VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Fresh Arts (Spacetaker + Fresh Arts Coalition) presents Once there was, once there wasn't: Two Tales from the Minds of Lisa Chow & Y. E. Torres, a collaborative exhibition by an unlikely duo. Opening with Lisa Chow’s sweetly delicate paintings, this exhibition will slowly morph and transform into Y.E. Torres’ darkly seductive installation performance. Midway through the exhibition, an afternoon tea celebrates the merging of both artists’ whimsical and feminine aesthetics, where each artist examines where reality ends and fantasy begins.

A self described story teller and make believer, Lisa Chow’s whimsical drawings and paintings create a candy colored world where the imagination is allowed and encouraged to run rampant. Featuring a cautious little girl and her not-quite-imaginary mischievous rabbit friend, Chow builds a lush landscape for the pair to explore, frolic and conquer. Where the girl is timid and careful, the rabbit is bold and daring. Where the rabbit is headstrong and rash, the girl proceeds with pragmatism and clear intuition.

Chow’s work also seeks to examine where reality ends and fantasy begins. Why do children invent imaginary friends? Are these fictitious characters truly fragments of the imagination or are they something more; something living deeper within our psyche longing to be released, to take shape and to thrive? Can we make the imaginary real? Can we imagine our reality?

Inspired by the deviant, sensual nature of human emotion, The Bad Unicorn is a tale which follows the meeting and adventures of a Unicorn and Bunny. Conceived by Y. E. Torres (and with viola player, Jo Bird as The Evil Bunny), The Bad Unicorn intends to touch on affairs of humanity which activate the hidden pleasures that we may overlook and aspects of the unconscious related to seduction and control. Using anywhere and anything as a stage, this site-specific performance installation combines the art forms of performance art, music and movement into an experience that is unpredictable, difficult to categorize and entertaining.

Y. E. Torres’ visual artwork explores invented characters and the life of the line that leads to their creation. Once developed exclusively within drawing and painting, she now investigates the life of line primarily through Oriental Dance (bellydance) and yoga as points of departure. Working within a hybrid form for this exhibit, she uses the practices of drawing, installation, and movement to create an atmosphere where her body plays the role of dancer and sculpture within a luscious and inventive landscape.

About the Artists:
Lisa Chow
A native Houstonian and self-taught artist, Lisa Chow graduated from The University of Texas in Austin with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. While working in information technology, she slowly started showing her art in local businesses and art markets. After a few years of unfulfilling corporate work and constant daydreams of becoming a ‘real’ artist, Lisa finally made the leap to pursue art full-time. Now, Lisa’s work can be found in private collections all over the world and her clients stretch from musicians to the technology industry.
https://www.facebook.com/LisaChowArt
http://www.lisachowart.com

Y.E. Torres
Y. E. Torres (ms. YET) is a contemporary bellydancer, multidisciplinary visual and performance artist, costume designer, model, curator, teacher, muse, a FESTIVE EXHIBITION OF DEVIANCE & SWEETNESS and a very Bad Unicorn.
yet.torres@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/ms.YETorres
http://yetorres.tumblr.com

On view July 9 – August 18, 2012 in Spacetaker Gallery at Fresh Arts (2101 Winter Street, Studio B11, Houston, TX 77007).

Pictured above: A work by Y.E. Torres.