Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 131

Documentary Film: Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case Opens in Toronto May 16 2014

From a media release:

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case
Directed by Andreas Johnsen

• Opens in Toronto – May 16, 2014 – Bloor Hot Docs Cinema – 506 Bloor St. W.

(Toronto)  After its super successful run at Hot Docs, KINOSMITH is proud to present the theatrical premiere of Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, directed by Andreas Johnsen, opening May 16 at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto.

In April 2011, world famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is kidnapped by the Chinese authorities and detained at a secret location. 81 days later he was released, but put under house arrest.

The man we had known as an unstoppable fighter for the freedom of speech is merely a shadow of himself. He suffers from sleeping disorder and memory loss. There are 18 cameras monitoring his studio and home. Police agents follow his every move, and heavy restrictions from the Kafkaesque Chinese authorities weigh him down.

Ai Weiwei says “if I don’t share my voice, if I don’t act as I believe, then I am dead already.”

Journalists, the art world and his family all want a piece of him. On top of it all he is met with a gigantic lawsuit from the Chinese government, soon to be named ‘The Fake Case’ in reference to the obvious false reasons behind the accusations.

“I’ve had no intention of giving a broad, many-voiced view of China or to let a lot of people express their opinions of Ai Weiwei,” says director Andreas Johnsen, “I’ll let the audience judge for itself by seeing the China that Ai Weiwei sees, the China that he experiences: as a privileged artist, but also as a constantly monitored, restricted and oppressed human being. My ambition was to be as ‘pure’ as I could in my point of view, sharing the eyes of Ai Weiwei in the way I looked at China.”

Jazz at Lincoln Center - René Marie’s I WANNA BE EVIL: WITH LOVE TO EARTHA KITT Opens Tonight (May 15) to May 18 2014

From a media release:

René Marie’s
I WANNA BE EVIL: WITH LOVE TO EARTHA KITT
Jazz at Lincoln Center
Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola
3 Columbus Circle (59th and Broadway)

Thursday, May 15 – Sunday, May 18, 2014
7:30 pm & 9:30 pm
Tickets: $25-$45
To purchase tickets: www.jalc.org - 212.258.9595
Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office - 3 Columbus Circle

NEW YORK CITY - René Marie – singer, actress, writer. Eartha Kitt – singer, actress, writer. Never before has there been a vocal performance tipping the hat to the divine Ms. Kitt and her fiery, sensual and clever interpretations of songs. With her incredible range of vocal ability, her powerful emotional resonance and strong independent streak, René is the right artist to conceive of this historic project called I Wanna Be Evil: With Love to Eartha Kitt.

This brilliantly entertaining live performance burnishes René’s reputation as the most provocative risk-taker among today’s jazz divas. Eartha Kitt’s daughter Kitt Shapiro, said: "It's wonderful that such a talented artist like René Marie has recorded the first tribute album to my mother, helping to keep her memory and spirit alive. These classic songs deserve to be heard and loved by all generations."

The live performance of I Wanna Be Evil features classic Eartha Kitt songs like “C’est Si Bon,” “Peel Me a Grape,” and “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and lesser-known mischievous gems like “I’d Rather Be Burned As A Witch” and “I Wanna Be Evil.”

Don't miss this exciting to tribute to one of America's most renowned artists. Buy your tickets today!

Over 100 Free Arts Programs, 14 Parks, 5 Boroughs: Central Park SummerStage June 3 - August 24 2014

From a media release:

City Parks Foundation announces
SUMMERSTAGE
Over 100 FREE music, dance, film,
comedy, family and theater programs
in 14 parks across all 5 boroughs  
Season runs June 3 - August 24, 2014

New York, NY: City Parks Foundation proudly announces the 2014 season of SummerStage, New York's largest free performing arts festival, bringing over 100 free performances to 14 parks throughout the five boroughs. With performances ranging from American pop, Latin and World music to dance, comedy and theater, SummerStage fills a vital niche in New York City's summer arts festival landscape. Since its inception twenty-nine years ago, more than six million people from New York City and around the world have enjoyed SummerStage. The festival runs from June 3rd to August 24th.

