Charlotte Street Foundation

The 2010 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards exhibition, featuring the work of this year’s Awards recipients Ari Fish, Sonié Ruffin and Caleb Taylor, opens Friday, September 3, 6-9pm, at Grand Arts, 1819, and runs through October 30, with a gallery talk with the artists on Saturday, September 4, 2pm.  

Ari Fish will unveil a new series of garments in the context of an ethereal video installation. Projected onto white silk banners, Fish’s multi-channel video is combined with an original sound track and features a group of people practicing Qigong clad in matching robes constructed by Fish. Sonié Ruffin will show a range of new and recent quilts and fabric pieces, including new works exploring surface design through direct application of pigment, paint and screen-printed images. Included among Caleb Taylor’s  many new works on view will be a large-scale drawing in painted aluminum, realized with assistance from A. Zahner Company.

Each of these three artists received an unrestricted cash grant of $10,000 from Charlotte Street Foundation earlier this year. To date, Charlotte Street has recognized a total of 78 Kansas City based visual and generative performing artists, with a total of $490,500 in unrestricted cash grants distributed directly to the artists. Through its Awards, CSF seeks to contribute to the vitality of Kansas City’s art community and to enhance Kansas City’s desirability as a place for artists to work and live.

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In the four-day performance Kill to Hunt, Hunt to Kill, Kansas City-based artist and UCP Studio Resident Jason Dixon dares to call all artists liars and unveils the truth for the first time in art history through a monumental work entitled “The Truth.” A live performance and webcast from La Esquina / 1000 W 25th Street, Kansas City, MO 64108 at 8pm on Friday, August 20 (also live streaming at www.ustream.tv/channel/kill-to-hunt-hunt-to-kill)  begins this journey as “The Truth” is stretched in the gallery through absurd presentations and playful theatrics.

The event on August 20 will culminate in a tribal celebration and performance from musician/composer Hunter Long, following which the artist will take to the isolated woods of Missouri for three days with no food, shelter or basic amenities on an actual hunt using only tools formed from “The Truth” in an effort to salvage its namesake.  Photographer Josh Ferdinand will document this part of the performance only until his camera runs out of memory.

Finally, on August 24, 2010, 7pm, guests should bring their appetites as Dixon returns to La Esquina straight from the woods for a BBQ and potluck to share his kills, stories, and experiences from the hunt. Guests who don’t believe in the artist’s hunting prowess are welcome to bring their own food, and even feed the artist.

Read full press release.