On the walls: the art you need to see this week

“Pigeon Master,” by Stefan Gruber. 

At least until the heatwave breaks, you could do worse than chilling in a nice, air-conditioned gallery for an afternoon.

MASSIVart is throwing a BBQ and housewarming party to pendre le crémaillère at Station 16’s new urban art space. The gallery features bright, super-poppy and comic-inspired work by Antoine Tavaglione (aka TAVA), plus a selection of works by MURAL festival artists. There’s also an art sale, goodies from the grill, DJs and drank. Station 16 Gallery (3523 St-Laurent), Friday, July 19, 7 p.m., free

Art Mûr welcomes the ninth edition of Fresh Paint/New Construction, a group exhibition of work by 40 emerging painters and sculptors. The show’s mission is to put young, hip collectors in touch with young, hip artists, to engage with the public about the practice of collecting unusual art. 5826 St-Hubert, opening reception Saturday, July 20, 3–5 p.m.

Finally, amazing Seattle-based experimental animator Stefan Gruber visits Drawn & Quarterly next week. He’ll stage a three-part performance/screening, and the event is also the Canadian launch for Gruber’s DVDs, flip-books and new comic Both Worlds. 211 Bernard W., Wednesday, July 24, 7 p.m., free

Globe-trotting art documentary initiative The Art Loop Project kicks off next week with a party at Espace Pop. The project has accepted proposals from 10 artists around the world, and their identities have been kept a secret so far. The first is given a theme, then a week to create a work that expresses it. The documentary team, photographer Noémie Letu and videographer Yassir Fadili, will then take the completed piece to the next artist in another country, who will try to express what they think the piece’s theme is in their own work. Complicated? Yes. But the 10 finished works will be exhibited together at the loop’s end, alongside documentation to show how these artists communicated through their art. 5587 Parc, launch party Wednesday, July 24  5–9 p.m. ■