Rover Art Fair In Montreal

The Rover Art Fair starts tonight and goes all weekend.

I have 2 pieces in the fair, both from 2005 and some of the last pieces available from that period. Including the one pictured above "Jean-Talon Pantalon".

OPENING of Rover Art Fair 2011

Friday February 2nd, 2011 6-10pm

135 Van Horne, 2nd floor

PREVIEW Thurs Dec 1, 6–9 pm

FAIR Sat/Sun Dec 3–4 from 1–6 pm

Animals of Distinction: Heart As Arena

My pal Dana Gingras has been working on a new piece called Heart As Arena. I was lucky enough to live above the dance studio she and the dancers were working in. That was only a year and half ago, but it seems longer.

Sometimes the world lines up and sends me to places I should be. Last time this happened I wound up in Berlin and meeting the love of my life, this time I am headed to Vancouver at the beginning of October to see my oldest friend before he leaves town and catch the premier of this piece at the VECC on October 4th.

Most of my life in Montreal has dissolved. This piece feels like a time capsule for me, a small part that left the party before the cops showed up. Or maybe just it was a faultless time traveller that gave me a little glimpse of the life I would lead now.

I'm really proud of my friend and look forward to this, like everything I have ever seen by her, completely altering my own practice.

Video by Yannick Grandmont

Heart As Arena from Dana Gingras on Vimeo.

St. Laurent vs. Berlin Wall

Marianne Ackerman was in town a few weeks ago and we did a little interview at Neu! Bar.

Read the resulting article here.

This article reflects back to me that I am not coming back to Montreal any time soon. I live here now, making psychedelic vaginas.

Goodbye Galerie PUSH

I am sad to see Galerie PUSH disappear. Working with Megan Bradley always made things seem so much more possible. Getting into trouble, trying to eek out how to keep going, feeling like family..... working with Galerie PUSH made "business as usual" take its proper place as the way to do things if everything else fails. I loved you best with a tiny Boris beer in my hand up in that weird space on St. Laurent.

Entropy always, but I feel a little chicken little as I watch good things end and power consolidate in the hands of fewer...but this too will change. Always more plurality in the art world, please.

Good work, Galerie PUSH. Things will never be as exciting as my solo show there in 2009. That is the high point so far. Good luck to Megan as she moves over to Parisian Laundry, they are lucky to have her.

Papeeee-er Dick, sorry Ohnze.

PUSH Gallery decided to swoop in an unleash some ass-kicking at this year's PAPIER fair in Montreal. All works on paper....including some of the My Vagina Has A Second Name... series and a few collages.

Wish I could tip some bottles at the opening in Montreal, but I am too busy getting ready for my show in Berlin.

Tip some for me!

Extreme Painting: My work at Rene Blouin

I will be showing work at Galerie René Blouin in the multi-venue summer exhibition in Montreal called Extreme Painting July 10th to August 21st.
My work will hang alongside Kim Dorland and Chris Kline.
Keep posted for summer shows in Vancouver and Calgary.

New Painting: She Broadcasts Love At A Six Hour Distance...

She Broadcasts Love At A Six Hour Distance So I Can Stop Telling Time on TV Clocks, 2010
85" X 63" X 7". Acrylic On Board.
Photo by Yannick Grandmont

Click image to see larger version

Nadia Moss @ Galerie PUSH Opening March 18th

The show I am most excited to see before leaving Montreal:
Nadia Moss
Still river still leaving
18 mars 25 avril 2010

VERNISSAGE
JEUDI 18 mars 2010 18H - 21H

Les dessins à l’encre ainsi que les peintures par Nadia Moss rassemblent une variété d’êtres flottant sur un espace indéfini et qui semblent se mouvoir sur la surface plane de paysages artificiels. Insufflant le geste à ses figures Moss crée des êtres ambigus qui semblent entretenir simultanément une dépendance et un ressentiment à l’égard du groupe qui les définit. Des motifs gravés ornent des personnages et indiquent leur expérience ou l’inéluctable passage du temps menant à la mort. Les scénarios dépeints évoquent un état de latence, de stagnation, un « lieu » à mi-chemin de tout. Actifs, bien que confinés aux marges de la page de l’artiste, les figures semblent se mouvoir avec résolution dans une avancée qui ne mène nulle part d’autre qu’au même endroit.

**NOUVELLE ADRESSE DÈS LE 15 MARS 2010: 372 SAINTE-CATHERINE OUEST / SUITE 425 / H3B 1A4**

GALERIE PUSH 5264 SAINT LAURENT / MONTRÉAL QC canada /
514 544-9079 / INFO@GALERIEPUSH.COM
GALERIEPUSH.COM

Some recent images: Work at The Studio

January is the mos productive month of the year, and my time away from the studio allowed a few things to ferment. More construction, more ambitious composition and painting curtains.

