The Art of Rene Joseph

May 7, 2004

Art-A-Whirl Show and Book Signing

As part of Art-A-Whirl’s 3-day annual open studio and gallery tour, Rene’ Joseph is exhibiting large scale posters of the drawings from the artist's new book "Curiosity Killed The Fat" (weight loss from an artist's point of view) at Lien's Bookshop.  The artist will be present throughout the exhibit for book signing, May 14-16, Friday 6-9, Saturday 12-8, and Sunday 12-5.  Located at 507 E. Hennepin Ave. in NE Minneapolis, MN.  Parking is available in the back of the shop.  Books are also available on the artist’s website: www.renejoseph.com.

The artwork for the book and exhibit moves beyond the artist’s previous installation, which attempted to ward off evil and the dogs of war through the use of the magic symbol of Odin’s eye.  The new series of drawings have been developed into subtle and humorous story-telling images by using concrete poetry.  The truth-seeking eye is still included, but now it’s a cats face.  The whiskered head is eyeless, but with its single button nose, it looks surrealistically eyelike.  The bodies of the expressive cats in the drawings are made of lines of text and contain clues to the clichés represented.  For example, a fat cat turns its head backward to see a stitch running up its backside so that we can see it is really a stuffed cat.  Another drawing shows a cat with an expressive tail looking at a field of cattail plants.  As a series, they represent the links in the food chain.

To celebrate the art of bookmaking and to encourage self-expression, a free one-hour workshop will be offered by respected book restorer Val Lien on Sat. at 10 am.  Participants will make and take home a personal journal made from special papers.  Limit 12.  All supplies are being donated by Lien's Bookshop.

Feel free to forward this announcement to someone you know that would be interested.

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