Barry Anderson: Intermissions
August 14–October 21, 2009
Reception with Syracuse Symposium Lecture Event: Tuesday, September 29
(Reception 5–6pm, Lecture 6–8pm)

Light Work is pleased to announce Intermissions, an innovative art exhibition and related programs featuring the video and photographic art of Kansas City artist Barry Anderson. In a time of economic uncertainty and other societal stresses, this project provides viewers a welcomed artistic interruption to daily life. Anderson’s work, and the entire project, is designed to bring art into the community, and focuses on reminding people of the importance of remembering to stop and enjoy the moment. This exhibition will reach the community as a whole, including people who may not normally visit a gallery—they may come across the project by walking by a video projected onto a building or by driving past a billboard whose function is as a piece of art instead of an advertisement.

Anderson’s colorful video pieces include abstract patterns, nature scenes, and semi-nostalgic images from decade-old advertising. Each piece creates a good-natured, introspective scene that contrasts the busy settings where the work is shown. Anderson’s work addresses our cultural need to escape the onslaught of media input through isolated fantasy worlds. By slowing or re-interpreting space and time, he strives to identify the existence of introspective spaces within the everyday, proposing that we don’t need to retreat, but to re-envision and re-think what is already around us. Light Work’s project places video art and photographs at multiple venues across Syracuse, making it accessible to the general community and creating many opportunities for meaningful interaction with the work.

The level of collaboration that is provided through this exhibition and programming is an exciting step for the arts in Syracuse, and will bring a common thread through all involved spaces during the exhibition period. Embracing the concept of art intervention, the exhibition will expand beyond Light Work’s main gallery to many venues in town, thereby creating dozens of points for interaction both indoors and outdoors. This represents a departure from Light Work’s usual photography exhibitions and allows the entire community to become engaged with the work. The following partners will participate in this unique collaboration with the Light Work gallery spaces: the Everson Museum of Art, multiple venues at Syracuse University, SUArt Galleries, Syracuse Symposium, The Warehouse, the Urban Video Project, Orange TV Network, Community Folk Art Center, the Red House Arts Center, and more. Exhibition sites also include public spaces such as billboards and multiple video projections onto buildings in downtown Syracuse.

Find out what work will be shown where and when by consulting the fold-out maps available at all participating venues and an animated map on Light Work’s flat-panel screen. Maps are also available for download from Light Work’s website at www.lightwork.org. Visit Light Work’s blog or Facebook page for the latest event updates, photos, and other exhibition-related news. Planned events include a gallery reception and lecture by the artist as part of the Syracuse Symposium programming, workshops, tours, among other exciting programs. This project is receiving support from Syracuse Symposium, the Division of Student Affairs Co-Curricular Fee, and the Central New York Community Foundation.

Anderson’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the country, as well as in Thailand, South America, Cuba, and the UK. Recent exhibition venues include the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS; Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago, IL; Salina Art Center in Salina, KS; Gallery 210 at the University of Missouri in St. Louis; Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee; and the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Toronto. He participated in Light Work’s Artist-in-Residence Program in 2006. Anderson was born in Greenville, TX. He holds an MFA from Indiana University. Anderson’s installations, single-channel work, and still photography can be seen on his website.

This project is receiving support from Syracuse Symposium, the Division of Student Affairs Co-Curricular Fee, the Central New York Community Foundation, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising. Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival celebrating interdisciplinary thinking, imagining, and creating, presented by The College of Arts and Sciences to the entire Syracuse community. The Central New York Community Foundation connects the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to organizations working to enhance the quality of life of those who live and work in Central New York.

Gallery hours at Light Work are Sunday to Tuesday, 10am–10pm; Wednesday to Friday, 10am–6pm; and by appointment. The gallery is closed during Syracuse University holidays. To schedule an appointment, please call 315-443-1300. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public. Paid parking is available in the Marion parking lot and Booth Garage.

Light Work invites groups and individuals to schedule tours and gallery talks of the exhibition and facility. Light Work is a non-profit, artist-run organization dedicated to the support of artists working in photography and electronic media. Light Work is a member of CMAC, the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University.

For more information about any of these exhibitions, please contact Jessica Heckman at Light Work, 315-443-1300 or jhheckma@syr.edu.

**Digital press images and image information from both exhibitions are available upon request.