2010 Visiting Artists¹ Exhibitions
Bill Burns: Ivan the Terrible (Part One)
Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay: Notation

May 20 ­ June 19, 2010

Artist¹s talk with Bill Burns: Thurs. May 20, 6-7 pm
Opening Reception: Thurs. May 20, 7-9 pm

For Immediate Release‹Toronto, ON ­ Open Studio is pleased to present the
first of two 2010 Visiting Artists¹ Exhibitions featuring Toronto-based
artist Bill Burns and Montréal/Berlin-based artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay,
May 20 to June 19, 2010. Each year Open Studio selects four professional
artists with or without printmaking experience to create works in the print
medium of their choice, working collaboratively with a print media artist.
These exhibitions by Burns and Nemerofsky Ramsay are the result of this
intensive work period.

Bill Burns' work about animals and civil society has been shown and
published widely, including solo projects in Canada, the US, Europe and
Asia; he has also published numerous books. In 2009 he received the Danish
International Visiting Artist Award from the Danish Arts Agency. During his
residency at Open Studio, Burns worked with the technical collaboration of
artists Nadine Bariteau (screenprinting) and Jill Graham (lithography) to
produce a series of prints for an as-yet-to-be-published book. The prints,
in the style of Russian Constructivist artists Liubov Popova and Aleksandr
Rodchenko, are inspired by Sergei Eisenstein¹s classic film Ivan the
Terrible, Part One, with photo-based images of dogs, boats and airplanes
replacing the key players. The dogs reveal an unusually complex place in
relation to people and property, tied to class, nation, race and advanced
industrialism. The boats and airplanes are on one hand an absurdity, and on
the other, a cipher of modernity, global travel and capital. A text by
Gentiane Bélanger accompanies the exhibition.

Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay's recent work examines the singing voice and the
history of song, the rendering of love and emotion into words, and the
impact of popular culture on identity. His work has been exhibited in
festivals and galleries across Canada, Europe and East Asia and has won
prizes at film and media art festivals in Canada, Germany, Poland and
Portugal. His work is part of numerous private collections and the
collection of the National Gallery of Canada. During his residency at Open
Studio, Nemerofsky Ramsay worked with the technical collaboration of artist
Nadine Bariteau to produce a screenprinted, concertina bookwork (edition of
ten) intended to accompany Nemerofsky Ramsay¹s The Burden, a sound piece
made up almost entirely of layered and processed vocals, performed by
Nemerofsky Ramsay himself. Not a traditionally transcribed score, the
bookwork records the vocal line of the sound piece through shifting,
shimmering colours and precise, yet widely interpretable instructions to the
singer: a sustained, unbroken note that ranges across various vowels, but
begins and ends on the letter I. The subtly shifting colours represent the
vocal shifts without naming them directly, allowing the audience and future
singers to make their own interpretations of the moods and emotions that the
piece elicits. A text by Alisha Piercy accompanies the exhibition.

To download a copy of the accompanying essays, including full artist and
author biographies, please visit
http://www.openstudio.on.ca/images_site/burns-nemerofsky-ramsay.pdf. For
high-resolution images, contact sara@openstudio.on.ca.

Showing Concurrently: George Gilmour Members¹ Gallery ­ Astrid Ho: Versions
(a new series in progress); Print Sales Gallery ­ Michelle Purchase:
Elevated Observations

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Open Studio gratefully acknowledges the support of The City of Toronto
through the Toronto Arts Council, The Canada Council for the Arts, the
Ontario Arts Council and the generous support of its members and numerous
foundations, corporations and individuals.

Open Studio, 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104, Toronto, ON  M5V 3A8 T/F:
416-504-8238 E: office@openstudio.on.ca
W: www.openstudio.on.ca   Gallery hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 12 - 5 p.m.
Media contact: Sara Kelly, Associate Director, sara@openstudio.on.ca

Details of accompanying images:
bill-burns.jpg - Bill Burns, Ivan's Wedding Party, lithography and
screenprint, 17 x 22 inches, 2010.
benny-nemerofsky-ramsay.jpg -  Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, The Burden (detail),
screenprinted concertina bookwork, 14 x 22 cm (folded) 168 x 22cm
(unfolded), edition of 10, 2010.

-- 
Sara Kelly
Associate Director 

Open Studio
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 104
Toronto ON  M5V 3A8
T/F: 416-504-8238
E: sara@openstudio.on.ca
W: http://www.openstudio.on.ca