GESTURES 15 OPENS FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011

On March 25, 2011, the fifteenth installment of the Mattress Factory’s Gestures: An Exhibition of Small Site-Specific Works series will open with a reception from 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at our annex gallery located at 1414 Monterey Street. Guest-curated by Katherine Talcott, Gestures 15 includes new work from Sue Abramson, Chris Craychee, Jerstin Crosby, Will Giannotti, Deborah Hosking, HOT SPOTS: What Comes After Oil? (artist collaborators Ann T. Rosenthal, Wendy Osher, Elizabeth Monoian, and Karin Bergdolt), Stephanie Mayer-Staley, Ingrid Nagin, and Garry Pyles.

“Gestures 15 is about process and collaboration: how the curator chooses artists and the process of the artist to create and respond to visual cues or concepts,” says Talcott. “My process as curator is to identify the inner workings and conceptual subtleties of aesthetic practices, see the potential, and offer experimental opportunities to Pittsburgh’s creative community.”

Stephanie Armbruster, Word Salad, 2009, Gestures 13

We started the Gestures series back in 2001 to showcase the diverse talents and practices of Pittsburgh artists. Gestures openings are always a blast. Visitors get the chance to talk with the artists and MF staff over delicious food and drink and incredible artwork. Plus, the turnout numbers in the hundreds, making for an amazing party!

Atticus Adams, castles in the air, 2009, Gestures 12 opening

“This is where you come in. We are consistently blown away by the support of our online community, and with the opening fast approaching, we could use your help getting the word out to people. I’ve embedded an electronic flyer below. Feel free to share the Gestures 15 poster on your blog or other social networking site, or email the flyer to your art-loving friends. As always, thank you so much for the online support, and I hope to see you on the 25th!

Poster design by Paul Schifino

DR. ROBERT FARRIS THOMPSON ON AFRO-ATLANTIC ART

Robert Farris Thompson is America’s most prominent scholar of African art and its influence on American and Caribbean art and music. In the preface to Thompson’s forthcoming book, Aesthetic of the Cool: Afro-Atlantic Art and Music, publisher Gloria Kury calls him a living legend, and based on what I’ve read, I’d say that description is right on target.

Dr. Robert Farris Thompson

He has published eight books on topics ranging from the art history of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria (Black Gods and Kings, 1971) to the cultural history of the tango (Tango: The Art History of Love, 2005). The Master of Timothy Dwight College at Yale, Thompson also authored an introduction to the diaries of Keith Haring and studies the art of Jose Bedia and Guillermo Kuitca. He has been anthologized fifteen times and was given the 2007 “Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research” award by the Congress of Research in Dance.

Long story short, this guy is brilliant.

Which is why we are thrilled to announce that Thompson will be visiting the MF this February for a tour of Queloides and a discussion! Dr. Thompson will present The Edge of the Road is Listening: The Art and Origin of an Afro-Cuban God. He will also be speaking about his almost-at-the-printers book, Aesthetic of the Cool, which collects the best of the essays on Afro-Atlantic art and music that he wrote from 1963 to 2006.

The evening is sure to be incredible; Gloria Kury recalls waiting outside one of Thompson’s classes at Yale and being bombarded by the sounds of music punctuated by thunderous applause. Not to mention my recent Internet search that yielded images of Thompson dancing the tango during several different lectures!

Talk: Dr. Robert Farris Thompson
Thursday, February 3, 2011
6:00PM – Tour of Queloides
7:00PM – Discussion
Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
The cost is $10, and as always, MF Members and Pitt and CMU students are free!

STRANGE DEMOCRACY: An Evening with Spoken Word Brujo Guillermo Gómez Peña

Born in 1955 and raised in Mexico City, Guillermo Gómez-Peña came to the United States in 1978 and established himself as a performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. Much of his work—which includes performance art and photography, audio, video, installations, poetry, journalism, critical writings, and cultural theory—explores the culture and politics of the U.S.-Mexico border. In a larger sense, Gómez-Peña’s art and writings address the confrontations and misunderstandings that occur whenever two or more cultures, languages, or races meet.

Gómez-Peña’s performance and installation work has been presented at over seven-hundred venues across the world, and, in 2009, the Mattress Factory was honored to host Strange Democracy: An Evening with Guillermo Gómez-Peña. In this solo performance, Gómez-Peña tackled the end of the Bush era and the formidable challenges facing Obama. Using his body, language, and wit as his primary tools, Gómez-Peña reflected on identity, race, sexuality, pop culture, politics, and the impact of new technologies in the post-9-11 era.

For the past twenty years Gómez-Peña’s groundbreaking works (which critics have termed “Chicano cyber-punk performances” and “ethno-techno art”) have contributed to debates on cultural diversity, identity, and U.S.-Mexico relations. So we are excited to announce that Gómez-Peña will return to Pittsburgh this December, first for a lecture at CMU, then for a performance and audience discussion here at the MF on Thursday, 12/2 at 7:00PM entitled Strange Democracy: An Evening with Spoken Word Brujo Guillermo Gómez-Peña!

Strange Democracy: An Evening with Spoken Word Brujo Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Thursday, December 2, 2010
7:00PM
Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
The cost is $10. As always, MF Members and Pitt and CMU students are free!

Hope to see you there!