ArtStars*

The Three Worst Episodes

February 12 – February 27, 2010

Opening party: Friday, February 12, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.


“I absolutely believe that the most creativity happens in dark times.”
–Karl Lagerfeld

These are the three worst episodes – these episodes are so bad, they made us want to quit ArtStars*.
We were rejected an interview with Canadian Art editor RICHARD RHODES at a Mercer Union opening, told by Fuse editor IZIDA ZORDE that what we’re doing is “bad for the arts community” and TONY CONRAD threw us off his lap and called us “poisonous.”
But to hell with them.
Oscar Wilde said “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue – it is through disobedience and rebellion that progress has been made,” and indeed, we’re constantly scaring the gallery crowd to the other side of the room. Simply put, when we arrive to an exhibition, we bring the show with us.
We are the exhibition. And now, we have become the ArtStars* ourselves.
As we remind KRIISTINA LAHDE in an interview, “ArtStars* is all about breaking the art world script.”
But enough is enough. Instead of the gallery beat, we are moving on – to all the wicked D.I.Y shit that happens outside of the pretentious, boring gallery world: Pop-up spaces, art parties and public art. Because we will never raise the white flag.
Our goal remains to change how people look at the art world – and make GONZO JOURNALISM from the school of HUNTER S. THOMPSON at its best. That’s showbiz. The art media needs to get with the times.
*SNAP*

–NADJA SAYEJ, February 2010

Technical support provided by the ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO.

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http://artstarstv.com
ARTSTARS* BIOS

JEREMY BAILEY is one of the original founding members of ArtStars* who does all the wicked graphics you love to be jealous of, occasional camera guy and wholehearted art director maniac. In his spare time he performs as a Peewee Herman-infused electronic performance artist whose work has been described by Filmmaker magazine as “a one-man revolution on the way we use video, computers and our bodies to create art.” Jeremy received his MFA in art media studies from Syracuse University in 2006 and continues to piss people off both on and off camera. www.jeremybailey.net

As an editor of ArtStars*, RYAN EDWARDS is interested in the death of television as we know it and what that means for couch potatoes around the world. He works in reality TV finding fun and interesting ways to make people look bad all in the name of entertainment. When asked what ArtStars* is he replies: “ArtStars* is not about art, it about what happens around it.” Ryan does not understand the art world and believes that no one actually does, which brings him to ArtStars*, an outlet through which he can explore the art world and expose all its bullshit in a fun and entertaining way.

DIMITRA LEBESSIS is a painter, a baker and a candlestick maker. She is the camera chick for ArtStars* and a realist painter extraordinaire whose luscious oils cover everything from eerie streets in Cuba, which call to mind a tropical David Milne, to globular life drawings that abstract the likes of Lucien Freud. Dimitra went to art school with Nadja at the Ontario College of Art and Design and together they raised hell at a hostel in New York City before climbing to the top of the Empire State Building and spitting on everyone. She gets more digits than your OSAP student loans, and once worked as a hostess for Sassafraz in Yorkville. She has never had plastic surgery.

KRZYSZTOF POSPIESZYNSKI is the founder of Hamburger Sandwich Show, a comedy show which has nothing to do with hamburgers or sandwiches. A news editor for Much Music, Krzysztof brings the same flashy flair to ArtStars* – he has edited music videos for K’Naan, tolled mosh pits for punk music videos and once upon a time edited a feature film called the Universal Hanging Together of All Things, which won awards in festivals in Australia, Cleveland and Washington. Krzysztof is the son of Zack Pospieszynski, in case you didn’t notice. http://hamburgersandwich.com

NADJA SAYEJ is against pretentious artspeak as well as long and complicated bios. She is the host and founder of ArtStars* – “TMZ for the art scene” – a legendary reality TV show which has captured art gallery patrons walking into minimalist sculptures (and not apologizing), drunk museum curators talking about her cleavage and Toronto artists ‘fessing up at 4 a.m. where all their grant money goes. Nadja spent four years freelancing for the Globe and Mail, just founded the Toronto Alliance of Art Critics and has dodged the NYPD while nagging stories for the New York Times. Hungry for more? You’d better be: http://artstarstv.com

After noticing that being a scientist involved a lot less rocket trips to mars and a lot more staring at graphs than he had initially expected, ArtStars* camera dude CHRISTOPHER YURKOVICH decided to leave the fast-paced world of Physiological/Developmental Biology and move to Toronto to pursue his hopes and dreams (specifically in that order). Currently existing as a freelance film-maker/illustrator/seat filler, he hopes to one day receive the honour of getting a mediocre review from Roger Ebert. Until he can afford a proper domain name, Chris calls http://fatdinosaur.blogspot.com his internet home and hopes that you pass the address along to all your favourite spam websites because... well... everyone needs more robot friends.