A weekly shot of art in Vancouver.

Alessandro Papetti lives a fast-paced life, or so it seems from his work at the Buschlen Mowatt gallery. The rain-soaked streets of Europe flash by you in a blur of Alfa Romeos and Citroens. The effect is of a photograph captured with a long exposure, except with infinitely more detail and emotion. He makes time stand still and in that second makes it his own.

This week in art, a weekly heads up on the Vancouver art scene.

This Friday night is going to be a busy night for art lovers! Good thing I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow! First up is the Martyr Party at the Martyr Gallery, where you are invited to "Sacrifice Your Money for the Art Principle" and also to view new works by artists Cameron Andrews and Jessica Bushey. A gallery with a purpose, that's what I call that. This is one-night only show, happening on Friday, December 1st at 857 Beatty Street. The party's on from 6 PM - 11 PM.

Martyr Gallery
857 Beatty Street

Yesterday I was bitching and moaning about our lack of a literary scene in Vancouver, but then I got to thinking... when do I ever go to a book launch? Very rarely, admittedly, although I do almost always think about going. I'm better at author readings, but I even then I don't do much in the way of getting the word out. So I'm guilty as charged and, realizing that we all contribute, I'm going to see what I can do about creating some enthusiasm for literary events in this city! If I can find enough stuff going on, I may make this a weekly posting.

So for tonight, I've got Ivan Coyote celebrating the launch of her new book, "Bow Grip" at the Anza Club (3 West 8th).

Well, the Eastside Culture Crawl went off without a hitch this weekend and I discovered lots of new favorites, as well as revisted some old ones, which is of course the point of the whole thing. Some highlights:

Discovering Valerie Arntzen and in fact everyone in the Paneficio building. Her mixed media pieces focus on religious and warfare iconography, often juxtaposed, and deliver a powerful message in a beautiful container. Another new find is Scott Plumbe who's new work captures the photorealism of Strathcona and Chinatown. I love the way he's portrayed the life in these neighbourhoods.

A few more after the jump.

Vancouver Metblogs links to a Salon.com article about the literary nature of Vancouver in The Literary Guide to the World, Destination: Vancouver.

Some great writers have come out of Vancouver (obvious to anyone who attended the Vancouver Writers Festival) and I am very passionate about reading and finding new local authors. We've got the pillars of Van Lit - Douglas Coupland and William Gibson - which the article mentions along with Alice Munro and Malcolm Lowry, but what about Joy Kogawa, Wayson Choy and Evelyn Lau? What about Michael Turner? What about Ivan Coyote?

Remember in the 90's when you would pick up a flyer for a party that looked really good and you knew when it was happening, but had to spend most of a saturday finding out that it was in an obscure warehouse in the ass end of town? Well, I think that kind of temporary, "create your own space" mentality has taken over the arts scene in Vancouver. Local artist Charles Forsberg is opening his show tonight in a warehouse at 870 E. Cordova Street and next weekend David Wilson is showing his art in a proper gallery space, but only from 2-4 PM.

There is a good reason for all this I'm sure. Like Forsberg works LARGE (try to fit a 20 x 10 foot canvas on that Yaletown condo wall, never mind a gallery) and Wilson is preparing for a larger show. Either way Wilson's sleek, rain-washed city scenes and Forsberg's massive abstracts are not to be missed. First up is the warehouse party, tonight (Thursday November 23rd) at 7 PM.

In this city you really do see a lot of non-motorized two-wheeled traffic moseying along. There's no denying that Vancouver is way more bike-friendly than most large urban centers. That's great. But many people aren't aware of the epic efforts which have been made by the humble cyclist in helping create this. You Never Bike Alone is a feature length documentary which explores our city's bike culture, its trials and tribulations, its against all odds successes, its off-the-deep-end philosophies, its 110% pragmatic philosophies, and its character like none other.

Resfest is a pretty cool film-art-pop culture festival, taking place in Van, Toronto, and Montreal.

We start off with a Friday opening party for $10 where Hot Hot Heat's Dustin Hawthorne will spin vinyl of his choice, and Circle Square will do a live PA set. And then after that the weekend's schedule of films kicks in. Oddly enough, there's no descriptions of the films themselves on the site, though the Radiohead Retrospective sounds pretty self-explanatory.

Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat is the funniest movie of the year, no question. (I don't know how far back you'd have to go to find something funnier.) It's also one of the most provocative. The Kazakh government has already signaled its displeasure, although given their human rights record it's hardly surprising if they have no sense of humor.

That's a cardinal sin in this movie, which will also outrage the pc police, feminists, and evangelical Christians. It's surely the most anti-Semitic American movie ever made, if you take it as face value. Fortunately the Jewish community has a sophisticated appreciation for the nuances of comedy, even if the Anti-Defamation League worries about the rest of us.

It's that time of year again...time to get the scarves and toques out of the closet and then plan out my route for the Eastside Culture Crawl. Actually, I found a pretty good one for myself last year - starting at the 901 Main Street Studio and circling through Strathcona to end up at the 1000 Parker Street Building - and I don't see why this year should be any different. But don't take my word for it! You can plan out your own route here.

The Eastside Culture Crawl is an East Vancouver tradition. Even for West-siders. Even for people who don't consider themselves art-lovers. It's happening Nov. 24-26th at the places on that map I just linked to. This year is extra special because it's the tenth anniversary of the crawl. Wow, has it been that long?
Some of my favorite stops after the jump.

This show is for anyone who's ever wondered what the point of an object was and, upon getting an unsatisfactory answer, decided to do something brillian with it instead. Or at least that is what Christian Nicolay has done here. "Project Flyleaf" is the result of probably hundreds of books now missing those (pretty much) useless pages of blank paper at the front and back. Under Nicolay's hand, the Elliot Louis Gallery in the Waterfall building has been filled with whimsical pencil drawings, mixed media pieces, video and sculpture that resonate with school and bookish themes. He has even re-created several pieces in pencil on the wall, adding a further dimension to the exhibit.

The Magic of Margaretha Bootsma is that she takes the safety of the proverbial tree-lined street and transforms it into something utterly alien. "15 Minutes from Downtown" is worlds away with it's red and orange whirlpools and a tiny sign indicating, unhelpfully, "rocks". Detailed imaged of trees and road signs ground the viewer, as does the signature bit of steel plate on almost all the paintings, while "encaustic colour-fields" fuel the imagination.