Gallery Gachet

Neurotika -Balance.

bruceray — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:47:49 +0000

I do not separate art from life.   Art is not a desperate act of madness or of isolation. The artist is someone who is able to combine their craft with a positive state of mind. Vincent Van Goh was a success in his inspiration -but in living itself -he was a failure. In truth the creative man -must be able to create his life as well -to create relationships. This does not mean I believe in forced socialization -or integration. In the counsellor mentality of the system there is affected such a law. Even so I know that if I am able to be inspired -and yet not relate to others -I have failed in some way. The suffering artist is a myth -a legend of modern times. I believe that Van Goh was one of the greatest expressionists of his age. Still I must say he was neurotic and alienated. In this way he was not creative. In this way he was a figure of pathos and fodder for further legends and outlaw tales. His story is one of the most compelling of lives -all in an effort to connect through his art -rather than in his personal attitude towards others.
Create relationships! Be inclusive in all you do and do not guard your secrets. Extend your artistic awareness into the mundanities of the soul. Do not put up walls -in the process of your life –it is all a performance. The actor never takes off his mask. When you shape and form the subtle light -you are also affecting the conversation of life. This game of speech and argument never stops. The performer is also the experiencer of things. Balance is the ultimate aim of healing and expression. To balance is to alleviate the pain of absolutes. Art is this process -but also the changes of your libido and its correspondences -lead to a revealed truth. The soul stands up in its throne and cries out to the world. To be naked and vulnerable is the state of imagination. To nullify the vanity of hesitation and doubts is the aim of art. To be taken out of yourself is what the craft does. A man like Van Goh is emulated for his expression -and not his context -the way he lived was extreme.
To balance is not to go either way -too far to the left or to the right. The dark night of Van Goh is the fable and the illusion. To create friendships and associates is to face what it is you see in front of you. The artist is a teller of truths and never deviates from this articulation.   If you cannot articulate your ideas -they die stillborn in your heart. And yet to listen is the great and important skill -as well as talent. To listen rather than speaking is to fulfill one’s aspirations.   If you talk and do not hear -you are not able to hear the music of your spirit. To be an outsider artist -you are said to be uneducated. But life itself is a learning curve -you dismantle and you put together again. To stand tall and tell the truth is not easy -and to show yourself to the crowd is a dangerous undertaking. To risk being the fool -and to never stop dancing -even when you are alone in your room. To dance is to live deeply. To dream is to also dream in the mass -and to create as if you were shaping prayers.   It’s always a personal thing -but still you are only realized when others participate in your art – in this way it’s a collaboration.
If there is no divide between fiction and life -than we are always improvising. Our epic struggles are a part of what we are. In the realm of the soul everything that blocks is a little death. If you stop to think -you uproot yourself. To hesitate is to fear consequences. In the outsider ideology -we are said to express madness. But madness is everything that is not realistic or imitative. I do not think of myself as mad -I am a storyteller. I tell the tale of my experiences and I teach others to understand the enigma of reality. The mysteries of the universe are only equalled by the mysteries of the self. In this way no-one will ever uncover the secrets of nature. Still the artistic process in outsider terms or in art at large -is largely a matter of seeking answers to questions. But hopes invariably lead to disappointment. Still its useful to say -that there would be no art without curiosity. If there is a hunger -is it proof that there is something to eat?   To want something is far better than to have something. Only artists understand this -it’s all matter of give and take -and also balance.

Stand-up for Mental Health Comedy – Friday April 20th 7pm

jpeachy — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:27:26 +0000

Back by popular demand is the Stand up for Mental Health (SMH) Comedy series. Come down for some laughs one Friday per month at Gallery Gachet. The evening is hosted by the award winning mental health advocate and counsellor David Granier, who is also founder of Stand-up for Mental Health.

