FILM FESTIVAL: TORONTO
Hot Docs
Opening this week in Toronto is North America’s largest international documentary festival, which serves up a veritable slate of 197 films from 43 countries. Audiences delve into a diverse set of issues ranging from the absurd – zombies, for instance – to the sombre such as censorship in China. On Saturday, catch the international premiere of Love Me by US filmmaker Jonathon Narducci. It questions if happily-ever-afters can be found in the post, tracing Western men’s quest for true love through mail-order brides from Ukraine and Russia. For a perspective from the other side of the Atlantic, Ukraine is Not a Brothel by Australian filmmaker Kitty Green focuses on the work of Femen, a feminist organisation in the troubled nation.
In theatres across Toronto, see website for details. Until 4 May
hotdocs.ca
PHOTOGRAPHY: NEW YORK
Undercover
Opening this weekend at Brooklyn’s new Simon/Neuman2 Gallery is Undercover – a photo exhibition featuring the latest from American photographer Ruvan Wijesooriya and his Danish counterpart Albert Grøndahl. With a central theme of disguise, an air of mystery permeates the show. The artists explore the meaning of hiding behind a masque (both figuratively and literally) through images taken in both the chaos of the city and the stillness of the forest. Viewers can contemplate questions on the meaning of anonymity from now until 25 May.
Simon/Neuman2 Gallery, 540 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 12.00-19.00. Until 25 May.
simonneuman2gallery.com
PAINTING: BANGKOK
Somboon Hormtientong
Eight of Thai painter Somboon Hormtientong’s abstract oil-on-canvas works are on show at Bangkok's H Gallery until the end of the month. His paintings are all confident and dynamic geometric lines crisscrossing across the page in an almost brazen and careless manner. Yet the lineage is set against a minimalist background of cooler, calculated hues. The juxtaposition reflects the artist’s east-west duality – although born in Thailand, Hormtientong was formerly based in Germany. According to H Gallery, it’s “an inner dialogue of a person divided.”
H Gallery, 201 Sathorn Soi 12. Open Monday to Sunday, 10.00-18.00; closed Tuesday. Until 30 April.
hgallerybkk.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: MELBOURNE
Rosemary Laing: The Paper
The Paper is a new series of works from Australian artist Rosemary Laing, known for her projects featuring concept-based photography. Her latest works are set in the woodlands of Bundanon located in southern New South Wales, formerly the land of the Wodi Wodi people of the Yuin nation. During an artist residency at the Bundanon Trust (as the site is known today), Laing has carpeted 200 sq m of the forest with newspapers and photographed the decomposition process. But while making this work, the area was severely flooded. Inversely, this event has been fed into the work as the damage only sped up the decay of paper, creating even more unusual images.
Tolarno Galleries, Level 4, 104 Exhibition Street, Melbourne. Open Tuesday to Friday 10.00-17.00, Saturday 13.00-17.00. Until 3 May.
tolarnogalleries.com
MUSIC: GLOBAL
Teen: The Way and Color
Brooklyn band Teen are not trying to corner the Bieber or Miley Cyrus market, that name is actually evolved from bandleader Kristina ‘Teeny’ Lieberson’s own name. Lieberson was formerly a member of indie-pop types Here We Go Magic, and in Teen she carries the pop sensibility a little further into slicker, perhaps more chart-bound territory. But the songs on The Way and Color are anything but straightforward with enough unusual hooks and left-turns to keep people guessing. Justin’s got nothing to worry about.
'The Way and Color' is available to buy now.
teen-band.squarespace.com
