ATTEMPTS FOR THE MIRACULOUS: Experiments in Performance is a one-night-only performance event in the CSUF West Gallery, organized by members from both the Sixpack Projects and CHAR artist collectives.

Please join us on Saturday, March 23rd, at California State University, Fullerton, for the simultaneous opening of both projects!

Crit Session, Volume 1 is a multimedia installation based on a performance workshop in collaboration with MFA candidates in the art program at Cal State Fullerton and participating members from the community. This project is centered on the premise known in art practices, most notably in art schools and art programs, as the “crit” or “art critique.” The art system’s crit is comprised of the art student’s peers, professors and advisors conveying insight and directives to the student’s work. Ideally, a student leaves the crit with new understanding of their work, their process, and themselves. But what happens when the student leaves graduate school? The support from the institution is no longer available. Crit Session, Volume 1 is an ongoing observation and exercise of the dialogue that occurs when the context of the artist’s work is removed from the confines of an art institution or “art bubble,” and finds its way into the perception of the general public. It explores and challenges the project’s participating individuals who have an art background with a group who possess little to no art knowledge into contributing to a conversation that interrogates the role and the language imbued in art and art education.

The gallery presentation consists of three different bodies of work by three MFA students studying at Cal State Fullerton’s art program. Each of the student work- one painting, another a series of photographs and a series in mixed media, are on view in their respective wall in a confined gallery similar to an art studio. Accompanying their work is their artist statement. The focal point of the installation is an audio presentation hovering above the gallery space. The looped audio manifestation plays a recorded documentation of the dialogue from the performance workshops- three separate crit sessions between the art students and community peer participants. The peer participants range in occupational backgrounds- a musician, a retired district attorney, a budget analyst, a math tutor, a college student in studying psychology and a high school student. Each crit session embodies the disjunction between the involved groups- the art student and people outside of the arts. The ensuing dialogue varies from agreements to disagreements, clarity to ambiguity, hindrance to realization.

CHAR is an ongoing series of experiments in which artists, theorists, and other cultural producers share ways of making and knowing. These experiments are presented in the domestic sphere as a re-staging of contexts for cultural inquiries. For more info visit http://charseries.tumblr.com/

Sixpack Projects is a collective of six artist/curators organizing innovative contemporary art exhibitions and events throughout Southern California. We are: Alyssa Cordova, Jennifer Frias, Lilia Lamas, Jillian Nakornthap, Jeff Rau, and Heather Richards.

Community Folk Art Center is presenting two exhibitions, “Corporeal Contours: Works by Firelei Baez and Andrea Chung” and “When We Just Existed: Works by Deborah Roberts.” These exhibitions open on Saturday, March 9, with a reception from 3-5 p.m. and will feature performances by the Underground Poetry Spot. In tandem with the exhibition, there will be an interactive space sponsored by Imagining America that will allow viewers to further engage with the exhibition by creating their own silhouettes.

CORPOREAL CONTOURS:
“Corporeal Contours” confronts issues of identity in the Caribbean through silhouetted forms. Curator Jillian Nakornthap says, “While it is hard to capture the vast diversity of the Caribbean, this exhibition focuses primarily on two countries—Jamaica and the Dominican Republic—and the impact that their respective imperialist European nations had on their identity and social structures.”

Firelei Baez is a New York-based artist who has gained many accolades over the course of her young career, including the prestigious Joan Mitchell Painting and Sculpture Award in 2010. Her work explores perceptions of the idealized female body, Dominican folklore and history.

Andrea Chung, who is currently an artist-in-residence at the McColl Center for the Arts in Charlotte, N.C., is a California-based artist who examines the social constructions created by tourist advertisements and post-colonial societies in both Jamaica and Trinidad. In many of Chung’s pieces, she physically cuts out the natives or workers from tourist advertisements or archival photographs, questioning the person’s importance amongst the lush landscape.

WHEN WE JUST EXISTED:
“When We Just Existed” is Deborah Roberts’ New York solo exhibition debut, where she investigates the prepubescent stage of a young girl’s life and the residual affects it has on her as an adult. In many of Roberts’ paintings, she employs her adolescent self as the subject and then, will often layer the figure with bleach, paint and string. Her intention is to question the assertions that are put upon girls before they are able to formulate their own identities. Nakornthap adds, “There is an indescribable tension that is happening in Deborah’s work, where the viewer feels pulled between a child’s innocence and the harsh realities of the world.”

Please join us at the opening reception on Saturday, March 2nd, 4:30-7pm!

Taliban (2001) by Luc Delahaye. Used by permission.

THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY: 12 Artists Respond to Violence
on view: February 28 – March 21, 2013
Biola University Art Gallery
13800 Biola Ave., La Mirada, CA 90639

OPENING RECEPTION:
Saturday, March 2, 2013. 4:30 – 7pm
(see also the facebook event page)

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Sonny Assu
Sandow Birk & Elyse Pignolet
Margarita Cabrera
Lia Chavez
Binh Danh
Luc Delahaye
André Goeritz
Amanda Hamilton
Nery Gabriel Lemus
Ira Lippke
Jes Schrom
Samira Yamin

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY explores the many varied ways that contemporary artists have used their work to respond to issues of violence. Each of these artists have been struck by an awareness of violence, the scars of which are seen etched on bodies, inflicted upon the landscape, and cut into our memories. The specific violence examined by each artist varies greatly: from the substantial physical cost of war to the abstract metaphysical violence of representation & memory; and from the oppressive action of human institutions to the sublimely terrifying forces of nature. Likewise, there is great difference in their responses. Some challenge the trustworthiness of representation, while others seek understanding through images. Some attack the systems of oppression, while others create stirring memorials to victims. Some directly indict the violent offenders and force us to confront their evidence; others seduce us into complicity before revealing our own guilt. As we now engage each artist’s response, we too are awakened to the violence around us and within us. This awakening calls us into action, but a new series of questions will emerge…

ABOUT THE BIOLA ART SYMPOSIUM:
The 2013 Biola Art Symposium features a series of presentations on the theme of Violence and Peace in Contemporary Art. This year’s guest presenters include: Anne Wilkes Tucker (Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), David Bentley Hart (Philosopher/Theologian), Bobette Buster (Film analyst and Adj. Professor at USC’s Peter Stark Program), and Lia Chavez (New York based artist). The presenters will unpack the most constructive models for understanding portrayals of violence and peace, the way these portrayals have functioned, and how they have affected individuals and communities in our culture. This is the eighth in a series of symposiums created and hosted by the Biola University Department of Art. Over the years these events have engaged both the Biola academic community as well as the larger Southern California arts community in stimulating and thoughtful dialogs regarding contemporary art and Christian faith. The symposium events are FREE to all who wish to attend. For more info please visit the symposium website.

Please join us at the artist reception on Friday, February 1st, 7-10pm!

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
PLACE AND TIME explores the themes of both place and time as they relate within each individual artist’s body of work, and as these themes build connections between all of the exhibited works, hinting at common contemporary concerns among this group of artists. Furthermore, by including all current Professional Artist Fellows, the exhibition offers a diverse cross-section of the Long Beach artist community, representing if you will a snapshot of the creative community in a particular place and time.

This exhibition has been supported in part by grants from the Arts Council for Long Beach and the City of Long Beach.

ABOUT THE GALLERY:
The Collaborative: A project of the Arts Council for Long Beach and Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) present exhibitions that raise awareness of both emerging artists and innovative approaches to art. This unique partnership is made possible through collaboration with LYON Communities and the City of Long Beach Development Services.

The Arts Council for Long Beach is a private nonprofit organization, which fosters excellence in the creation and presentation of arts and cultural endeavors in Long Beach. The Arts Council provides access for families, children, and the community to a broad spectrum of cultural experiences by building strategic partnerships and programs that weave arts and culture into the fabric of our community.

The exhibition entitled Trace Evidence features the work of five artists who explore and make sense of the world through systematic processes of measurement, quantification, and documentation. Whether creating sculpture based on body measurements, casting the physical marks left by performance events, allowing the wind to trace its path, or simply scanning donuts; all these artists seek to capture and permanently record the fleeting and immaterial.

Please join us at the opening reception on Friday, October 5th, 6-10pm.

TRACE EVIDENCE
curated by Jeff Rau
October 5 – October 27, 2012

Cultural Alliance for Long Beach (CALB)
at the Bungalow Arts Building
743 N. Pine Ave, Long Beach, CA 90813

Opening Reception:
Friday, October 5th, 6 – 10pm

FEATURED ARTISTS:
Jocelyn Foye
Virginia Katz
Jeff Rau
Jennifer Reifsneider
Rebecca Sittler

Sixpack Projects is a collective of six emerging contemporary artists and curators committed to providing innovative art exhibitions that bring together both emerging and mid-career artists to impel dialog on a variety of contemporary issues. For more information about this and other projects, please visit www.SixpackProjects.com

This exhibition has been made possible by support from the Arts Council for Long Beach and the Cultural Alliance for Long Beach. Please check out the hundreds of other arts events taking place during Long Beach Arts Month – www.LongBeachArtsMonth.org

At its core, Sixpack Projects began (and remains) a collective of six emerging contemporary artists and curators, often working independently, each with different specialties and interests. As we have been consistently excited and inspired by each other’s work, we banded together as friends and colleagues to help build a name together.

