Bergmann's Lost Art

I had the day off today, and spent a portion of it reading Gabor Mate's book "In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction". It's a good book. Well written and with great compassion and understanding for the addicts who breathe life into what otherwise could have been another academic book on addiction. Dr. Mate's ability to convey the feeling of community and connection that exists between the addicts and denizens of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is dead on.

I worked many years on and off in that community, starting in the late 80's when I was fresh out of university, and departing most recently in 2006. And truth be told, I miss it.

After a couple of hours on the couch with the book, I jumped in my car and headed out to run a few errands. I put Art Bergmann's "Lost Art" cd into the stereo and cranked up the first track: "The Junkie Don't Care".

As the disc played itself out I came to realize that there wasn't much that Dr. Mate was saying about the the lives of addicts that Mr Bergmann hadn't already said. Although a new release, these songs were written in the mid 80's. The disc speaks of a world full of abuse, violence, death, neglect, addiction, disillusionment, betrayal, deceit, corruption, pain, self destruction, resignation, failure, and political culpability.

Pretty heavy stuff. But catchy as hell.

Gabor Mate is a medical doctor and author who works as an addiction specialist in the Downtown Eastside.

Art Bergmann is an artist, pure and simple. He has chronicled the lives of this city's lost souls since the late 1970's, long before our troubled subculture was fodder for international attention. He has always written with the intelligence and understanding of an academic, and the voice of a poet.

A true gift. And well worth finding.

Outsider Art

I took a quick pass through the Affordable Art Show at Victory Square in the Downtown Eastside today. They weren't finished setting up when I got there, and I didn't have time to stick around, so I only got to see a few tables. But I still managed to find some things I liked. And affordable they were. I picked up these two small ink and pen drawings for $3.00 each. No bartering involved.


The artist had about 50 of these small works for sale, displayed on the grass.

She was an older woman who likely looked much older than she actually was and seemed very much at home in the DTES. The kind of person you see when you drive through the neighbourhood and wonder, if you think of her at all, what her life must be like, while at the same time being grateful that your life isn't anything like whatever that might be.

I don't know what her life is like, or what stories she has to tell. But what I have at the moment are two snapshots from whatever those experiences have come to mean to her; and they are exquisite.

Garage Sale Art

Today I brought home my latest garage sale score.

A cement table.

I bought it off a friend, who is moving from a house to a downtown condo. He bought it from the Emily Carr School of Art and Design several years ago and I have always admired it. The cool part are the 3 pools in the top that one can fill with whatever suits your fancy, before putting the glass top over it. My friend use to fill the pools with water and float flowers in them. I was considering putting in Siamese Fighting Fish (their natural habitat are puddles after all) but instead have gone the conservative route, for the time being, with rocks, coral, and my collection of rusty things.

Best RV Show in Town

I took a trip out to Mission today to spend a couple of hours at the Tin Can Tourist (TCT) vintage travel trailer meet. WOW! An incredible array of vintage trailers were on display:

• Airstream- Bambi, Safari, International, Ambassador, Argosy
  
• Spartan
• Airfloat
• Chinook
  
• Sport Ranger
  
• Shasta
• Comet
• Serro Scotty
  
• and of course....boler

I had so many favorites, all for different reasons.
















The Argosy, which is a painted Airstream. Seems Airstream wanted to use some of their blemished aluminum and came up with this painted model.







This Airfloat, pure class inside ....












....and out!














The Spartan was just huge inside.






















The Airstream Ambassador which was a house on wheels. I can just picture Dick Van Dyke walking in and tripping over the ottoman.


Well worth the drive out. It wasn't actually an RV show, but a camping weekend for people with vintage trailers. Having been to a similar meet for fiberglass trailer owners earlier this year I figure the odds were good that they would have an open trailer day on Saturday, as they did at the meet I was at. Fortunately for me, there were people there that I met at the last meet so I had some credibility when I started walking into peoples trailers.

Oh, and have a look at some of the tow vehicles...

Year of the boler (small "b" intended)

So, I'm just back from another boler weekend.

Having purchased my new toy and current object of obsession last October I have deemed 2009 the year of the boler! For the uninitiated, bolers are small molded fiberglass travel trailers built in Canada from 1968 through the 1970's (the end date of production is a bit vague as there were many offshoots made from the same molds, but with different names). There were approximately 10,000 bolers produced, and given the number you still see on the road, I'd bet the a good majority of them are still around.

I first became facinated by the boler after listening to a CBC radio documentary on them. When they began to talk about these vintage eggs shaped trailers I immediately knew what they were, having seen them on the road for years. But I'd never really thought about them much before. I hadn't considered the brilliance of their design, or taken pride in the face that they were made in Canada; and I certainly had never considered them cool. But by time the show was over, the seeds were sewn. I began researching them on the internet; walking into peoples yards where I saw them parked, so I could look in the windows; and at the hight of my obsession knocking on strangers doors to ask if I could have a look inside.

This was all over the course 4 or 5 years. In the interim I had become the not so proud 1/4 share owner of a beat-to-shit 1976 Bonaire tent trailer (also made in Canada). A story in itself. But one to be told at a later date. Then last October, it was time. My obsession had fermented to the point of action. I scoped it out on Craigslist, picking the cleanest one I saw. I layed down $4,000 cash after a brief negotiation, which included getting the owner to tow it to my place for me. And then it was mine.

So far it has been everything I had hoped: It is simple to tow and set up, comfortable to sleep in, and most importantly, it's cool!

Who are the art collectors?

In recent years I've taken an interest in art and art collecting. I found that my joy and appreciation for art began to increase exponentially once I actually began to purchase it. It was that sudden realization that the only thing that separated me from art collectors was buying stuff, not just looking at it.

Once I had acquired my first piece, I suddenly started to think I had entered a world that really belonged to others. I had been to many shows, galleries and openings and had always wondered "who are the art collectors?" "What is it they know that the rest of us don't?" I always thought there was some sort of barrier between looking and buying. Even when I found something that I really quite liked, I could never take that next step. I didn't think I knew enough.

And then it happened. I was perusing a table of off centre prints at an artists studio during the East Van Culture Crawl, finding one I quite liked and discussing it with my friend before putting it back.

"Aren't you going to buy it?" my friend asked.
"I don't know, what do you think?"
"It's $15.00!?!

And with that my friend reach into his pocket handed the artist the money, laughed and said, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

And that was it. Really quite simple. The barrier was gone. The buying became much easier after that. Never one to do things in moderation, I now need to figure out how to pay for it all.