Montreal and Vancouver: New exhibitions featuring Jean Paul Gaultier and Claude Monet

LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER
MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
May 27 - October 9, 2017

Jean Paul Gaultier, Punk Parisienne collection, Women's pret-a-porter spring/summer 1997. Photo ©Rindoff-Garcia / Angeli

The Montreal Museum of Arts presents LOVE IS LOVE: WEDDING BLISS FOR ALL A LA JEAN PAUL GAULTIER. Opening May 27 and running through October 9, 2017 this original installation brings together more than three dozen of the French designer's haute couture bridal creations.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Gay Wedding collection. 'Les Maries' wedding ensemble, men's pret-a-porter spring/summer 2005. Photo ©Patrice Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier

The exhibition features 36 wedding gowns and suits created between 1990-2017, all designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. The exhibition LOVE IS LOVE is a reflection of the ongoing commitment of both Jean Paul Gaultier and the MMFA to promote the acceptance of diversity and continue the fight against homophobia. The show's title is an allusion to the speech given by President Barack Obama in 2015 regarding the legalization of homosexual marriage in all American states.

Jean Paul Gaultier, Cutters collection, 'La Mariee' wedding gown, haute couture spring/summer 2001. Photo ©Patrice Stable/JeanPaul Gaultier 

Presented in the museum's Contemporary Art Square, the exhibition is organized around a monumental wedding cake featuring female and male mannequins -- couples of every gender and orientation. The faces of some of the mannequins are animated. LOVE IS LOVE is part of the MMFA's Year for Peace, reflecting the Museum's humanist values and commitment to peace and acceptance.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

1380 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal Quebec

mbam.qc.ca

CLAUDE MONET'S SECRET GARDEN

VANCOUVER ART GALLERY

June 24 - October 1, 2017

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1903 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet, Paris
Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

Claude Monet's Secret Garden is being hailed as the most important exhibition of French painter Claude Monet's work that has been shown in Canada in two decades. The exhibition, from the collection of the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris, presents 38 paintings that span the course of Monet's long career. The Vancouver showing is the only presentation of the exhibition in North America. His art reflects a diversity of subjects, from the portrayal of modern life in his early figure studies to the inventive treatment of light in his scenes of the Parisian countryside and view of the River Thames. 

Claude Monet | Nympheas, 1916-19 | oil on canvas | Musee Marmottan Monet Paris | Photo ©Bridgeman Giraudon/Press

The exhibition culminates in a major series of paintings of his famous gardens in the French village of Giverny, where Monet lived from 1883 to the end of his life. In this series, Monet has created a visual exploration of plants and water. His renderings of weeping willows, waterlilies and the Japanese bridge in his garden are among the most iconic imagery in Western painting today. 

Stephen Shore | Waterlilies (from the Giverny Portfolio), 1977-83 | chromogenic print | collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery

Running as a complement to Claude Monet's Secret Garden is an exhibition by contemporary American photographer Stephen Shore. Twenty-five photographs from VAG's collection are being shown for the first time in Vancouver. Stephen Shore: The Giverny Portfolio is comprised of images he made during several visits to Monet's garden at Giverny between 1977-1983. 

Vancouver Art Gallery

750 Hornby Street, Vancouver

www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

IKEA Montreal Reopens as North America's Largest IKEA Store

Photo courtesy Image Source

Last month, IKEA's largest store in North America opened in Montreal. It was actually the reopening of IKEA Montreal, expanding the home furnishings store from 237,473 sq. ft. to 469,694 sq. ft. Now twice the size, it also has twice the number of products, which totals 9,000.

The new store includes 54 "inspirational" room settings; two full home settings; a 600-seat restaurant; 600 shopping carts; and 1,407 parking spots. The home furnishings store also has 48 checkout stands, and the larger warehouse makes it possible that kitchen customers take home their purchases the same day. 

There's also a new play area, Smaland, which features 40,000 balls for children to play with. Smaland is named after the province in southern Sweden where IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad was born in 1926. He was raised on Elmtaryd, a farm near the small village of Agunnaryd.

