StadiumArtMovement

We Are Of The Sky Campaign Continues

2012-02-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

15th February, 2012 (Montreal) Another short animation from the "We are of the Sky" campaign. This is just a preliminary peak at some of the stuff we are working on.

Please contact stadiumartmovement@gmail.com with your questions.

FASTEST EVER STADIUM ART MOVEMENT for "We are of the Sky" Campaign

2012-01-27T13:25:00.000-08:00

27th January, 2012 (Montreal) Here is quick look at some of the imagery we will be using in our "We are of the Sky" campaign supporting the Stadium Art Movement showing at Hub 5500 in Montreal this Spring. *more details to follow about the first major public LARGE SCALE exhibition of the Stadium Art Movement since May 2010 at Gallerie Rye.

STADIUM ART MESSAGE HIDDEN IN CITY SCAPE

2012-01-19T10:54:00.000-08:00

Let them have the streets, for "We are of the sky."

19th January, Twenty-Twelve (Montreal) Here is a quick sketch drawn up for our "We are of the Sky" campaign due to roll out in Springtime this year. Kiddies! Look closely at the drawing and you might be able to see the secret message. It has no demonic value. Enjoy.

Hint: The title of the piece is called "Stadium Art Movement."

PHILLY-STYLE STADIUM ART

2012-01-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

11th January, Twenty-Twelve (Montreal) Last post we showed you our official Philadelphia shot of Franklin Field. Here is the latest rendition of Franklin Field referred to as "Philly-style" Stadium Art. We have essentially taken Franklin Field and turned it on it's axis and populated Philadelphia with rows of Beaux-Arts apartments, changed the train station around and made the river a little more fish-able.

Meanwhile: 2012 STADIUM ART MOVEMENT CALENDAR IS SOLD OUT EXCEPT IN ONE PLACE:

Montreal Mile-End (East Side): Montréalité
51 Rue Bernard O.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 2J9
Tel. 514.510.9907
info@montrealite.com

Thanks for making this our most successful year ever. Next year we will be in even more cities across North America and Europe.

PHILADELPHIA joins the Stadium Art Movement

2011-12-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

24th December, 2011 (Montreal) Inspired by classical Roman architecture, the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field is a marvel set across the river from The Liberty City. You are looking at one of the last remaining stadiums from the first wave of construction. Franklin Field is an historical temple of worship, home of sagas of old yet ripe for the glories of today.

Official Map of U of P from southwest.

Philadelphia embodies all the elements of the Stadium Art Movement: extraordinary stadium design, a dense urban fabric made up of buildings from every era since the American Revolution, dramatic skylines and human movement across natural features on bridges and trains. It is a truly remarkable city by North American standards and for anybody interested in the history of architecture there won't be enough time for you.
This drawing was presented to my hosts during my last visit to the city in preparation for a mural deal I'm working on. Now that they have it I can share it with you.
Look for more of these in the next year as we take the Stadium Art Movement on tour. Next: Chicago.

In the meantime: Verticle Street Art Montreal.

STADIUM ART MOVEMENT HITS THE STREETS OF THE CITY

2011-12-20T01:39:00.001-08:00

Time flies when you are in the air.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM INTERIM BRANCH MANAGER

Spotted in NYC! Sent in by our pal Hugo in Brooklyn...

...from when he was in Montreal.

We give about four hours of life expectancy before it gets billed.

Stadium Art Movement on St-Laurent and Ave. des Pins, Montreal circa November 2011

19th December, 2011 (Montreal) We continue our preview of the 2012 Stadium Art Movement Calendar with a last minute promotional video.

Stockists:

Brooklyn: Spoonbill & Sugartown Books
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tel. 718.387.7322
Hours 10 am—10pm Daily
spoonbillbooks.com

Philadelphia: Robin's Bookstore
110a South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel. 215.567.2615
Hours Mon-Thu: 11 am—7pm /Fri-Sat: 11 am—8pm/Closed Sundays
www.robinsbookstore.com/

Montreal Mile-End (East Side): Montréalité
51 Rue Bernard O.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 2J9
Tel. 514.510.9907
info@montrealite.com

Montreal Mile-End (West Side): Librairie Drawn & Quarterly
211 Bernard Ouest
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 2K5
Phone: 514.279.2224
drawnandquarterly.com/211Bernard

Need more info? Contact stadiumartmovement@gmail.com

More 2012 Stadium Art Movement Previews

2011-12-16T22:09:00.000-08:00

December next year promises one bright day after another.

