Brandon Ballengée: “Audubon’s Absence”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Charlotte LeCorgne
(504) 293-4720

Brandon Ballengée: “Audubon’s Absence”
Longue Vue Welcomes Eco-artist and Biologist Brandon Ballengée

Preview Reception on Sunday, October 23, 11 a.m. to 1p.m.

Exhibit on Display through January 2012

NEW ORLEANS – Eco-artist and biologist Brandon Ballengée will bring his unique and thought provoking touch to Longue Vue as he presents Audubon’s Absence this fall. Since 1996, Ballengée has collaborated with numerous scientists, members of the public and students to conduct environment research and ecological artworks. With Audubon’s Absence, Ballengée has taken the historically significant art of John James Audubon and transformed it to reflect the erosion of certain avian species and to make a statement about the changing face of the environment as we know it. In each of the nine prints on display, Ballengée has removed the portion depicting each bird’s image to reveal a blank emptiness behind, demonstrating how some of most the beautiful and beloved birds of yesterday have disappeared before our very eyes. In each print the landscape and surrounding foliage has been left intact, created a haunting portrayal of the birds’ extinction. Ballengée has extensive experience in Environmental Education curriculum development and has worked as an Environmental Art Educator at the Hudson River Museum (Yonkers, NY) and the Educational Center for the Arts High School (New Haven, CT). Recent solo exhibitions of his work have been held at The Royal Institution of Great Britain (London, UK), Nowhere Gallery (Milan, Italy) and the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University (New Haven, CT). Brandon Ballengée’s exhibit at Longue Vue will be continued in Spring 2012 with a groundbreaking aquarium installation piece which will be later moved to an area school for interactive education purposes.

Who: All media are invited for interview or photography opportunities.

What: Audubon’s Absence art exhibition at Longue Vue House and Gardens

When: Preview Reception to take place on Sunday, October 23, 2011, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Exhibit will be on display through January, 2012.

Where: Longue Vue House and Gardens, 7 Bamboo Rd., New Orleans

Information: Call Lenora Costa at (504) 293-4712 or email lcosta@longuevue.com .

Longue Vue House and Gardens is an 8-acre Country Place Era estate comprised of a Classical Revival-style mansion surrounded by eleven different gardens, including and interactive children’s garden. The former home of philanthropists Edith and Edgar Stern, Longue Vue now serves as an educational and cultural resource. Longue Vue offers tours daily and holds events and exhibits that fulfill its mission “to preserve and use the historical and artistic legacy of Longue Vue and its creators to educate and inspire people to pursue beauty and civic responsibility in their lives.” Longue Vue, a designated National Historic Landmark, is accredited by the American Association of Museums and included on the National Register of Historic Places..

Longue Vue is located at 7 Bamboo Road in New Orleans. For more information, call (504) 488-5488 or visit our website at www.longuevue.com.

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Artist Biography:

About Brandon Ballengée

Exploring the boundaries between art, science and technology, Brandon Ballengée creates multidisciplinary works out of information generated from ecological field trips and laboratory research. Since 1996, Ballengée has collaborated with numerous scientists, members of the public and students to conduct environmental research and Ecological Artworks. Over the past decade and a half, his artworks have been exhibited in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Recent solo exhibitions were held at Royal Institution of Great Brittain (London), Parco Arte Vivente, Centro d'Arte Contemporanea (Turin), Nowhere Gallery (Milan), The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park (NYC), Peabody Museum of Natural History (Yale University), Williams Center for the Arts, Lafayette College (USA) and the Shrewsbury Museum in Shropshire, England (the birth city of Charles Darwin). His works has been included in numerous books including the new Art+Science Now published by Thames and Hudson in London. Ballengée has been awarded several artist grants including funding from the Puffin Foundation, Maxwell Landau Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, New York State Council on the Arts and others. He also invited to numerous artist/ researcher in residency programs. In 2003, he was an artist in residence at the Natural History Museum in London, Gunpowder Park and [space] in London in 2007, the Société des arts technologiques [SAT] in Montreal, Canada and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in Wakefield, England in 2008, Sculpture in the Parklands, County Offaly, Ireland in 2010. Recently, he was an artist in residence at the KHOJ International Artists Association in New Delhi, India. The book, Malamp: The Occurrence of Deformities in Amphibians debuted in March 2010 published by the Arts Catalyst, London and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, England. Another forthcoming book on Ballengée’s projects relating to Amphibian studies and ‘eco-system’ activism will debut in 2011 published by Parco Arte Vivente, Centro d'Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy.