LIA CHAVEZ | LIFEBLOOD Press Release

SAMUEL KLEIN CONTEMPORARY ART



Contact: Samuel Klein Contemporary Art

Phone: +44 (0) 790 825 0376

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.samuelklein.co.uk

Private View Invitation: lifeblood.samuelklein.co.uk

5 March 2007



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



Private View 19 March 6-10pm (Talk by the artist at 7:30pm)

Grey London, 215-227 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5PN



LIA CHAVEZ | LIFEBLOOD: 19 March - 6 April 2007





Samuel Klein Contemporary Art is pleased to present new photography, silent films and paintings of artist Lia Chavez at Grey London.



In Lifeblood - Chavez’s debut London solo exhibition - the artist explores themes of personal sacrifice and transfiguration that are at the heart of the creative act. Her physical body is the medium by which themes of transfiguration, agony and ecstasy are explored. Alluding to both spiritual and sexual penetration, Chavez’s work draws also on religious passion and the fusion of spirit and flesh, of sacred and profane. Chavez builds a visual dialogue between ideas of communion and visceral incision and of the subject (herself) in violent re-creation. The ‘Ecstasy of Saint Lia’ series - part of the LifeBlood exhibition - comprises twenty-two large-scale photographic prints and echoes the Renaissance sculptor Bernini’s sensuous portrayal of Saint Teresa in physical and spiritual rapture.



For this exhibition, Chavez has created four large-scale mixed media paintings belonging to a series entitled, ‘Sacred Heart’. In the ‘Sacred Heart’ works, Chavez uncovers connections between creation and bloodletting, while probing similarities and distinctions between sacrificial love and sadomasochism.



The ‘Sacred Heart’ works, suspended in the centre of the gallery space, form the architectural perimeter of a generative art installation entitled, ‘Sonic Heart’, a collaboration between Chavez and sound artist Andrew Gaskins. In collaboration with Chavez, Gaskins has composed and performed an ambient composition expressly for the Lifeblood gallery space, which will run through the show’s duration.



‘Sonic Heart’ positions the viewer in the centre of a pulsating heart space in which love, physical death and spiritual life collide through the participatory engagement of the audience. Within the installation’s meditative boundary, blood ‘flows’ sonically through the heart when triggered by human movement, emitting sounds ranging from sharpening knives to moaning. Sonic ‘pain’ flows through the installation’s vessel-like channels in tandem with viewers, whilst a substratum of serene chanting derived from Eastern and Western traditions remains constant.



Two plasma screens, side by side, display three silent films by Chavez at the front of the gallery space. As in the rest of her work, Chavez has used her physical sensation as the starting point for these rhythmic, breath-infused optical explorations, which she refers to as ‘optical meditations’.



Chavez received her education in Florence, Italy, University of Oxford and Goldsmiths College in London. She has exhibited in group shows in London, New York and Venice and her work is in private collections in New York and Sydney. In addition to her practice, she has delivered art theory lectures at University of Oxford, University of London, University of Westminster and the UDC Clinton Institute in Dublin. Most recently, Chavez has been invited to be a visiting lecturer in photography at Goldsmiths College. Her doctoral research in fine art commences at Goldsmiths College in September 2007.



Andrew Gaskins is a classically trained electronic composer. Gaskins’ three-year long collaboration with Lia Chavez forms the basis of their performance art duo, Brightblack. He also writes music for film and collaborates with various visual artists and musicians on commissioned projects. Gaskins’ most recent collaboration involves the co-production of an album with Grammy-award winning artist Ottmar Liebert.



A series of related events will run throughout the duration of the exhibition. Please visit www.samuelklein.co.uk for further details.



Grey London is open Monday - Friday 10am - 6pm.

For further information please contact Samuel Klein at [email protected]

+44 (0) 7908 250 376.