17th December, 2011 (Montreal) As promised we share with you more from next years Calendar.

Stockists:

Brooklyn: Spoonbill & Sugartown Books
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tel. 718.387.7322
Hours 10 am—10pm Daily
spoonbillbooks.com

Philadelphia: Robin's Bookstore
110a South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel. 215.567.2615
Hours Mon-Thu: 11 am—7pm /Fri-Sat: 11 am—8pm/Closed Sundays
www.robinsbookstore.com/

Montreal Mile-End (East Side): Montréalité
51 Rue Bernard O.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 2J9
Tel. 514.510.9907
info@montrealite.com

Montreal Mile-End (West Side): Librairie Drawn & Quarterly
211 Bernard Ouest
Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2T 2K5
Phone: 514.279.2224
drawnandquarterly.com/211Bernard

Need more info? Contact stadiumartmovement@gmail.com

2012 Stadium Art Movement Calendar AVAILABLE IN New York and Philadelphia

2011-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

13th December, 2011 (Montreal) Stadium Art went South of the Wall this past weekend for some street art in Brooklyn and Center City Philadelphia.

"Whereas Stadium Art has always been free..."

Brooklyn: Spoonbill & Sugartown Books
218 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Tel. 718.387.7322
Hours 10 am—10pm Daily
spoonbillbooks.com

Street Art on Sansom Street, Philadelphia.

Philadelphia: Robin's Bookstore
110a South 13th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel. 215.567.2615
Hours Mon-Thu: 11 am—7pm /Fri-Sat: 11 am—8pm/Closed Sundays
www.robinsbookstore.com/

In Montreal:
Montréalité
51 Rue Bernard O.
Montreal, Quebec
H2T 2J9

Email: info@montrealite.com
Phone: (1) 514-510-9907

Need more info? Contact stadiumartmovement@gmail.com

2011 STADIUM ART MOVEMENT CALENDAR PEEK

2011-12-07T18:07:00.000-08:00

Stadium Art Movement Calendar owners have a very sunny July 2012 to look forward to.

7th December, 2011 (Montreal) For the next few posts we will be showing you some examples you can look forward to if you get your hands on the 2012 STADIUM ART MOVEMENT CALENDAR. Keep in touch with this site for details on availability. For now Montréalité 51 Rue Bernard O., Montreal [please see here] and Drawn & Quarterly 211 Rue Bernard O., Montreal [please see here] are stocking our calendar.

UPDATE: 2012 Stadium Art Movement Calendar will be available at Puce Pop! [see here] This weekend 10th and 11th December at the Montréalité booth so head to 5035 St-Dominique (Église Saint-Enfant Jésus, Laurier Métro)

Watch this space for information on our next PUBLIC SPECTACLE on the streets of Montreal Saturday 17th December to Sunday 18th December on the corner of Boulevard St-Laurent and Rachel.

Send your questions to stadiumartmovement@gmail.com

Stadium Art Movement Celebrates the Mile End

2011-11-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

You don't have to be a star to be on our show.

30th November, 2011 (Montreal) Today we take the time out to show off the latest Stadium Art Movement T-shirt which celebrates the Mile-End quarter of Montreal. Not exactly honing in on the Olympic Stadium, the view is focusing on the Rialto Theatre on Avenue du Parc with various details of the local neighbourhood emphasized. However, since it has the stadium in the frame, it still qualifies as having an official hand in the Stadium Art Movement. We showed you this picture several posts ago, now you can own one yourself. Here's where:

Montréalité
51 Rue Bernard O.
Montreal, Quebec
H2T 2J9

Email: info@montrealite.com
Phone: (1) 514-510-9907

Calendars will be available for sale there too.

OCCUPY THE STADIUM! There has always been a venue for mass collusion.

2011-11-27T01:04:00.000-08:00

Stadium Art is not just a Movement. You can actually nail it down, into the wall [see here].

27th November, 2011 (Expozine, Montreal) So far we've had a hot response to the 2012 Stadium Art Movement Calendar on the front lines at Expozine. The world is no longer innocent: The 2012 Stadium Art Movement is officially underway. It has been terrific to meet in the flesh the real people who are supporting this movement, grassing the roots and steaming in. As for those who stopped by today and are unfamiliar with this art from, we are not the only ones. Meet Britain's Ted Foxton. He sources yesteryear's photographs and turns them into priceless masterpieces. Fortunately he's found his way to a printing machine so you can get some at a cost closer to home. For the space above we've chosen Port Vale to open our major profile on this extremely important artist. Please go crazy and peruse his site. The more of this Stadium Art out there the further along the Movement. Thanks again Ted.

