Articles in the Art Department
Art, December 2008 »
Decay, dereliction, decline. All words with a negative association that conjure up images of rusty pipes and abandoned buildings. We never appreciate that even there, beauty can be found, until someone opens our eyes and shows us.
One of the beauties of the internet is that it allows you to meet all kinds of people. One of these people, whom I would have otherwise never encountered, is Sudbury resident Mark S. Gagne. I first met him on the Icine forums as Marv, a poster with a penchant for naughty humour, a deep fondness of movies and an artistic streak that became increasingly apparent as I got to know him better. Playtime Magazine sought him out and we sat down for an exclusive interview with this promising artist.
Art, Literature, Oct/Nov 2008 »
“What do you think an artist cares about?… Fine wines and black-tie affairs? No! He lives only for that narcotic moment of creative bliss. A moment that may come once a decade or never at all.” — Jimmy, Art School Confidential
I have a confession: I am a junkie. I have been addicted to National Novel Writing Month for the last five years, and my addiction shows no signs of abating.
Granted, it’s a pretty low-key addiction: a mere thirty days in November, cutting an obsessive swath into the holiday season. Those …
Art, Oct/Nov 2008 »
Because I was a movie buff long before I started taking pictures, I worship cinematographer Christopher Doyle the way other street photographers worship Henri Cartier-Bresson. I’m especially drawn to the rich but melancholy sense of romance Doyle created for director Wong Kar-Wai in films like Chungking Express. Perhaps that’s why I’m so fond of shooting in the subway, a place full of unexpected beauty where we glide through each other’s movies.
Art, Literature, Oct/Nov 2008, World Affairs »
The latest opus from Garth Ennis (author of Preacher, Hellblazer, The Punisher) is a brutal satire entitled The Boys. It charts the exploits of a group of thugs clandestinely employed by the CIA. Their task is to control, by any means necessary, various teams of high profile superheroes, whose carelessness, stupidity, arrogance and selfishness cause far more damage to society than the antics of the supervillains they oppose. Controversially, the comic mixes harsh brutality with its uncompromising anti-superhero polemic, with graphically violent illustrations from DC illustrator, Darick Robertson. Famously, Ennis …
