Lower 9th Ward Holy Cross Neighborhood Hosts "Art By Committee"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Jeanne Nathan
504.218.4807
jnathan.ci@gmail.com

LOWER 9TH WARD HOLY CROSS NEIGHBORHOOD HOSTS "ART BY COMMITTEE"

Artist Bob Tannen launches a collaborative painting installation for prospect.2
with an opening party on Saturday, October 22nd from 3 - 7P

William Pope.L launches "Blink" from Tannen's studio
At 4725 Dauphine Street at Sunset

Free mini busses circulate from CBD to Holy Cross locations from 3 - 7, and
To St. Claude Avenue Galleries from 6pm until midnight

New Orleans, October 19, 2011. New Orleans artist Bob Tannen rarely exhibits his work without inviting other artists to share the limelight. So it's no surprise that Tannen has invited not only artists, but people who don't normally go by that title, to use his canvas, paints and studio to present their own ideas on two murals on a total of 57 feet of canvas for his installation called "Art by Committee".

The canvass, actually two massive drop cloths, are mounted on the walls of a studio he is renovating in a residence that faces the levee on the Mississippi river in a quiet neighborhood just twenty minutes from downtown, but on the other side of a grade level railroad track and a bridge that opens to let freighters, tugs and barges pass from the Intracoastal Waterway through the Industrial Canal into the Mississippi river.

Artists will be working on the mural from 11am - 4 pm Wednesday through Sunday, from October 21st through the end of January, and through 7pm on prospect.2's opening day, Saturday, October 22^nd. Tannen is happy to turn his new, barely finished studio/home over to an "open call" for artists out of a spirit of broad appreciation and encouragement for the talents of others.

"There are so many artists, young and older, in New Orleans who don't get enough opportunities to exhibit their work, and average people who have hidden talents they don't have time to cultivate. I just wanted to see what would happen if I invited them not just to come see my work, but to make their own, said Tannen.

"I think we will all be surprised at the ideas we will see emerge on these canvasses. It will make this more of a community studio than a place for a lone artist to express him or herself," said Tannen.

This is not the first time Tannen and his wife, Jeanne Nathan, Executive Director of the Creative Alliance of New Orleans, have made space available for artists to present their talent. Founders of the Contemporary Arts Center now celebrating its 35th anniversary, they have also presented work in pop up galleries in an airstream trailer and a gallery on Julia Street, Studio 527. They have also long displayed the work of numerous artists in their Treme home, and Jeanne Nathan presented the Art Exchange art fair in vacant office space in Lower Manhattan as part of an initiative to transform the Wall Street area into more of a 24/7 neighborhood.

"The Holy Cross neighborhood is not the epicenter of the art world in New Orleans, but it has increasingly attracted creative artists, writers and musicians into its relatively mellow, almost country town like streets," said Nathan.

"We have long wanted to spend more time in Holy Cross where we could get away from our everyday life, enjoy some quiet, and walk up on the levee to see the great views of the river and the city. Tannen needed a place to work where he could find more than the top of our dining room table to work," said Nathan.

"Art House on the Levee" is at 4725 Dauphine Street, between Jourdan and Sister Streets. It will house art by numerous artists and Robert Tannen as part of the prospect.2 citywide exhibition. The second half of the double shotgun house will be a residence.

"Artists in New Orleans welcome the second major art biennial curated by Dan Cameron," said Tannen.

"There is more art than ever being made in New Orleans, but since we are not a major media center, there is still less awareness of the work and artists here than in major markets. Prospect.2 invites arts leaders and patrons from around the world to learn more about the work going on this region. We look forward to many more biennials to come," said Tannen.

Tannen, a native of Coney Island, New York has been presenting his special brand of contextual art in the region for the past forty years. His boulder sculptures are featured in the forest surrounding Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Arkansas opening on November 11th this fall.

Busses to tour Holy Cross with stops at other art sites
Tannen and Nathan will greet visitors who can also visit other homes, galleries and studios in Holy Cross including the art center L9 at 539 Caffin Avenue where Chandra McCormick and Keith Calhoun will be presenting "Pitch White", an exhibition of photographs rescued after Katrina; and an exhibition of work by artist Rashida Ferdinand's work at Global Green's Leeds Platinum model home 409 Andry Street.

Blink departs from Art House at Sunset
Finally, prospect.2 artist William Pope.L will launch Blink, a unique caravan of projected images from the front of the Art House on the Levee at sunset, or at 6:20 pm on the same day Tannen's installation and all of prospect.2 opens, Saturday, October 22nd.                                     

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