(With all due respect to the Occupy Movement, it is only now that we've weighed in with our pun to OCCUPY the Stadium. However, look at our history. Down the ages the political winds have blown in crowds amassed at football grounds. Research the Catalans vs. the Fascists during the Spanish Civil War in Barcelona, the Mining Leagues in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) whose clubs were formed in the hope of distracting workers from social justice only to become arenas where unionization occurred. Take back the terraces. The Universal Law of Metaphysics holds than no minority can dictate the actions of a majority. But also, nobody or no thing can prevent the minority from becoming the majority. So go to it. There's a place to stand. Hold your ground. It's for all of us.)

Otherwise this is not a political blog of any sorts. Have fun!

FIRST EVER GLIMPSE OF 2012 STADIUM ART CALENDAR

2011-11-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

24th November, 2012 (Montreal) Last ever Stadium Art Movement Calendar is hot off the press. All is explained in this expensively produced video from the heart of the Movement.

Send all complaints about this video to stadiumartmovement@gmail.com

Behind the Scenes Exclusive of the Stadium Art Movement Calendar

2011-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

..

12th November, 2011 (Montreal) Exclusive video footage of the making of the 2012 Stadium Art Movement available:

Stadium Art Movement Goes Where Mayans Fear to Tread in 2012 Calendar

2011-10-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

19th October, 2011 (Montreal) The 2012 Stadium Art Movement Calendar is in current production. What's more NO PRICE INCREASE over last year even though we had to add ONE more day to February due to the Leap Year without passing any overage on to you, our patrons. Montrealers can join us at Puces Pop 10-11 December, and expozine 26 and 27 for T-shirts, postcards, posters and other craftily-made artifacts. Dates in NYC, Philadelphia and Boston are to be confirmed. Chicago customers will be catered to as well, so watch this space for more details.

Stadium Art From Around The World

2011-06-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Paint it and they will look at it.

19th June, 2011 (Montreal)--Time to take in some sumptuous work from across the world. Here we have a sumptuous painting made by special request from fans for Joerg Schmadtke, Sports Director and Manager of the German Soccer-Club Alemannia Aachen. Here is the sumptuous Old Tivoli Stadium available through Loew-Art.
Sumptuous is a very rarely used word when describing a painting, but in this case once is not enough.

Le Plateau Montreal is the Home of the Stadium Art Movement

2011-06-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

14th June, 2011 (Montreal)--The Stadium of the Day feature this Tuesday is an original that I did for my dearest friend's wedding invitation. This is a huge privilege I've extended to the followers of the Stadium Art Movement because the wedding hasn't even taken place yet. You are seeing a preview never before seen, and this is my gift to you. It is in homage to the district of Mile End in Montreal with the Rialto Theatre prominent on stage left. In the distance is the Jacques Cartier Bridge, the Downtown highrises and our beloved Mountain.
Most importantly, and the reason it is included in today's post, on the left rises the leaning tower of the Olympic Stadium. One of my favourite aspects of returning to Montreal is that you can see it rising over the East End of the city like an impatient spatula or fly swatter from miles and miles away. After the '76 Olympiad, the stadium was home to MLB's Montreal Expos until their departure for Washington. In the meantime it is used for important final stages of the Allouettes' CFL championship and major matches involving the Montreal Impact Association Football team. Here is a shot from the interior during the FIFA Under-21 finals (2007) involving Mexico. There were more than 37,000 in attendance. For an UNDER-21 match!

In the meantime, raise a toast to the citizens of Montreal--it has taken them years going without luxuries like flat smooth roads to pay off the capital costs of this deteriorating landmark. What's more, just as with many of its sister arenas built in the era--there are rumblings about tearing it down! Let's hope they keep the tower at least.
Clever readers will also notice I've neglected to mention another stadium that ought to be in view: McGill University's Molson Stadium. Don't worry, we will be featuring it in the coming days.

The Shot Heard Around The World... Well At Least By US Servicemen Whereever They Were

2011-06-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

12th June, 2011 (Montreal)--After the overwhelming reaction to our recent Ebbets Field Stadium of the Day feature it makes sense to bring back to life the story of the Polo Grounds, home of that other New York City ball club that sailed away out west in 1957--The NY Giants. The stadium was used for several more years by the New York Titans who then became the NFL's New York Jets, and was finally demolished in 1963.

