Natasha Pestich Presents: A Survey of Jan Xylander Exhibition Posters
to
Martha Street Studio 11 Martha St, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 1A2
Natasha Pestich, "Poster #32," 2016
detail of screenprint, 24" x 32"
Opening Reception*: Friday, January 12th, 5-8 p.m.*artist will be in attendance
Artist Talk: Saturday, January 13th, 1 p.m.
All events are free and open to the public
Natasha Pestich’s exhibition features posters that track artist Jan Xylander's short-lived career. Digital and hand printed exhibition posters serve to both commemorate and pose questions about the significance of his work after his disappearance from the art world.
Bio
Natasha Pestich is a local Minneapolis artist, educator and community artist. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is currently a Professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), where she has developed an innovative curriculum in the study of printmaking, attracting the attention of the Mid-America Printmaking Journal for whom she wrote an article on education. She has had solo exhibitions at alternative spaces like the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Michigan, and the Generator Gallery in Scotland, and museums like the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in Minnesota.
Working primarily in site-specific installation and works on paper, her work has been showcased in alternative spaces and museums in the United States, Canada, Portugal, Rome and Scotland. She is the recipient of a number of awards including a McKnight Arts Fellowship in the visual arts, an Institute for Creative Community Leadership fellowship, a State Arts Board grant and a Metropolitan Regional Arts Council grant.
Artist Statement
Working primarily in print, I make installations, posters, and documents that borrow heavily from graphic information systems. I capitalize on print’s authority to convey information on one hand, and on the other, take advantage of print’s theatrical and subversive potential, allowing me to create humorous and poetic juxtapositions. These “juxtapositions” may be abstract or surreal representations, reconfiguring our relationship to signs and systems by visualizing our subconscious projections onto places, people, and situations. By engaging my audience in an imaginary space between fact and fiction, I am able to stretch the boundaries of belief while playfully acknowledging the absurdities apparent in reality.