The next comedy night is Friday April 20th 7pm at Gallery Gachet. For more details and upcoming events see the calendar

Neurotika – Fusion.

bruceray — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:52:56 +0000

‘It has never been my inclination to separate art from politics.’ -Pablo Neruda. I believe that there are no contradictions in life. We live on the floating islands of perception -we assume that our opinion is a weapon -to reconcile is heresy. But in the ideal of Fusion -all things become one. We use labels like ‘Outsider’, ‘Realism’ and ‘Fantasy’ to invoke our superiority to nature. We make knots out of our language -it contorts in various ways. But I would tell you the future phrase for all creativity is indeed ‘Fusion’. To specialize is not necessary -and to get bogged down in particulars is worse. To call oneself an outsider is useful -and any other label is adequate. Still why not accept that we are growing things -we change with the times. To be involved in fusion -is to take all the extraneous things and weld them together in a new form of expression. To be involved in fusion is to admit that there is no ultimate truth -or way of seeing. We are small things -after all. It’s the little truths that matter.
To circumvent categories and distinctions is an imperative. Otherwise one gets bogged down in a sort of creative confusion.   To focus on one part -is to invite disaster. Fusion is the art of acceptance -in that it posits the transformations of the soul.   I am not ‘outsider’ or even worse an epitaph such as Schizophrenic, Manic depressive, or whatever other pejorative there is. I am a changing thing -and I am not one version of myself.   In art as in life -we are on a journey without any destination. All is process and the libido never stops giving of itself.   To move and keep moving is the essence of our craft. When we are travelling -we come to various positions -but still we keep in motion -never resting or held in stasis. Art is an alternative state of mind -may even be a form of madness. Still it has a deeper sanity -and comes out of a malformed soul. Artists are bent out of shape in some way -we are ugly children.
To believe in fusion is to know that at its purest -the malleable fire is unformed and unshaped in any way. The artist must take it with impunity -and fill his cup with the subtle light. In this way -he uncovers what is hidden. It comes somehow -out of his own heart -and this is a mysterious program.   The life that is before us -is complex and extravagant. Only the fool simplifies -and in this way the imposition of law is pushed upon all things. Still order is only a wave -on a sea of chaos. Art is somehow deeper -and in this way it is quite a terrible revelation. In the religious sense -the Devil closes -and the God opens.   In art we enlarge and provoke a limitless perception -this is why such creativity is scorned and feared.   It causes a perplexed reaction and a angry misunderstanding. To enlarge and to give -and keep giving -is the ultimate aim of God -and of art as well.
To be involved in fusion -is to emulate the divine power. To be involved in the immediate realm of the senses -and forget the passing of Time -such is the true expression.   Pure perception is process and time is the enemy of this. There is no one history -or sequence of events. There is only the merging of different things -all in the coming and going of tides. To be in the eternal moment -is to allow things to come out of you. When I speak the name of God -he ceases to exist. When I anticipate a new form -it shatters in my hands. So all is purest expression -and in this trance we are involved in -we do not remember the world outside.   Even so it is a lie that ‘art is a thing of isolation.’ We are all related to others intimately and profoundly. All is collaboration. We are sending and taking into ourselves -not only information -but beauty. Inside there is great joy -and this is the creativity of all colours. The world is a thing of profound unrest -but inside there are dreams. To believe in fusion -is to overthrow all borders and contentious limitations. The mystic is a man of many tools -as well as many truths. He sees the jewel in his hand -and turns it showing many facets of light. To fuse is to know -that various things can be taken in -and added to the core of one’s being. To allow the soul to unfold like a garment -is to know that it is all a matter of endless giving -and in giving we are realized.

Neurotika – I’ Labyrinth.

