Week 14: November 4th
The fourth installment of the One Long One reading series, a workshop on artistic jargon in collaboration with Ada X, Blouin Division at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy, and more.
Welcome to Community Service, a biweekly newsletter featuring a curated selection of art and design events in Montreal. Everybody is back from their respective art weeks, so we’re looking at a fuller list this time around. This edition covers events happening in Montreal during the first two weeks of November.
Vernissage: The Evaporated Tears of Sand Roses by Rihab Essayh
November 6th (6:30pm) - Ada X
Sand roses form through the evaporation of water and moisture, drawing from the sediments of desert landscapes—salt, minerals, and sand—all interconnected through this transformative process. What begins as barren sand and rock evolves into something strikingly beautiful, much like the experiences of the SWANA diaspora. Rihab Essayh's research speaks to shared tears and collective trauma, highlighting moments of pain. Yet it is the process of evaporation that stands out; it symbolizes the catalyst for change and the collective support that enables us to heal and grieve together, forming the foundation of community.
Vernissage: Nesting by Allie Gator
November 7th (5-7:30) - Galerie Hughes Charbonneau
Allie Gattor’s latest collection presents a deeply personal exploration of pregnancy and the transformative journey into motherhood. Through her signature blend of humour, vulnerability, and keen observation, these drawings reveal the joys, challenges, and surreal moments of this profound life change.
Reading: One Long One
November 7th (6pm) - Centre Clark
The fourth installment of the One Long One reading series by Emily Zuberec and Rosemary Flutur will take place Thursday, November 7th at Centre Clark. Featuring readings by Adam Haiun, Haley Mlotek, Alexei Perry Cox, Viola Chen, Rhiannon Ng Chen Hin, and Nicky Taylor.
Vernissage: Depuis un bon moment by David Elliott
November 7th (6-8pm) - Galerie Nicolas Robert
During the 1980s David Elliott made a series of large canvases; a mash-up of counter-culture psychedelia, late 19th Century Symbolism & Pop Art, they were cosmic, carnivalesque & darkly humorous. Challenging the high seriousness & careful strategies of late modernist abstraction, they proposed fantastic imagery and grand-scale illusion.
Depuis un bon moment showcases four surviving paintings from this important body of work, alongside a selection of the artist’s recent collage boxes. While the materials and scale of Elliott's work has changed, the poetics, sentimentality and dramatic staging remain.
Vernissage: Collapse by Trevor Bourke
November 7th (6-8pm) - Galerie Nicolas Robert
In this series of paintings, Bourke explores the arrangements of multiplicity and simultaneity while investigating structures of natural and spiritual systems to generate new assemblages inspired by the velocity of mass in space.
Bourke’s blend of abstraction and figuration explores deeply felt, embodied experiences, translating the push and pull of sensation onto the painted surface. Through a mix of diverse elements and visual data, Bourke creates tension-filled scenes where structures emerge. These compositions appear both open and controlled, as the materials transform into images that reflect his imagination.
Vernissage: Blouin Division at Holt Renfrew Ogilvy
November 7th (6-8pm) - Holt Renfrew Ogilvy (5th floor)
Holt Renfrew Ogilvy is the Montreal fashion hub we actually deserve. Blouin Division will be presenting a new selection of works on the department store’s fifth floor, featuring works by artists Matthew Feyld, Daniel Langevin, Francine Savard, and Sarah Stevenson. Curated by Erika Del Vecchio, these works and installations illustrate the relevance of minimalism and the power of form.
Workshop: Art Speak with Dayana Matasheva
November 8th (3-5pm) - Vav Gallery
Dayana Matasheva is a Montreal-based visual artist and writer. She works across video, digital art, and sculpture, focusing on how algorithms and artificial intelligence impact the textual and visual fabric of modern society.
Presented at the Vav Gallery in collaboration with Ada X, This workshop explores the concept of ArtSpeak, the jargon-heavy language used in the fine art world. Originally developed to legitimize and intellectualize art by bringing together theory and practice during the modernist and conceptual art movements, ArtSpeak has since become increasingly opaque and self-referential. The workshop examines its evolution and how it now serves as a form of gatekeeping, creating an invisible barrier around the art world. ArtSpeak helps uphold the otherwise unclear distinction between fine art and consumer culture, with its exclusivity reinforcing the intent behind fine art rather than any inherent quality of the work itself. This workshop is participatory and conversational.
Vernissage: Relations by Farzaneh and Mancy Rezaei
November 14th - Project Casa
Relations by Farzaneh and Mancy Rezaei is the third exhibition of Project Casa’s fall programming. The Iranian sister duo’s art practices compliment each other. Mancy explores the representation of the female body in private and public spaces, as well as the censorship and limitations imposed on women in Iran. Farzaneh’s work focuses on the introspection of the contradictory characteristics of the phenomenon of immigration.
Immigration becomes the theme of a visual and narrative dialogue between their works.
Vernissage: Marie-Michelle Deschamps
November 14th - Bradley Ertaskiran
Details to come!
Vernissage: Peter Campbell
November 14th - Bradley Ertaskiran
Details to come!
Vernissage: Lignes Fluides
November 15th - Le Livart
Lignes Fluides is a solo exhibition by Montreal artist Sébastien Gaudette. This series of works invites viewers to redefine the terms and limits of visual perspective, through an exploration of Gaudette’s research in drawing and sculpture.
For years, Gaudette’s artistic practice has centered paper as a medium, using it to constantly create links between sculpture and drawing. Lignes Fluides asks; What would happen if he did away with paper? What would remain of the drawing? How would these lines take shape and become autonomous? The exhibition is based on a questioning of gesture in order to graphically create a dialogue while leaving an imprint.
Lignes Fluides is presented as part of Livart’s eighth anniversary celebrations on November 15.
The second installment of Because I missed it is here!
Fondation Guido Molinari: Tout geste est/et politique. Nadia Myre, Robert Myre & Molinari
October 31 – December 22, 2024
Curated by Marie-Eve Beaupré with the collaboration of Camille Bédard and Alexandre Major-Forest, Tout geste est/et politique is the result of an invitation made to Nadia Myre, an inspiring Quebec-based multi-disciplinary artist. Nadia is born to an Algonquin mother from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation and a Québécois father, Robert Myre, whose professional life was driven by social and political engagement.
The exhibition is embroidered with historical material and family archives, with works based on handwritten letters, typed texts, photo albums, posters and publications that make up the abundant personal archives of Robert Myre and Guido Molinari, who became fathers over the effervescent decades of the 60s and 70s, and whose political positions were dissonant.
Gems Galerie: Digital Art Space
Gems Galerie emerged from the desire to harmonize the humanity of artists and their creations. Free from constraints of medium and narrative, they offer a laboratory for experimentation and collaboration, allowing both established and emerging artists to infuse their work with their unique presence and vision. After months of organizing, the digital art space is finally open. You can take a look around through their website.
If you have an art or design-related event you would like to include in future editions of the newsletter, you can send us a DM or email communityservmag@gmail.com
See you around.