We Pet Your Cat To Death? at Galerie Push September 10-October 11

we pet your cat to death?
10 septembre 11 octobre 2009

VERNISSAGE
JEUDI 10 septembre 2009 19H - 22H

Wil Murray’s explosive and seductive work presents paint as subject in We Pet Your Cat to Death?. Murray shoots paint up onto a pedestal of foamy stability while hanging it off to experience three dimensional spaces away from the surface that somehow holds it all together. He constructs locations for paint to occupy, making it stand up and stand out, carefully moulding, pouring, lifting, folding and intertwining it. Revelling in the act of assembling a painting, Wil Murray humanizes his subject and makes it bleed and ooze and cry and scream.

Wil Murray was born in Calgary in 1978; he studied painting at the Alberta Collage of Art and Design and has lived in Montreal since 2004. In September 2008, Murray received an honourable mention in the 10th annual RBC Canadian Painting Competition (the largest of its kind in Canada) for his painting, Sexe Maniac Maniac Maniac Maniac Maniac. Murray’s work was chosen for publication in Carte Blanche, Vol. 2: Painting, released in 2008, and his work will be presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in November 2009, for ESSE Magazine’s 25 year anniversary auction. Wil Murray is represented by the Diane Farris Gallery in Vancouver and Patrick Mikhail Gallery in Ottawa. Wil Murray’s We Pet Your Cat to Death? is proudly presented at Galerie PUSH from September 10 until October 11, 2009 courtesy of Patrick Mikhail Gallery.
Texte en francais

GALERIE PUSH 5264 SAINT LAURENT / MONTRÉAL QC canada /
514 544-9079 / INFO@GALERIEPUSH.COM
GALERIEPUSH.COM

Wil Murray Baby Ghost from the 1900s Says Beat it With Your Chain, 2009, acrylique et mousse polypropylene sur panneau
73’’ x 60’’x8''
© Wil Murray, 2009

New Painting: If They Bottled Sex With The Curator...

If They Bottled Sex With The Curator I Would Buy It But Spill It On The Way Home, 2009
Acrylic & Foam On Board, 49" X 59" X 7"

To be sold at ESSE magazine's 25th anniversary auction November 11th at Musee De Beaux Arts in Montreal.

Camera Fault

ESSE Magazine 25th Anniversary Auction

"If They Bottled Sex With The Curator I Would Buy It But Spill It On The Way Home"(pictured above) will be featured in ESSE magazine's 25th anniversary auction this fall. Happening November 11th, at the Musee Des Beaux Arts in Montreal. This piece will also be exhibited in my show at Galerie PUSH in September.

Details: If They Bottled Sex With The Curator I Would Buy It But Spill It On The Way Home. Acrylic & Foam on Board. 49" X 59" X 7" (click on image fore larger version)

Projet Orignal

My partner, Ashley Bilodeau, has decide to leave the world of buy mediocre quality for nothing from the third world and re-sell at inflated prices to people who don't need anymore clothes fashion wholesaling to start her own company called Moose Project making by hand and selling mobiles, pillows and all kinds of crafts.
Look for Mooses, lots of Mooses...and the giant horse I've been mistaking for a cat all weekend.
You can check out her blog here: Moose Project

Sexe Mania Mania Mania Mania

A little source material....
I couldn't help but add one more "maniac" to it for the painting's title.
Photo from VieuxBandit's Flickr Photostream

Pavilion Projects Montreal Art Map

DOWNLOAD THE MAP / TÉLÉCHARGEZ LA CARTE

à imprimer sur un 11 × 17 recto-verso/best printed on ledger format paper

Pavilion Projects is pleased to launch its inaugural MTL Art Map.

Find the best of everything in contemporary art, fashion, design and dining. Available for free three times a year, Pavilion presents an indispensible guide for the discerning traveler and curious local.

This present edition has been produced in association with the IKT Congress as organized under the aegis of PARACHUTE within Montreal from the 22 to 26th of May.

— — —

Pavilion Projects est heureux de lancer cette première édition du MTL Art Map.

Tout ce qui se fait de mieux à Montréal en art contemporain, mode, design et restauration, réunis ici pour vous. Gratuite et publiée trois fois par année, Pavilion présente un guide indispensable pour le voyageur éclairé ou le citadin curieux.

Cette édition du MTL ART MAP a été produite en association avec le Congrès IKT organisé sous l’égide de PARACHUTE à Montréal du 22 au 26 mai.

Interview Posted

Nearly a year old, the interview done with Jacqueline Mabey in May of 2007 is now posted at wilmurray.com, or download the PDF here.
This is the interview that appears in the artist binder at the current show in Vancouver.

My studio floor never looked so good

My studio floor never looked so good as under the feet of Pas Chic Chic on the cover of the Mirror.
They're launching their record on the 1st of April.
Photo by Yannick Grandmont.

New Painting: "Sexing Up the Lipsticked Pork"

Reviewed In Le Devoir

Ma Français est plus "Journal De Montréal" que "Le Devoir", mais j'etait dans un article sur Songs Of The Apocalypse aujour d'hui.

From what me and Ashley and the guys at the laundromat could figure, I once again confused a critic. Nonetheless a good review in the sense that it is really fucking long and actually deals with the work.

Read it here(big file).

If anyone can better understand what the critic is saying in that between-the-lines way, please comment for me.