Smile Stealers World Premiere at NXNE in Toronto!

After 4 years of candy-blood, golden sweat and pink tears the film Smile Stealers is finally released to the world.  I was in Toronto all last week for the World Premiere at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom for NXNE festival 2013.  Here are some pics:

The crew at Gladstone Ballroom

Golden Zebra in daylight

The incredible Jasa Baka making make-up magic

Simon, Zuzu, Tyr

Unicorn roaming Toronto backyards

Cheesie smiles for everyone at the screening

starry Eyes

Lioness mirrors

Lioness

unicorn

Mr. gician the magician

Unicorn

the maiden

Tyr as the lioness

magic, pure magic

All access priority pass to NXNE

Allison Moore and Jasa Baka

The crew at Gladstone Hotel Ballroom 

Smile Stealers interview for NXNE!

Last week my pal, artist Jasa Baka and I got to sit down and talk with NXNE about our film Smile Stealers which will be premiering in Toronto next week!

Allison Moore and Jasa Baka, the two creative forces behind the experimental fantasy film Smile Stealers, sat down with NXNE to talk about the world premiere of the film. Four years in the making, their project is full of mind-boggling visual effects as a result of mixing overhead projection/animation with complex digital compositing. The art-house picture is about a girl with the destiny to become a warrior. Part mythology and part fantasy, it ends up as a strangely fantastic new breed of film production.

There’s also plenty to like on the music side – the cast is comprised of Canadian, Icelandic, and American talent from the bands Syngja, Angels in America and AIDS Wolf. Original soundtrack by The Winks.

Watch the filmmakers discuss their inspiration, their motivation, and what NXNE-goers should expect from the vintage-influenced, campy, surrealist flick. It’s being shown June 13th at the Gladstone Ballroom at 7 pm.

For more on Smile Stealers, check out the website. For more on NXNE Art, stay up to date on theschedulizer.

Micropolis 2.0 - Open Studio Toronto

Micropolis 2.0 - Allison Moore & Arthur Desmarteaux.

Here is a little video documentation of an installation at Open Studio in Toronto. The exhibition is up from January 12 - February 18, 2012. Micropolis is an ever-expanding installation comprised of collaged screen and digital prints, assembled so they evoke a busy modern commercial street with pedestrians, creatures and vehicles passing by. The installation has an anthropological character inspired by the cityscapes of Québec City, Montréal and Toronto. A modular diorama of cardboard figures and shapes placed at different levels on wooden shelves, covering the perimeter of the gallery walls.
Printed by Allison Moore and Arthur Desmarteaux at Graff Print Studios [montreal], Open Studio [Toronto], and Engramme [Quebec City].

Open Studio In Toronto

Sur les traces de Miro, Allison Moore and Arthur Desmarteaux 2010

Here is a photo journal of my residency in Toronto with artist collaborator Arthur Desmarteaux. Thank you to Graff Print Studios in Montreal and all the great staff at Open Studio for making this exchange possible. Also big Thanks to the Canada Council of the Arts for making the travel possible, and to Frederick and Sylvia for sharing their apartment for 2 weeks! [FYI: most photos feature Arthur printing....but I will assure you it was a total team effort to print 36" x 48", our biggest yet, thanks to the arm and vacuum table at Open studio!]

We drew the final outline image on clear print vellum

The final image is surreal landscape influenced by Miro's abstract figuration style

The first 3 colors we printed were made by stenciling out areas using screen filler

More pink!

The squeegee arm and vacuum table at work.

The first layer of color is a pink gradient sky, followed by a 2 gradient sandy desert landscape

Needed lots of table space...

We are now ready for photo emulsion. The last 4 colors will be registered using the clear print vellum layers we hand painted.

The print after the first color blue

After printing blue, red and yellow; slight transparencies allowed for more colors from the three primaries.

We touched up some details in white, before printing the final outline black.

The print before the final outline black.

We finished at 2am sunday night before our train back to Montreal.

[Sorry no images of printing final black! too tired.]

Thanks to registration tabs, all 6 prints look great.

After some laborious cleaning frenzy, we pack up and catch the night street car up Spadina.

The christian Science Church we talk about UNREALITY next sunday.....too bad we won't be in town....

breakfast...

Toronto Open Studio

Arthur Desmarteaux printing in the studio [large vacuum table for silkscreen printing 36"x48"!!!]

Nice kitchen nook for lunch breaks with view onto Richmond

Sunset view on the south side of the AGO [Frank Gehry's new building] The new museum is open free Wednesday night!

Sunset view of north side staircase of the AGO [Frank Gehry's new building]

We take lunch in Kensington Market almost daily....mostly for the Market Bakery treats.....

Already the week is going by so fast. We have been in Toronto 10 days printing at Open Studio, and exploring the city. Here are some photos from my residence experience with Artist Arthur Desmarteaux at Open Studio.

OPEN STUDIO

I have a two-week residency at OPEN STUDIO in Toronto with artist collaborator Arthur Desmarteaux. The two of us are invited through an exchange with Atelier Graff in Montreal. We are making large-scale silkscreen prints. Images coming soon! Great studio space, nice community, and Toronto is awesome [street cars buzzing down Spadina, dumplings and kimchi in korea town, Kensington market and 5$ sushi lunches....not to mention the balmy 25 degree weather] good change of scenery.