Kenderdine Art Gallery presents Excerpts from conversations with myself

Posted January 10, 2003


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Friday January 10, 2002 2002-01-03-OTHER

Excerpts from conversations with myself
Artist Jeff Nachtigall

Excerpts from conversations with myself introduces the quirky aesthetic of
Regina artist Jeff Nachtigall, an artist whose riotous subject matter looks
like a stream-of-conscious encyclopedia. Nachtigall's work will be on
display at the Kenderdine Art Gallery at the University of Saskatchewan from
January 17 until February 23.

Nachtigall will be working in the Arts Tunnel (an underground pedestrian
causeway), from January 15 to 17. He is collaborating with a five visual
art students from the Department of Art and Art History, (Maureen Latta,
Maxine Proctor, Lindsay Sharmen, Tod Emel, and Edie Marshall) to produce a
public art installation that will be on display in the Tunnel until February
23.

A roving public reception to mark the completion of the Arts Tunnel project
begins at 4:00 p.m. Friday, January 17, in the Arts Tunnel. The reception
will continue at the Kenderdine Art Gallery (second floor Agriculture
Building, 51 Campus Drive) at 5:00 p.m. to mark the opening of the
exhibition. Admission is free.

Nachtigall's work samples a wide swath of visual traditions: comic books,
toys, folk art, TV and pop culture. By combining images from disparate
sources with his own autobiographical drawings, he mimics the eclectic and
unrelenting flow of media imagery as a continuous backdrop for everyday
social and domestic narratives. Excerpts from conversations with myself, is
comprised of boyish drawings of cars, guns, stylized he-men, and wild
animals, along with a Saskatchewan flag, cartoon characters, and soft
upholstered fabric. Nachtigall has described his art practice as putting
"... a spigot in my subconscious." Despite his seemingly random sources,
Nachtigall's storyboard assemblages convey an unmistakable precision. They
invite the viewers into the act of story making, and in so doing undermine
the passivity of a spectator.

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For more information about Nachtigall, or to arrange an interview, please
contact:

Helen Marzolf
Kenderdine Art Gallery
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-6662
marzolf@skyway.usask.ca

Excerpts from conversation with myself was organized and toured by the
Mackenzie Art Gallery with the assistance of The Canada Council for the
Arts, SaskPower, Saskatchewan Arts Board. The University of Saskatchewan
(Facilities Management), the Beamish Trust, University of Saskatchewan
Students' Union, and the Canada Council for the Arts supported Jeff
Nachtigall's visit and the Arts Tunnel project.