March 2012 | Limited Edition of 250
#OCCUPY
YELLOW PERIL GALLERY 15 March - 15 April 2012
We Digitize Art Publisher: V Souvannasane Editor: Robert P. Stack Art Director: Marcel McVay Advertising Executive: Jen Young COLLECT is a monthly limited edition magazine published by Yellow Peril Gallery to promote art and design for the curated lifestyle. Each month, COLLECT highlights the current exhibition at the Gallery and provides artists with a unique platform to share not only their work, but also the people, places and things that have shaped their world view. COLLECT Yellow Peril Gallery 60 Valley Street #5 Providence, RI 02909 +1.401.861.1535 collect-magazine.com
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CONTENTS
in the global art market during Armory Week 2012 in NYC. > The Armory Show
#OCCUPY / 02
> VOLTA
MEET THE ARTISTS / 04
> Scope
MIC CHECK / 08 EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE / 20 To advertise in COLLECT , please contact Jen Young at jen@yellowperilgallery.com.
> INDEPENDENT > Moving Image ...and Flyn Grinnan, our featured artist for April 2012!
COLLECT is available exclusively at Yellow Peril Gallery.
March 2012
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#OCCUPY #OCCUPY is a group exhibition featuring artwork inspired by the OCCUPY movement. Our objective with #OCCUPY is to engage the audience to reflect on how the world has evolved since ‘The Protester’ was named ‘Person of the Year’ by Time magazine in 2011. As with all of our shows, we aim to create a dialog with the public concerning current topics in modern life. The Occupy movement is a global phenomenon that speaks to perhaps the largest cross-cultural audience of any politically inspired rally cry. Its passionate participants bridge gaps of class, generation and/or ideology. #OCCUPY integrates art with technology. Several of the pieces contain an interactive component; some incorporate a performance aspect, while others invite participation not unlike the soap-box of historic protest. Included in the exhibition are eight artists with firsthand experience with the OCCUPY movements in Providence, New York City and Salt Lake City. The artists selected for #OCCUPY were chosen for their daring and innovative contributions to the OCCUPY narrative beyond their respective borders. We strive to champion artwork created by the 99% for the 1% to collect. Robert P. Stack, Editor, COLLECT / Curator, Yellow Peril Gallery
Home of C2 Collection of Colors Interior | Exterior Premium Paints
Vixen
Wasabi
Mistral
Bewilder
Bonanza
Alhambra
Curry
+ 489 more colors.
173 Wickenden St 421-5157 www.adlersri.com 02
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SPONSORS We sincerely thank the following local businesses for their generous support of #OCCUPY:
Yellow Peril Gallery acknowledges the following organizations for spreading the word about #OCCUPY and supporting our first group exhibition: artscope Fire Sand Designs Gallery Night Providence GoLocalTV James Sawyer Lily Liberty Occupy Providence Providence Arts, Culture + Tourism Providence Monthly The Providence Phoenix The River’s Edge Flowers & Gifts
If your business would like to sponsor an upcoming exhibition at Yellow Peril Gallery, please contact us via e-mail: info@yellowperilgallery.com.
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PHIL LESTEIN f
PHIL LESTEIN became a 24/7 Occupier when he had to give up his studio in November 2011 due to lack of funds. In addition to capturing OCCUPY Providence on video since day one, LeStein’s graphic design experience came in handy during the nascent stages of the movement when posters and flyers were needed to promote the rallies. “As an artist, I am one who chooses to make work manifest itself in/as a narrative stance,” he underscores in his Artist Statement, “be it in as video (vérité style), photographic document(ation), or engaging elements as an ensemble through graphic design.” What message do you hope to convey to the 99% with your artwork? That you, i.e. the 99% are not exempt. That you are also being oppressed. That you have the power of a voice, a vote and compromised means to join in & make a difference. That those of us occupying are not hippies, even if some of us are old enough to qualify. Also, that there are occupiers who are employed, students, parents, young, old, experienced and not. Phil LeStein, Money Transfer, 20”x24”, 2011
That it behooves us all to get involved for the problems are that large.
