Spread Art

Michelle Matson opens at Whitdel Arts May 17th

 Spread Art X Playground Detroit Spring 2013 Detroit Artist Residency Exchange artist Michelle Matson has been hard at work here in Detroit creating on a new body of work that opens on  May 17th.  Michelle arrived on April 17th and quickly settled in to her new studio accomodations in the 555Arts complex.  Following a welcome brunch at the Spread Art Resdiency House, Michelle has been busy preparing for the opening on the 17th.  Michelle has also been keeping a photo journal during her month long stay here in Detroit.

 

Spring 2013 Detroit Artist Residency Exchange:
Michelle Matson @ Whitdel Arts

This brand new body of work explores systems of humor, social and sexual themes.  
The intricate sculptures featured in this exhibition combine facsimiles of common everyday objects and figures into darkly humorous, sexually charged, dreamlike totems and tableaux.

In the site specific installation "Grim Reaper" a figure camouflaged almost completely by household plants guards a large scale abstract sculpture.  Reminiscent of ancient Egyptian statuary and architecture this piece borrows snippets of its vernacular from far flung corners of popular culture and art history.  One can see references to artists Nick Cave, Tom Friedman and Tony Smith, along with references to stereotypical "women's interests" gardening, fitness, and protecting the sanctuary of home.  Both absurd and haunting, Matson leads the viewer subtly into a surreal tableaux via exaggeration and misinformation: errors in the hard lines of branding logos, distorted body parts and jarring coloration. Using a limited palette of commercially manufactured colored paper and household construction materials, Matson creates dream-like shadow selves of the world we know.

In her "Tickle" sculptures, Matson employs geometric plaster forms, handmade plaster bananas and paper ferns to create delightfully humorous and sexually charged totems.  These smaller scale sculptures are complimented by entertaining and macabre drawings, which delve further into the surreal miasma of Matson's psyche.

Michelle Matson (b. 1981) received her BFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York in 2005.  Her work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles including the Zach Feuer Project Space, Postmasters Gallery, Stux Gallery, Flux Factory, Youth Group Gallery, Kravets Wehby Gallery, China Art Objects, Family Business Gallery and the Torrance Art Museum.  In 2011, she was selected to compete on the internationally syndicated Bravo reality television series "Work of Art, The Next Great Artist".  Matson was recently awarded a residency at Yaddo.  Her work is currently on view at The Parlour, Brooklyn, NY. 

Spread Art is an artist-run creative incubator designed to foster new works through residencies and collaborations with artists, curators, and organizations from around the world. Spread Art supports emerging artists through residencies, group and solo exhibitions, music events, and performance showcases, and also facilitates opportunities for youth and adults to explore their creativity and increase self-awareness through art. Spread Art supports the creation and evolution of art festivals and cultural collaborations locally, nationally, and internationally. www.spreadart.or 

Playground Detroit is a non-profit creative platform whose mission is to enhance Detroit’s artistic reputation by connecting artists, entrepreneurs, and influencers to opportunities within international art markets. By establishing a link between artistic communities in these cities, Playground Detroit seeks to inspire, elevate, and power leading lights of America’s creative economy. Through the presentation of inspirational art, engaging online media, powerful music, provocative educational events, and unique residency opportunities, Playground Detroit promotes artists, investment, and effective action for growth in Detroit’s internationally connected arts community. www.playgrounddetroit.com

Whitdel Arts: A division of CAID, Whitdel Arts is an 1800 sq. ft. professional exhibition space that showcases the work of local and international established and emerging artists. Whitdel Arts is located at 1250 Hubbard Street, Suite B1, Detroit MI 48209. Whitdel Arts is also located on the web at www.whitdelarts.com

 

 

Spread Art Third Thursday May 2013

For the Art Detroit Now "Third Thursday" in May, Spread Art Co-Directors Thomas Bell and Christina deRoos both have work in the "Gun Control" exhibit at 555 Arts in SW Detroit.  Come meet thomas and Christina at the closing reception for "Gun Control" and check out over 25 artists from across the country and the metro Detroit area!

Thomas Bell - Ragged States of America

GUN CONTROL

CONTROL DE ARMAS

Why do we fear one another? What role does each of us play in perpetuating gun violence in American society?  What does “safe” look like?