This year, SummerStage and FANIA are teaming up in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the iconic label! Programs across the five boroughs will celebrate and reflect on FANIA, showcasing both the past and present performers in the neighborhoods where this movement was born.  Music lovers will enjoy everyone from legends such as Roberto Roena, Joe Bataan, and Ismael Miranda to more modern decedents of the FANIA sounds,  including Chilean hip-hop fusion artist Ana Tijoux and psychedelic Salsa group La Mecánica Popular. A very special Fania All Stars show will close out the season in Central Park, an outdoor event that is sure to be reminiscent of their 1976 Yankee Stadium concert. The series will be multidisciplinary, and include Dance, Music, Poetry, Film, Panels and Family Programming.



The 2014 Dance programs of SummerStage will open with award-winning tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith, as he takes the stage in Brooklyn with renowned musician/singer/composer Owen "Fiidla" Brown. In July, fans will welcome Ballet Hispanico, recognized as the nation's premier Latino dance organization, who will perform under the stars on two not to be missed evenings. Their Central Park performance on July 16th will include a special piece celebrating the life and music of Celia Cruz on the anniversary of her 2002 performance in Central Park and her 2003 passing. Rounding out the season will be African dance company Urban Bush Women, who will present works in celebration of their 30th anniversary, and a diverse bill specially curated by arts writer Valerie Gladstone.

Theater-goers will welcome Urban Theatre Movement's "Handball," an explosive take on gentrification in New York City set in a public park. SummerStage Theater presented by Time Warner will also welcome The New York Neo-Futurists, who will perform their critically acclaimed, energetic signature show of original short plays, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Also not to be missed is "Ghetto Klown," Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo's wickedly funny one-man show.

"We are so excited to present our 2014 SummerStage season in celebration of FANIA and the 50th anniversary. Our fans will be wowed by new and intriguing talent as well as legends that spearheaded the musical movement right here in New York City five decades ago." says City Parks Foundation President, Alison Tocci. "SummerStage has something for everyone of all ages and all artistic tastes, so we hope to see you out in the park."

For the most up-to-date scheduling and line-up for all SummerStage programming, follow SummerStage via the below links.  For festival information, visit www.SummerStage.org

Twitter: @SummerStage
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/SummerStageNYC

TDT invites Toronto theatre and visual artists to choreograph ten solos for the company in On Display May 22-31 2014

From a media release:

TDT invites Toronto theatre and visual artists to choreograph ten solos for the company in
On Display May 22-31, 2014

• Tickets

Toronto, ON  –  Toronto  Dance  Theatre  (TDT)  welcomes some of Toronto’s most dynamic theatre and visual artists to create ten solos for the TDT company in a fresh and playful approach to the body across disciplines. On Display is on stage May 22-25 & 28-31, 2014 at the Winchester Street Theatre.

On Display guest artists include Aleesa Cohene, Chris Curreri with Bridget Moser, Brendan Healy, Oliver Husain, Sook-Yin Lee, Tawiah M’Carthy, Laura Nanni, Paulette Phillips, Jordan Tannahill, and Evan Webber. Each guest will collaborate with a TDT dancer, drawing upon their distinctive artistic sensibilities to create a 5-7 minute solo work.

Developed from the desire to celebrate the melting away of barriers between the art forms, On Display demonstrates the creative fluidity that has emerged in our city. Artistic Director Christopher House says, "I am thrilled to be bringing together such a stellar group of creators for On Display. Each of these important artists, coming from new theatre practices, visual arts and performance, has shown an interest in the body and in expanded definitions of choreography. Their willingness to collaborate with TDT on this project captures the spirit of adventure, and appetite for collaboration across disciplines, that is at the core of performance in Toronto today."

Paired with our guest artists are TDT performers Alana Elmer, Mairi Greig, Syreeta Hector, Christopher House, Yuichiro Inoue, Pulga Muchochoma, Jarrett Siddall, Kaitlin Standeven, Brodie Stevenson, and Naishi Wang.

PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester Street
Thu May 22 – Sat May 24, 8:00PM
Sun May 25, 2:00PM (Pay What You Can)
Wed May 28 – Sat May 31, 8:00PM

Tickets:  $20 Student/Senior/CADA | $26 General
Tickets are on sale now through www.tdt.org/ondisplay http://ondisplay.eventbrite.ca/ or call 416.967.1365 | www.tdt.org

Experimental Electronic Heaven: NAZORANAI - NYC Premiere with Keiji Haino, Stephen O'Malley & Oren Ambarchi May 21 2014

From a release:

NAZORANAI - NY Premiere
with Keiji Haino, Stephen O'Malley
and Oren Ambarchi
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Presented in Partnership with ISSUE Project Room + desertshore

THE WICK is at 260 Meserole Street
Two Blocks from the Montrose L Train Stop
Doors at 8:00pm, Show at 9:00pm
$20 in Advance / $25 at Door (Cash Only)
21 and Over Only - ID Required - Full Bar Available

• Tickets Available Online Now

BROOKLYN (NEW YORK) - On Wednesday May 21st, 8pm, THE WICK and ISSUE Project Room are pleased to present Nazoronai in their first New York performance. A recent collaboration of the legendary Keiji Haino (guitar, vocals & synth), Stephen O'Malley (bass) and Oren Ambarchi (percussion), Nazoranai unites three extraordinary experimental operators of doom, noise and power electronics.

One of most widely recognized and celebrated guitarists to come out of Japanese underground rock scene of the 1970s, Keiji Haino is well-known for his harsh blues-inspired solo guitar performances and torrential walls of sound with his band Fushitsusha. Much of his work bears an insular singularity, but his varied output eschews a signature style. For the last 40 years Haino has been prolific in his output and collaborations, working with everyone from Faust, Boris, Derek Bailey, Loren Connors, Stephen O'Malley, Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke and John Zorn.

Stephen O'Malley is the guitarist and founder of numerous seminal groups including Sunn O))), Khanate and Burning Witch among others. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Seattle, he eventually spent a decade in New York and presently is based in Paris. As a composer and musician he has been involved in hundreds of concerts and performances around the world over since 1993. His collaborators have included Boris, Merzbow, Jim O'Rourke, Keiji Haino and Oren Ambarchi to French theatre specialist Gisèle Vienne, American sculptor Banks Violette, Italian performance artist Nico Vascellari and Belgian filmmaker Alexis Destoop, among many others.  Since 2011 he has curated the label Ideologic Organ.

Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His works are hesitant and tense extended songforms located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; hushed, pensive songwriting; the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the physicality of rock music, slowed down and stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal. Ambarchi has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists such as Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji Haino, John Zorn, Dave Grohl, z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg, Merzbow and many more. Since 2004 Ambarchi has worked with American avant metal outfit Sunn 0))) contributing to many of their releases and side-projects including their Black One album from 2005 and the recent Monoliths & Dimensions release.

THE WICK
260 Meserole Street, Bushwick BK
# 347 779 1049  *  TheWickNYC.com

Nazoranai - Feel The Ultimate Joy Towards The Resolve Of Pillar Being Shattered Within You II

​Book Signing with Acclaimed Trinidadian Author NATHALIE TAGHABONI (QUEEN MACOOMEH) May 24 2014 in Toronto

From a release:

​Book Signing
with
Acclaimed Trinidadian Author
NATHALIE TAGHABONI (QUEEN MACOOMEH)
at A Different Booklist (Toronto)
May 24, 2014 - 4-6pm

Nathalie Taghaboni was born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Toronto, Canada. She currently resides in the United States with her husband and two children.

She is a freelance photojournalist and the author of a collection of dialect short stories called Tales from Icebox Land, written under her pen name, Queen Macoomeh.

Santimanitay is the sequel to Across From Lapeyrouse, her first fiction novel.

A Different Booklist
746 Bathurst Street
Toronto ON  M5S 2R6
Phone: 416.538.0889   
Fax: 416.538.6914
Email: info@adifferentbooklist.com

Art News: Canadian Supreme Court Unanimously Decides in Favour of Artists in Pay Dispute

From a media release:

Supreme Court unanimously decides in favour of artists

Ottawa, Wednesday, May 14, 2014 – Visual artists had a big victory today at the Supreme Court in the fight for minimum artist fees at the National Gallery of Canada. In a unanimous decision from the bench, the court allowed an appeal on behalf of artist restoring an earlier decision that found in their favour.

