Toronto Craft Alert

This looks like a superfun show.  I also love work by Geneviève Jodouin being shown concurrently at the gallery.

Image courtesy of the artists

PERFORMANCE ART & PRINTMAKING ENGAGE IN BATTLE AT OPEN STUDIO

Snowball: Kyle Bravo, Jenny LeBlanc & Claire Rau
March 5 – 28, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 5, 6 pm-9 pm (artists will be present)

Open Studio is pleased to present Snowball, a print-based performance project and “printstallation” by American artists Kyle Bravo, Jenny LeBlanc and Claire Rau from March 5 to 28, 2009. As Toronto-based writer and artist Andy Fabo points out in the accompanying essay, performance art often incorporates other traditional visual art media such as sculpture or drawing, but it is rare that printmaking and performance art intersect.

Taking the form of a printmaking snowball fight, Snowball will find one of the trio of artists erecting a snow fort made of relief and screen prints (created during the performance) while the other two artists use printed snowballs to try and take down the printed fortress. Taking place before the exhibition opens, the performance will be filmed and video documentation of the performance will play on a loop during the duration of the exhibition in the midst of the residue of the snowball fight. Snowball contemplates issues related to the competitive aspects common to games and war. The artists question how the violence of games persuades real conflict and war, and what role activities such as video games, paintball and chess assume as training grounds for physical and imaginary battles.

Image courtesy of the artists

Kyle Bravo and Jenny LeBlanc live and work in New Orleans, Louisiana; Claire Rau is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. All three artists have exhibited across the United States and internationally; this is their first collaborative exhibition in Toronto. For full artist and writer biographies, visit the Exhibitions page at http://www.openstudio.on.ca For high-resolution images, please email sara@openstudio.on.ca.

Showing Concurrently
George Gilmour Members’ Gallery – Geneviève Jodouin: Together
Print Sales Gallery – Flight Patterns: featuring Emma Nishimura, Tammy Ratcliff, Vincent Sheridan and George Walker

Open Studio
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104
Toronto ON  M5V 3A8
T/F: 416-504-8238
E: office@openstudio.on.ca
W: http://www.openstudio.on.ca
Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 5 p.m.

Image courtesy of the artists