003D

003D:

a collaborative exhibition between the Galway based artists collective Expanded Draught and Masters degree students from Louisiana State University, curated by Gina Ruane (Galway) and partly funded by LSU. The blitz exhibition will open Monday June 22nd at 6.00pm on the ground floor of GAC and will run for one week closing on Saturday 27th. On the 8th of June the five LSU students will move to Galway City to conclude their two month collaboration with the Irish artists. Over the intervening two weeks the two groups will work together in various locations throughout the city to develop and realise their ideas, culminating in the show 003D. The public will get the opportunity to interact with the artists at a public talk held in the gallery space an hour before the opening at 5.00pm. Here the artists will answer questions as well as discuss their collective experiences of the project and their individual artistic practices.

The two groups were initially brought together by Expanded Draught member Allison Regan who moved to Louisiana in August 08 to start a three year Masters degree in sculpture. The idea for the collaboration was triggered after the collective were forced to figure out a new way of working with the founder member who was now based overseas. Although it is a collaboration of two groups the artists have chosen to work in pairs. Taking the concept of people and ideas being placed and displaced in and out of contexts and environments, each collaborative pairing has applied this as the starting point from which to develop their interpretations. Communication, and its significance to the project regarding physical distance, accessibility, cultural differences and modes of exchange, was an ongoing and key factor to the process over the last two months. Working relationships deemed appropriate by each pair were quickly established as a base for the perception, formulation and reciprocation of ideas. This process will move to the exciting next level on the 8th of June when the five LSU students will arrive in Galway.

The artists involved are:

Lindsey Maestri, Arkansas, (LSU Ceramics) & Joanne Dolan, Co Galway, (Printmaking, co-founder of Expanded draught) who, through selective and minimal forms of communication, are exploring the concept of the created persona. Their ideas so far centre on obsession, imagination, intuition and observation sparked from a limited information exchange.

Cody Arnall, Oklahoma, (LSU, Sculpture) & Colin O Brien, Dublin, (Sculpture, graphic design) have been looking at the idea of connectivity and the use of everyday objects and materials as a vessel for communication. Led by the materials and objects they can scavenge on a daily basis throughout the city, the pair plan to document the changes effecting human interaction with these objects through their subversion.

David Carpenter, Arkansas, (LSU, Sculpture) & Alwyn Revill, Dublin (Sculpture), & Allison Regan, Galway (Sculpture, LSU). Taking the concept of ritual masks as an embodiment of a tradition important to the religious and/or social life of the community as whole or a particular group within the community, the three artists are planning to host a form of parade. So far their investigations have centered on a diversity of influences such as Mardigras Indians, Armagh Mummers, wearable art and processions of the dead.

Kit French, Virginia, (LSU Sculpture) & Dave Callan, Dundalk, (Sculpture) are exploring ideas of communication, copyright, appropriation and displacement. Their process so far involves juxtaposing the use of modern tools of communication such as skype with outmoded devices such as records and tapes.

Tyler Mackie, Oregon, (LSU, Painting) & Breege Hynes, Co Galway, (Printmaking) will focus on making their work a documentation of their time apart and then with one another in Galway. The pair will make a series of drawings relating to themselves and their environment for a month leading up to their meeting. These will then be exchanged, partly erased and gradually reworked by the other artist for the duration of their time together, with the process influenced by their reflection of and interaction with one another.