At issue was a perceived conflict between the Status of the Artist Act and the Copyright Act. The associations that represent artists, CARFAC and RAAV, had been trying to negotiate binding minimum fees for the payment of artists at the gallery, similar to a minimum wage. The gallery essentially argued CARFAC and RAAV, were taking away the right of artists to be paid less if they chose. In allowing the appeal, the court rejected this argument and, in an unusual move, ruled immediately after oral arguments.

Artists from across Canada in attendance were delighted with the results. “It’s a good day for artists,” said Grant McConnell, president of CARFAC. “This is a major victory for all artists in Canada and Quebec.”

“We are looking forward to resuming negotiations as we always wanted to do since 2003,” said Karl Beveridge, co-chair of the negotiation committee.

Background
For the last 11 years, the organizations that represent visual artists, CARFAC & RAAV, have been trying to negotiate standards for the payment of artists at the National Gallery that would be binding - similar to a minimum wage. In 2007, the gallery suddenly refused to negotiate these fees; they argue that artists have the right to be paid less if they choose.

The gallery was initially found guilty of bargaining in bad faith but this was overturned in a split decision by the Federal Court of Appeal in March 2013.

Half of visual artists in Canada earn less than $8000/year. Most artists want to have their work in the National Gallery, and there is a lot of pressure to give away their rights. Setting binding minimum fees would relieve that pressure and ensure that all artists who work with the National Gallery are treated fairly. Artists would still be free to negotiate higher rates.

Artists of all disciplines have been watching this case with interest as it could have an impact on other agreements signed between artist associations and federal institutions in Canada such as those of the Writer’s Guild of Canada and the Canadian Screenwriters Collection Society. Both groups will be acting as interveners at the hearing.

21C Festival of newly minted music May 21 to 25 2014 in Toronto

From a media release:

21C Festival
of newly minted music
May 21 to 25, 2014
at Koerner Hall, Toronto

TORONTO - In this festival of newly-minted music, today’s most fearless musicians and composers bring us fresh new sounds and ideas. Over five nights, eight concerts featuring mostly music composed in the 21st century will be presented as part of Koerner Hall’s fifth anniversary concert season, which will include 12 world, one North American, two Canadian, and five Toronto premieres, in addition to five more works by John Cage, Michael Colgrass, Morton Feldman, Leo Ornstein, and Canadian icon R. Murray Schafer. The Royal Conservatory of Music has commissioned four pieces (Javier Limón’s Requiem Flamenco, Chilly Gonzales’s Suite from “The Shadow,” Trichy Sankaran’s HAMSA, and Jennifer Higdon’s Dooryard Bloom) and co-commissioned four more (by Jia Guoping, Shi Fuhong, Zosha Di Castri, and Christopher Mayo). The works traverse the worlds of classical, jazz, pop, and South Asian genres. 

“Michael and Sonja Koerner have been champions of the creative process and commissioners of new works for much of their lives. It came as no surprise that Koerner Hall, named in their honour, was opened in 2009 with Beethoven, but also solo piano works by Györgi Ligeti and a new orchestral and choral work by their long-time friend, R. Murray Schafer. The Conservatory is extremely grateful for Michael and Sonja’s support and encouragement that enabled us to launch an annual festival of new works,” said Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory.

Michael Koerner remarked: “Charles Ives, the American composer-iconoclast wrote outrageously courageous music about 100 years ago and when asked what he was up to, he would say “I want to stretch your ears.” This 21C Music Festival is just about that: ear stretching.”



