The Rainbow Connection
by Joey Veltkamp
February 4 - 18, 2011
The Rainbow Connection
an exhibition of new paintings by Joey Veltkamp
February 4 -18, 2011
Opening: Saturday February 4th, 6 - 9 pm
"In the past Veltkamp has used the symbolic language of animals as a way to bridge the gap of the uncommunicable or unspeakable. Animals are often used to indicate aggressively protective spirits, totems, or mystical incarnations of the artist's identity and selfhood. Bears, owls, horses, deer, foxes, etc, can be symbols of self-sufficiency, invulnerability to human interference, and regeneration. Anthropomorphizing animals like this and imbuing them with mystical characteristics in an unapologetically nostalgic way risks coming off kitschy or didactic, but in the case of Veltkamp's work - and especially apparent in his oil paintings - nostalgia for a state of animal innocence and incorruptibility only reinforces the reality of a cruel, dystopian world. Naivety doesn't factor into any of the work. Rather, coupled with the fantasy of the animal kingdom is the recognition of vulnerability in the wilderness, violence, and the threat of abandonment. It can sometimes be read as downright melancholy, but in Veltkamp's practice melancholy and joy are intertwined. The dystopian always carries with it the possibility of transfiguration: sadness is a void from which an excess of hope and unrestrained desire erupts."
As a special treat Joey will be serving Rainbow Jell-O shots along with screening of
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me by David Lynch.
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Coming up next: March 17th, 2012
NEPO Little Treats performance:
Spaghetti CO. - Nepo is our part time home
Spaghetti Co. is a live performance saga by choreographer Alice Gosti in collaboration with Devin McDermott and Anh Nguyen.
Each episode starts with 3 women, wine and a huge bowl of tomato-sauce spaghetti. While the feast unwinds and the dance begins, the audience becomes testimony of a common ritual that is broken down into signified and signifier. This project seeks to investigate the relationship that individuals and families have with food, and the memories that are attached to certain tastes and smells, for example the capability that food has to make one feel at home or very far from home. I was born and raised in Italy, thus a dish of tomato sauce spaghetti has always made me feel at home. The concepts of home and sense of belonging are central to this piece. While a plate of spaghetti is followed by another plate of spaghetti, the performers will dive into memories and stories, fall away from the table and come back to it.
Warning: Possibility of flying tomato sauce and spaghetti. Therefore, make sure to wear clothes that you are ok with getting dirty.
Door open at 6:00pm for Spaghetti and Tomato sauce cooking.
Performance at 7:30
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NEPO Little Treats is a series of exhibitions, performances and screenings at NEPO House. Our goal is to provide a platform for local artists to show new work and an opportunity for the audience to experience artwork in an intimate setting of a home. Ultimately Little Treats is about hospitality, our encounters with art and with each other. In order to avoid moving too much furniture the shows take place only and entirely in our entry room.