June 2010
La Petite Mort Gallery Presents
Theo Pelmus & Ulysses Castellanos
Branded Transformative Inc.
June 4-27, 2010
Vernissage Friday June 4 / 7-10 PM
Tunes by DJ NICK
Performance by THEO PELMUS:
“Sweet Art Transformative Performance”
Performance by Ulysses Castellanos
“Jonbenet Requiem: An American Prayer”
The show Branded is based on the idea of the transformation of the presence of the body into branded images. Theo will create sculptures, head portraits of famous Canadian and international artists made from different flavours of ice-cream and photograph afterwards. Ulysses will have stills from porn films from the seventies that resemble renaissance paintings of goddesses presented in a photo based installation. For the opening Ulysses will create a performance based on the idea of clownery, horror movies and accidents. Both of the artists will present their performances one after the other for the opening of the show torturing the audience with the sensorial abundance of sound, images and sweet flavours. Through this show, body image is deconstructed and lowered to the state of vulnerability and destructiveness.
THEO PELMUS
ARTIST STATEMENT
In Branded Transformative Inc. Theo Pelmus presents three series of photographs—Gelato Heads, Gold Face Inverted Sugar and Clowning Pinocchio Portraits—and the performance Sweet Art Transformative Performance. Gelato Heads and Gold Face Inverted Sugar are photographed in collaboration with Rémi Thériault. The series of photographs brand the name, identity, cranial bone structure, smiling
teeth of Theo Pelmus as described by Pinocchio.
During Sweet Art Transformative Performance tropical butterflies will land on your shoulder while scents of raspberry, mango, passion fruit and guava waft through the air. Edible gelato sculptures of your favorite art stars such as Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Rebecca Belmore, Istvan Kantor, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Marina Abramovic and Mona Hatoum will tantalize your taste buds and your optic nerves! Like Gala feeding Dali their beloved rabbit, come and savour your beloved art stars.
ULYSSES CASTELLANOS
ARTIST STATEMENT
My new body of work explores the tension that exists between the sacred and the profane in religious art. The images that I am working with are taken from 8 mm porno films that are projected using vintage equipment, and then photographed with an SLR film camera. The resulting images are then blown up to six feet by four feet, thus exposing the impurities in the original 8 mm film, so that the scratches, dirt and discoloration from the brittle celluloid (dating back to the 1970’s) become an intrinsic part of the composition.
In my new photo-based works, I have created an inverse paradigm. I have attempted to elevate the depraved and sinful to the level of the sacred, by taking these pornographic images and removing the pornographic elements from them, so that they resemble paintings of nudes, rather than stills from French or Swedish porno. Essentially, what I have set out to do is to take images of naked people engaged in “illicit” sexual activities, and to totally remove the sex from these images. I have thus turned the naked into the nude.
Proudly sponsored by CKCU 93.1 FM, MAMBO & KINKI
** Canapes provided by KINKI:
KINKI is sushi inspired creations & so much more. Get KINKI
www.kinki.ca
** Canapes provided by MAMBO:
MAMBO is fresh and exotic with Explosions of New Latin Inspired flavours. www.mambonuevolatino.com
Theo would like to thank Pure Gelato, for donating the ice cream and their tools and space for the making of the gelato heads.
Than you to OAC and CAO for their financial support.
Thank you,
Guy Berube, director
La Petite Mort Gallery