The opening for Team Macho’s show at the Magic Pony was really, really fun.
Firstly, the 5 boys work is incredibly awesome.
They take pop-cultural references, in-jokes, found ephemera and fluro colours, whirl it around and create some of the funniest, brightest, eye-catchingest work around.
It even has a dark edge to it, just to keep all the cutsey-pie haters on their toes.
It’s the kinda stuff that I’d hang on my walls in a second (if I could afford it) but would be equally at home in a fancy, pretentious gallery.
In other words, it’s intensely marketable which - contrary to popular belief - is an amazing thing to accomplish as a an artist.
It’s right up there with dying young.
Secondly, the party was fun. I actually knew some people there.
And most importantly, I met a Food Jammer, specifically Chris, and he was super, super nice. As sincere and authentic as you could hope for in a TV personality. Which is the reason I like the show in the first place.
I like my cooking show’s to be honest and not contrived. I want to see the people make mistakes and be un-scripted.
So far, Food Jammers does that, so I’ll keep watching.
And so should you,
And you should also go see the Team Macho stuff if you’re in Toronto while it’s still showing.
There’s just so much awesomness going around, I don’t know how I’m even gonna fit it all in.
My little trip home ended up being more of a mini-vacation (which is exactly what I’ve been craving).
It all started out with TCAF which was a whole big-bundle-of-perfectness. I have come home bursting with enthusiasm and ideas.
More than that, I feel a little more comfortable with my own burgeoning identity as a illustrator and artist. It made it all seem real to me. After all, here was a couple hundred people under a tent who were completely normal, real, human beings who are committed and enthusiastic artists. More than that, they are (mostly) not gigantic nerds and are incredibly friendly to boot.
I was of worried about it all being insular and overtaken by your typical Comic-Con types. Instead it turned out to be a real festival, a fairly small community gathering of artists - exactly what I was hoping for. It felt as though, if you were there, and an artist, then you automatically became part of the community. No velvet ropes. No ridiculous line-ups. No obsessed fans. Which was pretty cool considering such graphic novel illuminati as Kid Koala, Seth and Chester Brown were just wandering around, chatting with people.
My absolute favourite thing ever though, was that when you bought something from an artist, they didn’t just sign it, they drew a little something for you. I loved being able to actually see the work happening, watch how all these incredibly talented people do it, what their techniques are. I will scan some of them in at a later date, because they are incredible to see.
I bought stacks of books and got introduced to and intrigued by many others, and I went to a bunch of fun and informative workshops and panels. I also had a few good talks with excellent people but, the two best talks I had were with Darwyn Cooke and Matt Forsythe.
I got there early on the second day so Matt invited me to sit down at his booth and we chatted a bit about comics and things ( although I regret being too intrigued by the mysterious man behind the web-log, instead of asking him more about his technique and inspiration).
Darwyn is an incredibly nice guy, and thankfully a charismatic speaker which is definitely a bonus when you go hear someone speak. I got to tell him how much I loved Salina’s Big Score, and his work in general. We chatted about art, graphic design, and storytelling. He told me that it brings him hope to know that (fairly) normal girls are reading and appreciating his comics. Overall he was really enthusiastic about getting women involved in the whole comic business. Which is terribly heartening for a girl to hear. Especially from the man who brought Catwoman back from the dead (before Halle Berry killed her again).
Overall, the festival was bursting with creativity, and I think I’m still a little too overwhelmed by it all. I know that it gave me enough inspiration to ride on for a month or two at least. Possibly a year. Possibly until exactly next year when I get to go back.
Been taking it easy the last few days, taking a mini-vacation before job hunting really begins. The last few years have been very looooong ones. I wish we had the resources to actually take a real vacation, but unfortunately, not so much.
Last night we visited the Albright-Knox, as it’s just a short trip over the border, and had a free Friday night deal going. We’re trying to get into the habit of doing free things again while we’re in-between things. I found it creatively refreshing and recharging to go see some “real” art. Just being in a gallery makes me feel happy and sophisticated. It was mildly disappointing though, as I was expecting more of a museum, and less of a gallery. I think a large part of my disappointment was due to the fact that the majority of the gallery space was showing a monochromatic “colour field” collection. There’s only so long you can stare at a red square. I think I might go back when they change the exhibits. It seems like it’s one of those places where what you see entirely depends on when you go, and a year from now they might have a lot of things I actually might enjoy.
I’m just used to the big Toronto museums and galleries where things don’t change for a very long time, and you can go see the same exhibits and peices you saw on field trips in the second grade. Not always stimulating, but definitely comforting.
I think I would have faired better if I had gone to go see the special Georgia O’Keefe exhibit, but it was not free, and I’m not very attracted to her stuff anyway. It would have been much more interesting, but I didn’t want to wimp out on my ‘doing free things’ attempt at the first try.
I think I’m going to have to take a closer look at Penelope’s cheap date ideas to get some new ideas.
This was not so hard when I was a teenager. Then everything was cheap or free. Then again, I lived in a slightly more cosmopolitan spot. It’s occasionally not so romantic living in the downtown of a (very, very) small city. It’s not big enough to constantly have exiting things happening, and its not small enough to have a close knit community where you can just hang out with your neighbours. I think it will get better when the summer finally hits, and the weather warms up a little. This has been the coldest spring in a long time.
I’ve been involving myself in the discussions at Keri Smith’s wish jar journal. Keri seems to be in a constant state of self improvement, and while I usually hate all that self-improvement malarky, its so refreshing to see someone go at it from a ‘ME’ perspective as opposed to a ‘YOU SHOULD’ perspective (I have a thing about people who are preachy - it probably has something to do with having a father who is a Preacher).
I’ve been noticing that a lot of what she’s been talking about lately has a lot to do with the tension between being an illustrator and being an artist. That gap left between art as self-expression and art that appears to be just what’s on the surface. Isolating and analysing whether there is any gap at all, or if it’s simply a mental mirage that must be surpassed.
So the following is pretty much lifted from comments I left at the Wish Jar:
I think I personally find a great tension between being an illustrator and artist. I know that for the most part they are one and the same, and that the reality is there should be nothing that separates the two. Creation is creation.
I just remember not knowing that such a thing as illustration existed when I was a child, only scary, self-important ‘art’ with it’s need for controversy and communication.
I, however, just wanted to make cute stuff.
Then I found out that drawing cute stuff was illustration, and that it was separate from ‘art’.
Now I occasionally feel pangs of regret that I don’t go “deep” enough. I think we’re both discovering (me through Keri) that anything that comes from an honest place (shallow or otherwise) can be important, can be art. I just need to remember that childhood place where only creation is important.
I always hated Ann of Green Gables when I was a girl because Ann had to give up her creative nature to grow up.
I want to be an adult, and get to keep that creative nature.