Like Ebbets Field and Tiger Stadium it had two decks of seating and the usual confusion of trusses and girders propping up the stands to form what some New Yorkers would refer to as 'The Bathtub.' It sat just across the river from the Old Yankee Stadium and was famous for the 'Shot Heard Around the World'--a home run made more amazing by the shape of the outfield scored by Bobby Thompson in the 1951 World Series for the Giants against the Dodgers of Brooklyn. As you look at the gauzy photos from yesteryear you could be forgiven for thinking you' ve been transported into some kind of Dan de Lillo novel, because you have--he uses the first chapter of Underworld to pay homage to this glorious treasure that has been lost to the sands of time. Even it's replacement for the Metropolitans that succeeded the Giants--Shea Stadium--has gone, such is the disposable nature of modern stadium architecture.

Build It, and They Will Come, As Long As It's Still Standing

2011-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

June 10, 2011 (Montreal)--Dodgers baseball fans might lament what's happening to their team at present, what with the ownership fiasco and the odd bit of violence that accompanies a visit to their stadium, but spare a thought for their original fans from Brooklyn, who could do nothing but watch their team sail away in the early sixties. It is to their old stadium in Brooklyn that I now draw your attention: Ebbets Field. For our Stadium of the Day feature, take one look at the latinate facade and you see where designers of the latest round of retro parks took their inspiration. Enclosed on all four sides with double-decker stands reminiscent of Tiger Stadium (watch this space for more on that one) and the old time feel straight out of a Don De Lillo novel, Ebbets Field indisputably counts amongst the experts as one of the most important landmarks in stadium design throughout the history of sporting architecture... Seriously.

For today, just imagine yourself settling into one of the rickety old wooden seats under the trusses of ironwork and pre-war gantries, beer in one hand and reaching out to catch a bag of peanuts with the other, then flicking your dime to the vendor as he grabs it with the knack of having done it a million times. That the Dodgers were to leave Brooklyn was one of the contemporary signs that the end of the world was coming at the time, yet here we are still, luckily alive to raise a toast to Ebbets and accept the fact that some things really do come to end: demolish it and they won't come. Here is wikipedia's summation:

Ebbets Field was but one of several historic major league ballparks demolished in the 1960s, but more mythology and nostalgia surrounds the stadium and its demise than possibly any other defunct ballpark.

Stadium Art Movement turns Thirty Seven Today, Passes Quietly with Mass Display of Silent Contemplation

2011-06-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

June 7, 2011 (Montreal)--Here is our STADIUM OF THE DAY feature, which is a sketch I did and just gave away. So I'm calling it Free Stuff Stadium.
I have no idea where the original is, perhaps it was Ken Bates or Adele who I gave it to, but for now we will have to make do with this historical version.
Note: People who I meet who haven't seen me since I was a child, they invariably ask "You still doing them stadium drawings then?" In fact, today marks the 37th anniversary of the Movement (that fateful day I first attended a football match as five year old and never stopped from drawing them).

Birthplace of the Stadium Art Movement uncovered

2011-06-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

June 6, 2011 (Montreal)--Here is Stamford Bridge in London, original home of the London Athletic Club. Most people are familiar with its current occupants--Chelsea FC. This is a photo of an original I did for a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous in order to keep his insurance premiums to a minimum. Also included are some old shots of the ground before the massive redevelopment. Stamford Bridge is one of the only grounds for which a team was specifically created, after the London Athletic Club folded. Any fan of the team knows how the history of the ground's ownership, construction and political back-room dealings put the entire club through the ringer for almost 30 years of uncertainty. However, Chelsea has always been a big club, attracting over 80,000 for the visit of Arsenal in the 1930s, and averaging over 40,000 these past few seasons. Often the butt of jokes for the massive injection of funds by their fairytale owner, nobody can deny the location of the ground makes it a perfect candidate for STADIUM OF THE DAY here at the Stadium Art Movement. I think people hate Chelsea because it was one of the original parts of London to be gentrified.
My granddad grew up in a Fulham slum around the corner, so my roots drive deep at this point. It must be said, this is the first football stadium this writer ever visited, August 1973, opening day of the season. I was only five and have no memory except at how upset I was that I wasn't allowed to play. "I thought we were supposed to be going to a football match!" I cried. Still, I understand how away fans in the old days would feel--marooned on a sketchy slope, weeds growing from the concrete and a menacing ambush-in-waiting en route to Euston Station--couldn't have been that pleasant. Nowadays the pub across the road serves food with French names and grub you'd have never found in a roadside caff on the way up to Newcastle. Would you rather go back to the days of wading through piss as you pushed through the mob to eat a dodgy 'worm-burger' as the team struggled to beat Rotherham or Shrewsbury and you struggled to get home in one piece? Hands down--no problem--sign me back up. Those days weren't a struggle, they were awesome.

