Go Big or Go Home: Bosny, Sohoe & Getso Shows Feb 4 2011

I had a busy night Friday. First there was the Bosny show at SubV that I checked out, then I went to a showing of Aliens at the Paramount (Damn straight I did), and after that I hightailed it to the Sohoe & Getso show on St Laurent that I had just heard about that day. Suffice it to day I had a great night, saw some really nice art work at both shows, but I have to be a little critical this time of the choice of venues. Both shows had some really nice work, but the venues didn't translate too well for the art that was showing and the crowds that had gathered.

But first, let me offer my compliments. Bosny had up a nice mixed selection of his sketches, drawings, portraits, and some color pieces he had put together over the last while. The portraits were spot on,

very detailed, and certainly show off his ability to translate real life subjects onto paper. His color pieces were more engaging and also incorporated his skills at rendering portraits. It looked like he had played with watercolors or something on a couple of the series he had up too. His sketches were ok, although I'm not really a good judge of that kind of thing.They didn't really grab me or anything though.

 

My favorite pieces that he presented were a drawing of a strong man with another guy in his stomach (reminiscent of the cartoon characters you see in Fallout) and two color pieces -one messy green/brown water color one & the red one in the window that looked a little like Jolie. Overall I think he's a very great artist but it would have been nice to see some larger works. 

The problem with this show wasn't so much the work that was being displayed, but rather how it was being displayed. If you're going to do a show at SubV then you have to put in some sizable pieces or figure out a way to present smaller pieces at a more engaging level for the viewer.

Putting small pieces up on the walls above the clothing, merchandise, and books dilutes the quality of the viewing: you have to strain your eyes and crane your neck just to get a look. It takes away from the experience and appreciation for the work that's up. If you are going to have smaller pieces  then perhaps instead of putting them high up on the walls try to frame them on stands and put them on top of the merchandise cases of hang them at around average eye level. That way the viewer can enjoy the pieces more comfortably and take in the finer details.

After watching the flick I made a quick move to the Sohoe & Getso show up in the Plateau. It was about midnight when I showed up and the place was packed from end to end with people. It must have been 106 degrees Celsius in there, no joke. I managed to make my way tot he back of the room to build a fort and figure out a plan of action to take on this monster of a show. After losing five pounds in sweat and making a couple of stops to say some hello's, I proceeded to try to get a few shots of the work that up.

I have to say that I was really impressed with the collection of works that were up. The room was a loft space (no idea who's but good lookin' out on the spot) that was deep and wide enough to provide a great viewing area for the pieces being displayed. There was also a wide spectrum: color canvasses and pieces in oil, acrylic, and marker, black and white canvasses, sketches and drawings, and there was some kind of weird hair thing going on too.

The quality of the work was excellent and there was a lot of it up from end to end so there was plenty to look at and enjoy if you could get through the wall of bodies. There was also a few works up by other artists (forgive me as I was unable to get their names) besides Sohoe & Getso which also added to the variety already present in the work.

The problem I had with this show wasn't that the venue sucked -it clearly didn't- but it seemed more like a party with art on the walls than it did an actual art show.

 

The music was cool, the people were in a festive mood, and there were plenty of smiles on everyone's faces, so things were going well on the party end of things. But the place was so packed that it made navigating anywhere nearly impossible without stepping on some of them.

Admittedly, I showed up there at midnight, a few hours after it had started, so I had to expect some measure of festivities by that point. But this place was batshit crazy by the time I showed up. It was so packed in there that people were pressed up against some of the pieces on the walls. But I managed to make my way through most of it, broker some clearance to get some semi quality shots of the work, and survive the blistering swelter of the Hundred Hipster Army that was in attendance. It's difficult to choose my favorite piece from this show because there were so many great ones up.

But if I had to choose I'd say the Bart Simpson collage piece, the Zombies by the door, the three headed chick piece, the black and white canvasses, the green faced dude, and that whole corner where the Simpson piece was. All that stuff was dope. I also digged Sohoe's series centered around his "Eh?" piece, I thought that as a series it all went well together along with the "So Holy" letters over three canvasses and the other canvass he brought back from the show at Roy Bar just a few months ago. So I pretty much liked everything.

