MILLS COLLEGE ART MUSEUM PRESENTS RECENT MULTI-PROJECTION VIDEO WORKS BY ELISE IRVING

Emerging Artist Exhibit Opens Saturday, October 14, 2006 

Oakland, CA - WHAT: An exhibition of recent works by artist Elise Irving will be featured October 14–November 5, 2006 at the Mills College Art Museum. Irving will give an artist’s talk on Saturday, October 14, 4:30 pm–5 pm, followed by an opening public reception from 5–7 pm.

Irving’s video projection pieces and light boxes stem from an ongoing project, KR-3, 2004–present, a massive, ever expanding database of digital photographs taken by the artist in an endless variety of daily circumstances. The artist sequences and alters thousands of images into kinetic, atmospheric videos with the aid of computer software that introduces elements of random chance and unusual rhythm. While the images and their accompanying soundtracks may appear to be an intimate documentation of the artist’s life, Irving’s project engages contemporary dialogues about self-portraiture, role-playing, and the elusive truthfulness of photography. The soundtrack was created in collaboration with the Museum of Viral Memory.

The project’s title, KR-3, refers to a novel by visionary science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, who imagined a fictional drug that prevents the binding of time and space in the human brain. Irving’s art similarly challenges notions of linear, time-based media.

WHO: Elise Irving graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in photography and painting, and received her MFA in photography from California College of the Arts. Her work has been screened and exhibited at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Tart Gallery (San Francisco), the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and other venues. For further information see the artist’s website: www.eliseirving.com.

BACKGROUND: This is the second of three solo presentations by emerging Bay Area artists staged in conjunction with the exhibition, Particulate Matter (September 9–December10). Curated by Glen Helfand, Mills art faculty member and Artforum critic, the show brings together the work of six contemporary American and European artists who address the conditions of overload in modern life: Andrea Bowers, Chris Finley, Karl Haendel, Florian Maier-Aichen, Danica Phelps, and Pamela Wilson-Ryckman.

The Mills College Art Museum is preparing for a major expansion with high profile exhibits of international contemporary and emerging artists, and a series of lectures this year. The Museum plans to add a new wing featuring contemporary art and new media.

WHERE: All events are free and open to the public at the Mills College Art Museum, 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613.

MUSEUM HOURS: Open Tuesdays, and Thursday through Saturday 11–4 pm; Wednesday 11–7:30 pm; Sunday 12–4 pm.

Note to the media: Curator Glen Helfand is available for press walk-throughs and interviews by appointment. For more information about any aspect of the exhibits, please call 510.430.2164 or email museum@mills.edu.

PRESS CONTACT:
Deborah Dallinger
Communications Consultant
925.788.9131