ANIMAL
Organized by Joseph Santarromana

Artists » Nancy Buchanan / Todd Gray / Suji Lee / Eve Luckring / Connie Samaras / Joseph Santarromana / Erika Suderburg

Opening: Saturday, Oct. 21, 2006, 7-10 p.m.
Dates: Oct. 21 thru Nov. 18, 2006
Hours: Fri./Sat./Sun. 12 - 5 p.m.
Where: The Brewery Project 676 South Ave. 21 #33

The Brewery Project presents “ANIMAL,” a group show of by Los Angeles based artists, organized by Joseph Santarromana.

Organized by Joseph Santarromana, ANIMAL presents seven short video projection loops by artists Nancy Buchanan, Todd Gray, Suji Lee, Eve Luckring, Connie Samaras, Joseph Santarromana, and Erika Suderburg.

“Well versed in the history of video, these artists use their substantial experience with the medium to draw viewers into a nuanced experience of animal space/ animal-time. These works utilize framing, duration, and discreet edits to immerse viewers in a contemplative and empathetic relationship with their subjects (in contrast to the spectacles created by mainstream nature documentaries.) Transporting us outside of our own conscious space into the space of the observed, we are given the opportunity to look back at ourselves from a new vantage point. As the world begins to realize the urgency of forging a new understanding of humans’ place in the natural world, these works might just shed some light on that process.”

The Artists:
Nancy Buchanan’s SOCIETY (2006) is a contemplation of butterflies, caterpillars, bees and a lone spider swinging in its wind-blown web--cooperation, consumption, quivering on the brink... in miniature.

While participating in a month long residency in Trestina, Italy, Todd Gray slowed down, adjusting to the cultural rhythms of the agricultural community. His camera observed what was below and above, as he made daily walks through the countryside. The result, TRESTINA (2002), is both an energetic and contemplative record of flora and fauna.

Suji Lee’s OBSCURA (2005 ) explores the phenomenal complexity that lies beneath what is often perceived as an expected occurrence. A simple shift in perspective renews a well-known subject.

In the perpetual present of OCEAN (2003), culture is nature and nature is culture. Eve Luckring uses video, installation and the performative to disrupt the distracted embodiment of space, common to contemporary life.

ICE WHOLE (2005) was shot at Penguin Ranch on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Connie Samaras was awarded an Artist’s Fellowship residency to photograph at the South Pole and McMurdo Station by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs.

With playful reference to the Portuguese proverb, “Beware of silent dogs and still waters,” Erika Suderburg describes the contents of SHORT SUBJECT (2000) as 1. Pure joy, 2. Mole hill, 3. St. Augustine grass, 4. Canine, and 5. Elysian Fields.

Joseph Santarromana, in his video OWL, (2006) is perched on an Echo Park hilltop looking off into the distance. OWL uses 3D animation and live action video in an empathetic approach to the act of reflection.