On Thursday, May 22, a concert titled FASTER STILL ANAÏS NIN will include a world premiere of String Quartet No. 3 (The Questioning) by Canadian composer Christos Hatzis, written for and played by the Afiara String Quartet, The Conservatory’s quartet-in-residence. The Toronto premiere of Canadian composer Brian Current’s Faster Still, a piece that is part of a series of works that feature constantly changing tempos, will be performed by the Nyx Quartet (ensemble formed by students of The Glenn Gould School), Véronique Mathieu on violin, and Claudia Chan on piano. Both Ms. Mathieu and Ms. Chan are Royal Conservatory alumnae. The Canadian premiere of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s Anaïs Nin, a semi-staged work for chamber ensemble, video, and soprano, based on the diary entries of Anaïs Nin, will be performed by Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta and 21C Ensemble. The work is staged by Liza Balkan, with the help of videographer Valerie Buhagiar. This very special evening also serves as a celebration of the 80th birthday of R. Murray Schafer, who has been composer-in-residence at The Conservatory since 2010, with the performance of his Quintet for Piano and Strings, played by The Conservatory’s own ARC Ensemble.

chilly eve of lemon cane on Friday, May 23, features three world premieres – by Canadian, Spanish, and American composers – that stretch the boundaries of classical music. Grammy Award nominated jazz pianist Uri Caine will offer a piano quintet (commissioned by The Banff Centre) to be played by the Afiara String Quartet and himself, titled Jagged Edges, inspired by the dramatic landscape of The Banff Centre in the Canadian Rockies. 2013 Grammy Award winner (for his work with Daft Punk), pianist, producer of numerous artists including Feist and Drake, provocateur, and Royal Conservatory alumnus, Chilly Gonzales, debuts his Suite from “The Shadow” (commissioned by The Royal Conservatory), written for a chamber ensemble that includes the composer at the piano. Gonzales said: “For years I’ve entertained the idea of writing some dramatic music around this fairy tale for adults by Hans Christian Andersen. Somehow, I haven’t managed to compose the full Wagnerian blockbuster this deserves to be. But in the meantime, here is a suite for chamber ensemble depicting a man at odds with his own shadow. It contains my first self-conscious waltz, a few glaring “leitmotifs,” and some sentimentality that I just couldn’t resist adding.”



Flamenco guitarist and producer Javier Limón, who made his Koerner Hall debut during the 2012-13 concert season with Amanda Martinez, debuts his first string quartet, Requiem Flamenco (commissioned by The Royal Conservatory), performed by the Afiara String Quartet and Alberto Suarez on the cajón. Finally, Toronto-based pianist/composer Eve Egoyan teams up with visual artist David Rokeby for the Toronto premiere of their piece, Surface Tension, a collaborative work for disklavier piano (an acoustic piano with a computer interface) and interactive video.

In NIGHT BLOOMS on Saturday, May 24, Marc-André Hamelin, one of Canada’s most prodigious piano talents, is featured in works that look back to 20th century stalwarts and forward with a new piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon. Hamelin plays The Perilous Night, a solo work for prepared piano by John Cage, and is joined by the Pacifica Quartet for Leo Orenstein’s Piano Quintet, a still thoroughly modern piece, written in 1927. Finally, Hamelin and the Pacifica Quartet are joined by a Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins for the Canadian premiere of a work by Higdon, titled Dooryard Bloom (commissioned by The Royal Conservatory). Dooryard Bloom is based on Walt Whitman’s poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” which he wrote in response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Marc-André Hamelin appears for the second time during the 21C Music Festival on Sunday, May 25, in a concert titled HUSH!, which features a rare performance of For Bunita Marcus, a 70-minute work for solo piano marked entirely triple piano by the late American composer Morton Feldman.         

On two evenings, following mainstage Koerner Hall performances, Festival After Hours concerts will be held in Conservatory Theatre, featuring new works in a causal setting. A cash bar will be open. On May 23, two Toronto-based Indian artists, Trichy Sankaran (mrdangam) and Gurpreet Chana (tabla), will perform. Mr. Chana, known as “The Tabla Guy,” presents his ground-breaking integration of tabla and technology that will start in a classical mode and then turn the Conservatory Theatre into a club as he morphs into dance beats. Internationally revered percussion master Sankaran performs the world premiere of Hamsa, commissioned by The Conservatory. On May 24, the Pacifica Quartet will perform the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s String Quartet No. 3 – GLITTER, DOOM, SHARDS, MEMORY for string quartet; flutists Susan Hoeppner and Leslie Newman play Andrew Staniland’s Flute vs Flute; and Sanya Eng (harp) and Ryan Scott (percussion) perform Michael Colgrass’s Pan Trio (steel player to be announced shortly).



