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Artist information:
Rebecca Klobucher
Muskegon, MI
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Rebecca Klobucher is showing at:
The Old Federal Building The Old Federal Building
155 N Division Ave
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
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Rebecca Klobucher
Artist bio: Hello.
Art as Gesture: Productive Practice for an Inoperative Community...
While I maintain a need to dialogue with the gallery, my recent art lives outside its walls. I propose "A Line" be drawn in the city of Grand Rapids. A Line happens in community, and as community. As a gesture, not an intervention. In the cracks, of the sidewalk. Writing and documentation of "A Line (Powell St. Location)" was recently published by the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, at Clemson University. Currently, I pursue a PhD from the European Graduate School (Switzerland and New York), after receiving a Masters Degree, a Post-Bac from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I will add; I have won awards, grants, have work in private art collections, and commissioned pieces in corporate art collections (including Herman Miller, Inc., and BMW). I have 92 more characters in which to speak about myself, but I am more interested in you.
Artist statement: What is the social function of a painter? Beyond desire, there is responsibility; The responsibility of an artist to society and the responsibility of an individual to herself. Positive cultural shifts cannot happen without individual decisions to make meaningful choices. Abandoning the term "intervention," I now think of my work as a gesture. The place to start is somewhere, with myself. The city is a concept. Ideas matter and manifesting them with aesthetic and formal success is part of my work as an artist. I maintain a need to dialogue with the gallery, while my recent work lives outside it. Locating myself in my work, in the art world, in community, changes my practice and redefines what a painting can be and who the artists really are. Knowing happens through doing, and it is time to do something. I am. I am drawing A Line. Crossing a mental boundary is often times as difficult as an armed checkpoint. Other times, it can be as easy as offering a gesture.
About the work:
Title: A Line (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Art form: 2-D, 3-D, Sound, Internet / Interactive

Medium: NuPastels

Year created: Work not created yet

Description of work: On my knees, I connect city inhabitants on a path by working in sidewalk cracks, making a continuous multi-colored line. "A Line" made with my hand passes through multi-cultural neighborhoods, boundaries (perceived and real), and connects me with topographies, and more importantly people. Their stories and interactions serve as art for me.

Note: A painting can be more than a Pollock, and I consider "A Line" a painting. Others may call it a performance, or a new genre piece. What matters is that it happens, and in a way I cannot totally predict or control. Like life. The Sound element is not heard by most, but is the rubbing of these chalks into concrete cracks with my fingers, the cleaning of the cracks first, and the blowing of the chalk dust away... (I have a 2-minute video that documents this.)

Note: The Insurance Value of the Work is priceless, while being ephemeral (and eco-friendly). It exists in documentation, storytelling, and new friendships.

Work statement: (From A Line made in San Francisco):
"A Line" is about possibilities and limitations. A Line follows sidewalks' gridded cracks, improvising into those made over time by city inhabitants. The multi-colored NuPastel line travels and meets a variety of people, whose stories and interaction also function as art. The choice to focus on commonalities and the richness in human multiplicity, undermines the ever-constructing of social divisions. Palette for A Line is informed by color theory, chance and site. Chinatown has found a new fuchsia.

A Line is being drawn (in Grand Rapids).
A Line is a place for community to happen.
I look forward to meeting you there.
Technical details:
Work width: n/a
Work height: n/a
Work depth: n/a
Required venue ceiling: n/a
Required venue door height: n/a
Required venue door width: n/a
Required wall linear footage: n/a
Required venue square footage: n/a
Additional considerations:
Audio/video needed: No
Electrical needed: No
Lighting needed: No
Internet access needed: No
Ground floor access needed: No
Indoor space needed: No
Outdoor space needed: Yes
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