Black Cocktail Dress: Cloth Strips

Reclusive Life Dept: There's a lot wrong with this picture, circa 21st century. For starters, today's serious young talent is advised to dress up, prepare to participate in the discourse on process, and learn how to swill wine while making conversation. The reclusive life is an earned privilege; until then, there will be receptions, according to Montreal Gazette. Philippine-born Santos moved with her family to Calgary in 1988 when she was seven. Sporting a stylish black cocktail dress and heels the night of her vernissage, she's eager to explain the connection. "My work is autobiographical. I explore the fragmented immigrant self and identity, using images from Pilipino mythology, such as the asuang, a combination vampire and witch." According to popular mythology, the struggling artist labours away in a chilly studio pursuing a solo vision - unloved, unwashed, unknown until some enterprising patron discovers his almost always male genius and makes them both rich by opening doors to the art world. Wednesday night at Parisian Laundry, one of Montreal's hottest art addresses, the creativity of two young women is being f ted. Muted abstract pictures by Jaime Angelopoulos adorn the walls, while her sculptures, playful human-sized mounds of bubble-gum blue balls and shaggy limbs in vibrant yellow and pink cloth strips, populate the centre of the room. Marigold Santos dominates the downstairs bunker with two massive paintings of her fractured body, called Light As a Feather Stiff As a Board 1 & 2 , and an eerie sculptured self, missing a foot. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.