“The Young Pretenders” is a screening of work by seven emerging media artists who all star in their own videos. It’s unclear whether each are playing a character or allowing us to see a version of themselves. By blurring the line between auteur and actor, the artists give honesty to their other selves. We root for them through their struggles with the forces of natures, insubordinate co-workers, monsters in the kitchen, and cries for attention.
These artists embrace play throughout their practice. By preferring to use charismatic energy to cool irony, “The Young Pretenders” make humour an inclusive force. They want you in their world and these videos are your invitation.
Participating Artists
Brian Bress, Fritz Donnelly, Hooliganship, Jesse Hulcher, Daniela Libertad, Shana Moulton, John Pena, Jason Schiedel
Curator
Josh Atlas with generous support from Lukas and Sebastian Baden.
Screening venues
Kate Werble Gallery, New York City, USA
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Ferenbalm-Gubrü Station, Karlsruhe, Germany
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 PM
Alpineum Produzentengalerie, Luzern, Switzerland
August 6th, 2009 at 9:00 PM
Zenshi, Tokyo, Japan
August 21st, 2009
Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
August 31st, 2009 from 6:30 to 9:30 PM
Brian Bress is a Los Angeles based artist and filmmaker. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1998 and his MFA from University of California, Los Angeles in 2006. His collages, photographs, videos and paintings have been exhibited in various group shows and film festivals in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, including the Getty Museum, Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation, Black Maria Film Festival, New York Director's Club Biennial and The LA Weekly Biennial. In 2001, he created a pilot for MTV Animation Studios. He is represented by Cherry and Martin (Los Angeles).
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Fritz Donnelly is a "film guerilla auteur" (Black Book Magazine). His films expound "Financial Advice" and squirm through "Awkward Social Situations." He started airing his work on public access with a weekly "To the Hills" show. He has been featured on the Independent Film Channel, shown in the New Museum of Contemporary Art, at Anthology Film Archive, Netflix.com, Hulu.com, and text-messaged into outdoor cinemas. His short films have been chosen as audience favorites at 10-year retrospective programs at both San Francisco's High Concept/Low Budget Film Festival and in Brooklyn's Rooftop Films series. With Christina Ewald he runs hichristina, a space for self-expression.
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Peter Burr and Christopher Doulgeris (aka Hooliganship), were both born in 1980 and live and work in Portland, Oregon. They formed Hooliganship in 2002 stemming from a persistent desire to make music and cartoons. Their performances, videos, music, and installations have been described as 'work that revels in a hypnotic abundance of digital information'. They have participated in residencies at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, the Drake Hotel in Toronto, and Washington State University. Over the past 2 years they have toured North America with CARTUNE XPREZ, an animation party that combines multimedia performances with video screenings.
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Jesse Hulcher is a video artist currently working out of Pittsburgh, PA. He has participated in screenings at Anthology Film Archives, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit. Hulcher has attended residencies at the Brera Academy in Milan and Ballabio, Italy, and the Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY. He is currently working on a series of found-footage films about a fictional relationship between Dom Deluise and Jeffery Dahmer, entitled “Dom and Dahmer”.
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Daniela Libertad was born in Mexico City in 1983. She has shown work at Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle, the 17th International Video Festival Bochum, and the Commons Gallery at New York University. She is currently an MFA candidate at NYU’s Steinhardt School.
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Through performance and video, Shana Moulton explores the life of Cynthia, her alter ego who is afflicted with (and continually seeking to cure) unknown physical and mental disorders. She has screened and performed throughout the United States and Europe, including the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Migros Museum in Zurich, and De Ateliers in Amsterdam. She is a recipient of a 2009 commission from Art in General. She is represented by Broadway 1602, (NY), Pianissimo (Milan), Country Club (Los Angeles), and Gimpel Fils (London).
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John Pena is an interdisciplinary artist that uses his practice to create community oriented work that is highly-site specific. During his graduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University, his projects included a pirate radio station broadcasting extinct bird calls and audio from the bottom of rivers, a personalized drawing/bicycle delivery service, and a citywide performance of a robotic uprising. In 2007, he received the Brookes Scholarship to attend the Anderson Ranch Arts Center and an AIGA World Studio Scholarship. He currently resides in Cali, Columbia, where he is a 2008-09 Fulbright Fellow.
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Jason Schiedel holds an AOCA from the Ontario College of Art and Design and an MFA in sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been featured in exhibitions in the United States and Europe, including Foreign Body at White Columns, New York (2000), Animations at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center/MoMA (2001), Observatori: 7th International Festival of Contemporary Art in Valencia, Spain (2006), and Pull My Finger at Allston Skirt Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts (2007). He has recently become the director of Forest City Gallery, an artist-run center in London, Canada.
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