FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Maggie Santolla McLeod, Press Relations
maggie.santolla@gmail.com

Lele McLeod, Gallery
lelemcleod@gmail.com
206-441-3314

Heartfelt Thanks and Tell-Tale Hearts
Two Artists Experiment with Words and Stories at McLeod Residence

Seattle, WA--May 12, 2008--Two local artists with unique takes on language and stories will exhibit their work at McLeod Residence during June and July. Hugo Solís translates an Edgar Allen Poe story into an experimental multi-media installation, and Jamey Braden dissects the meaning of the words "thank you" with drawings, paintings and found objects. Both exhibits open with a reception from 5-9pm on Friday, June 6, 2008 and will be exhibited until July 26. The opening reception will also feature a performance by Flexions, an experimental music/performance art group.

Hugo Solís's Tell-Tale Piano (more information here: http://hugosolis.net/Tell-Tale_Piano) is an interactive installation based on Poe's story The Tell-Tale Heart. The piece uses an old piano that has been electronically and mechanically altered to represent the story sonically. When visitors sit on the chair atop the installation, a 17-minute-long musical composition is triggered. The dismembered instrument comes alive, and the visitor is able to experience the instrument "beating" beneath them, much like the narrator in The Tell-Tale Heart is haunted by a disembodied heart beating beneath his floorboards.

The music piece was composed with layers at different tempos as homage to the American- Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow, who renewed the meaning of player pianos with his set of studies.

Hugo Solís is a Ph.D student at University of Washington's Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media. His main interests are musical structure of improvised music, human computer musical interaction, and audiovisual systems. Currently he works on the development of sonic and visual extensions for acoustic pianos and also plays with the Juum duet. He holds a DEA of Computer Sciences and Digital Communication from the Pompeu Fabra Univeristy, and a Masters degree in Media Arts and Sciences from the MIT Media Laboratory at the Opera of the Future group, where he developed IMPI an audiovisual system for improvisatory music and contributed to the Toy Symphony project. His interests in technology and improvisatory music inspired him to found the NICROM Trio, an interdisciplinary ensemble of electro-acoustic improvisatory music with action painting. His work ix-.-.hel was selected in the Transitio_mx 05.

Taxonomy of Thanks by Jamey Braden is a collection of images and objects that illustrate, consider, question, and state "thanks." Paintings of familiar plastic thank-you bags become anthropomorphic when they share their thoughts on thank yous. Actual plastic shopping bags are displayed alongside the paintings as artifacts or specimens, highlighting the rich diversity of a commonly used, discarded, and overlooked object.

What to be thankful for and what not to be thankful for is also addressed. In these drawings, "thank you" no longer exists as an auto-response to familiar and repetitive gesture, it becomes a language in its own two words, one laced with nuance and deeper meaning.

Beyond simple classification, personal experience and introspection broaden this body of work into a taxonomy of confusion, favorites, social norms and value systems. Jamey's intent with Taxonomy of Thanks is to dissect the meaning and feeling of thankfulness.

Jamey Braden makes drawings with words and images because she needs to let her internal narrator "air out."  She sometimes works in the third dimension, finding things and forming them into clumps with the feeling and hope that these culled materials were always meant to be together like long-lost siblings.

* * *

McLeod Residence is a home for extraordinary living through art, technology and collaboration. In addition to the lounge that boasts a full bar, McLeod Residence's gallery space features exhibitions that rotate every two months and acts as a venue for events such as readings, musical performances, films, and parties. Proprietors Buster McLeod and Lele McLeod founded McLeod Residence in 2006. McLeod Residence gallery hours are Thursday-Saturday, noon to 6pm. The Lounge is open Tuesday-Sunday, 6pm - 2am. For more information, contact McLeod Residence at 206-441-3314 or visit www.mcleodresidence.com.