¿Por qué tenemos miedo el uno al otro? ¿Cuál es el papel qué juega cada uno de nosotros en la perpetuación de la violencia armada en la sociedad estadounidense? ¿Qué significa estar “seguro” en nuestra comunidad?

Join 555 as we present a visual debate about the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees the individual right to bear arms.  This exhibition is intended to provoke a lively political, emotional, and philosophical examination of the rights and responsibilities of gun ownership and use in a “free” society.

Ingreso 555 como se presenta un debate visual sobre la Segunda Enmienda de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos., que garantiza el derecho individual de portar armas. Esta exposición tiene como objetivo provocar una examinación animada política, emocional y filosófica de los derechos y responsabilidades de posesión de armas y su uso en una sociedad “libre”.

This exhibition includes works by over 25 artists from across the country and around Metro Detroit.

Esta exposición incluye obras de más de 25 artistas de todo el país y alrededor de Metro Detroit.

Opening Reception

Sunday, May 5th 6 – 9 PM

Recepción de Apertura

Domingo, 05 de mayo 6 – 9 pm

Closing Reception in conjunction with Third Thursdays art crawl

May 16th 5 – 9 PM

Cierre de recepción junto con el Tercer jueves del “art crawl”

16 de mayo 5 – 9 PM

555 Nonprofit Gallery & Studios

2801 W. Vernor Hwy. | Detroit,  MI  48216

(888) 496 – ARTS  | www.555arts.org

Gallery Hours TTh 2-5 PM Sat 11-3 PM & By Appointment

Galería Horas TTH 2-5 PM Sab 11.03 PM y por cita arreglada

Artist Brunch: Sister Sylvester Work In Progress & Artist Talk

Join us for an artist brunch work in progress showing and get a first look at the latest work from Sister Sylvester, a Brooklyn-based collaborative theater company in residence with Spread Art as they create Come From There. 

Sunday April 14th 11:00am until 1:00pm

Get Directions

Come From There is a piece being made simultaneously in Turkey and in the USA. The piece is a search for stories and forms, for a time where the defining paradigm is a sense of un- belonging, of rootlessness, of being between cultures. Two directors - one in Turkey the other in the US - have set each other a series of challenges around this problem. In the first phase of the project they will work independently in their respective countries to create two performances, and in the second they will meet in both New York and Istanbul to combine their work and co-direct a final piece.

The piece is an attempt to wrestle with this sense of un-belonging through the lens of three performance makers from the previous generation, each of whom invented forms that became iconic to their place and time. The work of these three performers: Spalding Grey, Ethyl Eichelberger, Reza Abdoh, is the foundation of what we do as a company, and to this genre called ‘performance’ that we are a part of. We want to use the forms they created to see if they can hold contemporary stories – or to find out what we need to do to subvert and adapt these old forms for our contemporary reality. Working with an ensemble cast on what - in the case of the first two - are solo performances gives us the opportunity to complicate the single narratives, exploding these forms with new stories, and creating a performance for our times.

***
Sister Sylvester uses performance to investigate the fictions—personal, political, and social—that are built up through language and habit, and remain largely unquestioned in social identity and discourse. Since 2008, they have made work in both site-specific venues as well as in theaters, keeping an investigation of the audience-performer relationship at the heart of their practice.

www.sistersylvester.org

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Thank you to Cathy Schneider & family, owners of the Izzy's building, for their ongoing support of the Detroit arts community & Spread Art.

Third Thursdays at Spread Art

Join us for Art Detroit Now's Third Thursdays
Thursday, March 21, 6-9pm
 

 

Spread Art continues our 5th year celebration exhibit featuring a slideshow of past exhibitions and events over Spread Art's first 5 years as well as artwork from the Spread Art Collection which includes various works from past exhibiting artists including directors Thomas Bell and Christina deRoos. Also on Display will be 'Detroit 2013 "What is your Art"-  an interactive calendar where you can add your 2013 art event.  

 

Spread Art will also unveil our Michigan Ave Storefront Windows project which includes the 8 foot x 8 foot "Wash Rinse Repeat"  (Ask how your art can be displayed as part of the rotating Storefront Windows project)  Over the next year the windows will be filled with local and visiting artists.

