Gay Incantations is a project started by Coral Short and Lucas Crawford. The pair offered 56 incantations across the internet to add some glitter and gold to the bleak month of February through their website and Facebook page. 

The One Project is a creative project by Bryce Evans designed to inspire and encourage people to realize their dreams by helping readers understand misconceptions about loneliness.

Bryce interviewed both Coral and Lucas about Gay Incantations and will be connecting with friends of the two to create new photographs for The One Project and an upcoming issue of Sad Mag. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

What are Gay Incantations?

Coral: GAY INCANTATIONS are about honesty and relevance to our inner worlds. Gay Incantations are CAPS LOCKS statuses on Facebook. They are psychic magical emissions towards a more loving gay community starting from a foundation of loving ourselves.

Lucas: Gay Incantations are attempts to use language, speech, and human connection to change the possibilities of our lives, our moods, and our days. They are succinct magic spells that we are casting on ourselves. They are little relics of depression hammered into hopes.

In The One Project, one of my main goals is to help people understand that loneliness is universal and it is something we all experience. Does education play a role in Gay Incantations to help erradicate hate?

C: Facebook, I believe, is a very lonely place at times – surfing through the statuses and photos… GAY INCANTATIONS are there to pierce this interface and interupt the feeds by encouraging us to flourish in our day to day lives.

L: I like the idea of thinking of them as educational, but in the sense of provocations rather than lessons. If we provoke some people to think differently or act differently in relation to their own loneliness or that of others, that would be a success in my books.

Vancouver Art Gallery’s Art Spiegelman retrospective proves there’s much more to comics than Archie & Betty and childhood superheroes. 

 

The Vancouver Art Gallery’s current exhibit, CO-MIX: A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics and Scraps, showcases artist Art Spiegelman, whose innovative use of the comic strip– as a tool for social commentary and to fearlessly intervene in high-stakes political, aesthetic and cultural issues– leaves nothing off limits.

The underground “comix” movement of the seventies in San Francisco ignited Spiegelman’s career. During this time Spiegelman published in diverse styles in Short Order Comix, co-edited and published in Arcade, and worked as a cartoonist for Playboy. Spiegelman was also employed by the candy company Topps as a designer of trading cards and stickers. In typical Spiegelman style, this meant producing designs that criticized consumerist culture even as it paid his bills.

There is so much to see in this exhibit, and if you look closely, you will be rewarded with the most “comical” of comic jabs. My favourite work, “The Comics Historian,” combines unlikely comic characters in a critique on the erosion of the cartoon craft. Spiegelman’s witty dialogue between Charlie Brown and the Peanuts, Popeye, characters from Southpark, and his own Maus mice are a clever juxtaposition of mass-market, lowbrow erotica, and coterie comics: the so-called “co-mix.” Fast-forward to Spiegelman’s work today and you will find him designing children’s books such as “Open me … I’m a Dog!” with a much more refined and censored style.

After providing a critical foundation in his juvenilia and the early work for Topps, the VAG’s exhibit launches right into the highlight of Spiegelman’s international career: Maus. This thirteen-year project skyrocketed Spiegelman to success and has since become his best-known work. A deeply personal artist, Spiegelman turns to his own adversity for inspiration in his works, and Maus is no exception. Weaving the threads of two narratives, one of a father and son, and the other of the Holocaust, Maus retells history. This graphic novel was revolutionary because it did something that had never been done, which is to combine reality and autobiographical material to enter into the world of comics. The VAG dedicates the largest chunk of the exhibit to Maus, with pages mounted like canvases on each of the walls and numerous sketches showing his artistic process.

Spiegelman’s influence on the art world cannot be overstated. He and his wife’s creation of RAW magazine, which was recognized as the leading avant-garde comix magazine of its era, brought together American, European and Japanese up-and-coming cartoonists in order to give them exposure.  This lead to recognition of artists such as Robert Crumb and shone the spotlight on up and coming cartoonists. His ongoing conversation with contemporary politics creates bold, sometimes controversial pieces. These dialogues come head-to-head in his cover for The New Yorker titled “Valentine’s Day” in 1993 and later “Ground Zero” following the events of September 11, 2001. In total his twenty one covers for The New Yorker are admirable for their intentionally scandalous say-it-how-it-is attitude. I highly recommend taking a close look at the “Ground Zero” cover and the series of incomplete covers for RAW; they are brilliant.