Santos is coming to town

2011-06-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

June 5, 2011 (Montreal)-- The Stadium of the Day is Vila Belmiro, home of the world famous team FC Santos where Pele played his entire club career. This ground is one of the original stadiums to inspire the Stadium Art Movement (see our feature on this matter in Now The Good News) with its non-conforming idiosyncrasies. Art Deco meets functional minimalism, yet one side of the ground has three vertical tiers in a total asymmetrical array of classic Latin American design. Even though Pele no longer plays here, it is still an absolute waste of time visiting the vast continent of South America and not checking out this absolute poppet of a stadium.

WORLD WIDE EXCLUSIVE STADIUM ART MOVEMENT DRAWING REVEALED

2011-06-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

June 4, 2011 (Montreal)--Today we bring you a lost soul, a stadium created in November 2010 which has since been destroyed in the Great Office Coffee Spill Fiasco of 2011. It is inspired by the great cities of Sao Paulo and New York, with some basic homage to the grand stadium designs of Milan. So taking a break from reality, today's STADIUM OF THE DAY is from the imagination. For sheer SEO reasons, we've decided to name it the 'Hot Sexy Blonde Stadium.' Go on, as we said, just use your imagination.

Spotlight on the Taffies

2011-06-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

June 3, 2011 (Montreal)--The STADIUM OF THE DAY is Cardiff Arms Park, home of Rugby Football to all those who follow Wales. Here we have the classic view, which has since been through two more incarnations. Notice how similar the main stand is to the old Highbury, having been built during the same era. Long-associated with the voice of the choirs from her coal valleys, we have the Welsh Nation to thank for establishing a strong tradition of fanatical singing at sporting events. We're it not for the chanting faithful leading the way with their hair-raising rendition of the hymn "Guide me oh thou Great Redeemer" we wouldn't have such wonderful ditties as "Is that all? Is that all? Is that all you take away?" or "What the effin, what the effin, what the eff*ng hell was that?" and the incomparable "You're not singing anymore!"
So all stand and rise for the Welsh National anthem as we look upon a postcard scene where there was joy to be shared on the standing-room only terraces, that has since been totally radicalized by modern stadium design.

Stadium Art Movement: Regular Service Resumes Today

2011-06-02T14:22:00.001-07:00

June 2, 2011 (Montreal)--As of today we will be making regular daily updates on this blog with news of upcoming events and projects involving the Stadium Art Movement. A compilation of stories by Montreal Branch Manager Jonathan Himsworth that first appeared on the excellent site run by the Burgundy Lion will also be archived on our partner blog Now the Good News. We are looking for contributors and collaborators, but for the moment, let's just run our STADIUM OF THE DAY feature: Everton FC, Goodison Park in the late Sixties during the reconstruction of the main stand. All the elements are in place: the church silently witnessing the match in the corner; the elaborate cantilever of the upper tier of the new stand seemingly hovering over the action; the ornate gable of the old stand still intact, almost standing defiant with the crowd still packed in, despite all the upheaval:

The Stadium Art Movement Manifesto

2007-11-07T11:50:00.001-08:00

"You can go ahead and take the streets, because we are of the sky"

The Stadium Art Movement Manifesto, created simply as a web presence for the wonderful world of Stadium Art

Newsfeed: (Montreal) 2011 Calendar, postcards and T-shirts available from Burgundy Lion, Off the Hook, Montrealité, and at Puce Pop 5039, rue Saint-Dominique près de l'intersection du boulevard St-Joseph ... L'église Saint-Enfant-Jésus sat-sun 18-19 December

Newsfeed: (Montreal) 13-14 November, Stadium Art Movement Calendar Launch at Expozine.

Newsfeed: (Toronto) 24 October Stadium Art Movement on tour Ricoh Arena.