The Royal Conservatory has partnered with New Music Concerts Ensemble (under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Robert Aitken) and Esprit Orchestra (conducted by Founding Music Director Alex Pauk) who will present two of their respective season’s concerts as part of the inaugural edition of the 21C Music Festival. On May 21, New Music Concerts presents New Beijing will feature pipa virtuoso Lan Weiwei, who coordinates a contemporary music program at the Beijing Conservatory. New Music Concerts has invited Weiwei’s colleagues Jia Guoping, Shi Fuhong, and Chen Xiaoyong to compose new works for her (commissioned by New Music Concerts with funding from The Royal Conservatory and Roger D. Moore), featuring pipa in combination with western instruments. Shi Fuhong’s piece is titled Mountains and Seas, and the concert will also include Chinese-Canadian composer and Conservatory alumna Alexina Louie’s Imaginary Opera. On May 25, Esprit Orchestra presents Mysteries will include premieres of new works by two important emerging Canadian composers living and working abroad: Zosha Di Castri (world premiere) and Christopher Mayo (world premiere of a work for soprano, two mezzo-sopranos, alto, and orchestra). The program will also feature the North American premiere of Mysteriën, a new piece by Louis Andriessen, as well as the Toronto premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Out of Black Dust.

Additional events:
All of the performances starting at 8:00pm will also include either a pre- or post-concert artist/composer chats, with the pre-concert events starting at 7:15pm. Additionally, Chilly Gonzales launches his Re-Introduction Etudes, a book of études for solo piano, with a discussion and selections performed by students from The Royal Conservatory, on Saturday, May 24, at 2:00pm in Mazzoleni Concert Hall, located in the historic Ihnatowycz Hall.

NB - since these are premieres, naturally the videos present earlier works by these artists.

The Lisabel Suite Launches at the InterContinental Toronto Centre (featuring the work of artist Lisabel)

With material from a media release:

Contemporary Art & Marketing:
The Lisabel Suite
Launches at the InterContinental Toronto Centre
featuring the work of artist Lisabel

TORONTO - I had the opportunity to check out the newly launched Lisabel suite at the InterContinental Toronto Centre and speak to the artist and agent/co-partner Glenn Miller.

Lisabel's bold abstract works greet you from the lobby along with - for a limited time - the Lamborghini Art Car that's gotten her eye popping and colourful makeover.

Her pieces are bright and wonderfully textural and made of composite materials - a medium, as it turns out, where you could say she has some history. Self-taught as an artist, she was actually one of the first female graduates of a program in composite materials from CEGEP de St-Jérôme, QC.

"I sold engineering and chemical products," she recalls - all while working on creative projects. She began her artistic career during a stint in Atlanta. "I made about 20 pieces and sold many of them."

"It was my dream to do this," she says of the life of an artist. "In 2007, I had a big roller blade accident - I broke my back, my wrist. It was difficult. God decided for me." Choosing to pursue art full-time proved to be fortuitous. Later in 2007 she won the first Grand Prize in Distinctive Techniques at the 24th International Visual Arts, Sound and Light Gala Contest held by the Cercle des artistes peintres et sculpteurs du Québec and it began the process of raising her profile in the arts scene. Together with Glenn Miller, she now owns and runs a studio and gallery in Montreal and her work has been shown in Europe and North America and is part of collections all over the world.

The Lisabel Suite is a themed suite at the InterContinental - the second such project (the first having launched in Montreal in 2010). It's not only an opportunity for the artist to market work in a new way, but also to bring art into the public sphere in a space outside the sometimes too rarefied atmosphere of the gallery.

Glenn is her agent and co-partner. "I had a 50-year vision of the business. I wanted to build a brand," he says. He began by considering projects involving strong global brands and approached the InterContinental in Montreal. They sold InterContinental on showing some of Lisabel's work in their lobby and then - prodded in part by the general blandness of hotel room decor worldwide - expanded by suggesting the concept of creating a theme out a hotel suite.

The result was what is now one of the honeymoon suites at the InterContinental in Montreal, for which Lisabel made an exclusive collection of pieces. Her work has an immediate appeal - striking, textural and with a richly saturated palette of colour - that adds a distinct note of urbam glamour to the typically neutral tones of the hotel suite.

