Press Release Archive
MY PRIVATE UTOPIA
PRESS RELEASE
Gallery Project
215 South Fourth Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
www.thegalleryproject.com
734-997-7012
MY PRIVATE UTOPIA
Gallery Project presents My Private Utopia featuring artists whose work expresses an idealized view of their personal space. The exhibit opens at noon on Wednesday, September 12 and continues through 4pm on Sunday, October 21. The opening reception is Friday, September 14, from 6-9.
In the Chinese language, there is an expression, shi wai tao yuan, which literally means a peach garden outside of the world. Often depicted in traditional Chinese landscape painting, they are highly evocative places, each a refuge from the turmoil of the material world. These otherworldly places offer passage into highly personal and often timeless realms.
Private utopias exist in both the physical and mental spaces. We have favorite places in the physical world to which we go for escape and renewal. Whether trekking deep in a pristine forest, surveying an art museum, or motorcycling solo across America, we select places and activities that define for us our own utopian worlds. In the mental realms we do the same. Whether we are acting out of need, desire, or interest, we create private utopias through our imagination, dreams and musings. In these virtual worlds, we spend significant time exploring the vast inchoate dimensions of self and human possibility. Here we are free to roam alone or with our heroes and demons in perpetually unfolding dramas. Deeply imbedded within the subconscious, these places have their own rich languages of highly emotive signs and symbols. While existing only as mental states, they carry significant meaning for people who venture there.
Artists in the current exhibit express a strong personal sense of a utopian life. Their passion for art has propelled them to create images and objects that are crucial to their well being and overall sense-making of the world.
The exhibit is curated by artists Gloria Pritschet and Rocco DePietro, co-founders and co-directors of Gallery Project.
Gallery Project is a fine art collaborative. Its mission is to provide a venue for contemporary art that is culturally aware, individualistic, courageous, and thought provoking. Artists representing a diverse range of visual arts curate and participate in its nine annual themed exhibits.
Gallery Project is located at 215 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor. Gallery hours are: Tuesday thru Saturday, noon to 9; and Sunday, noon to 4. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, call 734-997-7012 or visit the website at thegalleryproject.com.