TORSTEN ZENAS BURNS: November 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

KROWSWORK GALLERY - DECEMBER EXHIBITION

"SHIP TO SHIP" 3:00 - stereo - variable date - Torsten Zenas Burns
Vehicular docking & Interfacing between three residency forms.
(Yellow Immersion Suit / Manbody / Pink Computer)
(Special thanks to Michael O'Malley
for creating the sculptural pink form)

Krowswork Gallery presents: As X → ∞
Debuts Friday, December 4th as part of Oakland’s Art Murmur
Opening Reception, Saturday, December 12th, 5 to 9
480 23rd Street, between Telegraph and Broadway, in midtown Oakland

Krowswork inaugurates its program with “As X → ∞” (As X Approaches Infinity),* an exhibition of videos and photographs that explores ideas of the infinite, divinity, and the leap between reason and faith as a natural expression of the mediums themselves. Because they are “reality” based and poised at the intersection of the mechanical and the conceptual, video and photography are uniquely suited to emulate and traverse these philosophical pathways. In “As X → ∞” the artists record their specific engagement with the infinite as either direct references to spiritual or ritualized experiences, abstracted allusions to cosmic forms, or playful, elliptical manifestations of the paradox of attempting the approach at all, affirming Kierkegaard’s belief that “the only thing that can save [man] is the absurd, and this he grasps by faith.”
In the screening room, we will feature a 20-minute looped program of videos ranging from 21 seconds to 4 minutes with works by Usuna & Kristie Alshaibi, Animal Charm, Nate Boyce, Torsten Zenas Burns, Volkan Ergen, Sabine Gruffat, Kaliptus, Jason Livingston, Austin Muller, and Aaron Oldenburg. Though conceived individually, the works are curated to be seen together, presenting a complete meditation on the show’s subject. Visitors to the gallery are welcome to a cup of tea or coffee while they watch. Hundred-year-old oak pews with velvet cushions serve as seating and set the tone for a unique experience.
In the project room are an installation and video by RKDB which explore divination and ritual from the eyes of a clown-shaman. Also on view in the exhibition space is the work of five photographers: Gigi Gatewood, Adam Wier, Paula Catao, Walker Dukes, and Lauren Orchowski, whose works approach infinity from the perspective of the sacred, the profane, the fanciful, the ritualized, and the cosmic, respectively.

ARTSLANT REVIEW BY: JOSHUA HAGLER

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

ART SHOW & SCREENING:DECEMBER 5TH 7-10PM MOVIE POSTERS FROM GHANA+NOLLYWOOD FILM "HIGHWAY TO THE GRAVE"

Hand Painted Movie Posters from Ghana
Storefront Project Room
80 Race Street, Holyoke MA
by appointment through Dec. 5, 2009
Closing reception: Saturday Dec. 5, 7:00 - 10:00 PM
Contact: Nancy Sachs 413-330-4505

Three Holyoke exhibition spaces: The Storefront Project Room at 80 Race Street; The Parsons Hall Project Space at 360 Dwight Street; and the Taber Art Gallery at Holyoke Community College are pleased to present hand painted Ghanaian movie posters from the collection of Michelle Gilbert.

In conjunction with the closing reception on Saturday Dec. 5, 7:00 - 10:00 PM, additional posters and a film will be exhibited next door at the Parsons Hall Project Space, 360 Dwight St., Holyoke. (413)-265-8321- holyokeresearch@verizon.net
SCREENING: HIGHWAY TO THE GRAVE

Duration: 01:33:08
Director: Teco Benson
Starring: Regina Askia, Jide Kosoko, Ejike Asiegbu, Tony Umez, Segun Arinze, Lanre Balogun
Language: English

Starting in the 1980s, entrepreneurial operators traveled with video recorders and TV sets to rural Ghanaian villages. Creating makeshift movie houses, often in tents or open air cinemas, they showed violent and often bloodthirsty films on televisions run with generators. Though many were films from America and Asia, most of the posters seen in this exhibition were created to promote the Nigerian made films. Hand painted on the backs of flour sacks by local Ghanaian artists they combine elements of traditional African art and modernity. The artists, in their own styles, often painted these posters before seeing the film themselves. Sometimes they referenced images from the accompanying tape jackets to create these bold and often gruesome advertisements. Many of the images are purely from the artists imagination and may not appear in the film at all. The more shocking the poster, the more likely a show would sell seats. The canvases are tattered and faded from their use to promote the movie as it traveled from village to village. Some of the flour sacking labels bleed through to the front, and some have stitching or patches of odd cloth. This intriguing twist on form and function only adds to the beauty of this dying art.

Today mass- produced paper posters are replacing the hand-painted posters in Ghana. This exhibition offers a peek into that disappearing art form as well as an opportunity to purchase the work. Each poster will be available for sale for $350.00.

Michelle Gilbert teaches anthropology and art history at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY. Since 1976 she has done fieldwork in an Akan kingdom of southern Ghana on art, religion and politics on which she has written many articles.