Press release: Art Opening April 4
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Santolla McLeod, Press Relations
maggie.santolla@gmail.com
Lele McLeod, Gallery
leleblixa@gmail.com
206-441-3314
Diana Falchuk Creates Multimedia Installation for McLeod Residence
Seattle, WA -- March 13, 2008 -- Local artist Diana Falchuk, known for interacting art with the public space, will create a site-specific installation for McLeod Residence that incorporates the gallery and lounge's signature wallpaper--and cake icing. Salvage opens with a reception April 4 from 5-9pm and will be exhibited through May 31. Also opening on April 4 is a skatedeck series curated by Kristen Rask of Schmancy and Kurt Barbee of 5280 Lasers; and Wildflowers, a series of digitally-altered Holga photographs by Jenene Chesbrough.
Salvage will explore Diana's playful, intimate and sometimes repulsive relationship with t he degradation and reconfiguration of foods, flora and fibers. For the Conservatory, Diana will create an installation using McLeod Residence's signature black and white wallpaper. She will age and water damage a 12-foot section of wallpaper and painstakingly repair missing fragments of the pattern with homemade pink and white icing.
Echoing this piece in the same gallery will be a video narrating
Diana's discovery of a dilapidated cake in the dumpster near her home,
and her subsequent process to "revive it" using her hands.
"In each of these pieces, repair is an indulgent, decorative, personal act that reveals itself to be superficial and, arguably, futile," says Diana in her artist statement.
The Parlor will contain a new series of large and small drawings that continue to explore the connectivity of degraded and vital objects, with a hopeful eye toward the future outcomes of the excessive waste and decay in our current civilization.
Diana Falchuk is a multidisciplinary artist, program manager and educator based in Seattle. Diana's public installations and gallery-based artwork venerate and give new life to public utilities, food and personal objects that are degraded or past their prime or safe consumption. Falchuk has been a member of Crawl Space Gallery since 2005 and has shown widely in Seattle. In 2007, she received a visiting artist award for an exhibition and artist talk at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Since 2004, Falchuk has worked as the Lead Artist/Program Manager for Arts Connect, a partnership that she helped develop between the Museum of Glass and Pierce County Juvenile Court.
Kristen Rask of Schmancy and Kurt Barbee of 5280 Lasers have joined forces to curate a skatedeck exhibit in the McLeod Room. The pair invited local artists to create a design for a skateboard deck, which will be custom rendered in real life by Kurt. Participating designers include Shawn Wolfe, Martin Ontiveros, 2H, Parskid and Soopajdelux.
Kurt Barbee started 5280 Lasers to develop new and exciting products using the newest laser engraving technology and provide custom etching and engraving services. A fan of the "Low Brow" art scene for years, Kurt has worked with Luke Chueh, Maxx242, Gavin Strange and Alex Devol, among others.
Kristen Rask established Schmancy, a small toy store and art
gallery in Seattle, in 2004. Her recent book, Plush You: Loveable
Misfits to Sew and Stuff, complements the annual show she curates at
Schmancy. 
Showing in the foyer is Wildflowers, a series of digitally-altered photographs by Brooklyn artist Jenene Chesbrough. Dreamy Holga photographs of French landscapes are overlaid with stark graphics to create a new pastoral reality.
Jenene's photography is in collection in both the United States and Europe. She works in both fine art and journalistic photography, along with various design mediums.
* * *
McLeod Residence is a home for extraordinary living through art, technology and collaboration. In addition to the lounge that boasts a full bar, McLeod Residence's gallery space features exhibitions that rotate every two months and acts as a venue for events such as readings, musical performances, films, and parties. Proprietors Buster McLeod and Lele McLeod founded McLeod Residence in 2006. McLeod Residence gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, noon to 6pm. The Lounge is open Tuesday-Sunday, 6pm - 2am. For more information, contact McLeod Residence at 206-441-3314 or visit www.mcleodresidence.com.
Comments