You can pop in for an open rehearsal in the development space:  
A Host of People will be expanding one of their works for a performance on Saturday March 23rd for The Hinterlands Ensemble showcase at ArtlabJ in Greektown. Pop in during their rehearsal and catch them in action

The night will also serve as an open house for those who are new to Spread Art as Co-Director Thomas Bell will be onsite to answer any questions about Spread Art's history and current programming.

 

 

 

Sister Sylvester - Detroit Artist Residency Exchange 2013

Spread Art invited New York City based theater group Sister Sylvester to Detroit for a 10-day residency retreat to work on their next project: Come From There.  

Sister Sylvester - April 5th - 14th 



Sister Sylvester is a Brooklyn-based collaborative theater company that uses performance to investigate the fictions—personal, political, and social—that are built up through language, and the dynamics of power that are created within those fictions.  Since 2008, we have made work in both site-specific venues as well as in theaters, with a constant theme of investigating the audience-performer relationship at the heart of our practice.  We've made work that is part performance and part rave, in an abandoned convent in Greenpoint; staged work in the cosmic-cavern installation space of artist Kenny Scharf; led audience members through freight elevators and into an old archive library for an immersive re-imagining of The Iceman Cometh. And we have developed work, such as our production Boxman, based on the novel of Kobo Abe, which are built of games and patterns rather than a set choreography, and are able to tour to a different venue every night and adapt to the new environment.  We also work in theater spaces: most recently a month-long run of a new work at Dixon Place, and performances at Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn.

PROJECT: COME FROM THERE

Come From There is a piece being made simultaneously in Turkey and in the USA. The piece is a

search for stories and forms, for a time where the defining paradigm is a sense of un- belonging, of

rootlessness, of being between cultures. Two directors - one in Turkey the other in the US - have set each other a series of challenges around this problem. In the first phase of the project they will work independently in their respective countries to create two performances, and in the second they will meet in both New York and Istanbul to combine their work and co-direct a final piece. Our piece is an attempt to wrestle with this sense of un-belonging through the lens of three performance makers from the previous generation, each of whom invented forms that became iconic to their place and time. The work of these three performers: Spalding Grey, Ethyl Eichelberger, Reza Abdoh, is the foundation of what we do as a company, and to this genre called ‘performance’ that we are a part of. We want to use the forms they created to see if they can hold contemporary stories – or to find out what we need to do to subvert and adapt these old forms for our contemporary reality. Working with an ensemble cast on what - in the case of the first two - are solo performances gives us the opportunity to complicate the single narratives, exploding these forms with new stories, and creating a performance for our times.

About Detroit Artist Residency Exchange:

Spread Art's Detroit Artist Residency Exchange invites international, national and regional artists to Detroit to develop, create, collaborate, perform, exhibit, present, discuss their work and to engage in the artistic community of Detroit. Spread Art is currently working with numerous Detroit organizations to provide performance, workshop and exhibition opportunities for visiting artists

Spring 2013 Detroit Artist Residency Exchange

Spread Art and PLAYGROUND DETROIT are happy to announce Michelle Matson, as the NYC artist resident  participating in our Spring 2013 Detroit Artist Residency Exchange.  Born 1981, she currently lives & works in Brooklyn, NY. She has had various solo shows in New York, including “Cactus Milk” (2012) at theYouth Group Gallery, Brooklyn and “Rise“ (2012) paper sculpture installation in Soho, NY at Issey Miyake’s Pleats Please.

Local Bushwick heavyweights 3rd Ward and Bushwick Daily have profiled her, citing her 3-D work as, “really impressive… [and] engaging to look at. As a creator, Michelle has great sense of humor…” Even NY Art criticJerry Saltz is in her corner; while working with her as a contestant on Bravo TV’s “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist”  Season 2, having said that,

When around her, I often found myself in a strange awe of her artistic grace. I believe Michelle has a real future in the real art world.”

After reviewing many other applications received, PLAYGROUND DETROIT curator Joe Jagos alongside Thomas Bell and Christina deRoos, Co-Directors of Spread Art are excited announce Matson as the first participant for the Detroit-based residency program. Her unique medium and sense of “PG adult humor” sets her art apart from other artists and we welcome her back to the city she never got to know giving her the opportunity to re-aquiant with the city as it is now.

Continue to full post to read the Playground Detroit interview with Michelle.