Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Kali Print Edition in Belgium



I am happy to announce that through the persistence of artist and collaborator Ria Vanden Eynde the Kali Print Edition has been accepted into the collection of KADOC.  KADOC is the abbreviation for The Documentation and Research Center for Religion, Culture and Society; part of prestigious KU Leuven, (University of Leuven, located in Leuven, Belgium).  The University, established in 1465, is considered the oldest University in Belgium and one of the top universities in Europe.

The Kali Edition was created as a collaboration between artists Ria Vanden Eynde (Belgium), Susan Shulman (Canada) and myself.  The edition takes on the subject of the Hindu goddess Kali with each artist contributing six double sided prints that are housed in a presentation folio case.



A unique aspect of the collaboration is that none of us met in real life until the signing of the edition in NYC in the fall of 2011. For an entire year we communicated almost daily with the help of Skype video conference calls and sharing thoughts and images in our private Facebook group.

In fact the idea for a collaboration was born out of a Facebook thread of comments concerning goddess iconography and cultural differences.  As a compliment to the work we were doing as a collective team we also hosted an international online artist call for works exploring the concept of the goddess Kali.

While travel and the Internet has brought the world closer, in many cases Kali became a mere broker in the West of commodities and services. At times she has been a New Age movie distortion or a symbol of feminist rage. Many times this cross cultural borrowing seems far removed from the mystery and paradox present in an archetype that is mother and goddess, yet also a symbol of destruction.

This successful call resulted in over 80 international artists contributing art in all media, sharing concepts and creative approaches to archetypes.  A blog was launched to host the artist submissions. A compilation of the contributions were assembled into a DVD which has been shown in galleries worldwide. An archival copy of the Kali DVD is also with KADOC.

The Seeking Kali blog has become a forum for artists world wide and features work with archetype and myth based on their personal and cultural narratives.  A second artist call examined cross cultural references to the Medusa myth.

Link to Kali Edition prints (scroll to bottom for a slideshow of each artist's prints)

Link to the Seeking Kali blog

The edition is also in the collection of The State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
Link to blog post on Susan Shulman's presentation to the library.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Hello Minnesota

Play Money - ©William Evertson 2010 - collage game box

I have several pieces in the Minnesota Center for Book Arts exhibit Fluxjob: Purging the World of Bourgeoisie Sickness Since 1963 which opened Friday, February 7th in Minneapolis, MN. The show which runs through July 6th is described on the MCBA website; 
"In the 1960s, George Maciunas urged a small group of artists to purge the world of bourgeois sickness and dead art. The result was Fluxus, a non-movement that expanded the definitions of what art can be. Fluxjob is an exploration of contemporary artists who continue to create interdisciplinary anti-art that is ephemeral, inexpensive, and interactive. The exhibition is co-curated by MCBA Executive Director Jeff Rathermel and noted Fluxus artist, publisher and performer Keith Buchholz."
I created a series of game boxes in 2009 and 2010 based on tic tac toe. Tic-tac-toe is most often played by young children. Players soon discover that best play from both parties leads to a draw.  In my version the boxes refer to unequal opponents, or advantaged and disadvantaged player. The boxed set, aside from having prints and an "instruction book" also contain small stamping tools in the shape of hands that are used to mark the tic-tac-toe grid. In Play Money the instructions are a poem referring to our bankers, the men of great appetites. The carved images used for stamping are a child at play and Mr. Monopoly.  Link to more on Play Money.

Power Play - ©William Evertson 2010 - collage game box

The second game box, Power Play is a similar format. Prints line and collage the boxes interior while an instruction manual and game pieces complete the piece.  Power Play instructions references and contrasts the innocent non-structure of the play ground with institutional violence. Link to more on Power Play.

Three Little Kittens Re-Kindled - ©William Evertson 2013 - artist book

Also included is my analogue version of the Kindle.  The interior contains digital pigment prints of the kindle version of the popular children's story scanned from a Kindle.  A previous blog post contains information concerning the various copyright issues at work in this piece.

Kalicorp Art Mysteries, Issues #1-8, Collaboration - William Evertson, Susan Shulman (and Ria Vanden Eynde on issues #1-5)  Ongoing comic book series

Finally, the collaborative series of comics lately produced by Susan Shulman of Montreal and myself is on display.  The comic, which was funded by a successful Kickstarter, is a satirical look at the process of making art.  The comic is set in the fictional ArtWorld, which closely resembles todays art market. It often features cameo appearances by artist friends and the endless series of controversies surrounding market conditions form the backstory of each issue.  Art Mysteries Blog link.