bruceray — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:46:51 +0000

In the beginning I was born in a midst of a river-stream. In this progression of events I was brought forth -from the past to the future. But in reality -there is no time. The past and future are both illusions -made up by the conscious mind.   We assume we are involved in a series of events -but in actuality we are in the centre of a moment -that stretches out into eternity. Even more than this we are moving from crossroads to crossroads.   We are always faced with a choice -to one side or the other. In this way we are a soul -and the soul is a book. It is a story of our life -where we posit a mystery that has no clues. In this way the book is revealing and a returning. To be standing in a tale -is to stand in the midst of a labyrinth. In the soul -that is book -that is labyrinth -we walk endlessly.   In the maze of events -we face realization only when we abandon the ultimate truth -and know that all life is a fiction.
How does this relate to art and mental illness? If we know the illusion -then we know the truth. We are all full of questions -and we throw them out like fishing lines -seeking an answer. But the purpose of art is not to answer. Leave that to the philosophers -Art is only about questions. A mystery without clues -and enigma without understanding -such is our expression. Mental illness is also about such strange and inscrutable things. We do not know what lies beyond the plastic curtain. We are all stuck in our ways -and only in a moment of crisis -do we rise above.   Art is all about uncertainty -and involves an amount of pain -it is a thing of accident -as life is also accidental. Some think that the process of creation is itself a thing of madness. The mania that we feel as we form things -is almost a trance of furious work -whereby we forget the world outside.   This alternative state of mind is not insanity -but a deeper more profound state of sanity. In this way we discover ourselves.
And in the self is the labyrinth. What is that which eludes us? What is waiting for us in the secret room in the centre of the maze? Is it the end of the karmic battle -and the beginning of happiness?   I do not know for sure. To struggle with the heart and to wrestle with the angel -and seek to be blessed -this is all a part of our strivings. In the labyrinth -we are ever-searching. In the craft of our Art -we are sharpening the blade -we are improving our instrument.   In the labyrinth -we return to our self -we meet our past -as it comes back to us -we know the child we once were. In Time -we know we are many different personas – variations on a theme. What is the theme -but the endless fight between Good and Evil -a moral tension of rising and falling. In the maze -we see the dim light that falls -we cannot see clearly -we are doubtful and lost.   In art -we affect the role of the saviour -we have compassion for others. We try to guide and to show the way -but we are ourselves as ignorant as anybody else. Our creative urge is one of hunger -and its resolution. Yet it is far better to want something -than to have it -this is creative ecstasy. We seek the impossible.
When you are troubled by ghosts -you are aware of another country. This country is the place of the spirit -that which waits in the back-stage -when the play is being enacted. We are all actors in this way -and when we are standing under the lights -we speak the truth. Even so we know that there is no ultimate truth -only many small truths.   Art is about intimations -and allegations as well. In the labyrinth -that lives inside my soul -I hear echoes resounding. I am aware of things coming and going -I see apparitions at the edge of my sight -I have traces of smoke in my mind. To put down the words or to use my paintbrush -is to forget myself -and to evoke the deep, dark well of the heart. I see you there -as we pass each other.   We walk into dead ends -and we are turned in circles. We could spend a thousand years in the place of many mirrors -in this garden of forking paths -we reshape the future. And at last we come to see reflections as nothing more than a thing of belief -of wishes and hopes. To see beyond -is to know the denotation. This is the comprehended reality -of a subtle light too pure to be realized.   It is forced into shapes and forms -and becomes a created thing -a miracle of sorts.

Dylan Wolney’s Exhibition at Gam Gallery

Faris — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:22:32 +0000

Gachet’s Associate Collective Member Dylan Wolney’s event, Remember You’re Going to Die, is being presented at the Gam Gallery.

Neurotika -On Strangeness.

bruceray — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:03 +0000

I believe that art is an expression of the strangeness of life. In literature, art and music -we express the marvellous nature of existence. It is sometimes said by critics that realism is the ultimate expression of man -that fantasy is at it’s best a distraction -and an escape from the ordinary. But life itself is extra-ordinary and exotic. Art is a way of showing -that every thing in the world is strange and miraculous. Sometimes it is bad or painful -other times it is ecstatic. Either way we confront a cathedral of meaning -a terrible and beautiful thing. The rule of the mundane is a falsity and a lie. We are inundated with ideals of family and country -this is indeed a worship of the commonplace. But there is no commonality -except in the masses. The concept of such things is an illusion -for in truth man is alone in the world -there is no such thing as masses.

