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Anarchism Without Adjectives: On the Work of Christopher D’Arcangelo, 1975–1979 at Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal

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View from exhibition, ANARCHISM WITHOUT ADJECTIVES: ON THE WORK OF CHRISTOPHER D’ARCANGELO, 1975-1979. Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, 2013. Photo: Paul LItherland

Anarchism Without Adjectives: On the Work of Christopher D’Arcangelo, 1975–1979
4 September – 26 October 2013
at Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montréal

Curated by Dean Inkster and Sébastien Pluot in collaboration with Michèle Thériault

“When I state that I am an anarchist, I must also state that I am not an anarchist, to be in keeping with the (….) idea of anarchism. Long live anarchism”
– Christopher D’Arcangelo

Between 1975 and 1979, the North American artist Christopher D’Arcangelo (1955-1979) developed an artistic practice that was notable for its radicality and critical import concerning the role of the artist, the status of the art object and the institutionalization of art. A desire for a radical democratization of the production and reception of art motivated D’Arcangelo’s institutional critique, which he voiced in a statement on anarchism. Recalling the historical expression “anarchism without adjectives,” the statement, which accompanied in various forms the majority of his actions and interventions, contains an ellipsis between brackets in the place of an adjectival descriptor of the noun anarchism.
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Material Traces at Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montréal


Heather Cassils, Becoming an Image, 2012. Photo documentation of performance. Courtesy of the artist and Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York. Photo by Heather Cassils and Eric Charles

Material Traces: Time and the Gesture in Contemporary Art
16 February – 13 April 2013
at Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montréal

Opening: Saturday 16 February 2013, 15h00 – 17h00
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Performative event by Alicia Frankovich at 15h30

Curator: Amelia Jones

Artists: Francis Alÿs, Christopher Braddock, Heather Cassils, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Andrew Dadson, Alexandre David, Paul Donald, Alicia Frankovich, Flutura and Besnik Haxhillari (The Two Gullivers), Mark Igloliorte, Tricia Middleton, Alex Monteith, Angel Vergara

Is art an object or a process? Is it “material” or “trace”? Shifts in art practice over the past 50 years, particularly in art world centers in Europe and the US, and more recently in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, have profoundly challenged Enlightenment to modern conceptions of the work of art, in European aesthetics, defined as an object, more or less static in meaning and value over time. Material Traces presents work from the past fifteen years by artists from around the world which draws on the legacy of performative intermedial practices from the 1960s and 1970s to foreground the processes and materiality of making, whether in wood, paint, performance, video, or other media. Continue reading “Material Traces at Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery, Montréal”

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Review: Kent Monkman “My Treaty Is With The Crown”

Currently on View: Montréal
Kent Monkman “My Treaty Is With The Crown”
Leonard + Bina Ellen Art Gallery
4 March – 16 April 2011

Kent Monkman “Mary” (2011) High definition video. Courtesy Bailey Fine Arts, Toronto

Nearly two decades ago, I visited the National Museum of the American Indian in Harlem (It relocated in One Bowling Green, New York City in 1994). An art student at the time, I was curious to find links between my upbringing in Japanese Shinto religion and the Native American’s worship of nature. I vaguely remember the features of this space, but I did notice that only a handful of visitors were in the museum and, after settling in for a while, I could hear echoes of drumming in the hallways. When I followed the sound I found a man presumably in his early 30s, playing on a traditional animal skin drum, singing a song of folklore. He wasn’t dressed in any overstated ceremonial costume but simply festooned with ornaments on his long dark hair. Children and adults gathered around as the man continued his performance, in this space dimly lit to preserve the nearby artifacts stored behind glass cases. A split-second later, my eyes were blinded by a flash of light, coming from the camera of an elderly person standing next to me. The singing man sternly frowned, ceased playing. He spoke in the elderly person’s direction, in a firm yet polite manner: “Please don’t take my picture because I’m not an exhibition display”. After a measured pause and palpable tension in the air, the man resumed his drumming with dignity.

Kent Monkman’s exhibition “My treaty with the crown” recalled in me this buried memory of the proud signing man, I may have completely forgotten otherwise. The exhibition proffers multilayered narratives and profound symbolism from Monkman’s work, together with other paintings, objects and ornaments from the collection of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the McCord Museum of Canadian History.

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