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JOEY KILRAIN JOEY KILRAIN integrates traditional media such as acrylic, pen & ink, papiermâché with mobile and web technologies in his art, which is inspired by “the trials my eyes have had to witness and my soul to confront.” Born and raised in South Philly, Kilrain’s artistic style evolves as a product of his ongoing life lessons. He cut his teeth at Art Institute of Philadelphia and SVA. His work has been exhibited in New York City at Ward Nasse, Church of St. Paul the Apostle, ArtBreak Gallery, Governors Island, Art Gotham, Haven Arts. His work has been published in Adobe’s Web Design Journal, Village Voice, and New York Magazine. Although his work experience with corporate clients and Occupy Wall Street may seem like polar opposites, what Kilrain has captured in his artwork has more common ground than both parties care to admit.
What is the underlying message behind ‘No Liberty for Lady’? Besides losing our homes, morals, and minds, we have lost the one great thing our country stood for: our liberty. The poor decisions from our leaders have led us into the direction of shame and misfortune. ‘Get rich quick’ and ‘Who cares...’ are the headlines of their messy thinking. We should have known better. I personally feel, as a human being, we have lost our souls. Our relentless pursuit of convenience, power, ignorance, and success has obscured our visions. We are all to blame. Our nation’s (un)intended course of action has lead me to depict our Lady of Liberty as a topless dancer working at a trashy gentlemen’s club.
Joey Kilrain, No Liberty for Lady, 36”x48”, 2012
The men surrounding the table represent individuals we’ve given power to that are benefiting from our misfortunes.
Exquisite n
Timeless n
Natural Fabrics 233 Spring Street, Newport, RI 11 AM - 7 PM, Closed Sundays 11 v1n1 March 06 2012 www.philipsawyer.com COLLECT
SANDY PARSONS SANDY PARSONS is a Salt Lake City, Utah based artist with a green slant, whose passion for the environment fuels not only her “radical and controversial art” but also her political activism.
Sandy Parsons ONE, 6’x8’, 2010
“ONE”, a large scale 6’ x 8’ mixed-media collage that features President Barack Obama burning money and Gaia, the Earth Goddess, being stabbed by the cross, is on display at #OCCUPY. Parsons describes “ONE” as “…a large, epic journey of an art piece that was inspired by ten years of obsession with world environmental degradation and how Civilization, inherently ruled by violence and greed, is the unsustainable, parasitic culprit, which will in turn, collapse itself, if it continues to destroy the host of all life, which is Mother Earth.” She stresses: “ONE is a commentary on the insanity of it all.” Parson’s involvement with OCCUPY has been with making videos and artwork to support their message, especially environmental messages. March 2012
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OCCUPY THE LIGHT OCCUPY THE LIGHT is a series of interventions at the nexus of politics, poetry, sculpture and performance at the site of OCCUPY Providence.
The group seeks to enhance the camp’s media-infrastructure, primarily through the development of The Beacon, a large white tent with four interior projectors that cast text upon its walls.