"Once you've done that, you've created a concept that you can market," Glenn explains. "Once a year we change the collection. There will only be one Lisabel Suite in town."

The goal is to expand the idea across the globe. "I want to change the way art is viewed. I want to change the way art is sold," Glenn says.

About the Lamborghini Art Car
Grand Touring Automobiles (GTA) presents an exclusive custom-designed 2012 Lamborghini Gallardo 560-4. The stunning work of art was created by world-renowned, Canadian artist Lisabel - who painted the original work in composite materials (the same medium that the shell of the Lamborghini is made of), recast them in 3M vinyl, and then enveloped the Lamborghini in the material.

Lisabel joined forces with Lamborghini to fuse the technological fit and the beauty of her art, with the world's most artistic, desired car. "The car served as a source of inspiration to bring a feminine artistic touch to the sexiest modern car today", shares Lisabel.

"GTA and Lisabel share the same clientele and many of the same brand attributes, such as high-performance and exclusivity. The Gallardo is a true exotic, and the one prepared by Lisabel is truly art on wheels. It's sexy, too." says Shawn Morris, Vice-President of Operations at Grand Touring Automobiles.

About the Lisabel Suite
The newly renovated 540 square foot suite showcases the sleek and sophisticated urban art of Lisabel, bringing dramatic presence to the understated luxury of InterContinental Toronto Centre, while creating a residential experience with a welcoming, comfortable atmosphere. Low profile furnishings were smartly used to afford uninterrupted city views. The new Lisabel Suite integrates classic design and textures with contemporary murals.

“We are delighted to have this partnership with Lisabel. Her vibrant urban art is a perfect match with our sleek and contemporary hotel design and dynamic downtown city feel” says Alexi Hakim, General Manager, InterContinental Toronto Centre.

LIve in NYC: - THE M&M'S: John Medeski, Papa Mali, Rob Mercurio and Stanton Moore May 15, 2014

From a media release:

THE M&M'S: 
John Medeski, Papa Mali, Rob Mercurio and Stanton Moore
at Stage 48 - 605 West 48th Street, NYC
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Doors at 7:00pm, Show at 8:00pm
Tickets are $25 advance / $30 at door
General Admission, 16 or Over to Enter - Full Bar and Restaurant

NEW YORK CITY - CEG, in partnership with Equifunk, presents The M&M's: a collection of America's favorite jazz, funk and jam musicians joining together to melt in your mind, not in your hands. Featuring John Medeski (of Medeski Martin & Wood); Papa Mali (of 7 Walkers); Rob Mercurio and Stanton Moore (of Galactic), these guys are all legends in their own right. But together? That is some serious ear candy. 

The M&M's first performed at NYC's Le Poisson Rouge in May 2013 and then appeared at the August 2013 Equifunk Music Festival with special guest "M's" Maceo Parker and Marco Benevento.  "Melts In Your Mind", the band's first single, was recorded in New Orleans, where it was mixed by Claudio Cueni and mastered by Kurt Wipfl for Forever Humble Records.

STAGE 48, located at 605 West 48th Street in Hell's Kitchen NYC, is a four floor, multi-use venue that hosts concerts, nightlife, private and corporate events. Built in the 1950s as a horse stable, the building has been completely remodeled based on the classic beauty of the original industrial architecture while incorporating complementary modern elements to create an ambience that is at once intimate and grandiose. A large horseshoe balcony overlooks the main floor, providing excellent site-lines of the 34-foot wide stage. Multiple elevated VIP areas are located throughout the venue. 

A newly installed state-of-the-art sound, lighting and video system ensures an A/V experience as powerful and inspiring as any in the city. Tickets to all shows are available in person at the Stage 48 box office Monday through Friday from 11AM to 6PM and two hours before any showtime.  Tickets may also be purchased online at Ticketweb.com

T Presents is an independent concert promoter based in NYC and Baltimore currently working with Stage 48, Baltimore Soundstage, SubCulture and other venues and events. This performance is powered by CEG Presents, producing NYC's best rock, funk, electronic, jazz, hip hop, heavy metal, blues and R&B shows.