I believe that art is either derivative or provocative. In the case of derivative -we have an imitation of reality -a sort regurgitated food -in the movies and the culture. In this way all differences are made the same -a sort of polished sheet-metal surface. In this way -we redo and recreate what is in it’s former essence -a child of the faceless power. Programming and conditioning is enacted in order to teach conventionalities and artifice. These personalities are stereotypical -shallow and unfinished. So in prose and art -it is a thing of a caricature world. In provocative art -there is a threat and a danger. A grotesque truth is intimated -a thing not accepted by those who preach of realism. The provocative is a sort of funnel into an uncertain land -where risk and adventure hold sway. The truth is told that cannot be swallowed whole by the public. Therefore in this way -commerce and art are contrary to each other -and hardly ever mix. The artist is a questioner -who has no answers.
It’s true that fantasy is not an escape. The actor’s purpose is not to put on masks -but to take them off. It is said that Surrealism is an irrational and illogical thing -apart from conscious reality. But I believe that all reality if indeed immeasurable and absurd in nature. The variations of life -are all indeed unique -there is no unity. All these distorted visions are a thing of uncertainty. We are never sure of the ultimate truth -it is an elusive sense -of an obscure dream. I say -make your art -a thing of all you see -in the ways of the eerie -to delineate the weird corners of being. Beyond the illusions of the appearance -behind the face of bright disguise -there is a darkness. Skin is light -and flesh is night. To take water from the well -you must look into its shadowy depths. Fantasy as apposed to realism -is all about the core of madness -a sort of entranced inspiration -where the artist is caught in his demented point of view. He is unaware of the world -and works unhindered by its moralistic concerns.

Now what is the nature of reality? A book is a thing that holds many souls -and we participate in their lives. They are as real as anything in the material world. If these characters would stand up before us -and speak their names -we would know them. ‘The only reality is the soul.’ so the French poet Baudelaire said. In the realm of pure light -all things are made of that light. The created things are just as literally made -as the mountains and the sea. They live in a world of speculation -and as such are fictions -and roles -of tales and stories. We are like them -we also have been reborn in some way. Heroes and villains are both sleeping in the tomb of the book. They come to pass when they are revealed -by the reader. In this way -all the shapes and forms of the artist are no more than an extension of his mind -like someone from the audience walks up onto the stage -we are participants in the art of the creative man. We look around at the actors and the scenery -and we realize their lies are the same as our lies. We are moved from within -rather than from outside. We recognize and are realized by the fantastic – in this way we look to the flower and not the root.

Neurotika -Biting the Devil.

bruceray — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:56:02 +0000

In every life -we come to a moment of crisis. This is the time -when we must either grow or die. Sometimes it’s a matter of karma or decision. We are bogged down or stranded on a hill. We are then known to have a mental illness -in all the scientific terms. It is said that this is a biological imperative -or a disease of the spirit. One or the either -it’s true that as individuals we experience a change or changes. Sometimes its a transformation that compels us. Other times it’s just a funk or a disappointment -of dashed hopes.

]But in any case when we take medication -it’s to treat a mysterious set of symptoms -considered to be an incurable schizophrenia or depression. A whole set of terms are enacted to explain something illogical and secretive. All this is really a simplification -of what is really an existential problem. If we believe in God we are healthy -and if we believe in a devil -we are mad in some way. It’s really a matter of flipping a coin -a sort of harmful duality. A young man begins to read Revelations -and he shaves his head -and begins to speak of Good and Evil. What is really a palliative becomes mania and fanaticism.

And so I advise -to bite the devil -is to be without fear. The thing we call -’Evil’ is actually an alien thing to a person’s soul. It comes from without -and enters as a foreign force. It invades the mind and seen to be disease -That is good. If you know it as a cancer or lesion -you understand the importance of medical reasoning. Even so all unbalanced energies are a matter of going too far one way or another. If we are obsessed by an idea -we are involved in its concourse. If we are afraid -we become what we fear. And to fear always leads to disaster -it is destructive and also confused. The only illness of all -is worry and doubt. If we hesitate we are lost. As it says in the Bible -’if you take you lose what you had -if you give -you gain so much more.’ This is a matter of attitude -in that we must be generous in all our ways -not in matters of charity -but in friendship and business. Mental illness is indeed a reluctance to relate to others. No. We cannot force people to be social -such as counsellors do. We can’t fit the round peg in the square hole -but we can encourage freedom.

