In a review of Remote Splendour, an exhibit by York University MFA students at Toronto’s 64 Steps Contemporary Art and Design, The Globe & Mail’s Gary Michael Dault focused on a painting by John Abrams. Dault wrote: This is Brigitte Bardot in a black wig and a red towel, and she sits in John Abrams’s painting of her, glowing like a ripe fruit. The painting is Abrams’s treatment of one frame from the Jean-Luc Godard film Le Mépris (Contempt). Abrams – who, although he has been painting for 25 years now, recently signed on at York to earn himself a master’s degree – used to paint from magazines. “Models and mug shots” is the way he now recalls his earlier practice. Then he started painting a series of love scenes from movies. Then movie scenes in general, with or without the love bits. Finally, he began translating his favourite films into long sets of 20 paintings or more, each sequence – for which he usually employed only two colours – reading rather like a very slow version of the original film.
Former York Lion’s versatility put to the test
Ricky Foley‘s versatility was to be put to the ultimate test Friday night when the York University product was to make his Canadian Football League debut, suggested The Toronto Sun, the Toronto Star and Canadian Press June 30. Foley played as many as five positions for the York University Lions. And while he will be asked to play exclusively on special teams for the B.C. Lions, Foley’s ability to adjust on the fly will be applied when he attempts to catch a red-eye flight to Toronto following the final whistle to attend his brother Don’s wedding Saturday in the family’s hometown of Courtice, Ont.
York No. 1 in business school ranking
York University was listed No. 1 among business schools in the 2006 Knight School Guide published in Corporate Knights magazine, reported the Peterborough Examiner June 30. The Examiner highlighted local Trent University’s second-place ranking for course content and offerings in the annual ranking of Canadian business schools based on student exposure to elements of corporate social and environmental responsibility.
On air
- Paul James, York’s soccer coach and former Canadian national soccer team player, was interviewed about the controversy over bad calls by World Cup soccer referees, on CBC Radio’s “The Current” June 29.