This past year has brought about some significant professional growth among the individuals in our group! From our humble beginnings in Orange County, we are now curating exhibitions on both coasts and in Europe! In a few short years, Sixpack members have been part of the curatorial/exhibitions staff at Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana; University Art Museum at CSULB, Long Beach; Bakersfield Museum of Art, Bakersfield; and the Florence Biennale, Italy. Now presently, three of our members hold senior curator positions at UCR Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA; Community Folk Art Center, Syracuse, NY; and LINEA Contemporary Art Space, Florence, Italy.

Of course, along with such professional responsibility to other institutions, we do not often have the freedom to brand our work with the independent name of Sixpack Projects. But, this is not to say that our independent work is done!

We may not maintain the consistent calendar of programming we established in 2010-2011, but we remain committed to providing innovative art exhibitions that bring together both emerging and mid-career artists to impel dialog on a variety of contemporary issues. As we continue to develop new relationships with artists and independent art spaces, expect to see future Sixpack Projects exhibitions pop up on both coasts and perhaps even across the globe!

Plus… a new exhibition is coming to Long Beach, for Long Beach Arts Month. More info coming soon.

PRESTON DANIELS | Black and Blue
PATRICK STRAND | Bedroom Atoll

January 14 – February 25, 2011
Art Walk Reception: January 14, 6-9pm

Andi Campognone Projects
300 W. Second Street
Pomona, CA 91766

Preston Daniels and Patrick Strand produce works that seize the humanization of architectural, communal and spatial elements occupying our modern environs. The artists’ re-contextualization of transcendental communities is realized through architectural sculptures (Daniels) and drawing studies (Strand). Both Daniels and Strand’s works represent the physical changes reflected in our living spaces and how they embody our everyday lives. Organized by Jennifer Frias and Sixpack Projects.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Preston Daniels attended the Chatauqua Institute School of Fine Art in New York and received his BFA from West Virginia University in 2007. He received an MFA on a Hallsburg Scholarship from California State University Fullerton in 2010. He has exhibited works at The OsCene at the Laguna Art Museum (2010), Crussell Fine Arts in Orange CA, SCA Project Gallery in Pomona, Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana and others. He has collaborated with artist and film director Tim Burton on his sculpture “Robot Boy” for the exhibition Tim Burton that opened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2009, and travelled to Los Angeles County Museum of Art in May 2011. His works are included in numerous private collections around the country such as the collection of Barbra and Victor Kline. He currently lives and works in Long Beach, California.

Patrick Strand holds BFA degrees in drawing and painting from the University of Southern California (1998) and in character animation from the California Institute of the Arts (2002). In 2010 he received his MFA in Painting from Cal State Fullerton. He has exhibited at numerous southern California venues such as Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana, dA Center for the Arts in Pomona, Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery in Los Angeles and the Palm Springs Film Festival. With his background in animation, drawing and painting, he has taught at Maxis Studios/Electronic Arts in Redwood City and Walnut Creek, CA, ABC Family in Los Angeles, California State University at Fullerton and Watts Towers through the Community Arts Partnership in Watts, CA. He currently lives and works in San Pedro, California.

SIXPACK PROJECTS:
Sixpack Projects is a collaboration of six artist/curators organizing innovative contemporary art exhibitions and events throughout Southern California. We are: Alyssa Cordova, Jennifer Frias, Lilia Lamas, Jillian Nakornthap, Jeff Rau, and Heather Richards. Sixpack Projects features special curatorial projects by the members of our collective and is intended to be a forum for engaging the community in important and relevant cultural discussions through the exhibition of contemporary art. For more information please visit sixpackprojects.com

Opening Reception: January 14, 6pm – 9pm

Our very own Jennifer Frias has curated this fine exhibition at the UCR Sweeney Art Gallery. Be sure to check it out! Click here for more info.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:
On the court of a tony club or ivy-covered institution, another Squash player makes an aggressive serve, or politely calls for a “let,” ending the rally lest he physically interfere with his opponent. In a Riverside neighborhood or Inland Empire community, another family gets a foreclosure notice, just one of an estimated half a million California families that will lose their homes in the national foreclosure crisis. Do we really declare all of these people losers at the game of life, or might we be able to offer them a “let”? What are the limits of personal responsibility, and achievement? Applying their usual performative appropriation of social customs and idioms, the collaborative duo of JEFF&GORDON take on the tension between cooperation and competition that runs through the public discourse in a nation of “temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

