It's All A Blur Opening Reception

It's All A Blur Opening Reception
December 9, 2010, 6pm - 9pm
SOMArts Main Gallery
934 Brannan St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Free admission

SOMArts Cultural Center presents It’s All A Blur, a major touring exhibition about levels of empowerment and enfranchisement in the American West, manifestations of subtle forms of fear in pop culture and the current state of the American Dream. This exhibition, conceived by SOMArts curator and gallery director Justin Hoover, will premiere at the SOMArts Main Gallery before traveling to the Contemporary Art Center Las Vegas, the Sierra Arts Foundation in Reno, Nevada, and the Feldman Gallery at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where it will appear in conjunction with the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s Time‐Based Art Festival, 2011. This project received core funding from WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation, as well as support from the California Arts Council; and the National Endowment for the Arts.

It’s All A Blur focuses on three local masters, Guillermo Gómez‐Peña, Dale Hoyt and Tony Labat. Additional collaborators include David Lawrence, Steve Thurston, and the international performance troupe La Pocha Nostra.

Artworks on display include a retrospective look at key videos by Hoyt, including Clinic, Transgenic Hairshirt and Don’t Be Cruel, as well as a significant collection of the Kitten Kollaboration drawings by Hoyt and Thurston dating from 1970 to the present. Labat’s new work includes Blanket Policy (1988), a never‐before‐seen large‐scale sculptural tent made from paintings purchased at Goodwill, and Leisure (2000), a twelve foot tall custom‐made barbecue. In the SOMArts Video Annex, Guillermo Gómez‐Peña presents a newly commissioned tryptich displayed as a three channel video installation with sound.

At the It's All A Blur Opening Reception there will artists introductions, an opportunity to engage with artists and curators, as well as a special performance by Tony Labat. Local food vendors offering delectable treats will be located just outside the gallery and a cash bar prepared at the entrance of the show.

To help amplify and empower the voice of the audience, SOMArts will launch ArtSpeak: Interactive Audio Commentary concurrent with “It’s All A Blur.” Through ArtSpeak, visitors to the gallery are invited to think about and articulate their experience and interpretation of the exhibition, through a series of recordings that are instantly uploaded to www.somarts.org. The fully‐automated ArtSpeak recording booth will be available to visitors at all times during regular gallery hours.

Join SOMArts for the opening reception of It's All A Blur and share your thoughts to the world (literally!) with the launch of ArtSpeak!

The opening reception is from 6pm - 9pm. Admission is free. Visitors can also visit the exhibition at regular gallery hours Tues - Fri: 12 - 7pm, Sat: 12 - 5pm.

For more information, visit www.somarts.org.