Go Big or Go Home: Bosny, Sohoe & Getso Shows Feb 4 2011

I had a busy night Friday. First there was the Bosny show at SubV that I checked out, then I went to a showing of Aliens at the Paramount (Damn straight I did), and after that I hightailed it to the Sohoe & Getso show on St Laurent that I had just heard about that day. Suffice it to day I had a great night, saw some really nice art work at both shows, but I have to be a little critical this time of the choice of venues. Both shows had some really nice work, but the venues didn't translate too well for the art that was showing and the crowds that had gathered.

But first, let me offer my compliments. Bosny had up a nice mixed selection of his sketches, drawings, portraits, and some color pieces he had put together over the last while. The portraits were spot on,

very detailed, and certainly show off his ability to translate real life subjects onto paper. His color pieces were more engaging and also incorporated his skills at rendering portraits. It looked like he had played with watercolors or something on a couple of the series he had up too. His sketches were ok, although I'm not really a good judge of that kind of thing.They didn't really grab me or anything though.

 

My favorite pieces that he presented were a drawing of a strong man with another guy in his stomach (reminiscent of the cartoon characters you see in Fallout) and two color pieces -one messy green/brown water color one & the red one in the window that looked a little like Jolie. Overall I think he's a very great artist but it would have been nice to see some larger works. 

The problem with this show wasn't so much the work that was being displayed, but rather how it was being displayed. If you're going to do a show at SubV then you have to put in some sizable pieces or figure out a way to present smaller pieces at a more engaging level for the viewer.

Putting small pieces up on the walls above the clothing, merchandise, and books dilutes the quality of the viewing: you have to strain your eyes and crane your neck just to get a look. It takes away from the experience and appreciation for the work that's up. If you are going to have smaller pieces  then perhaps instead of putting them high up on the walls try to frame them on stands and put them on top of the merchandise cases of hang them at around average eye level. That way the viewer can enjoy the pieces more comfortably and take in the finer details.

After watching the flick I made a quick move to the Sohoe & Getso show up in the Plateau. It was about midnight when I showed up and the place was packed from end to end with people. It must have been 106 degrees Celsius in there, no joke. I managed to make my way tot he back of the room to build a fort and figure out a plan of action to take on this monster of a show. After losing five pounds in sweat and making a couple of stops to say some hello's, I proceeded to try to get a few shots of the work that up.

I have to say that I was really impressed with the collection of works that were up. The room was a loft space (no idea who's but good lookin' out on the spot) that was deep and wide enough to provide a great viewing area for the pieces being displayed. There was also a wide spectrum: color canvasses and pieces in oil, acrylic, and marker, black and white canvasses, sketches and drawings, and there was some kind of weird hair thing going on too.

The quality of the work was excellent and there was a lot of it up from end to end so there was plenty to look at and enjoy if you could get through the wall of bodies. There was also a few works up by other artists (forgive me as I was unable to get their names) besides Sohoe & Getso which also added to the variety already present in the work.

The problem I had with this show wasn't that the venue sucked -it clearly didn't- but it seemed more like a party with art on the walls than it did an actual art show.

 

The music was cool, the people were in a festive mood, and there were plenty of smiles on everyone's faces, so things were going well on the party end of things. But the place was so packed that it made navigating anywhere nearly impossible without stepping on some of them.

Admittedly, I showed up there at midnight, a few hours after it had started, so I had to expect some measure of festivities by that point. But this place was batshit crazy by the time I showed up. It was so packed in there that people were pressed up against some of the pieces on the walls. But I managed to make my way through most of it, broker some clearance to get some semi quality shots of the work, and survive the blistering swelter of the Hundred Hipster Army that was in attendance. It's difficult to choose my favorite piece from this show because there were so many great ones up.

But if I had to choose I'd say the Bart Simpson collage piece, the Zombies by the door, the three headed chick piece, the black and white canvasses, the green faced dude, and that whole corner where the Simpson piece was. All that stuff was dope. I also digged Sohoe's series centered around his "Eh?" piece, I thought that as a series it all went well together along with the "So Holy" letters over three canvasses and the other canvass he brought back from the show at Roy Bar just a few months ago. So I pretty much liked everything.

The whole hair thing had me a little perplexed though, I wasn't sure of the connection to the pieces that were up, except for a nice drawing of some hair by the door. That display was kind of misplaced among the rest of the work but I found the central poster intriguing in its call to attention of citizens to delineate between private and public spaces. There wasn't much more to it than that though so it kind of sold itself short there. Maybe I missed the point, I don't know. The drawings were really nice and thought provoking though.

I was only there for about an hour or so but from what I gathered the party was  a big success, more people were streaming in even as I left. I have no way of knowing what the prices of the pieces were or who to contact since I have only recently met Sohoe & Getso and have no contact info for them as of yet. But check these pics of their work and as soon as I have some contact info I'll post it for those interested in purchasing anything from them. If anyone is interested in the Bosny work then you can contact SubV here for that info.

So all in all I had a great night, the art was great though the venues and presentation could have been better, and the party was barn burner from what I gathered.

I'll have more from TA, Turcot, and CBR soon so stay posted.