ARTWALK SPECIAL EVENT:
On November 3rd, the Sweeney Art Gallery will present a one-night social event that invites the public in a participatory role with artists JEFF&GORDON. Recognizing the desire on the part of the average gallery or museum visitor to gain insight into the exhibition, Play Against and into the artist’s process, JEFF&GORDON will employ their usual strategy of borrowing from a social custom or cultural idiom and meet with members of the public in a series of controlled convivial situations. Channeling the phenomenon of social gatherings and social networking, the public and JEFF&GORDON will be able to get acquainted to see how much they like each other, and to decide if they would like to see each other again. Participants will be provided with an entrée of suggested discussion topics and refreshments. Time limit strictly enforced. This event is made possible by the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
JEFF&GORDON are a collaborative team of artists who create videos and installations that explore social interactions. Jeff Foye and Gordon Winiemko create situations wherein an audience will reflect on their participatory role in the ever-changing cultural narrative; every one of us contributes to our collective culture, but at the same time we are all defined by culture. As such, their work frequently “takes on” the form of familiar social conducts and iconography, and also enters into a dialogue with the site or the context in which the work is exhibited. The artists also forward their personae, and frequently mediate their performative actions through video, as informed by the cinematic aesthetic. The artists received their MFA’s from CSU Long Beach, and UC Irvine, respectively, in 2007. They live in the Los Angeles area. This is their second solo show as a team. JEFF&GORDON: Play Against is organized by UCR Sweeney Art Gallery, and curated by Jennifer Frias, associate curator, Sweeney Art Gallery.

Support for this project is provided by UCR’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Fair Housing Council of Riverside and UCR’s Student Recreation Center. JEFF&GORDON: Play Against is an exhibition in dialog with a UCR initiated project that will be under development throughout the 2011-2012 academic year, Understanding the Human Impacts of Housing Foreclosure: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Economic, Social and Political Inequality. The steering committee includes UCR professors Gary Dymski (Economics), Vanessa Estrada (Sociology), Martin Johnson (Political Science) and Ellen Reese (Sociology/Labor Studies).

In fact, this show promises to be so good that we’ve created a whole website devoted to the exhibition! ACQUIRED TASTE opens October 29, 2011 at The Begovich Gallery on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.

For more details see below, and visit acquiredtaste.sixpackprojects.com.

In recent years, the culinary arts have seen a rise in popularity through cable television cooking shows; increased public awareness of food politics; and the explosion of impassioned food movements such slow food, pop-up restaurants and gourmet food trucks. In Acquired Taste, visual artists use a variety of mediums to address the underlying issues surrounding food and consumption: Greg Stewart’s living sculptures and “Moveable Gardens” envision sustainable agriculture as both utopic and democratic; Jennifer Rubell’s playful, participatory work uses food as a vehicle for social interaction; and Dustin Wayne Harris’s “Cake Mixx” photographs offer a humorous, narrative take on first encounters. Artwork in the exhibition ranges from site-specific installations to sculpture and oil paintings.

In addition, curators Alyssa Cordova and Heather Richards are collaborating with local food enthusiasts to offer exciting programming and events: cooking demonstrations by chef Jonathan Dye; KCRW Good Food contributor Delilah Snell’s “Jam Van” of preserves and other goodies; lectures by featured artist-in-residence Greg Stewart, and more!

Artists include: Sita Bhaumik, Shannon Faseler, Dustin Wayne Harris, Pamela Johnson, Jennifer Knox, MyersBerg Studios, Mary Parisi, Justin Perricone, Victoria Reynolds, Jennifer Rubell, Stephen Shanabrook, Greg Stewart and Tattfoo Tan.

Accompanying Acquired Taste: Food and the Art of Consumption is a full-color exhibition catalog of artwork and essays slated to be published October/November 2011. Essayists include freelance writer and blogger Nicole Caruth (Contemporary Confections); art historian and blogger Megan Fizell (Feasting on Art); and Pulitzer prize-winning writer Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly, KCRW’s Good Food).

ABOUT THE GALLERY:
The Begovich Gallery is located in the Visual Arts Complex on the campus of California State University, Fullerton, at 800 North State College Blvd. The gallery is open to the public Monday – Thursday, 12-4pm. and Saturday 12-2pm; closed on Sundays and Fridays. Admission to the gallery is FREE for all, but day permits are required to park on campus during the week (click here for more info about campus parking). Acquired Taste will be on view October 29 – December 8, 2011. For more information contact the Art Gallery Office at 657.278.7750 or visit the gallery website www.fullerton.edu/arts/art/visual_events.html.

SIXPACK PROJECTS:
Please visit www.sixpackprojects.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook to find out about other events.

www.acquiredtaste.sixpackprojects.com