According to IKEA, the new construction is 40% more efficient than the stores built in the early 2000s. And due to the increase in the size of the Montreal store, 50 additional employees were hired. IKEA has 325 stores in 40 countries, with 12 in Canada:

Alberta: Calgary | Edmonton
British Columbia: Coquitlam | Richmond
Manitoba: Winnipeg
Ontario: Burlington | Etobicoke | North York | Ottawa | Vaughan
Quebec: Boucherville | Montreal

The new restaurant in IKEA Montreal.

Interior Design Show West in Vancouver: Western Canada's Premiere Residential Design Show

Exhibition area of the 2012 show

The 2013 edition of the Interior Design Show West, which opens in Vancouver on September 19, is Western Canada's premiere residential design show, The four-day event at the Vancouver Convention Centre West runs through September 22 and features 300 exhibits of the latest home and lifestyle products and services. The show typically draws more than 30,000 design enthusiasts, architects and designers. This year's speakers include Brian Gluckstein, The Design Agency, Kelly Deck, Tommy Smythe, and Anna Abbruzzo and Alain Courchesne of Igloodgn.

The H&L Laneway Feature Home, built by Alair Homes, focuses on small-space living. The unique concept home by interior designer (and Pinterest celeb) Gaile Guevara and her team at Modern 604 "promises to upend preconceived notions of laneway living" (I'm not sure what laneway living is!). In addition to touring the H&L Laneway Feature Home, attendees may bid to own. A live auction will be held at the show on Saturday, September 21, with net proceeds going to the Alzheimer Society of B.C. in honor of World Alzheimer's Day. 

Speakers Anna Abbruzzo and Aain Courchesne will address the topic of Maximal Minimalism: The New Canadian Design Aesthetic on Sunday, September 22 at 3PM. The award winning interior design duo behind Igloodgn, established in 2005 in Montreal, has a growing international clientele and opened a second office in Shanghai in 2012. They bring a passion and fresh approach to design, focusing on building a detailed brand identity from inception to completion. 

What's Your Design Dilemma?

Design queries will be answered during free 10-minute consultations with Interior Designers of Canada Registered Interior Designers. Bring photos, samples or floor plans and discuss your design dilemma with a qualified professional.

Interior Design Show 
Vancouver Convention Centre West 
1055 Canada Place
September 19-22, 2013
778.331.7720

Toronto's Design Exchange (DX) exhibition celebrates French shoe designer Christian Louboutin

Pigalle Ring Strass by Christian Louboutin. Photo by Luke Hayes.

A Christian Louboutin exhibition presented by Holt Renfrew opened at Toronto's Design Exchange on June 21 and runs through September 15, 2013. Curated by the Design Museum London in conjunction with the French shoe designer, it celebrates Louboutin's career that has pushed the boundaries of high fashion shoe design. 

Inspired by Louboutin's travels and personal inspirations, the exhibition reflects on his 20 years of design, revealing the artistry and theatricality of shoe designs that range from stilettos to lace-up boots, studded sneakers to bejeweled pumps. Here are some of the highlights: 

• Shoe collections are displayed on a whimsical carousel, along with decor inspired by dressing room mirrors, reflection and illusion
• Influenced by music, a large spinning top with a stepped piano keyboard displays shoes around a central mirrored column
• A landscape and architecture area is displayed in the form of a topiary garden
• An atelier section features imagery and decor taken directly from Louboutin's personal atelier
• Showgirls and the iconic red soled shoes are highlighted in a section featuring a live Dita von Teese hologram
• One-off designs allow visitors to engage with them via magnifying glasses, which give a detailed look into the ideas, forms and materials that make up the creations
• Various shoe silhouettes may be explored in projected shadow form, allowing viewers to challenge their perceptions of what compromises the perfect silhouette

Biography section of the exhibition. Photo by Luke Hayes.

The Design Exchange (DX) is Canada's only museum dedicated exclusively to the pursuit of design excellence and preservation of design heritage. At a crossroads of multiple disciplines from furniture and architecture to graphics and fashion, DX exhibitions and talks reflect popular contemporary culture.  The Design Exchange is located downton in the historic Toronto Stock Exchange building. Toronto is also the home of the Bata Shoe Museum.