stuff installation at Modern Ruin 2 in Ft Worth 11/5

stuff installation at Modern Ruin 2 in Ft Worth 11/5

Modern Ruin: Quick and Dirty
3309 West 4th Street
11/5 8 – 11 p.m.
B.Y.O.B.

The show is up at 500x!  Opening reception 11/5 from 7-10.

FREE BEER HERE!!

On Stage: 11/5 to 11/27 at 500x Dallas

For Immediate Release:

“On Stage”

Tim Best and Tom Leininger bring together two diverging points of performance for a two-person show in the Upstairs Gallery at 500X in Dallas from November 5 through 27.  Opening reception will be Saturday, November 5th from 7-10pm.

Tim Best, a Dallas based artist, stages dramatic emotive scenes. His work presented is from his “making a scene” project that includes photography, video and a book release. The setting is blackness as if it were the mind void of thought. Then a spotlight illuminates a figure doing nothing but expressing emotion, that uniquely human behavior that inspires both constructive and destructive action. The drama is about to unfold but instead of live performance, Tim Best captures this with a still camera. He used a list of 49 emotions found on Wikipedia to call out emotions that the actor spontaneously improvised under the spotlight. Total focus is on the facial expression, the physical gestures and the wardrobe flying through space in crisp detail. Drama itself and the process of creating drama is the subject of Best’s work.

Emotion drives Best’s work. “In my experience, it is the root of all drama. In this body of work I direct actors and models through a sequence of emotions. Rather than assume the role of observer in a dispassionate way, I choose to actively set up these performances in the studio. The resulting photographs are surreal, subconscious reconstructions and rearrangements of ‘reality’ that come out of the experience of improvising the emotions. The chiaroscuro of the spotlight illuminating the figure in the darkness implies a tension between real life and the imaginary.”

Tom Leininger is a Denton based photographer whose work is rooted in reality and based on private moments individuals are able to carve out for themselves at public events. The color photographs are found rather staged. They are part of his ongoing series “Sidelines”. The events at which the images were first made may have been staged, but the images are not about the events, rather those on the side who are watching.

“The event brings people together, which becomes the fodder for me to explore,” Leininger says about the work. “I am not interested in the place or the event, but rather how all of these different events add up to one big staged show in which the script is written after the event.”

Tim Best and Tom Leininger can be contacted for more information. Best can be reached at 214-531-3857. Leininger’s phone number is 940-230-0110.

Tim Best: http://timcbest.com
Tom Leininger: http://tomleininger.net

You are cordially invited to Ro2 Art’s Annual 5 Photographers Exhibition in Downtown Dallas on Akard Street between Elm and Main. The opening is Friday June 24th from 7 to 10pm. If you are in Dallas I hope you can stop by!

The images I have on display are from my latest project, Making a Scene.

More Information

These works entitled joy and sadness (top to bottom) are part of Making a Scene, a project where I directed actors through a list of 49 emotions I found on Wikipedia. The actors improvised each emotion creating performances that I photographed. The actors that performed in these images are Sydney Daly and Paul Vaughn.

Very special thanks to Ro2 Art for displaying these pieces at Design Within Reach at 4524 McKinney Ave, Ste 103 in Dallas.

Here are the images for the Sheep, Sharks, and Nightlights. show at 500x Feb 2010.

Click on image for enlarged view.

MODERN RUIN
February 20-21, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 20, 8-11pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Thursday, September 25, 2008 the U.S. Government took over Washington Mutual, selling most of it to JPMorgan Chase.

Roughly a year earlier, at the height of a frenzied economic bubble, Washington Mutual began building a new 1 million dollar branch at 5030 Greenville Avenue, just south of Lovers Lane. Just after its completion, the government seized WaMu, and JPMorgan Chase decided not to occupy the building.

The new building was never opened, never used, and has sat as an empty shell for more than a year.

On February 20, 2010, Modern Ruin-a two-day exhibition organized by Christina Rees and Thomas Feulmer-will open. The two-day exhibition will be the only use for the million-dollar building before the demolition process begins the following week. The bank building is a truly modern ruin – a building that never met its purpose, and only existed as potential activity, potential economy, and hoped-for growth.

Seeking to take advantage of the space-its social and cultural connotations, its materials, and its presence as direct and immediate evidence of the current economic condition-15 artists will create work inspired by and in dialogue with the building. Some artists will alter the building’s materials and corporate interior, while others will stage actions and interventions within, and still others will use the background of the space as context for their work.

Artists in the exhibition :

Frances Bagley
Tim Best
Michael Corris
Thomas Feulmer
Annette Lawrence
M
Margaret Meehan
Tom Orr
Richard Patterson
Cam Schoepp
Noah Simblist
Christoph Trendel
Terri Thornton
Kevin Todora
Jeff Zilm

Please join us for the opening reception/intervention with the artists the night of Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010, 8-11pm. The exhibition will be open to the public on February 20th and 21st, 12-5pm, though in the case of some artists the work left behind will be documentation of the actions that took place the night before.

I ended up driving to the Soap Factory in Minneapolis MN to install my “Undercurrent” piece and it was well worth it. There were 10 artists, all good friends from New Orleans, with 12,000 square feet of space. It was a lot of work but the end result was great to see! I took pictures with my friend Courtney Egan’s camera cause she has this awesome D90 that everybody had to try out! I will post them as soon as I get those in… I am really grateful to Jayme McLellan for inviting me to be part of the show. She did a great job selecting the artists so I really felt the need to put my ‘best’ foot forward. It was no pressure though, I just felt the need to do the best possible job.

The people at the Soap Factory were more than helpful. They totally exceeded my expectations. They have a great system going. There were many volunteers that helped install. Peter helped with my installation of the projectors. Without the help it would have taken me another week to install! Ben Heywood was kind enough to have me at his house even when I rolled in late. The whole staff is stellar and I am grateful I got the chance to work with them!!

Not only did they have the show, they also had documentary video artists interviewing everyone. They had a cut ready by the opening. They also had someone taking interviews for their podcast on iTunes. Its not posted yet but will be soon.

It was a great experience and I made some new friends on this trip! Thanks for everything!!

Copyright Tim Best

I will be exhibiting at the Texas National 2009 opening this April 4th from 5-7pm. The juror, Mel Chin will be at the opening! The location is Stephen F. Austin State University at the Cole Art Center in Nacogdoches, Texas. The show will be on display from April 4th to May 17th…

Link to show