To bite the devil -we face the countenance of chaos. We neither flinch or linger on it -we stand straight on our two feet -and tell the Truth. We know that we are only vulnerable to persecution -if we believe in it. I have learned through the years -to see it as a state of oppression. The power that comes down from above encourages dependence and submission. I have learned to defeat this power by being entirely contrary to it. I know now that madness is a stratagem to adapt to an impossible world. All mad behaviour is a result of conditioning -and the breaking of its influence. To unlearn what we have learned is a difficult process -we either grow or die. To throw off what weakens us -and to break the power -is to stand back and look -to see what it is. To recognize what hurts you.

So now I know -not to seek an absolute Truth. I do not try to penetrate the fog of mystery. I am not involved with a scientific curiosity. I look to the flower -and not the root. I accept varieties -as perfumes and smells -of spices and tastes. I do not believe in the unity of all life -everything is unique and different. The man who finds himself in the serenity of calmness and contemplation -has not gone far enough. Inside the heart is the secret garden of the soul. We all search the Heavens and Earth for some kind of answer. I say -do not look for the fate -time itself is the creator of disappointment. I often feel that the passing of Time -is itself a obligation I do not accept. All things converge in the moment -that itself is like the shores of a great sea reaching out to infinity. In the present -all past memories and future expectations are nullified in the acid seas. Time is useless and ignorant in that it leads to a fixation on things that do not exist. Our only world is what surrounds us -the people who deserve our attention -the events and ceremonies we take part in. The immediate realm of our senses and our understanding. We bite the devil -by avoiding the things that suffocate us -and choke our voice. We take care of our own souls -and we shape and form our own reality

Gallery Gachet Fundraising Art Auction

julie — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:34:53 +0000

Our Art Auction and Sale will be up at the Gallery until January 15th, 2012! Please note we are closed from December 24th, 2011 until January 3rd, 2012. We reopen on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012.

Gallery Gachet will offer for sale an exclusive selection of artworks generously donated by emerging and established artists from the Lower Mainland and beyond to support the gallery in its effort to raise much needed funds for its programming and to support its mandate.

Artworks from Rosemary Burden, Enda Bardell, Vasan Sitthiket, Margaret M. Mah, Debra Sloan, Phyllis Schwartz, Monica Deac and Mandara Lebovitz will be for sale, representing a diverse range of mediums, from drawing to ceramics; and varying styles, from figurative to abstract.

Many of the artists whose works are in the auction boast impressive international exhibition acclaim. Enda Bardell’s hard-edge metaphysical abstract paintings are in the permanent collection of the KUMU National Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn and were included in the Estonian Art in Exile exhibition in 2010. Her donation to the Fundraising Art Auction is representative of the artist’s career as an abstract painter, similar to those held by the KUMU National Art Museum. Debra Sloan’s clay sculptures are in the permanent collection of the International Ceramics Studio, Kecskemet, Hungary and her works are currently on exhibit in Alberta, Ontario and Kecskemet, Hungary. Monica Deac’s abstract paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows in New York and Chicago.Thai artist, Vasan Sitthiket’s works have been acquired for the permanent collections of a number of institutions, including the MOMA (NY), the National Gallery (Bangkok), the Singapore Art Museum and the Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane). He has also won a number of awards for his work from bodies in Thailand and India.

About Gallery Gachet: Gallery Gachet is a unique collectively managed artist-run centre located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES). Gachet is designed to empower participants, the majority of whom are mental health consumers, as artists, administrators and curators. Gallery Gachet is the only venue in Western Canada for artists informed by mental health issues to have their work documented, catalogued, exposed in the gallery and on the web, and to other institutions.

For more information, please contact Lara Fitzgerald, Programming Director, or Gabriella Solti, Fundraising Coordinator on 604 687 2468 or programming@gachet.org.

