so...

i went and saw the exhibit today for the Refus Global (see below).

now, i had seen a few Jean-Paul Riopelle works before, and always thought they were pretty cool, and even understood why people might pay $2 million, or even $4 million for his work, even though i can't say it ever blew me away.

today, i stood in front of a piece that's about 12 feet long and 10 feet high, where he's layered the paint so densely that experts think the layers at the bottom are still not dry, 50 years later.

every single inch of that painting--literally, every inch--is layered with colour, detail, brush and knife work, etc. it gave me a renewed appreciation for why this guy is Canada's (or, Quebec's) most famous art export.

also, i would place kent monkman
among the most "important" (gag), interesting, timely and just all around awesomest artists working in Canada today.

he's a first nations guy--from ontario. his work basically subverts every notion of eurocentricism, noble savagery, etc.

saw a 16 by 10 foot piece today where he replicates giant landscapes of the American Romantics down to the tiniest detail, with the happy addition of homoeroticism-- in one part of the painting, as a cross-dressing native man emerges from the lake like Venus in Boticelli's work, Modigliani swoons in front of his canvas while Jackson Pollock reaches out to steady him.

there's also a few dudes shagging, i believe-- a sort of cowboy and indian homoerotic fantasy.

for you 'peggers, i think he may still be on at the WAG right now. see it if you haven't--he's the real deal.