April 15 – June 28, 2013
Opening: June 1, 7 -9pm
18th Street Arts Center
1639 18th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Forêt Intérieure/Interior Forest is a multi-faceted project by Los Angeles-based artist Alexandra Grant encompassing a series of public drawing sessions, reading groups, artist collaborations and an installation at 18th Street Arts Center. Co-curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas and Isabelle Le Normand, this work premieres in Santa Monica and is presented at Mains d’Oeuvres in Saint-Ouen, France this fall.
Based on an ongoing exchange with the iconic French author, poet, playwright and philosopher Hélène Cixous, Grant focuses on Cixous’ book Philippines as a source for imagery, centering on the repeating thematic of the forest as a profound shared space. Drifting between a real and an imagined place, the forest becomes a site for communion with what Cixous terms “the perfect Other.”
As an exhibition, Forêt Intérieure/Interior Forest features the work of artists Frances Garreston, Channing Hansen, Bari Ziperstein, Annelie McKenzie and Tina Linville who produced sculptural, “Visiting Trees” (Arbres d’Ailleurs). The participatory drawing, “The Perfect Other,” was created by 238 collaborators, all listed here:
Luca Acheson, Basim Al Ansar, Lita Albuquerque, Marya Alford, Shiva Aliabadi, Lauren Andino, Janine Arbelaez, Carmen Argote, Shagha Ariannia, Myke Armstrong, Joshua Aster, Chad Attoe, Daniyar Aynit, Adriana Baltazar, Raul Baltazar, Diana Barash, Alizée Bariatti, Michael W. Barnard, Tyler Barnett, Jonny Barrios, Andrew Beath, Christine Beebe, Nancy Berman, Amy Bourne, Clémence Bourquin, Leonardo Bravo, Hallie Breene, Tyler Bremer, Gianpaolo Bucci, Kristin Calabrese, Mark Carrie, Nereida Castro, Nina Castro, York Chang, Penny Chen, Allison Cheung, JoAnne Colonna, Steven Conklin, Julia Countryman, Kyle Cowser, Zoe Crosher, Colomba Cruz, Caryl Davis, Tom Dean, Wanda Decca, Jake Dotson, Dana Duff, Emma Gray, Danny Escalante, Lauren Evanow, Joy Feasley, Kyla Fenning, Rachel Finkelstein, Charity Gaye Finnestad, Merle Fishman, Jessica Fleischmann, Luis Flores, Jen Frank, Debra Frascarelli, Eugenie Fremiot, Jonathan Furmanski, Nery Gabriel Lemus, Elizabeth Gallardo, Kit Galloway, Angel Garcia, Frances Garriston, Alyse Gellis, Yvette Gellis, Christiane Georgi, Nimrod Gershoni, Chiara Giovando, Jane Glassman, Amanda Goch, Meghan Gordon, Adeline Gourdoux, Karen Graff, Alexandra Grant, Audra Graziano, Mark Steven Greenfield, Shona Gupta, Sarah Hagmann, Leila Hamidi, Simon Hanna, J. Scott Hardman, Nicole Heetland, Mary Beth Heffernan, Art Helterbran, Katie Herzog, Annette Heully, Asuka Hisa, Vincent Ho, Rosemary Hochschild, Anna Maria Hoffman, Catherine Holliss, Violet Hopkins, Jeanette Horn, Cathy Hsiao, Salomon Huerta, Aska Irie, Ichiro Irie, Gillian Jacobs, Hillary Jacobs, Mason Jar, Alexandre Jousse, River Jukes-Hudson, Tricia Jurovic, Ann Kaneko, Ceiba Kaneko, Fitzhugh Karol, Robert Kondrk, Talbot Kondrk, Clara Kornelis, Arzu Arda Kosar, Simone Kussatz, Sam Laughlin, Janet Le, Heather Lee, Adee Levy, Doris Levy, Jonathaan Levy, Kris Lewis, Mark Licari, Galia Linn, Tina Linville, Dan Lloyd, Joanne Lloyd, Joe Lloyd, Lisa Lo Russo, Anthony Lopez, Richard Louderback, Benjamin Love, Monica Magdaleno, Elana Mann, Gavin Marshall, Jeremy Mascia, Anna Mayer, Yassi Mazandi, David McDonald, Annelie McKenzie, Elise McMillen, Kathleen Melian, Fred Mezzo, John Mills, Jessica Minckley, Hayley Miner, Melissa Mooney, Anthony Morales, Toyin Moses, Kathrine Narducci, Robert Nashak, Jess Newman, Karyl Newman, Larissa Nickel, Cody Norris, Madeleine Nyhagen, Heather O’Brien, John David O’Brien, Mary Eileen O’Donnell, Geoffrey Olson, Stas Orlaski, Ruby Osorio, Hayley Owen, Marcus Owens, Kiran Paesel, Fabia Panjarian, Laura Pardini (FR), Laura Pardini (USA), Marcus Perez, Ben Peyser, Hannah Phillips, Bruce Polichar, Mary Anna Pomonis, Lauralee Pope, Nancy Popp, Gala Porras-Kim, Ashley Pottenger, Cortney Prudente, Rebeca Puga, Ho Yan Pun, Jessica Queller, Sophie Queller, Joy Rath, Judith Ravenswood, Juliet Ravenswood, Linda Ravenswood, Ingrid Reeve, Cindy Rehm, Friederike Reveman, Joakin Reveman, Steve Roden, Jeanne Roderick, Rachelle Rojany, Tatiana Rose, Shelley Rugg Thorp, Trinidad Ruiz, Olivia Sanchez Brown, Whitney Sander, Wyeth Sander, Kim Schoenstadt, Leander Schwazer, Roberto Sheinberg, Becca Shewmake, Fran Siegel, Susan Silton, San Sit, Samantha Snowden, Justin Stadel, Mark Storhaug, Keng Sumsiripong, Valerie Sun, Franz Szymanski, Andrea Tennis, Elaine Teso, Martin Teso, Jolyn Tyahyadi Tjhia, Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Scotty Tran, Stephen Truax, Shirley Tse, Chih Chen Tseng, Beatriz Valls, Florian Viel, Cheryl Walker, Lolly Ward, Robyn Weinstein, Maria Welch, Leora Wien, Jan Williamson, Robin Wolf, Mel Woods, Janet Worcester, Peter Wu, Samantha Wu, Suzy Yaako, Meital Yaniv, Carolyn Yuen, Goldie Zaldivar, Jody Zellen, and Alexis Zoto.
For more information please visit Forêt Intérieure/Interior Forest, or join the community on Facebook.
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photo credit: Brian Forrest