; the orgiastic collaborations of Team Macho; the phantasmatic otherworldly universes of Shary Boyle; the bombastic psychedelia of Michael Comeau; the psycho-sexual narratives of Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby; the puckish multiple-identity drag of Alison S. M. Kobayashi.
Queer isn’t just a way of effing — it’s a way of being.

Image: FASTWÃœRMS, Unicorn Tip



Curated by Sholem Krishtalka

June 24th, 2011 to July 10th, 2011

Opening Reception Friday June 24th 7PM

Followed by Gay-Straight Alliance Dance Party

The Gladstone Hotel

1214 Queen Street West

Toronto, Canada


www.gladstonehotel.com
Lies that Tell the Truth

Alison S. M. Kobayashi, Adad Hannah, Yam Lau, Johanna Householder and b.h. Yael, Aoife Collins and Jeanne Ju.

Claire Hodge and Suzanne Caines were awarded the CFAT curatorial residency in 2010. The resulting exhibition, Lies that Tell the Truth, explores the slippage in the relationship between the copy and the original through a variety of reenactment strategies.

Curated by Suzanne Caines and Claire Hodge

July 17, 2011 to August 14, 2011

Khyber Institute of Contemporary Arts

1588 Barrington Street

Halifax, Nova Scotia


www.khyber.ca