Happy Halloween!

Hope you’re in the mood for a treat! This year, we’ve rounded up our favourite spooky eye candy for you to munch on. Artists have always been enamoured with the macabre, the monstrous, and the grotesque.

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Holiday Gift Guide

Affordable art for all!

The snow is sticking to the ground here in Montreal and that can only mean one thing – the holiday season is upon us. The art of gift giving can be tricky to master, so why not give the gift of art itself!

To help get you in the spirit, we have rounded up some of our current favourite artworks under $5,000 USD. Deck the walls with prints by Tyler Shields, watercolours by Vicky Christou, lithographic prints by César Paternosto, and many more!

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Alternatively, are you aware we offer gift cards? We realize art is entirely subjective and highly personal, therefore, a gift card makes the perfect gift for any occasion as you can rest assured the recipient will acquire something they love.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact us should any artists be of interest. Happy Holidays! 

Robert Kelly, Onda II, 2019, Relief, woodblock, collage, chine collé, 40 1/4 x 33 inches, Edition of 30

Jacob Hashimoto, The Necessary Invention of the Mind VI, 2020, Woodblock and Screenprint, 22 x 20 inches, Ed. of 37

Tyler Shields, Bubbles, 2017, Chromogenic print, 30 x 30 inches, Ed. of 3

Meaghan Hyckie, IRIX-2, 2020, Screenprint, 43 x 29 inches, Edition of 3

Vicky Christou, Assembly, 2020, Mixed media and watercolour on paper, 18.5 x 18.5 inches

Farah Atassi, Model in Studio 6 Seated Woman, 2021, Archival pigment print, 37 3/5 x 29 9/10 inches, Edtion of 45

Slim Aarons, Sea Drive, 1967, C-Print, 30 x 40 inches

Hunt Slonem, BW Bunny, 2018, Lithograph, 24 x 16 inches, Ed. of 5

Robert Cottingham, Hi, 2009, 40 1/8 x 39 1/8 inches, Edition of 100

César Paternosto, Untitled 1 & Untitled 4, 2019, Lithograph, 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches, Edition of 20

Kate Gibb, Hotel Motel (Mint), 2021, Screenprint, 57 x 45 inches, Edition of 15

Happy Halloween!

Tim Walker, Karen Elson at Piano with Singing Lion, Shotover House, 2013, Edition of 10

It’s spooky season! Wishing you all a witchy, candy-filled holiday. Get in the Halloween spirit with these fun pieces and please don’t hesitate to channel us should anything catch your eye.

Wayne Thiebaud, Dark Gumball Machine, 2017, 18 x 13 inches, Edition of 30

Andy Warhol, The Witch, 1981, 38 x 38 inches, Edition of 200

Vija Celmins, Untitled (Web I), 2001, 18 x 23.25 inches, Edition of 80

Donald Baechler, Abstract Composition with Skull, 2009, 35.5 x 35.5 inches, Edition of 24

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Can the Artworld Take a Joke?

 


Maurizio Cattelan, Comedian, for sale from Perrotin at Art Basel Miami Beach, 2019

For centuries, April Fool’s Day has been celebrated on the first day of the month, a frivolous, unofficial holiday filled with practical jokes and pranks. During these heavy times, we could all use some lightheartedness, so we are taking this opportunity to highlight memorable pranks that have been played on the art world.

Some may recall the fake glasses incident that occurred at the San Francisco MoMA in 2016. Puzzled by some of the overly simplistic conceptual art pieces they encountered, two teenagers strategically placed a pair of eyeglasses underneath a wall placard in the hopes of duping visitors. Within minutes, bystanders stopped to ponder the glasses and take photos, treating them as if they were a bona fide artwork in the museum’s exhibition.


Glasses placed on the floor at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2016

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While this case was a harmless teenage scheme, pranks have also been enacted by high profile artists. Most famously, Banksy orchestrated the destruction of one of his artworks during a live Sotheby’s auction that occurred in London in 2018. Immediately after the hammer pounded to solidify the sale of a Bansky painting for 1.4 million dollars, an alarm sounded and the artwork’s bottom half slid through an automatic shredder the artist himself concealed within its frame. This shocked the audience members as well as the auction house staff. The buyer ultimately decided to keep the partially destroyed artwork, whose titled officially changed from Girl with Balloon to Love in the Bin.

The most recent prank to send shockwaves throughout the art world was the infamous banana incident at Art Basel in Miami two years ago. The public became both bewildered and utterly fascinated by Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork showcased at the fair entitled, Comedian, which featured a ripe banana duct taped to the wall. Unbeknownst to the artist, performance artist David Datuna casually approached the artwork, grabbed the fruit off the wall and proceeded to eat it. This stunt elicited even more attention around the controversial piece. It is worth noting that three editions of this conceptual artwork sold, the first two selling at $120,000 before the price was raised to $150,000.

While certainly entertaining, these art pranks are not merely fatuous instances of harmless fun, as these spectacles catapulted these artworks into the canon of art history, potentially increasing their value significantly.


