CURRENT AND FUTURE EXHIBITIONS
Transformer is proud to present Lily deSaussure
in her first DC Solo Exhibition:
Lily deSaussure: Double Dare Ya
December 10, 2011 – January 28, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 10, 6 – 8pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 14, 2pm
Transformer is proud to present a new body of work by Washington, DC based artist Lily deSaussure with Double Dare Ya, her first DC solo exhibition. Marking Transformer's 9th Annual DC Artist Solo Exhibition, Double Dare Ya will feature both deSaussure's embroidered works on paper and her recent experiments with installation. Inspired by personal photographs that memorialize people and experiences which have helped shape and construct her identity, deSaussure meticulously hand-embroiders aspects of these images to create multi-layered, mixed media self-portraits.
Combining photography, drawing, embroidery, and sculpture to build intimate and intricate works that both chronicle and re-contextualize the passage of time, with Double Dare Ya deSaussure debuts a site-specific installation that fuses her intimate, personalized embroidery with a public, physical space. Powered by memories of past relationships and a heightened sense of self-awareness, her work re-defines her life experiences as captured in photographs, through the scale, color, and layering of her mixed media works. Her installation, based on the formal characteristics of a monument, is a physical manifestation of intangible memories that represent the confrontation and reconciliation between past self & present, past relationships and present, as well as viewer and space.
"The act of taking a photograph fixes time but also removes it from a continuous present. My snapshots remove details of events from their original context and function as artifacts of personal memories. They act as pieces of the past that help me orient myself in the present." – Lily deSaussure
Lily deSaussure studied at California College of the Arts and the University of San Francisco, receiving a BFA in Drawing and Painting in 2003. She received an MFA in painting from American University in 2008. She has exhibited throughout the US and was recently featured in exhibits at Dorian Grey Gallery (New York, NY) and Dialog Gallery (Roanoke, VA). deSaussure is currently an Adjunct Faculty member at both the College of Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia Community College.
EXHIBITION HOURS: Wednesday – Saturday, 1 – 7pm & by appointment. Transformer will be closed Dec 23 – Jan 2 in observance of winter holidays.
Image: I Ain't Yo Mama, Lily deSaussure, 2011, cotton embroidery floss on paper, 22 X 30"
For further details please email Transformer at info@transformerdc.org, call us at 202-483-1102 or visit us at transformerdc.org and Facebook.
Thursday, December 1, 2011, 5:30pm
Special Screening of Untitled
In honor of World AIDS Day / Day With(out) Art
Still from Untitled,
by Jim Hodges, Encke King, and Carlos Marques de Cruz,
2011, DVD, 60 minutes, Color Stereo
A year after Transformer's December 1, 2010 48-hour storefront screening of an edited version of David Wojnarowicz's A Fire in My Belly, screened in a direct response to the Smithsonian Institutions' censorship of a similar work in the National Portrait Gallery's Hide/Seek exhibition, Transformer is proud to honor World Aids Day and Day With(out) Art 2011 with the presentation of Untitled, in collaboration with NY based Visual AIDS.
Transformer joins more than 63 arts organizations, community groups, major museums, and colleges across the US in presenting simultaneous, free screenings of Untitled, a new video work by Jim Hodges, Carlos Marques de Cruz, and Encke King, featuring a non-linear montage of archival and pop footage recalling the passionate activism sparked by the early years of the AIDS crisis. Un-spooling at multiple levels, the narrative flies between scenes of tragic brutality to kitschy humor, arch clips of laughter and ironic surprises while shredding traditional chronology. Many references - the title, short excerpts from Golden Girls and Dynasty, popular songs, and contemporary issues – nod towards Felix Gonzalez-Torres' oeuvre, but the film is not an attempt to portray the artist; rather, it places the viewer "in his room". In this way, the framing of the artist becomes a means to project any number of people, endlessly.
Click here for a complete list of Untitled screenings, venues, and related programs.
As part of our screening of Untitled, Transformer will be giving away a limited number of NOT OVER buttons with red ribbons that were created by A.K. Burns, John Chaich, Joe De Hoyos, and Avram Finkelstein for the 20th Anniversary of Visual AIDS' Red Ribbon project. Untitled and the NOT OVER buttons are provided courtesy of Visual AIDS.
Seating at Transformer is limited. To reserve your seat to the December 1, 5:30 screening of Untitled, please click here. Attendance is free.
Closing out our Storefront Video exhibition, a subtitled version of Untitled will also screen on a continuous loop Dec 1 – Dec 4 in our storefront window space.
TRANSFORMER’s 2010/2011 Exhibition Series and programs are supported by: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The CrossCurrents Foundation, The DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities/NEA, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Access to Artistic Excellence Award, and the Visionary Friends of Transformer.
