I can’t remember how I met Nadja Sayej. Could have been through art people, fashion people, writing people or maybe just facebook. I think, perhaps, we had some mutual friends. I have no idea.
However we met, we hit it off pretty well. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t go over to her house for tea and we aren’t taking any long strolls through the park together. I don’t hit it off with anyone that well. But, when I’m out and about, she’s one of my favourite people to bump into. She’s a rowdy broad with big blue glasses and a heart to match.
She also has a smart mouth.
And now you can enjoy Nadja just being Nadja as she prowls Toronto’s art scenes armed with only camera, microphone and her tits wits on her own webshow: ArtStars. Here she is at Extermination Music Night. (I also covered a different extermination music night but seemed to have lost my post in the upgrade.)
It’s a funny show. So funny that I informed Nadja that I’m going to start hijacking syndicating the episodes as they come in and posting them here. She’s going to be The Unofficial Grumpy Owl Anti-Arts Reporter. It’s an unpaid job. (No more big-shot reporter bucks for you Nadja. Welcome to the internet!)
Before telling her that I planned to employ her talent without paying her a dime, I asked her a couple questions so you fine people might get to know her a bit better. It’s the same two questions that should always be asked.
1.) What’s the point?
The point is, as always, the tent in your pants that is pointed in my direction. *snap*
No, but really. The media never fucking covers art openings. And that’s sad because art openings are often more interesting than the art – catch absent-minded gallerygoers walking into and breaking minimalist sculptures , curators commenting on my tits after one martini too many and Douglas Coupland pretending he’s someone else just to get out of yet another media interview .
We are TMZ for the art scene. Why? Because can’t keep these juicy deets to ourselves, they are just too funny (yes! the art world has a sense of humour!). That said, we’re always hunting for engaging and intriguing interviews with artists about their work — that is what the new wave of video art criticism we are leading is all about, opening up the dialogue between critic, artist and audience, rather than a one-on-one battle with a critic attacking the artist like a scalpel to a body on an operating table.
2. Why bother?
Art magazines are boring — so is art school. I’m sick and tired of catching what I missed in an art show through glossy pages from an art magazine that is overstuffed with academic smarter-than-thou-isms, or a newspaper review from a crusty old critic who ends up revealing his own mishaps by what he chooses to scorch.
People forget art is fun. Not necessarily by the work, but by the peeps who make it happen! The slutty gallerina who sleeps with the alcoholic abstract painter, the charismatic art dealer who dishes the free wine and believes in astrology, the airy fairy art professors who are lost in the clouds and the audience members who have the balls to say: “I just don’t get it.”
Look out for us on Nuit Blanche — as the Critics in Residence we’re declaring war on the contemporary art all-nighter and attacking art projects with war-correspondent style reporting. Bad art beware. Stay tuned on the side wall of the Art Gallery of Ontario, where our videos will be projected live, subscribe [http://www.youtube.com/user/ARTSTARSTV] and stay in the loop at artstarstv.com.
Wanna have your say?
We’ll be doing interviews about what you love and hate about Nuit Blanche tomorrow night at Rolly’s Garage, 124 Ossington Ave. as part of Derek Mainella’s group show, the New Voice of the Gutter, which runs all weekend [http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=159710131188&ref=nf], our chaotic newsroom will be parked out front in the retro RV. So don’t be scared. Step inside and give us your best *snap.*
And that’s Nadja. Now head over to ArtStars and get caught up.
