Press Release: Art Unplugged
Hi!
Today we issued a press release announcing our exhibits for the May-June cycle, curated by our very own Chris Weber. I think it will be amazing and it includes one of my favorite Seattle artists. Hope to see you at the opening on May 4.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Santolla McLeod, Press Relations
maggie.santolla@gmail.com
Lele McLeod, Gallery
leleblixa@gmail.com
206-441-3314
Disconnects Unites Artists from Seattle and Brooklyn at McLeod Residence
SEATTLE -- April 12, 2007 -- Opening Friday, May 4, 2007 at Belltown’s McLeod Residence, Disconnects brings together artists from Seattle and Brooklyn who each play with the tension between their media and their subject matter in an unusual way. Curated by McLeod Residence’s Chris Weber, the exhibit includes work by Mandy Greer, Dylan Neuwirth, Salah Mason and Maceo McNeff, Doug Young and Aaron Linn and runs through June 30, 2007.
"Disconnects" means to sever or interrupt a connection, and this definition fits the exhibit in several ways. First, it is the first show since the opening of McLeod Residence not to include interactive art, so the work is literally disconnected from the audience in a physical sense, although the pieces may stimulate and possibly overwhelm the other senses. Second, each artist works in a medium that does not normally relate to their subject matter, such as Dylan Neuwirth’s depiction of fabric and flesh rendered in Plexiglas and vinyl, or Salah Mason and Maceo McNeff’s digital portraits of historical figures. Finally, while the separate rooms of McLeod Residence are each curated to work together aesthetically, the art itself does not share any sort of concrete theme.
Seattle artist Mandy Greer takes over McLeod Residence’s Parlor with an intimate, pleasurable and over-saturated installation culled from her own work and the odd personal collectables and artifacts that have instigated it. Inspired by the domiciliary history of McLeod Residence, as well as her early childhood desire to possess the sorts of baubles she saw during family vacations to the mansions and museums of Washington DC, Parlor becomes a voyeuristic peek into the artist’s private world. Only, instead of Faberge and Tiffany trinkets, the viewer encounters thrift store and flea market finds. Amongst the collectibles will be pieces of Greer’s own art--soft stuffed emulations of dead animals and gothic furniture. Greer states that these childhood trips to embassies and mansions, and the lust to amass a lot of stuff that they spurred, have shaped the art she does today, so the viewer is offered a rare and thrilling chance to compare the artist’s work with her source material.
The Foyer features International, a series of five images of a face in a ski mask, looking over his shoulder. Artist Dylan Neuwirth created the portraits from laser-cut Plexiglas with a museum-quality digital print on metallic vinyl applied to the front. The masked figures, symbolizing a terrorist, have a look that is both suspicious and full of suspicion, putting the viewer in an uneasy position between examining and feeling examined. In addition, he will install a clothing rack in the south closet with shirts for men and women bearing the International icon, commodifying the terrorist and further shifting the balance of power between him and his audience. Each shirt will cost $30 and include a 1” International button printed on gold metallic paper. The final component to the project will be internationalplaza.com, which launches in June and will feature an events calendar, videos, downloadable music and merchandise. Neuwirth is an artist, designer and performer who lives and works in Seattle and has exhibited at a number of venues both here and across the country.
A Brief History of Outlaws: Portraits of the American Badass is a series of seven digital prints by Salah Mason and Maceo McNeff. These mixed-media digital collages are mounted on lightboxes in the South Room, and use a combination of photographs and illustrations to depict the evolution of the American anti-hero. Brooklyn’s Mason and McNeff have created a tribute to the folklore of real criminals, not the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold or the handsome tough guys from movies. Mason and McNeff make up Ways&Means, a collaboration responsible for graphics and illustrations for Mass Appeal Magazine, Crank Yankers, Felix da Housecat, Dos Equis, Nike and more. They design and produce luxury streetwear brand Name Value, and will launch a second line of clothing for the Japanese market this year. They will also embark on a multi-city gallery tour in the United States and Japan this year.
Doug Young’s Mission Control, a wool and linen rug the artist wove himself depicting the men of a 60s-era Mission Control seated at their computers, is displayed in the McLeod Room. Young’s use of a delicate antique process that exudes softness and warmth is in stark contrast to the image of the modern and hypermasculine world of NASA and the space race. The artist intends this juxtaposition to be humorous, but he also wants the viewer to consider how earnest it is in its realization, because of the sheer painstaking effort required of Young to create a rug such as this. In this way, Young sees the effort itself as more important to identify with, rather than the piece itself.
The Conservatory will contain Stolen Car, a life-sized illustration by Aaron Linn of an abandoned car created with Formica and plywood reliefs that are cut apart and pieced back together. While living in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Linn because interested in the chaos of stolen cars that kept appearing on the street with missing tail lights, doors and hoods. Sometimes the cars would be set on fire and the Fire Department would remove the hood and doors to extinguish the flames, and within a few hours the car would become a dumping place for trash. Although Linn’s images are meticulously rendered, the viewer may have a hard time distinguishing the burned out car at first, because the contrast between harshness of the actual object and the clean, precise lines of the carved Formica is so jarring. Linn was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma and currently lives and works in Brooklyn.
The Lounge features McLeod Residence’s ongoing installation of neon work by Jeremy Bert and Jen Elek and furniture by Gary Andolina and James Reinhardt.
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McLeod Residence, located at 2209 Second Avenue in Seattle, Washington, is a home for extraordinary living through art, technology and collaboration. Proprietors Buster McLeod and Lele McLeod founded McLeod Residence in 2006. McLeod Residence is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information, contact McLeod Residence at 206-441-3314 or visit www.mcleodresidence.com.
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