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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 27, 2005
Media Contact:
Theresa Downing 651.266.1034 tdowning@mmaa.org
PRESS RELEASE
New Exhibition
Only Human: Exploring Contemporary Portraits
January 21-March 26, 2006
The Minnesota Museum of American Art is pleased to present Only Human: Exploring Contemporary Portraits, an exhibition of new artwork by 9 local artists who approach the long-standing tradition of portraiture in unconventional ways. The exhibition features over 30 works of art including painting, photography, prints, drawings, video, and sculpture.
Only Human includes: Xavier Tavera’s imposing five-foot square photographs of hulky, adrenalin-pumped, and sometimes bloody extreme fighters who have just emerged from their fighting cages; Jay Wittenberg’s meticulously painted oil portraits of famous to obscure women authors, among them Louisa May Alcott, Sylvia Plath, and George Eliot; and Suzanne Kosmalski’s prints and video work inspired by icon and sex symbol Marlene Dietrich in her final performance at age 72.
The exhibition features Peter B. Becker Nelson’s video Nine Monologues, an investigation of gender and identity, Ernest Arthur Bryant III’s racially and politically charged airbrush and graffiti homages to Mike Tyson, Osama bin Laden, and others, Ben Olson’s emotional acrylic portraits of his model Emma, and Katinka Galanos’s digitally altered and obscured reinterpretations of traditional portrait photography.
Only Human also includes portraits and self-portraits without recognizable images of people. Several large photographs by Anthony Marchetti record the bizarre detritus left scattered in recently-vacated apartments allowing an unintended look into curious personalities. A sculptural self-portrait by David Hamlow—created out of 3 years worth of paperboard food packaging materials, receipts, and other personal memorabilia—reveals his Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde food consumption habits and much about him as an individual.
The non-traditional, contemporary portraits in Only Human expose the raw humanity and fallibility in peculiar individuals and ordinary people.
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Artists in the Exhibition
Peter B. Becker Nelson
Ernest Arthur Bryant III
Katinka Galanos
David Hamlow
Suzanne Kosmalski
Anthony Marchetti
Ben Olson
Xavier Tavera
Jay Wittenberg
Opening Party
Saturday, January 21, 2006
7-10pm
Music by Martin Dosh – Experimentation in jazz, hip-hop, rock and electronica improvisations
Light fare & drink specials
Sponsored by Cruzan Rum
$10/$5 members
Become a new museum member the night of the opening and receive 2 complimentary tickets to the party!
ABOUT MMAA
Experience and explore the energy and depth of American visual culture at the Minnesota Museum of American Art in downtown St. Paul. MMAA's Riverfront Gallery at Kellogg Boulevard and Market Street is a place for the traditional and the unconventional. At MMAA the diversity of art and artists—past, present, and emerging—is revealed through music, performance, dance, fashion, painting, film, and sculpture. For more information call 651-266-1030 or visit www.mmaa.org.
Hours:
Tuesday 11am-4pm
Wednesday 11am-4pm
Thursday 11am-8pm
Friday 11am-4pm
Saturday 11am-4pm
Sunday 1-5pm
Closed Monday and Major Holidays
Admission:
FREE
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