Newsfeed: (Montreal) 21st May 2010 Stadium Art Movement group show with Shane Watt and Gabriel Deerman at Gallerie Rye, 1331A Ste-Catherine Est.

Newsfeed: (Montreal) 28th February 2009 Stadium Art Movement appeared at Off the Hook Gallery and Boutique, 1021a Ste-Catherine Street West.

Please visit this website for more information:
offthehook.ca

Watch for Johnny Kim's exclusive interview with the Montreal founder of the Stadium Art Movement

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to all those who supported the Stadium Art Movement with the purchase of the 2008 Calendar. A 2009 version was unveiled at EXPOZINE in Montreal on the 27th of November 2008. It is available at Drawn & Quarterly, Petits Pains Show and Kensington Market Toronto. Get ready for our new website launch 2009, stadiumartmovement.com

important appendix update at bottom
click the italics to move to the links

Patron Saint: Archibald Leitch

Revival Location: Montreal, Quebec- hotbed of urban culture

iNTERNATIONAL OPENING DEBUT OF MONTREAL-STYLE STADIUM ART took place Thursday 10 JAN 2008
VERNISSAGE
at DANCE CONMIGO -3365 ST LAURENT LEVEL 207 (ABOVE LE CORRIDOR)
to see pictures from the event click here

MAJOR INSTALLATION of LARGE SCALE WORK with HISTORICAL GUIDE and MAPS of the MOVEMENT with a special dance performance--to view clickh here

photo by nathan curry:

Pictured: stadium artists Jonathan Himsworth and Anurag Dhir

Availability: Drawn & Quarterly- Bernard Street in the mile End Montreal 2009 Calendar now on sale.
Also visit the craft fair Petits-Pains Show, to be held 5035 rue St-Dominque (corner of St-Joseph and St Laurent) 13th and 14th of December.
To order posters, postcards, t-shirts and calendars online, email newcolenall@yahoo.co.uk (this facility will be expanded into our 2009 stadiumartmovement.com website)

This is an art form that first came to note in the late seventies and early eighties in Britain and South America, much of it produced by failed draughtsmen and Architecture School drop-outs. Early links with graffiti and football hooliganism have been unverified, yet it is certain Stadium Art came about at the same time modern mainstream media turned their attention upon the social identities of youth sub-cultures at the beginning of the Thatcher era.

Popularized by the writer Simon Inglis in his seminal work Football Grounds of Great Britain, (no longer in print, our copy is now worth $300+!) the Art World has since witnessed a new emergence in the genre emanating from Centre Sud Montreal, Quebec. "Acclaim" has been swift. Within the contexts of varying degrees of humour, according to several critics, samples coming out of Montreal via The Trunk Collective subvert the everyday status quo of the Old School, most of which sits in association with the early style of Archibald Leitch.

"The stadium has carried the day against the art Museum"-- Hannes Meyer- a Swiss teacher at the Bauhaus 1927-30

This late wave of New Montreal stadium art is characterized by its disregard for logical mechanics and emphasis on questioning the issue of popular public space (land? sea? air?) versus the personal and private. Here we see free-hand block work (a graffiti term) let loose without a ruler, yet humble in its regard for the classical founders of urban design. Homages to Beaux Art, The Chicago School and the City Beautiful movement pop up inside aerials that intend to romanticize the coziness and congestion found in the nooks and crannies that connect the sub-worlds inside densely populated cities. The notion that a vast tract of the landscape should be set aside for a twice weekly event, and then left hollow in the meantime, is a matter that has even brought some of the Theologians in on the question. It seems to some, that these are not just symbols, but holy places.

As Simon Inglis probably meant to say in his landmark book on stadiums (Sightlines) -what we are seeing in Montreal amongst some of the more daring artists working in the genre is a "return to the garden, the redrawing of the boundaries of the jungle and the relinquishing of eden to the original sin; the laws of right and wrong played out by the gods and winds while we watch innocently, entombed by the city, in the womb of our aspirational mothers, to be born, and born again... that is the goal"
Jonathan Himsworth, in Montreal for the burgeoning global Stadium Art Movement

etc.

[Note, some of the images seen here are not available to the public. The image with the trunk is now held by Cirque du Soleil a gift commemorating their assistance with the Art Movement through the involvement of the Trunk Collective]

Please support your local stadium artist

If you thought we Stadium Artists have are a bunch of softies with no strength to their own sensibilities, check out or click THIS.

click here
"No matter how hard you try, you can't stop us now"