Banksy, Love is in the Bin, aerosol paint and acrylic paint on canvas, 40 x 31 inches, 2018 (originally Girl with Balloon, 2006)

Happy Valentine’s Day from RRFA

We hope these artworks make your HeARTs happy!

If any of these artworks or artists are of interest, please contact us.


Damien Hirst series (Source: Architectural Digest)


Paul Solberg, Spell, 2016, archival pigment inks with flocking, edition of 35, 45 x 30 inches


Polly Apfelbaum, There Are Many Hearts 3, 2020, woodblock monoprint, 14 x 14 inches

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Jim Dine, Poem on Main Street, 2017, edition of 4, 52.5 x 39 inches


Marilyn Minter, Prism, 2009, photograph, edition of 27, 20 x 16 inches


Donald Baechler, Brown Rose, 2015, silkscreen, edition of 35, 40 x 31 inches

Going Green: Environmentally Conscious Artists

Edward Burtynsky, Dandora Landfill #3 Plastics Recycling (Anthropocene series), 2016, Archival pigment print

Environmental art addresses the urgent need to save our planet

Earth Day is an annual phenomenon that is more relevant than ever. Global warming, rising sea levels and rampant pollution are hot topics that are at the forefront of contemporary consciousness on a worldwide scale. As a powerful tool used for social commentary, it is no wonder that art is being employed as a vehicle to confront the mounting collective concern for our planet. To celebrate Earth Day this year, we are highlighting three artists who have made environmentalism a priority in their artistic endeavours.

Robin Rosenberg

Edward Burtynsky, Salt Pan #13, Little Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India (Salt Pans series), 2016, Archival pigment print

Edward Burtynksy is a renowned Canadian photographer whose artistic career is devoted to depicting a planet ravaged by humanity. He documents colossal manmade structures including oil rigs, quarries, dams, mines and factories using a unique photographic practice. He takes photos from the aerial vantage point of a helicopter equipped with a small floor opening through which he positions his camera’s lens. The result are stunningly haunting images with a sublime aesthetic quality that address the severe global consequences of human activity and the environmental toll of mass industrialization.

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Cracking Art, Milan installation, 2018

An Italian based group started by six individuals, Cracking Art is a contemporary art movement that promotes a strong environmental commitment. Plastic is the group’s chosen medium which is used to create an array of brightly colored, hollow animal sculptures including bunnies, snails, meercats, penguins and turtles that are scattered throughout their many public installations. Importantly, they exclusively use recycled plastic, customarily destroying and re-using materials from old sculptures to create new ones. The group’s emphasis on recycling removes plastic from its toxic role in nature and promotes the importance of sustainability.

Jérôme Fortin, Untitled (Marines series), 2002-2012, Plastic bottles mounted ton panel, 36 inches diameter

Jérôme Fortin is a Montreal based artist who addresses the theme of pollution in his oeuvre. The Marines, for example, is a series Fortin developed which encompasses gathering found plastic bottles collected from daily walks along the shoreline and re-purposing them into artistic tondos. He meticulously cuts and colours the found bottles then densely layers them in a way that mimics wave motions. The bottlenecks indicate the number of bottles that go into each artwork.

If any of these artists are of interest to you, please contact us for availability and prices.

Paintings of Pooches: National Dog Day 2018

Above image: David Hockney and his two dogs

Dogs are not only a man’s bestfriend, they’re also the favorite subject of numerous artists throughout the course of art history.

As an art lover and a self-proclaimed dog fanatic, I found it fitting to celebrate national dog day, coming up on August 26th, by highlighting artworks featuring this furry four-legged subject. From appearing in primitive cave paintings and in Renaissance aristocratic portraiture, to being immortalized as balloons, dogs have been portrayed in various different ways throughout the course of art history.

Living embodiments of loyalty, love and protection, dogs have played noteworthy roles in the careers and oeuvres of many renowned artists. In 1995, famed British artist David Hockney dedicated an entire exhibition exclusively to paintings of his two dachshunds, Stanley and Boodgie. He captured his beloved companions in a seemingly endless array of positions and scenarios including sleeping, cuddling, eating, drinking and playing.

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Keith Haring is another artist who frequently employed dogs in his artistry. In his typical graffiti aesthetic characterized by simplistic geometric forms and solid vibrant hues, he fashioned a unique, anthropomorphic representation of the animal depicted either dancing, laughing, barking or even DJing.

If you have any particular favourite artworks featuring canines, please click here to send us an email with images– we would love to see!Metallized porcelain balloon dog by Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons, Magenta Balloon Dog, 2015, Metallized Porcelain, 10.5 inches diameter, Edition of 2300
a lithograph by Keith Haring
Keith Haring, DJ, 1998, Lithograph, 31 x 23.5 inches
a screenprint by john baldessari called double play feelings
John Baldessari, Double Play: Feelings, 2012, Screenprint, 14 x 13.5 inches, Edition of 150
a lithograph by alex katz called dog at duck trap
Alex Katz, Dog at Duck Trap, 1973-1975, Lithograph, 29 x 43 inches, Edition of 90