The VAG does a fantastic job showcasing Spiegelman’s artistic progression and ongoing experimentation. I would advise visitors to imagine the show as a manifestation of his Breakdowns: Portrait of an Artist as a Young %@?*! 2008 series, which was a sort of retrospective of his earlier series Breakdowns. Viewed this way, the exhibit not only builds up the successes of this artist but it also tears him down, revealing the intimate moments, scraping away the layers to find brilliance in the flaws. A culmination of the scraps of his artistic genius, Spiegelman is remarkably diverse and is sure to grab hold of your own artistic imagination.

The exhibition is running February 16 – June 9 2013. 

Bad news, folks. While I’ve been trying to beat the system of institutionalized yoga in Vancouver and eat my weight in 5-year old cheddar, eleventh-grader Celine Chan has been launching The Greater Vancouver Art Contest, a completely student-run and organized contest for students all across Greater Vancouver. Addressing the need for more local art contests for youth, Chen invites art students from Grade 8-12 to participate and to expose their talent to the rest of the community. “Our vision,” says Chen, “is to transform the public’s perception of art, but most importantly, give the youth of Greater Vancouver an opportunity to express their creativity.”

 

Sad Mag: Who are you?
Celine Chen: I am a Grade 11 student at Mulgrave School in West Vancouver. I am a passionate art student, who loves exploring new frontiers with what I can create. I also love to spend my time looking other artists’ works on the Internet.

SM: How are you getting involved in the art scene in Vancouver?
CC: Well, founding this art contest is definitely my biggest involvement in the art scene. I want the art contest to become a catalyst for artistic growth in Greater Vancouver.

SM: What was the first artistic endeavor that you felt proud of?
CC: At our school, we have an annual Spring Gala. Each class from the Junior School (Gr. K-6) would create an art piece that would be sold in the Gala. During recess one day in Grade 3, I drew an abstract picture based on geometric shapes and showed it to my teacher. Later on, my teacher decided that this design would be the one our class would create as our Gala piece!

SM: What do you think the art scene in Vancouver is lacking?
CC: Vancouver is lacking a place for young artists to share their work. 

SM: Favourite Vancouver artist(s)?
CC: I have recently discovered the works of Jeanne Krabbendam and I love the way she works with mixed media.

SM: Favourite artistic medium?
CC: I’ve just started experimenting with more advanced mediums this year. Other than acrylics and oil paint, I like clay and digital art. The picture of me with the brightly coloured canvas is my latest piece. It is made of origami paper and glue. The piece is called “Full Bloom” and is inspired by the theme of repetition. For many people, repetition means monotonous, boring routines. Instead, I wanted to change their perspective and show the hidden beauty and intricacy in repeating simple elements.

In the second photo, the piece is called “One Thousand Hands,” and made out of plaster of paris, plaster bandages, and wood. I aspired to encompass both themes of ‘play’ and ‘minimalism’ in this work as well as explore the evolution of hand actions in Chinese culture. As a silent form of communication, hand gestures can hold more meaning, value, and significance than words themselves.

SM: Best Vancouver venue for seeing art?
CC: I see a lot of nice art all over the streets of Vancouver.

SM: Where are you as you answer these questions?
CC: The comfort of my own home.

SM: Last album you listened to?
CC: Believe Acoustic by Justin Bieber Great music taste, I know.

SM: What are you most excited about right now?
CC: To see the contest submissions of all the talented youth in Greater Vancouver and the MeToWe trip to Kenya this summer with my school!

 

The Greater Vancouver Art Contest is open to youth from grades 8-12 in the Lower Mainland. There are two categories: Junior (gr. 8-10) and Senior (gr. 11-12). The online showcase will be from May 1st to May 7th. The winners will be announced on May 6th.  

Prizes include more than $1500 of art goodies and an opportunity to display your work in the Art Starts Gallery!

Check contest website for more details

Love is in the air and it’s coming for you. Apoca-love, watch out! Strange how one day in the middle of February has us reflecting on romance and L-O-V-E when really, love should be celebrated year round, with lovers, friends and family. Go buy your parents a bouquet of flowers, mail your best friend a card or throw together a gourmet meal for your date. It doesn’t take much effort or money and will go a long way in letting the people you love know that they’re appreciated and cared for.