“Our purpose in constructing The Beacon is to give OCCUPY Providence the means to aesthetically and continually re-communicate its core values, both to itself and to the surrounding city, in a manner that is direct, discerning and evocative,” notes Occupy the Light founder Ari Kalinowski. 08
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Dispatches from Burnside Park in Providence, RI Dear People of Rhode Island, We the people of the Occupy Providence movement respectfully convey our intent to gather in Burnside Park on Saturday, October 15th at 5:00 pm and remain there for howsoever long it takes to build a society by, for, and of the people. Occupy Providence is a completely non-violent movement that seeks to give voice to the 99% of Rhode Islanders who have been disenfranchised as the economy and governance of our country has been increasingly ceded to powerful corporate interests. The “occupation� of Burnside Park is an act of free speech which we feel compelled to resort to in order to have our voice heard. Occupy Providence will act with all due respect for the people and property of the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island, and we intend to leave Burnside Park in better condition than we found it. Occupy Providence is inclusive for people and families of all ages: drugs, alcohol, discrimination, harassment, and violent behavior are NOT WELCOME. We welcome your support in our efforts to come to a consensus on how best to challenge corporate greed, which places profit over people, selfinterest over justice, and oppression over equality. Sincerely, Occupy Providence 10
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October 23rd, 2011 To Mayor Angel Taveras and Commissioner Steven ParĂŠ, We, the people of Occupy Providence, would like to express our gratitude and appreciation for the continued respect shown to our just and legal gathering. We have found the welcome of the City of Providence to be warm and cordial, and the support of the people of Rhode Island to be firmly on the side of justice with regards to our grievances. We are both humbled and grateful to those whose outpouring of goodwill has been of benefit to our cause. We assembled on the 15th of October, 2011 in order to redress our grievances and commit to one another in support of liberty and the free exercise of speech by all manners of people. Since then, the Occupy Providence movement has become a living symbol of how, through the commitment of members and officials alike, a peaceful assembly can gather non-violently to address complex and pressing issues of injustice. We have recently learned that the city seeks to take legal action against our assembly in Burnside Park. We believe that our presence is a legitimate exercise of our Constitutional rights to free speech in protesting the abuses of authority and the failures of inaction that have marked our era. To this end, we respectfully restate our intention to remain in Burnside Park for however long it takes to build a society by, for and of the people. With this understanding, we welcome a dialogue between city officials and our General Assembly about our continued presence in the park and ways in which we can facilitate the maintenance of a safe and clean public space for all. Yours in service, Occupy Providence March 2012
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TOM WEST TOM WEST is a war veteran turned political artist with a clothing line of his own that he sells both at local boutiques and art openings throughout Providence. What is your involvement with the OCCUPY movement? I am a local Providence artist. I have been involved with Occupy Providence. Me and the teens at RiverzEdge Arts Project screen printed bandannas for them about a month ago. I also was on the board of Wooly Fair, and was a participating artist. We donated 2 of our PODS to the Occupy Movement afterword. I have also hung an actual piece of art at the site, Burnside Park. Describe how the OCCUPY movement has influenced your creative process. Occupy has given me an outlet to express my already deep feelings about the state of our nation.
Tom West, Thumbs Down, 36� x 12�, 2012
What message do you hope to convey to the 99% with your artwork? That the state of our nation has become unhealthy. And something must change, or give. The people are not accurately represented by our Democracy. March 2012
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CHAIR PEOPLE COLLECTIVE The Chair People Collective was founded by four residents of Providence, RI and supporters of the Occupy movement. As persons with different backgrounds and different relations to art, they spontaneously rallied around a conviction that had come to uniquely characterize the Occupy movement: namely, that if no one person is its spokesperson, everyone could be its spokesperson. According to The Collective, the chair is a powerful symbol that takes us back to the fundaments of community, democracy, hospitality. In these chairs is a collaborative wish to creatively reclaim places in which to think together and from which to speak out. The chairs are a collective reimagining of the “basic units� of society, the hope for a more thoughtful society that would be attentive to and representative of the will and aspirations of all people.
Pull up a chair! By occupying one of these chairs, you are invited to join in this collective reimagining. community project. Profits from sales will go towards the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. March 2012
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TROY WEST Educator, artist and architect Troy West has guest lectured extensively on his art and architecture at universities in the United States and abroad. He received the Bachelor and Masters of Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University, and later joined the faculty and founded ARCHITECTURE 2001, one of the first university based community design centers in the country. He is one of the original seven architects selected to form the new School of Architecture at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and has maintained his architecture practice since 1963. West has received numerous national and international awards for his architecture and urban design. His art has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe. West has had 14 solo exhibitions including: The Carnegie Institute Museum of Art (PA); Duke University (NC); Hera Gallery and Educational Foundation (RI); and Rutgers University Galleries (NJ).
