Lizards Live

Butcher’s Daughter Contemporary Art
Ferndale, Michigan
October 24 – November 25, 2009
Artist Talk: Saturday October 24, 2009 at 5:00 PM

The Butcher’s Daughter is proud to present the work of D.C. artist Lisa Marie Thalhammer for her solo debut in Detroit.

Born in the eighties, Thalhammer’s family owned a truck plaza off the banks of the Mississippi River. Her exhibition, Lizards Live, features drawing, collage and cut paper animation influenced by reflections upon life as a young woman amongst a male dominated American highway subculture. Her works piece together iconoclastic body parts into lizard-like creatures, transforming object and context into new symbols of veneration.

“Embellished with appropriated gospel illuminations and Byzantine patterns, the Lizards in my drawings are enthroned upon hand drawn semi trucks combining references form the two most dominate female figures within Catholic mythology: the Virgin Mary and the Mary Magdalene. I attempt to merge these two definitions of femininity by placing the Lizard in an enthroned position similar to the Madonna and Child, the work becoming an examination on the way feminine beauty is reverenced and objectified simultaneously.”

Thalhammer harnesses the power of iconography and reinvents her complicated byzantine patterns, steeped in personal contemplation into efficient, universal, and undeniably powerful symbols of attraction and empowerment. Her newest work is a testament to the dedication between artist and subject:

“Lizards Live is the next chapter in my Lizard anthology. My newest works reflect a contemplative pause on the power, history and beauty of the rainbow.”

Thalhammer has been the recipient of numerous awards including five grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been featured in esteemed publications such as U.S. News & World Report, Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Washington Life Magazine, D.C. Modern Luxury Magazine, Cultureserve.net, Hoogrrl.com and MTV.com. She has also appeared the cover of the Washington Blade.

Please join The Butcher’s Daughter as we welcome Lisa Marie Thalhammer to Detroit on October 24, 2009 for an Artist Talk at 5:00 PM that precedes her exhibition reception from 6:00 – 9:00 PM.

The Butcher’s Daughter is located in Ferndale, Michigan, and is committed to creating innovative, cultural context for contemporary art through the representation of emerging and mid-career artists and the sale of their work. www.thebutchersdaughtergallery.com

22747 Woodward Avenue, Suite 201
Ferndale, Michigan 48220
T (248) 808-6536
mb@thebutchersdaughtergallery.com

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Transformer’s Flat File at the X Initiative
548 West 22nd Street, NY NY 10011

Opening Reception: June 23, 6-9pm
Opening time: June 24 - 28, 2009, 1-9pm

FREE ENTRANCE

Held at X from June 24 through June 28, NO SOUL FOR SALE - A Festival of Independents will bring together the most exciting, creative and respected not-for-profit centers, alternative institutions, artists’ collectives and independent enterprises from around the world that contribute to the international art scene by inventing new strategies for the distribution of information and by supporting a diverse cultural program.

Press:

• Press release in PDF format
• “Whatever Works” - Artforum
• “Glimpse Art’s Near Future at No Soul for Sale” - New York
• “Restoring the ‘Eek’ to Eking Out a Living” - The New York Times

Participants include: Ballroom (Marfa), BizArt/Arthub (Shanghai/Hong Kong), DISPATCH (New York), FLUXspace (Philadelphia), Kadist Art Foundation (Paris), Filipa Oliveira + Miguel Amado (Lisbon), Forgotten Bar Project (Berlin), Hermes und der Pfau (Stuttgart), Kling&Bang (Reykjavík), L’Appartment 22 (Rabat), Latitudes (Barcelona), LAXART (Los Angeles), Light Industry (Brooklyn), Migrating Forms (New York), Mousse Magazine (Milan), Next Visit (Berlin), Participant Inc. (New York), Rhizome (New York), STARSHIP (Berlin), Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York), Studio Film Club (Trinidad), Swiss Institute (New York), TART (San Francisco), Thisisnotashop (Dublin), Transformer (Washington, D.C.), Via Farini (Milan), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), White Columns (New York)

About X Initiative: X is a not for profit initiative of the global contemporary art community that will exist for one year and present exhibitions in four phases. Advised by a 50+ advisory board comprised of artists, curators, museum professionals, gallerists, collectors, art historians and critics, X is reaching across traditional boundaries to form a consortium interested in responding quickly to the major philosophical and economic shifts impacting culture.

About Transformer: Transformer is a Washington, DC based 501 (c) 3 non-profit visual arts organization providing a consistent, supportive, and professional platform for emerging artists to explore and present experimental artistic concepts, build audiences for their work, and advance their careers.

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MANIFEST HOPE:DC

3333 M Street NW,
Washington DC 20007
January 17-19, 2009
10am - 6pm

MANIFESTHOPE:DC is free and open to the public

www.manifesthope.com

Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum. The MANIFESTHOPE: DC Gallery celebrates that role and shines a spotlight on artists who use their voicesto amplify and motivate the grassroots movement that carried President-Elect Barack Obama to victory.

MANIFESTHOPE: DC gathers together a diverse array of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one roof to mark this monumental achievement in our nation’s history and encourages artists and activists to maintain the momentum to bring about true change in the United States.

Along with its partners, MoveOn.org Political Action, the Service Employees International Union and Shepard Fairey’s Obey Giant, MANIFESTHOPE: DC, will issue an inspiring visual call-to-action, encouraging a redirection of public energy toward true reform in three key areas: Health Care Reform, Workers’ Rights The Green Economy. Judges for the call-to-action include Anne Ellegood, Curator of Contemporary Art, Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum; David Rolf, President, SEIU Healthcare 775NW; Eric Hilton, Thievery Corporation and ESL Music Co-founder; Laura Down, MoveOn.org Creative & Cultural Director, Artist; Robbie Conal, Artist; Shepard Fairey, Artist, Obey Giant; Spike Lee, producer, director, actor and Van Jones, Author, Founder Green for All & Co-Founder Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

Art for Obama: Designing Manifest Hope and the Campaign for Change
Authors: Edited by Shepard Fairey and Jennifer Gross
Exhibition catalogue published 2009 by Abrams click here to purchase

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