'It's Been Awhile' An Explanation and Information on upcoming FUTURE PRESENCE GALLERY events

Hello all.  If you have stopped by The Future Presence Gallery's blogspot here you will have noticed that has not been updated since the day before our exhibition of IMPERMANENT PUBLIC, which was all the way back in July.  Here's why:

- IMPERMANENT PUBLIC - The New & Evolving Street Art exceeded ALL of our expectations. More than 500 people came to our one-night only event, crowding and warming the gallery on one of the warmest of Minneapolis summer nights. The response was incredibly positive, and all the artist's work collected looked amazing. Writers, graf artists, friends, entire families, neighbors, old couples, dogs, cats, press and it seemed like everyone who know everyone stopped in and showed their appreciation for this new form of public expression. As a curator, I was entirely blown away and incredibly moved by the interest, ideas exchanged and the number of people who notice and care about the amazing art happening in this city.

The show was so well attended and drew such a great response that there was an unexpected result: we actually got several warnings from other gallery owners, art organizers and in the know people that we were officially on police radar and needed to keep a lower profile lest we be subject to fire code violations, not having proper crowd permits or liquor busts. To avoid this unwanted attention, our next exhibit, our namesake group  show, FUTURE PRESENCE 3, was a rather quiet affair. The exhibition featured a mix of a dozen Minneapolis-based established and relatively emerging artists, and was a beautiful showing of contemporary work from a rising group of artists.  The fourth installment of the series, FUTURE PRESENCE 4, will reunite the almost 40 artists who have participated in all of the group shows together, making special room for collaborations and installations from artists who met and started working with each other after exhibiting together at Future Presence shows.

- Before that, gallery co-founder Bryant Locher will gather a prodigious and varied body of work for a solo exhibition, PHARMACOPEIA.  Since moving to Minneapolis several years ago, Locher has creates colorful geometric abstract paintings in addition to lightshows and productions for local luminaries ranging from Gayngs, Solid Gold, Lookbook and the Pines. PHARMACOPEIA opens September 30th at 6PM.

Momentary Performance by Lee Walton, Tuesday 7PM on 2013 Hennepin Ave

It is my immense joy to reveal the location and time of the first collaboration between The FUTURE PRESENCE Gallery and Lee Walton. On Tuesday, July 26th, there will be a Momentary Performance staged at 2013 Hennepin Avenue South, between our friends at Shameless Inc. and Liquor Lyles. This is the first of two performances with Walton, the second of which will be at the opening night of IMPERMANENT PUBLIC, this Friday, July 29th.

Lee Walton once described himself as an Experiential Artist, thus creating the term Experiential Artist. Experientialism is the idea that something must be experienced to be learned, and is then relatable to anyone who has experienced it. Walton’s work often investigates and highlights the brief, everyday aspects of our lives and stages them in a public setting, making the ordinary something more than. His ‘Momentary Performances’ ride a fine line between deep art theory and an appreciation of human nature. Seeing letters promoting FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 6 PM PERSON WEARING A WHITE HAT STOPS TO EAT A PB AND J SANDWICH on a building wall creates a sense of anticipation, even if it would normally be a forgettable event.

“This dissolving of the boundaries between art and life is understandably necessary”, says Walton. The audience becomes part of the performance as they can now see themselves as witnesses and participants, even if they are waiting for a bus or running an errand, “I like when the art bleeds into real life just enough.”

As Experientialism was first described by Linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, “You cannot function within the environment without changing it or being changed.” Through such work, Walton does more than blur the boundaries between art and reality, he makes the rest of our reality art.

Special thanks goes out again to Shameless, Inc Tshirt & Printshop for their support and vision in allowing us to use their walls for this performance. You can view more of Lee Waltons work at his website, http://www.leewalton.com/