Events
Events during Art Rock Summer, June 16 - August 12, 2023
July 7 - Art Rock 33: Strawberry, House Wind and Arti Arti Arti
July 8 - Art Rock 33 ⅓: Kamikaze Nurse, Puzzlehead, TJ Felix and the Fiddleheads and YEP
July 15 - An Afternoon Recital with Vomit Fraud
July 22 - Robert Dayton (and The Beach Boys) with special guest The Canadian Romantic
July 27 - Screening of Downtown 81
August 12 - Dog Day Afternoon: Mason Rezazadeh and Jesse Fernandez
Art Rock 33
Friday July 7, 6pm
Libby Leshgold Gallery
Strawberry, House Wind and Arti Arti Arti
ArtiArtiArti (Arti Struyanskiy) is an electronic and dance music project rooted in everything that loops, feedbacks and reverberates.
House Wind (Matthew Budden) originated in early 2018 through an invitation by Agonyklub to contribute to AK05. Using tangible analog tools like plastic strips and paper clips to treat the guitar’s sonic palette, these preparations change the instrument's behavior, perpetually refreshing the dialogue between the artist and his materials.
Strawberry is a music project by Barry Doupé and Dennis Ha. It has performed at various artist initiated events throughout Vancouver, such as the live music series art rock?, Artspeak Radio Digest, and at the Or Gallery fundraiser. Each of the performances is unique and the duo has invited collaborators to join, including artist Arvo Leo and art historian Marie-France Berard.
Art Rock 33 ⅓
Saturday July 8, 2-6pm
ECUAD Cafeteria Patio
Kamikaze Nurse, Puzzlehead, TJ Felix and the Fiddleheads and YEP
KC Wei, John Brennan, Ethan Reyes, and Sonya Eui make up Kamikaze Nurse. They have released two full-length records, Bucky Fleur (2019, Agonyklub), and Stimuloso (2022, Mint Records). Named after Simone Weil’s humanitarian death wish, their music manifests otherly imagery and memories via shoegazey rock music. They are currently working on an interactive web-game, and a third album.
Puzzlehead is an amorphous rock cosplay led by Katayoon Yousefbigloo. Masking poetic sincerity under layers of guitar wank, Puzzlehead is guaranteed to get you hard (metaphorically speaking).
TJ Felix is a two-spirit Qelmucw from the Splatsin region of Secwepemculecw as well as a musician, multidisciplinary artist, colonial law breaker, drug user rights advocate & english language unlerner amongst many other things. They are currently missing home and paying absurdly high rent on the stolen lands of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
TJ will be joined on stage by three local renegade superstars known here on Earth as Matthew Aramis (guitar, saxophone, backing vox), Juniper Lee (drums, backing vox) and Phoenix Robson (bass, backing vox) and their band is called The Fiddleheads.
Yep is a synth-led prog rock power trio made up of long-time friends Madison Mayhew, Gil Goletski, and Craig Stensrud. Their new single, “Reprimand,” will be released this summer – an eight-minute epic about shame in all its psychic and spiritual manifestations, inspired by imagery from a 1980s Scientology manual.
AN AFTERNOON RECITAL BY VOMIT FRAUD
Libby Leshgold Gallery
July 15, 2 pm
Vomit Fraud (VF) is a "band" that makes "music." We're not in this for the money: we do it for the people. VF is: Brady Cranfield, electronic things; Kay Higgins, unearthly howling.
We invite you to join us for an intimate concert in an art gallery. Maybe we'll play some Schubert or something.
Brady Cranfield is a Vancouver-based sound and visual artist, musician, and writer. He holds a MA in Communications and a MFA from Simon Fraser University. He is the founder and co-organizer (in collaboration with the artist Kathy Slade) of the ongoing public art project The Music Appreciation Society, and he frequently collaborates with artist Jamie Hilder. He is currently also a member of the improv/electronic/jazz trio Alfred Jarry and the duo Vomit Fraud with Kay Higgins.
Kay Higgins is a cultural worker and artist based in Vancouver on the unceded, traditional, and ancestral territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. She is co-proprietor (with Kathy Slade) of the press Publication Studio Vancouver and has co-founded and directed several artist-run organizations during her career. She is currently Head of Publishing at the Libby Leshgold Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, and Editor of ECU Press. Her work has included manufactured publications, handmade artist books, public inscription, photography, and internet-based projects. She has been a curator, editor, factory and warehouse labourer, technology consultant, and candidate for municipal office. She is also one half of the electronic music duo Vomit Fraud (with Brady Cranfield).
ROBERT DAYTON (AND THE BEACH BOYS)
WITH SPECIAL GUEST: THE CANADIAN ROMANTIC
Libby Leshgold Gallery
July 22, 2 pm
For Robert Dayton's performance with The Beach Boys, he will be utilizing his entire being while accompanied by The Beach Boys Stack-o-Tracks LP, an instrumental album consisting of backing tracks to many of The Beach Boys' songs.
The Canadian Romantic is a character created by Robert, a melodramatic figure of faded glamour who tries to bridge and explore the gap between Canada and romance with somewhat dubious results. So far he exists through live performance (having performed across Canada and the U.S.A.), a series of videos, an album with music by Marker Starling (unreleased), a lenticular winking photo, a doll, and an art book (Publication Studio Vancouver, 2013).
Robert Dayton is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Fort St. John, British Columbia. For many years he lived in Vancouver and was deeply involved in the musical projects Canned Hamm and July Fourth Toilet. He holds a BFA from Emily Carr and an MFA from The University of Waterloo. Visit: www.robertdayton.com
DOWNTOWN 81 (screening)
Emily Carr University Mini-Cinema, room D1375, first floor
July 27, 7 pm
Directed by Edo Bertoglio, and starring Jean-Michel Basquiat, Downtown 81 was released in 2000, using footage that was shot in 1980 and 1981 featuring bands from the No Wave and Post-punk scenes in Manhattan. The soundtrack boasts music by Basquiat as well as John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, DNA, Tuxedomoon, the Plastics, Marvin Pontiac, Kenny Burrell, the Specials, Chris Stein, Melle Mel with Blondie, Liquid Liquid, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, James White and the Blacks, Vincent Gallo, Lydia Lunch, and Suicide.
DOG DAY AFTERNOON: MASON REZAZADEH AND JESSE FERNANDEZ
Libby Leshgold Gallery
Saturday August 12, 2 pm - 5 pm
To bring Art Rock Summer to a close, Mason Rezazadeh and Jesse Fernandez will perform a marathon jam, repetitively playing the Stooges’ 1969 classic song I Wanna Be Your Dog past the point of exhaustion and absurdity, in the manner of the classic “endurance performances” of performance artists in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Refreshments and ear protection will be available.
Mason Rezazadeh (b.1994) lives and works in so called Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Mason’s ongoing performance often includes painting, sound or text.
Jesse Fernandez (b.1997) lives in so called Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Jesse needs a cigarette.
Art Rock Summer poster by William Anderson, 2023.
Art Rock Summer poster by Maya Bar-Elan, 2023.
