PICASSO masterpieces from the musée national picasso, paris

We went to the AGO's Picasso show today! 

I can't believe I held off for so long. It's on its last few days, so the crowds are a bit on the crazy side - lots of people, lots of loud kids, loud adults, people butting in right in front of you, people getting way too close to the works... I don't know, the typical Toronto museum experience? Which is too bad because it's the kind of show where it would be awesome to take the time and fill a sketchbook cover to cover. If only I could've made it on a quiet weekday!

Anyway. Picasso. The man is awesome. I'm still pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing. Here are a couple of my favourites from the show:

Portrait of Dora Maar, 1937

The colours in this one is what got me. So vibrant when you see them for real. Isn't that face the most gorgeous thing ever?

The Goat, 1950

Head of a Woman, 1931

Sweet sculptures! The goat is abstracted but feels like more of a goat than a real goat. An awesome caricature. And suprisingly anatomically correct. That lady on the other hand...

Room 5, Surreal Anxiety and Desire, 1924-1234

She was in this room, one of my favourites in the exhibit. Surreal Anxiety and Desire. Pervy me, figures!

The Farmer's Wife, 1938

I may have said "CHICKENS!" louder than I probably should have as soon as I saw this painting... As you may remember, I get excited about chickens. Two chickens. Chicks. Those toes. That ass. That crotch. Those penis fingers. Picasso, you fucking genius.

Reclining Woman Reading, 1939

There was something about a cat-pose in the description for this one. So she reminded me of Luce. Must be the blue. And I guess I picture Luce as a blonde?

With over 150 pieces, you'll come out of the exhibit completely drained and energized at the same time. So much inspiration! So many laughs! Picasso is so much FUN! Please don't miss it, or you'll hate yourself later. Or, you know, just wait until the Musée National Picasso de Paris is done with its renovations and catch up in the city of looove.

The show ends its run in Toronto August 26th, so if you have the chance, you should totally go this weekend. Screw the Ex, screw Fan Expo :)

highlights of chagall and the russian avant-garde @ the AGO

I love going to the AGO's big exhibitions! Busy as they may be, they're always full of inspiration and unexpected surprises.

I really wanted to check out the Chagall show because I find his paintings so free and gutsy, especially in terms of colour - I'm a big chicken when it comes to colour. I need to learn from these guys. I was also very interested in the show's focus on the influence of Chagall's origins on his work. A nostalgic, even sometime idealized view of my own hometown and culture is something that has unexpectedly crept up on me while living in Toronto, and that I feel I need to tackle through art as well.

That, and I've been reading a lot of Joann Sfar this year.

Did I mention the chickens? I love the fun, happy chickens and goats and cows that pop up here and there, and even in the most sober of his pieces.

See the chicken?

("Newspaper Vendor", Marc Chagall, 1914)

...and the Russian Avant-Garde. It's not all about Chagall, guys! Some of my favourite stuff in the show wasn't Chagall at all, but of other Russian born artists. I really fell for this one:

A little boar and a whacky bird AND a freaky naked lady? I was all over this!

("Spring", Mikhail Larionov, 1912)

I was also floored by this collection of lithographs by Natalia Goncharova. So graphic, so direct, so creepy, and so beautiful.

(Portfolio cover from Misticheskie obrazy voiny, 14 litografii - Mystical Images of War: Fourteen Lithographs, Natalia Goncharova, 1914)

(Bratskaya Mogila - A Common Grave, Natalia Goncharova, 1914)

This documentary by Dziga Vertov was projected on a wall, and I was completely mesmerized. Man with a Movie Camera is a depiction of everyday life for people in Russia in 1929. There's some elements of stop motion in there, along with other fancy camera tricks for the time. 

Once you're done with Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde, don't miss Constructing Utopia: Books and Posters from Revolutionary Russia (1910-1940) on the first floor. Propaganda leaflets and posters with beautiful, constructivist design. I love that stuff.

finally went to the AGO yesterday

Marchesa Casati
Is a living doll
Pinned on my Frisco
Skid row wall

Her eyes are vast
Her skin is shiny
Blue veins
And wild red hair
Shoulders sweet & tiny

Love her
Love her
Sings the sea
Bluely
Moaning
In the Augustus John
de John
background

Jack Kerouac