The whole hair thing had me a little perplexed though, I wasn't sure of the connection to the pieces that were up, except for a nice drawing of some hair by the door. That display was kind of misplaced among the rest of the work but I found the central poster intriguing in its call to attention of citizens to delineate between private and public spaces. There wasn't much more to it than that though so it kind of sold itself short there. Maybe I missed the point, I don't know. The drawings were really nice and thought provoking though.

I was only there for about an hour or so but from what I gathered the party was  a big success, more people were streaming in even as I left. I have no way of knowing what the prices of the pieces were or who to contact since I have only recently met Sohoe & Getso and have no contact info for them as of yet. But check these pics of their work and as soon as I have some contact info I'll post it for those interested in purchasing anything from them. If anyone is interested in the Bosny work then you can contact SubV here for that info.

So all in all I had a great night, the art was great though the venues and presentation could have been better, and the party was barn burner from what I gathered.

I'll have more from TA, Turcot, and CBR soon so stay posted.

Nose Expo SubV

The Nose expo last Friday (Jan 8th) at Boutique SubV was unfortunately not the show I was hoping for, but it wasn't for the reasons you would think. The spot was good (as always) and the art that was up was pretty dope, but apparently Nose was stopped at the border and unable to make an appearance or bring some of his larger canvasses to compliment his other smaller works that I'm assuming he sent ahead of time.

But...the show must go on as they say. The expo got a marginal pull of folks throughout the night and by about 9 pmish we were all chilling over some beers and stuff, sharing opinions over pieces, books, toys and whatever else. But that's how these expos work: the art is always nice to look at but the art of chilling takes over after a bit and you find yourself knee deep in mooks and ready to cause trouble.

The lack of canvasses certainly had me worried at first and the ones that were up were pretty small, however, after taking a hard look at what was up I was definitely impressed. His characters are colorful and seemingly at play on each canvass, bordering on the bizarre, pulling you into the surreal world of toons and goons. The pieces also had a certain texture to them, like they kind of jumped out of the frame at you -one of them even looked like actual snake scales (check the first pic posted, it might not do it justice but it looked like real snake back there). I can imagine that his larger works would be even more engaging or involved multiple characters and interactive scenes. Nose also has a line of toys out -after his characters no doubt, but these too, unfortunately, were not present as he was supposed to bring them along with his other works. Again, I can only imagine that they too would be an interesting view and would most certainly have been a fine addition to the already massive specialty toy selection that SubV currently has to offer.

So it wasn't the greatest show, for the reasons already explained, but the works that he had up were really well done. And if your interested in checking out more of his stuff you can check his flickr here (as already previously posted) or hit the guys up at SubV if your interested in purchasing something from the show. Hopefully the next expo that Nose has in Montreal will be more successful and we'll have the chance to see more of his work. For now, check these few shots I got of what was up. I kinds flaked on the event photos but as I said it kinda turned into a Saturday night chiller hanging with the mooks.

Here are my flicks. Sorry if a couple are a little blurred as they are cropped from larger shots. As I said the pieces were smaller and so direct close ups were not an option. In any case enjoy these if you can. Better yet, stop by SubV and check them for yourself at 5666 Sherbrooke Street Ouest.

SubV facebook is here if you're looking to link up and get updates on upcoming events, store sales, and hours. And SubV is always looking for art to show for expo's or otherwise so if you got something to put up give them a shout and work it out. And you can check the SubV blog here too.

 Sorry for the lack of general updates, but rest assured I'll have more from the local scene soon.

Nose Expo @ SubV Saturday 8th Jan 2010

Be sure to check out the Nose Expo at Boutique SubV this Saturday. Nose has been rockin' the Philly scene for a little while now with his funky characters. I really don't know much on the gent besides what I've been able to collect form online but from what I can see he's got some fresh stuff. Come out and check it between 7 and 9 PM (or until we get removed by the local authorities) at 5666 Sherbrooke Ouest.


Check the facebook event here.

Check the dope Flickr account by Nose here. Lots of great work there. I've only had the chance to check his canvasses here and he's got some really solid work there in my opinion (the pic was grabbed from his blog and if its any indication of what were going to see this weekend then it'll definitely be an interesting expo).


Enjoy the show if you're going and if not then I'll be posting my review and pics by early next week.

Lot's of updates coming soon too. I'm still putting together a lot of stuff from the last few months. Forgive me. More soon.
Stay posted.