Michel Saint Hilaire Drive!

Showcasing prolific Manitoba artists – and frequent mural collaborators – Michel St. Hilaire and Mandy van Leeuwen, a new exhibition at Woodlands Gallery propels us into a post-pandemic reality driven by the metaphor of the almighty car. The collection juxtaposes St. Hilaire’s abstract geometric landscapes with van Leeuwen’s playful surrealism for an experience that is both enigmatic and evocative.

The drive to find beauty and meaning in the everyday is what gets us through adversity, and that powerful human emotion leaps off every canvas. The exhibition’s titular piece projects the vivid motion so adeptly conjured in many of St. Hilaire’s works. There’s a palpable vibration created by the wheels spinning out in Permutation and a veritable lift-off sensation in Take Off.

Meanwhile, van Leeuwen turns the concept on its head by delving into the passion people have for their cars. A Matchbox ‘70s station wagon in an open horizon captures the narrative of childlike wonder, along with the endless possibilities of the Sunday drive. That same sense of open road carries over onto an unlikely canvas: the hood of a ‘60s Firebird Formula, one of many found objects the artist likes to incorporate into her work, either literally or figuratively.

It’s an interest shared by St. Hilaire, which explains some of the synergy the artists and their works share. The word ‘drive’ also describes the colleagues’ ability to encourage and challenge each other by acting as mutual sounding boards for their concepts and ideas.

This interplay inspires them to add further layers of complexity to their work. With unexpected contrasts and a pulsing glow, St. Hilaire’s multifaceted Eclat delivers a slow reveal at the same time as it bursts off the page. Similarly, van Leeuwen’s painted car hood gives us two simultaneous perspectives: a sense of freedom and the thrill of the driver behind the wheel of a sports car, from which the hood was extracted.

These are only some of the dozen or so paintings encompassed by this resonating theme.

It’s no wonder that, as we surge forward with the electrification of our vehicles, our passion for the car is no less diminished. The advent of those four wheels opened the world to so many, giving us the power to drive our own destiny. There’s no turning back!

The official launch / opening reception of the Drive exhibition is on April 14, 2023. See woodlandsgallery.com for more details.

One of the things that changed my life drastically during my film career was trying stand-up comedy. I took a course years ago alongside Seth Rogan when he was starting his career. Afterwards, we were both asked to perform on the main stage that weekend.

Stand-up changed my life. It pushed me, it humbled me; I had steak knives thrown at my head. Stand-up has also led me to some of my best relationships, including crossing paths with the famous Lara Rae.

Lara Rae could be seen as our comedic hero. She chose to have a national career based in Winnipeg, and is the first trans comic in the world to perform as a male and then a female. Lara can cook duck. Her early comic influences were Bob Newhart and Tommy Struthers. She was the soul of our comedy festival here in the city for 29 years.

Lara is now not only the talent scout for New Faces and talent at Yuk Yuk’s in Winnipeg, but she is also teaching stand-up comedy at Onalee Ames Film Studio for those who want to try their luck at being funny. I recently had a wonderful conversation with this talented woman.

Q) How did it all start for you?

A) When I was 18. I was at York University streaming into the creative writing program, which I was quite excited about. One of the classes was on the same night as Monday Amateur night at YUK YUK’s and I needed the university class to continue into my second year. I made a choice to leave.

Q) You left university to do amateur night at Yuk Yuk’s?

A) Yes. I left and never looked back. It has been very validating later in my life to be able to teach. I teach standup classes like I teach at your studio, but I also teach at the University of Winnipeg. Everything I picked up – various kinds of knowledge has been autodidactic – all on my own.

Q) One of the most unique qualities about you is that you have performed comedy in two genders. Can you talk about that?

A) I almost didn’t do stand-up after I transitioned because I thought it would be too much trouble to start again. I realized this was a great way to tell my story and create acceptance for trans people, and then I realized I was more authentic as a person, and I could be more authentic on stage. I love stand-up so much.

Q) Who is your favourite philosopher and why?

A) Wittgenstein followed by Schopenhauer. Wittgenstein, it is kind of a cliché, because he is often described as the philosopher who has the most appeal to poets. Even though he was very analytical he spoke about the limits of language. He says very famously “Of that which you cannot speak remain silent.”

I love the more human philosophers. Nietzsche, because for a trans person, he held the ideas that there was no basic universal morality – everything is culture and language – including religion. Without language, none of these things would exist in a meaningful and fundamental way. It is why I love talking and I love words. As somebody who had feelings - my transness as a child was a feeling - a feeling that there was something terribly wrong. My gender didn’t match my brain. I couldn’t articulate how much it stressed me or how much I wanted to do something about it. All of those things were too terrifying to be able to do in the 1960s. At the same time, it fuelled this desire to be very precise and to communicate effectively.

Q) You have shared with me before that you have ADD. How has this affected you?

A) My ADD has been life limiting. I would describe it that way. I think it is possibly one of the more serious psychological and cognitive issues that people can struggle with, but still be diagnosed within the normal ranges that people never get help for. Of course, very much connected into childhood insecurity, anxiety and childhood trauma. It isn’t necessarily directly related to external factors. It can have less to do with what is happening externally – it can just be about how much sensitivity a child has. I practise intensely to mitigate my emotional responses. I am a highly sensitive person. It has made my life very difficult especially as a trans person and speaks to why I seek out humour as a way to cope. My comedy is a coping strategy. Not a negative coping strategy - it earns me some status and some income. I always have a desire to make people laugh.

Q) What advice can you give to new students of stand-up?

A) You have no idea how good or bad you are at something until you actually do it. Every time you start something you are going to fail in some capacity, because even if you are masterful, you might make the mistake of arrogance.

Q) What is your favourite Bowie album?

A) Ziggy Stardust. I remember it coming out when I was a kid in the ‘70s. It was a hit single – the riff, and then it was a story. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – you could listen all the way through as a story. Incredible journey. One of the reasons I loved it was because it held operatic structure. I am really interested in my stand-up and anyone’s stand-up in developing the structure point of view. You can apply Ziggy Stardust to stand-up comedy.