Wash Day

Wash is a performance about cleansing, ritual and intimacy. A full day at Gallery 1724 in Houston, Texas was devoted to the washing of hair including anointing with oils. There were twenty participants and numerous observers. It was a nicely paced day of washing and talking. During Wash, conversations included memories of September 11, 2001, memories of having their hair washed by their mothers, and the love and pampering of having their hair washed by someone else. We also discussed comparisons to foot washing and baptism, vulnerability, and the intimacy of touch, particularly to the head.

The performance was documented through photographs and sound.




Above photo courtesy of Dean Liscum and Sophie Simons.


Photos courtesy of: Heather Korb, Dean Liscum, Merilee Minshew, Sophie Simons, and Emily Sloan.

Floor before, with foils...

Floor after, foils with imprint from traffic...

Emily Sloan: Wash---one day only, September 11, 2010

Wash is a one day performance of the washing of hair. Wash will be performed by Emily Sloan and the participating audience. Recent performance work by Sloan includes Napping Affects Performance, an ongoing project including performances inspired by/while napping which launched at Art League Houston this past May 2010. Sloan also organized this summer's "Salon des Refusés", an exhibition of artworks rejected from Lawndale Art Center's "The BIG Show."

Wash will take place on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 9am to 5pm at Gallery 1724, 1724 Bissonnet St. (between Dunlay and Woodhead), Houston, Texas, 77005.

“It is the ritual situation which makes the hair “powerful”, not the hair which makes the ritual powerful.” --E. R. Leach

This event is free and open to the public.

Matthew Glover: Knitted Nudes

Opening: Saturday, August 14, 8pm to 10pm, through September 18, 2010.

The idea of Femininity is traditionally three-fold: Maiden, Mother, and Matron. In this body of work Glover attempts to use signals of each so as to unify them in the mind of the viewer into one vision of woman.

The subject matter, the female nude, falls into a tradition at least as old as the written word. In the setting of an Art Gallery, encountering an image of the female nude brings back the works of past ages, thus echoing the wisdom of the Matron figure as one of humanity's elders.

The medium, knitting, is archetypically a skill passed down from mother to daughter. By using a medium that has an assumed gender of the creator, and is, for the most part, viewed as motherly, the Mother aspect of femininity is folded into the work.

Using black and white images at first harkens to an older era, though the black and white image is, in itself, timeless. Infusing a small bit of colour into the image suggests an emerging nature and identity, that of the Maiden.

It is necessary to universalize the subject though. Each subject is acknowledged by name in the title of the piece, but the intentional low resolution of the finished piece allows the viewer to fill in the details of appearance. The models sought range the entire scope of womanhood, Matron to Maiden, Curvy to Thin. Thus the whole series, when viewed, reinforces the whole.

Melanie Jamison: Index For The Molecular Inevitable

Opening: Saturday, August 14, 8pm to 10pm, through September 18, 2010.

Melanie Jamison observes concepts of singularity through experimental music. She builds sonic indexes of field recordings, found sound, and improvised material which are then treated as an informational database. From these aural reserves, she creates textural layers of sonic collage and integrate the final compositions into multidisciplinary settings for performance and listening.

“Index For The Molecular Inevitable” addresses the recent discovery of a Tiger Electronics Talkboy corroded by a decade of battery acid. Her solution for this loss: a tricked out motorcycle helmet should transport to compositions of retro cassette tape excerpts. This visceral installation should facilitate the elemental components of destination, intention, memory, and the solitary experience.

"Index For The Molecular Inevitable" can be found in the bathroom behind the bookcase.

Bio:

Melanie Jamison is an aesthetician certified by the SuperColliding Introspective Review. She recently graduated from the Illustration program at Parsons School of Design. As a student in New York, Jamison studied Indian classical vocal training in the Kirana tradition with La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. She now independently composes electronic music and participates as an experimental vocalist and sound texture contributor as a member of the female improvisational band last referred to as Pear Prickley Pear.

Salon pics

Last week of the "Salon des Refusés" and Pick-up info.

This is the last week of the "Salon des Refusés." The exhibition will be on view through this Saturday, August 7, 2010.

Artwork pick-up reminder for artists:

Sunday, August 8 from 1pm to 4pm
and
Monday, August 9 from 4pm to 8pm

Thank you all! We have loved hosting this event!

Looking at Art

Wednesday, July 14, Victoria and Marshall Lightman's "Looking at Art" group visited the "Salon des Refusés."

Looking at art...


Talking with Carol Scott...


Listening to Doug Cason...