Troy West, The Left Out Platform for the 2012 Election, 2012, 48” x 60”, 2012
West’s recent paintings and drawings are on exhibit at the Galerie Vidourle Prix in Sauve, France. 16
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MELISSA ST. LAURENT MELISSA ST. LAURENT is a founding member of OCCUPY Providence. To date, she has taken over 4,000 photographs of participants, marches and rallies from the OCCUPY movements in Providence, Boston, Portland (Maine), and New Hampshire. Inspired by the photography of Margaret Bourke-White and Dorothea Lang, St. Laurent will present portraits of the many faces of the 99%. “Because the movement is about the people,” she says, “the images that matter the most are the portraits.” What message do you hope to convey to the 99% with your artwork? Since the beginning of the movement, everyone has been asking what we want. We have been telling people and publishing lists and then attaching disclaimers that the statements and lists were not “official” statements of the group. I don’t want to convey one thing, not at all. I want to share the hundreds of wishes the people I took portraits have asked for. Many pictures I have taken include people holding signs, it’s all there. Everything from fraudulent banking practices to unfair pay for teachers and nurses and the environment. My photography has the same aim as the Occupy movement in general, to have many aims, many purposes, many ideas. Making this photography also conveys that there will always be free speech and so are the words and the actions of the people within them. I want to convey TRUTH.
Melissa St. Laurent, We Voted for Change Not Spare Change, Liberty Plaza, NYC, 2012
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EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE Price List for Works of Art for Sale at #OCCUPY ARTIST
WORK
PRICE
Chair People Collective | 04 Mother Nature I, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 05 Mother Nature II, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 06 Umbrella Chair, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 08 Mother Nature III, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 11 First Aid Chair, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 12 Break Point Chair, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 14 MeUs Chair, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 15 Reflective Shoe Box, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 16 Red Robin Hood, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 17 Old News, Found Materials (2011) $99 | 99 Chairs, Color Poster, 11” x 17” (2011) $9.99 Joey Kilrain
| No Pity for Lady Liberty, Pencil + Marker (2012) | No Pity for Lady Liberty, Digital Print (2012)
Melissa St. Laurent | Photographs Sold by Medium (2012) Occupy The Light
| The Beacon, Tent, Tweets, Technology (2011)
Phil LeStein
| Fireside Chat, Black + White Print (2011) | Surveillance, Black + White Print (2011) | Grilling Skillz, Black + White Print (2011) | Subversive Knitting, Black + White Print (2011) | Money Transfer, Black + White Print (2011) | Bad Date, Black + White Print (2011)
Sandy Parsons Tom West
| ONE, Canvas Print, 6’ x 8’ (2011) | ONE, Giclee Print, 11” x 14” (2011)
$999 $99 $49 - $400 Not For Sale $175 $175 $175 $175 $175 $175
$2,012 $20.12
| We The People, Wood + Paint, 3’ x 3’ (2012) | Thumbs Down, Wood + Paint, 21” x 57” (2011) | Soldier, Wood + Paint, 48” x 96” (2011) | Gas Gun, Wood + Paint, 12” x 40” (2012) | You Can Kill An Idea, Wood + Paint (2009) | Right Time for Wrong Turn, Metal Signs (2011)
$2,500 $1,500 $999 $500 $600 $1,700
Troy West | The Left Out Platform for the 2012 Election $,5,000 Painted Wood, Feathers, Rocks, 48” x 60” (2012) If you are interested in purchasing any original works of art from #OCCUPY, please contact Yellow Peril Gallery to set up an appointment for a private viewing: +1.401.861.1535.
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RODRIGO NAVA 19 JULY - 12 AUGUST
FLYNN GRINNAN
NATALIE GRUPPUSO 14 JUNE - 15 JULY
BODY PRESENCE | 19 APRIL - 13 MAY
LINDA NAGAOKA 17 MAY - 10 JUNE
60 Valley St #5 | Providence, RI yellowperilgallery.com March 2012
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