Joel Parsons at Material

For immediate release:May 21, 2008

Contact: Hamlett Dobbins, 901.219.1943 or hamlettdobbins@hotmail.com
Lauren Kennedy, 469.964.7944 or Kennedy.lauren.e@gmail.com

Material is pleased to present its sixth exhibition of 2008: Joel Parsons: Wish You Were Here organized by Lauren Kennedy.

The exhibition will run for one night only on Friday, June 6 from 6-8 pm.

Joel Parsons, a recent Rhodes graduate, received the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in 2007 for his project entitled "It Will Not Avert Its Eyes: Toward a New Activist Aesthetic.” The fellowship has allowed Parsons to travel to Italy, Turkey, India, South Africa, and Peru in order to “explore the boundaries of a humanized activist aesthetic, one in which art serves as a means of developing relationships and acts as a bridge rather than a wall or soapbox…” Parsons’ work documents series of brief interactions that become quiet collaborations in which asking for directions and even soliciting robbery forces Parsons’ unwitting partners to become part of an artistic process.

Last year Parsons was featured along with Laura Ann Meyers in the exhibition Secret Paintings organized by Alex Carter. Additionally he has organized Mark Pilgrim: A Different Path at Material as well as John Barnett: All My Cop Cars at Donald’s Donuts in 2006. His review of Adrienne Outlaw’s AMUM exhibition was featured in Art Papers. While Parsons will still be abroad during the time of the reception, he will be in attendance via a wi-fi laptop with a webcam.

Please feel free to contact Lauren Kennedy at kennedy.lauren.e@gmail.com or 469.964.7944 with any questions.

Additional information and images of the artist’s work can be found at his travelblog: http://journal.joelparsons.info/

Material is located at 2553 Broad Avenue. Parking is available on both the north and south sides of Broad Avenue.

Jpg information: “Parsons01.jpg” is images from Joel Parsons’ installation An Informal Redistribution of Art, Mixed media, dimensions variable, 2008.

Anthony Lee Gallery Talk Tonight at Power House Memphis

Fuel for the Fire: Interactive Lecture by Anthony D. Lee

Thursday, May 29, 2008
6 - 7pm

45 GE Patterson
Memphis, TN 38103

Delta Axis is pleased to present Anthony Lee as our first Artist in the Fuel for the Fire lecture series. Attendees will be able to get a sneak peek at Anthony Lee’s Fuel Room installation entitled The Reclamation of Color, opening May 30, 2008.
Refreshments will be served an as a special program introduction, admission will be free.

Artist Statement: There are terms issued to colors that connote race. Or, perhaps better stated- color words that define specific skin colors. This exhibit reclaims these color words by assigning them a different color, attempting to visually recondition the viewer’s association of color with the word. Words like mulatto conjure thoughts of the color beige, because it is applied to color solely in terms of race. What if the context of race was removed from this color word? Could the word mulatto exist solely in terms of color? Will the viewer be convinced of its transformation? Most of these color words are now verbally extinct. They were either regarded as derogatory epithets, or were simply replaced with more correct language (i.e.: Negro becomes African-American). To a younger viewer, the color word or epithet may have been dormant long enough to escape recognition; thusly allowing for an easier reconditioning of the word to happen. The works mimic the Ralph Lauren paint samples that I use extensively in my collages.

Meikle Gardner at Perry Nicole

VINI Raindate/Closing Reception

This Friday! May 9, 2008 - 10pm
VINI is having a redux for the rained out opening of GranDanDoodle. Admission is $5 - come check out the newest space in town!

Project Row Houses' founder Rick Lowe at MCA this Thursday

Houston Artist Lectures on Revitalization
Thursday, May 8
6:30 PM
Memphis College of Art Callicott Auditorium
1930 Poplar Avenue in Overton Park

As a follow up to the April screening of the documentary Third Ward, TX, the UAC is hosting a discussion with the Project Row Houses’ founder, Rick Lowe.

Lowe, an artist based out of Houston, established the Project Row Houses program on the principle that art and the community creating it can “revitalize even the most depressed inner-city neighborhoods, for the mutual good of existing and future residents.” The program was designed to create a sense of community through art, culture, and history.

For more information contact Laura Caroline Johnson at (901) 525-0807.