7/28/11

IMPERMANENT PUBLIC IS TOMORROW NIGHT, Friday July 29th 5-11

It seems impossible but the day is almost here, IMPERMANENT PUBLIC is tomorrow night at The FUTURE PRESENCE Gallery. I am going to give directions one more time (The Future Presence Gallery is located at 1126 2nd Street NE, Minneapolis MN 55413 in the Northeast Arts District) and then get back to work fixing up the place for your arrival.

Look forward to seeing work by locals HOTTEA, Jenny Moxley, Phil Jones, Light The Underground, myself, Andrew Casey and work by not so local Sean Martindale, Gregos, Edina Tokodi & Lee Walton.  There will be music, refreshments and the best mix of installation and documented street art that Minneapolis has seen in far too long.  We hope to see you all there!

Nathaniel


Here is a preview video and some links of what's to come:
Local News Team Stopping by the Gallery
Star Tribune's Vita.mn Recommends You Stop By
MPLS.TV sees some HOTTEA

7/23/11

Momentary Performance by Lee Walton, Tuesday 7PM on 2013 Hennepin Ave

It is my immense joy to reveal the location and time of the first collaboration between The FUTURE PRESENCE Gallery and Lee Walton. On Tuesday, July 26th, there will be a Momentary Performance staged at 2013 Hennepin Avenue South, between our friends at Shameless Inc. and Liquor Lyles. This is the first of two performances with Walton, the second of which will be at the opening night of IMPERMANENT PUBLIC, this Friday, July 29th.

Lee Walton once described himself as an Experiential Artist, thus creating the term Experiential Artist. Experientialism is the idea that something must be experienced to be learned, and is then relatable to anyone who has experienced it. Walton’s work often investigates and highlights the brief, everyday aspects of our lives and stages them in a public setting, making the ordinary something more than. His ‘Momentary Performances’ ride a fine line between deep art theory and an appreciation of human nature. Seeing letters promoting FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 6 PM PERSON WEARING A WHITE HAT STOPS TO EAT A PB AND J SANDWICH on a building wall creates a sense of anticipation, even if it would normally be a forgettable event.

“This dissolving of the boundaries between art and life is understandably necessary”, says Walton. The audience becomes part of the performance as they can now see themselves as witnesses and participants, even if they are waiting for a bus or running an errand, “I like when the art bleeds into real life just enough.”

As Experientialism was first described by Linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, “You cannot function within the environment without changing it or being changed.” Through such work, Walton does more than blur the boundaries between art and reality, he makes the rest of our reality art.

Special thanks goes out again to Shameless, Inc Tshirt & Printshop for their support and vision in allowing us to use their walls for this performance. You can view more of Lee Waltons work at his website, http://www.leewalton.com/

7/22/11

Toronto's Sean Martindale in IMPERMANENT PUBLIC

I am not quite sure how to describe how exciting it is to have Sean Martindale involved in IMPERMANENT PUBLIC. A few months ago, when this show was still hatching in my brainpan, I emailed him to express my appreciation for a project he had worked on where he organized a group of artists to creatively fix dilapidated city planters in Toronto. After a brief exchange we decided that his work seemed necessary in the show, as did a collaborative piece designed by Martindale and built by The Future Presence Gallery for Minneapolis. This is almost the art equivalent of Michael Jordan agreeing to be on your pickup basketball team.

For those of you who are not familiar with his work, he has been featured on just about every art/culture/fashion/trend blog ever for his inspired, unique public interventions which often combat advertising and urban grime with greenery. His work blankets not only the internet but also appears on city streets through collaborations with artists worldwide.

Pictured above is one of his more fascinating projects, an example of the Poster Pocket Plants, a collaboration with Eric Cheung . Using wheatpasted and illegal ad posters as material, they cut or extend a rip in the poster, staple it to the side and fill this created pocket with gravel, soil and everything a growing plant needs. It seems so, pardon the expression, natural, to take decomposing matter and make something bloom from it. Practical, beautifying and creative, Sean Martindale is most certainly a key figure in a new international direction for street and public art. 

Nathaniel


IMPERMANENT PUBLIC is Friday, July 29th from 5-11 at the Future Presence Gallery, 1126 2nd St NE, MPLS MN, 55413

7/21/11

IMPERMANENT PUBLIC Artist Profile: Light The Underground



LIGHT THE UNDERGROUND

At only 20 years old, Light The Underground has already created an impressive portfolio of light projects and social experiments. His process includes exploring abandoned buildings, factories, sewers and caves and creating a photograph using slow exposure and lights. “I started out as an urban explorer just taking pictures of the places I went but after a while it was the same old tunnels and same pictures. Then I came across light painting and it started a whole new way to photograph the places I went. I do research and there is a tight knit community of urban explorer who I sometimes go with and find lots of my locations through them.”

He will then frame these pictures and return them to the place where the image was created, thus illuminating this space. Although most of us will never see these works in the habitats they were created, we can imagine the surreal experience of seeing a finely framed print in an abandoned space, almost as a marker of past explorers or a modern cave drawing. It is easy to assume that this illumination is both a literal and figurative one; highlighting economic conditions, unused potential or our throw-away consumerist culture. But when asked of his motivations, Light The Underground responds with youthful charisma, “I like to share my work with others and try to let people see the rare and exotic locations they don't usually get to see, and at the same time getting people to wonder how the photograph got there. I haven't thought much about a larger message”.

Nathaniel

You can of course see more at IMPERMANENT PUBLIC at The Future Presence Gallery July 29th, and at Lighttheunderground.com

7/14/11

HOTTEA's 'WILDLIFE'

Here is a video by Thomas Dunning showing HOTTEA's latest work, well, besides the amazing installation he has upcoming at IMPERMANENT PUBLIC. Check it out, and dont forget to mark your calendars for July 29th, 5PM-11PM
http://vimeo.com/25815512