Woodpile Collective - The Mend is Very Near.

Boucherat Gallery has created a great video of the Woodpile Collective's most recent exhibition "Knew". The video includes an interview with the crew's Sean McLaughlin, Blythe Hailey, and Shawn O'Keefe. The show included an amazing module art shack, made from found materials, screen prints, West Coast aboriginal influenced wooden masks and Woodpile's well known large collaborative paintings. Traditionally trained sign painters Chris and Stu Dobell contributed some amazing hand painted signage, while Darren Heise set the mood with a funny but sometimes spooky animation which played in the background on a big old wood framed T.V. Knew: Works by the Woodpile Collective

Universal Nomads | T-shirts and Toys

Prepare yourself for the Universal Nomads. Zane Kozak and company have released a bunch of awesome t-shirts at this years Taipei Toy Festival and have a sneak peak of a new design for a toy, "The LumberNaut".

Magna-Gons from Universal Nomads on Vimeo.

Universal Nomads is a new Brand dimension, engineered to withstand the force of time and space. With an atomic eye for detail, we strive to offer the very best in Quality and Durability. Artistically crafted according to the advanced poly-faceted ethics of the future, we bring to you the style and sensibility of Tomorrow, Today! In accordance with the Ten Laws of Paradox, items such as our very popular Holographic Video Pants and Revolving Time Loop Shades are not offered in this current Time Period. Though it is for your own safety. Trust us, a temporal paradox can get rather nasty!) Universal Gear built with the rugged Universal Traveler in mind. For you now and your future. Happy trails.

Universal Nomads was founded by the EST.9089 Art Collective. We are a loose knit band of unruly designers and dimension painters. Now banned in 7 of 10 liveable planes of reality, for committing supposed art crimes. Refusing our sentence of death at the hands of the vile Lords of Art. We have slipped their diamond vice grasp and escaped through the maintenance hatch of time. On the run and heading backwards in time since the year 9089, we are relentlessly hounded by the deadliest of Assassinatrix Programs. Dodging its harsh Critique algorithms at every bend in reality. We are EST.9089, fugitives of fate. We join you now, in this time. May these good times have no bounds.

UN Reel from Universal Nomads on Vimeo.

Pulp Fiction at Museum London

Pulp Fiction Museum London - July 26 to November 16

Organized by guest curator Corinna Ghaznavi, this exhibition examines the work of a new generation of graphic artists, contextualizing their work within national and international trends. While the works in Pulp Fiction do not necessarily contain lurid subject matter, they tend to be loose, non-linear narratives that incorporate a comic-book aesthetic and multiple references to popular culture. Strange characters float across the page or screen, seemingly disjointed small scenes are found on the same page, and text is often present. Where there is a narrative it most often takes strange twists and turns that are darkly humourous or sometimes simply wry, or simple observations on the world around us.

The exhibition of drawing, painting, video and installation features work by Marc Bell and Peter Thompson, Tasha Brotherton, Barry Doupe, Liz Garlicki, James Kirkpatrick, The Lions (Tasha Brotherton, Matthew Brown, Barry Doupe, Collin Johanson, James Whitman), Amy Lockhart, Jason McLean and Mark DeLong, Jennie O’Keefe, Seth Scriver and Shayne Ehman.

Reception: Friday, September 19 at 8:00 pm

KRAZY! @ the Vancouver Art Gallery

I wasn't that KRAZY! about the current show at the VAG. It was worth seeing, but felt like I had missed something after the experience. I slipped between the cracks of the target audience the VAG was going for. The show seems to be directed towards people who have no prior contact with the comic industry and for the die hards that want to see original sketches etc. I had hoped to gleen an inside look into the artists and their work, but ended up seeing allot of pages from comics I have read. What else could the VAG done, to make the experience more fulfilling? I don't know. Projecting Akira on 4 opposing walls of an enormous room seems like filler to me. KRAZY! puts comics & anime on a fine art pedestal which I believe they deserve to be, but they don't seem to be comfortable standing up there.

The huge inflatable character created by Jeff Ladouceur hanging from the front of the VAG. By the time we got to check the show the character had deflated. It seemed fitting. Photo to come, I have to get the film developed...

I'm still digesting the show so don't have much to add to the debate, but you can read more about what others think of the KRAZY! show at the VAG here:

Cloudscape Comic Canada.com Preview-Art Globe and Mail: Seth and Spiegelman interview Global TV: Spiegelman profile