Event
Collaborative Combative DrawingPost an Event »
Alter Space
January 18 - January 18, 2014Info
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http://alterspace.co/
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(415) 735-1158
One large piece of paper, one central goal, multiple artists, power animals at the ready, drawing tools cocked and loaded, and the understanding that collaboration is messy… Whether negotiating personal or professional relationships or simply coexisting, everyone comes to the table with their own ideas. Sometimes those ideas fuse, sometimes they clash; often they do both. The harmonious side of human nature seeks a common ground, knowing there will disputed objectives before a new perspective can be adopted. Collaborative combative drawing utilizes the energy created by the inherent pushing and pulling in human relationships as a method of (art) production.
For her residency at Alter Space, Melissa Wyman invites fellow Bay Area artists to explore both the cooperative and combative sides of their personalities by going head to head in the creation of large-scale works on paper. Artists must push, pull, escape or outwit each other in order to complete a single drawing of their personal power animals. Melissa will coach participants in effective and relevant martial art/self-defense techniques for outmaneuvering the other participants and getting their drawing down on paper. The process will be frustrating yet exhilarating, and result in surprisingly dynamic, collaborative works.
Melissa will be doing a residency in the Jail Cell space for the month of January inviting private one-on-one and smaller group collaborations with a live multi-artist drawing event at 8:30 pm for the reception on the 18th. Participating artists to be announced.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Melissa Wyman is an interdisciplinary artist who investigates interpersonal exchanges and hybrid notions of belonging. Her work is often participatory and incorporates performance, video, installation, drawing, painting and social practice based projects, which include fighting and negotiation. She occasionally makes objects. Melissa has created and presented work in the US, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Chile. Her book, Fight Therapy: A Discussion about Agency, Art and the Reverse Triangle Choke was published in 2010. She received an MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco, a Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Theory from Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand, and a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After spending many years overseas, she now lives in East Palo Alto, California.