Neurotika: The Tyrannny of Equality

bruceray — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:48:02 +0000

They who cut off heads and shorten tongues -say ‘All is Equal.’ In this way we fulfill the function of society -to have a level clearing field. But even so a certain tyranny is affected. This is the movement of the grinding wheel -and is often a process of making things smaller. Anyone who aspires to more than just mediocrity is suppressed. Thus there is repression and also self-aggrandizement. The essence of art -is to express a certain arrogance. To speak of injustice and indignity -is to break the mould – not to hide in the crowd. The nebulous concept of the masses -is a seeking of uniformity and purity. Such purity is a terrible thing -a thing of faceless power. When there are revolutions -there is often a reaction -where religion is uprooted -and awful reason holds sway. Such is the imposition of facile vengeance -as Madame Guillotine waits for all. Communists also speak of idealistic fervour. In any utopian dream there is often the result -where the individual is sacrificed to the collective.

The function of all art is to provoke. To question the Truth is to strengthen it. In order for the artist to work in freedom – one must allow him to be contrary. In the outward circumference of reality -one is only concerned with power. Art is an inward inflection -and the needs of the status-quo are often at odds with the creative process. Art is a thing that arises out of creative hunger – the ambition of a professional careerist is always involved in sacrifice to a goal. This goal is to make more power and to make more money for men whom you submit to. Therefore you are what they call a team player. You are a member of a body -a cog in a machine. Artists are not able to fit into such a strategy -they can only work alone -to make their dream real. Equality is a law in this way -a moral rule that forces all to fit to command. Art is totally against this -it cannot survive in a locked room. It cannot flourish in a place without windows. Art is vital and regenerative -it encompasses both virtue and accident.

Some people think that a great man is the one who changes things. And he who is great is always the one who is calumniated by the average crowd. In this way prophets are stoned and poets are murdered. The people who say this are called ‘elitists.‘ and they are accused of being irritable and discontented. They do not agree with the myth of the common man. They feel that the worst of us -have always been active in the mob -to raise their voices against difference and uniqueness. Anyone who is strange and essential -is attacked in school and the work for which they were trained. Such ingrates are not able to fit in -the proverbial round peg in the square hole. They who are nonconformists are often those who come up with the great ideas. In order to do this -they face the crowd -and break the law of equality. For this they are severely punished.

Therefore you have a sort of mental illness. It’s not that this is done in an obvious manner. Those who are affected by an ‘idea-virus’ are often sick with their Truth. An idea virus is a thing that moves from person to person -all in a process of causing intemperance and restlessness. An idea virus is a deeply dangerous concept -that burns like a fire from branch to branch. There is one man stamping out the flames on the ground -as above a raging fire burns in the trees. Idea viruses are not trustworthy or harmless -they are always involved in an argument and a conversation. Men who germinate -are those who are able to speak without fear of consequence. In this way they must stand up straight and tall -without hesitation and prudishness. When every man is equal -there is no room for deviation. To be equal is to be dead in some way. The words that are planted in the throat cannot flower. The doubts and suspicions cannot be expressed -when you are caught in the senseless mass. You just go with the grain -and fall asleep -a slow and terrible death ensues. A great artist is one who dares to feel the pain of separation -to look inside from outside -and to see. A great artist is one who causes trouble and confusion. In this way it is our duty to avoid being safe and agreeable. In this way we overturn the tyranny of equality. We hate the wheel of karma that grinds us down.

We are having a fundraiser!

lara — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:52:53 +0000

On December 9, 2011, from 8.30 – 10.30pm, Gallery Gachet will offer for sale an exclusive selection of artworks generously donated by emerging and established artists from the Lower Mainland and beyond to support the gallery in its effort to raise much needed funds for its programming. Artworks from Rosemary Burden, Enda Bardell, Vasan Sitthiket, Margaret M. Mah, Debra Sloan, Phyllis Schwartz, Monica Deac and Mandara Lebovitz will be for sale, representing a diverse range of mediums, from drawing to ceramics; and varying styles, from figurative to abstract. Check out our Events Calendar for full details and click on the event to get the low down. We hope to see you there!