This week, while obsessing over lady of romance herself, Edith Piaf, I re-watched “La Vie En Rose” to discover more about her life and story. In the closing minutes of the film Edith sits on a sunny beach as an American journalist asks: If you were to give advice to a woman, what would it be? Edith Piaf: Love. American journalist: To a young girl? Edith Piaf: Love. American journalist: To a child? Edith Piaf: Love. Not to say that only woman should love – we all should; however it delivers a humble and insightful answer that regardless of our life experiences, triumphs, tragedies and traumas, love wins. Always.This month’s playlist doesn’t include and Edith Piaf, however there are some good local songs for the heart and the remainder of February 2013.

Listen to the February Local Musics Mix!

1- Ok Vancouver Ok – i get so drunk about songs about love
2- The Zolas – Knot In My Heart
3- Brasstronaut – Slow Knots
4- The Nautical Miles – Mythmaker
5- Wake Owl – Gold
6- Jon and Roy – Little bit of Love
7- Current Swell – Too Cold
8- 41st and Home – Wilderness Eyes
9- Maurice – All I Ever Wanted
10- Vince Vaccaro – The Dove
11- The Mohawk Lodge – Light You Up
12- The Belle Game – Wasted Light
13- Destroyer – Poor in Love
14- A.C. Newman – Miracle Drug

Inspired by Michelle Reid’s “Glamour Issue” article on Prop House Café, Sad Mag contributor Darren Li decided to explore this place himself. Li took Reid’s description of the Café as “a cross between the living room of a kooky grandma and a rambling antique museum,” as an erstwhile challenge, deciding to seek out four items and discover the story behind each one. In an interview with café owner Ross Judge, Li chronicles the material history of this unique Vancouver setting.

Darren Li: What or who inspired the idea of Prop House Café?

Ross Judge: Me. I felt that communities in Vancouver needed a home.

DL: How do you feel your one of a kind café influences the art and culture of Vancouver?

RJ: We are, what you would call, cultural provocateurs. This place invites and inspires all types of artists. There are cameras that would excite photographers, old records that would inspire musicians; we’ve got everything.

DL: How old were you when you first started collecting these items? Do you remember the first item of your collection?

RJ: I think around 1996. The oldest item that I have is a mountain lion growling on top of a rock.

DL: Most people have collections or memoirs. For me, I collect shot glasses from places I visit. What inspired you to start collecting antiques?   

RJ: A disease – a hoarding disease.

DL: Which item is sentimentally worth the most to you?  

RJ: The piano. It is a 1957 upright grand Heintzman. I bought it at the Woodward’s Building downtown in 1959. I won’t list anyone specific, but an incredible amount of people have played it.

 

 

Antiques and their stories

Hanging doll

This funny looking figure caught my attention as soon as I walked into the café. I thought he must have something to do with Christmas because of his red nose and innocent look, but upon asking Ross about it, he told me different.

“It is actually a hobo; he symbolizes homelessness on the Downtown Eastside. I have him hanging from the ceiling right as you walk in because I feel that homelessness is a big issue in Vancouver. You can tell he is homeless because of the clothes he is wearing; it looks like he made it himself.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sleeping Garfield phone

When I saw this old-fashioned phone, I smiled. I just had to ask Ross about it. Turns out he hates Mondays just as much as Garfield.

“I like Garfield and his sense of humour, and that is why I got it. When you pick up the phone, Garfield’s eyes open.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Record player

AKA “Grove Machine,” turntable, phonograph, gramophone… this particular player picks the beats on Judge’s solid café record collection. The mellow sounds you hear when you first walk in are 100% vinyl.

This is old news, but bears repeating because did you know that the first record player was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison? The man was doing everything. It looked a bit like a trumpet, but we’ll excuse the Victorians their aesthetics. Later on, Emile Berliner transformed the phonograph, making it able to play gramophone records. Ross’s record player is Berliner’s version, what most people refer to as a turntable. There are grooves on records (get it? get it?), and while the record spins on the turntable, the needle traces the grooves and vibrates to produce the wanted sound.

 

Wooden figures

There was something mysterious and intriguing about these two wooden figures. When I asked about them, Ross told me the interesting story behind them.

“These two figures are from a tavern called The Breakers located in Point Roberts, Washington. There was a ‘no drinking on Sundays’ rule in Vancouver until around the 1980s. So people would have to leave Vancouver just to get a drink on a Sunday. The Breakers was a famous place people went to just past the border. The owner sold me these two figures. They are Tiki gods that guarded the entrance of the tavern to keep evil spirits away.”