(le) poisson rouge

Jihae, the South Korean born artist/musician/muse, whose 3rd album, 'Fire Burning Rain' will launch with a multi-media art/performance extravaganza at New York’s Le Poison Rouge on September 7 2010 at 8:30pm. Part art exhibit, part theatrical carnival, the evening’s activities will encompass a multitude of experiences, including interactive musical manipulation through new technology, exhibition of new artworks inspired by Jihae’s recordings, and finally, a theatrical performance. Each element of the trifecta will represent one of the three themes that embody Jihae’s new creation. FIRE, BURNING and RAIN.

Jihae’s voice is a choice to defy simple terms. A capable melancholy sparing with acid cynicism, the physical resolve of her mind is a heartbeat oratory. Suspended within their rhythmic container these lyrics unfold a knowing poetry of the human sentiment. Each musical architecture performs a dynamic theater expanding within the restraint of dreams. Daring arrangements feature: voice, guitar, cello, viola, bass, synth drums, percussion and programmed beats. Drawing upon the influence of different genres, Jihae’s unique sound has found comparisons to Grace Jones, Mazzy Star, Thom York, and Portishead.

“Like a female Thom Yorke” – NY Press “Slinky and spacious. Arresting! –Pitchfork “A creative genius”. – Trace Magazine

ANNA GASKELL was born in Des Moines, Iowa and received a B.F.A. from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1992 and an M.F.A. from Yale University in 1995. She has exhibited her work at the Casey Kaplan Gallery in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, White Cube in London, Aspen Art Museum, Castello di Rivoli in Rivoli, Italy, and the Menil Collection in Houston. She has also participated in exhibits at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the Burden Gallery in New York, the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. She received the Citibank Private Bank Photography Prize in 2000 and a Nancy Graves Foundation grant in 2002. She lives and works in New York.

MARCO BRAMBILLA Born in Milan, Italy, Mr. Brambilla currently lives and works in Los Angeles and New York City. Mr. Brambilla's renowned video installations have garnered international acclaim from publications such as Artforum, Frieze, Art in America, Arena, Empire, GQ and Premiere Magazine. The New Yorker praised his work as: "absorbing and delicate enough to restore one's faith in the medium." His work has been exhibited worldwide, including Seoul Biennale, New Museum in New York, Kunsthalle in Bern, and the Sundance and Cannes film festivals. His work is part of the permanent collections at the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and the San Francisco Museum.

Born in Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Watts has become an internationally recognized neo-expressionist painter. After studying at the L'École des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 1980s, Mr. Watts was convinced by his friend and fellow artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, to travel and eventually relocate to New York in the 1990s, where he currently works and resides. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including the Whitney Biennial in New York, the Venice Biennial, the Tate Gallery in Liverpool, the Corcoran Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and various galleries in Milan, Rome, Aspen, Vienna, Paris, Berlin and Chicago. He has been profiled by ArtForum, Art News, Art in America, the New Yorker and the New York Times.

Mr. Partington's approach to art-making comes from his interest in energy and its modes of transference: energy moved in perfect conservation or in complete chaos, as well as the sublime potentiality of stored energy. His work reflects this interest: he has restored the bronze sculptures of Central Park and a sculpture in Mark Di Suvero's Socrates Park in Brooklyn. Mr. Partington graduated with a B.F.A. from Queens University in Ontario and a M.F.A. in 1997 from New York University. He continued working in New York, and has been favorably reviewed by ArtForum and the New York Times. While living in Istanbul, he participated in the Istanbul Biennial, was featured on Turkish TV, 34 Magazine and TimeOut Istanbul. His work has been shown in Tokyo, Turino and Dubai, and he is currently preparing for solo exhibitions in Toronto and New York.

Lena Viddo is an American born artist of Swedish-Colombian descent and currently lives and works in New York. She received a B.A. in Illustration and Fine Art from F.I.T. State University of New York and also attended the Polimoda in Florence, Italy, where she studied Renaissance painting techniques. Viddo's work is provocative and challenging: it is concerned with intimacy and duality in relationship, as well as the internal and external female landscape. Her subjects have included the archetypal and subjective mother and child, supergirls, dominatrix and submissive as metaphorical interpretations of the use and abuse of power in relationships, and most recently the allegorical heroines of myth, fairy tales and biblical stories.

HAL HIRSHORN uses 19th century equipment and techniques to create found photographs of images whose original subject and meaning have been forgotten. His glossy prints are albumized salt prints that have been coated with a solution of egg whites, while the matte prints are created on plain salted paper. Although the technique was discovered by William Henry Fox-Talbot in 1838, Hirshorn's work reflects an interest and interaction with modernity. His work has been shown at Paris Photo, the Royal Academy in London and various other venues in London with Pierre Spake, the Association of International Photography Art Dealers with Thomas Harris in New York and the James Graham & Sons gallery in New York.

LAUREN ALBERT AKA Lala is an artist, illustrator and textile designer. She received her B.F.A. in Illustration from Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and moved to Brooklyn shortly after graduating in 2008. Specializing in the psychedelic, she has exhibited her work in various galleries and spaces around the country including Midwives Collective and Gallery in Philadelphia, Long View Gallery in Washington D.C. and Thinkspace in Los Angeles. Her comics and artwork have been published in zines, books, online and on the body, through tattoo and textile design.

RAJAN MEHTA was born in 1975 in Jalandhar, India. He founded Surface to Air, an art gallery space and creative studio concentrating on fashion, film, music and art clients. Surface to Air worked with and exhibited artwork by artists such as Donald Beachler, Rene Richard, Josa Parla, Rostar, Futura 2000, Kenny Schater, WK and Cyril Mazard. This led to the creation of the Surface to Air gallery in Paris in the summer of 2000. Rajan has curated, participated and produced over 20 exhibitions and 5 major art books. In 2008 Rajan began the new creative studio Dagr Nott and Associates. As a filmmaker himself he participated, curated and developed 42 Short Films featuring the talent of: Arden Wohl, Asia Argento, Charles Burnett, David Lynch, Harmony Korine, James Franco, Lola Schnabel, Lou Ye, Mike Figgis, Niki Caro, Rinko Kikuchi, Sean Lennon, Tadanobu Asano, Taika Waititi, Terrence Koh, Zhang Yuan. This project culminated in a massive gala at the China National Film Museum, followed by an exhibition at Today’s Museum in Beijing and a screening at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

Born in 1970 in Kansas, Newsom earned his BFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and his MFA at New York University. Since his debut in the early 90s, Newsom's work has been displayed in 15 solo exhibitions, including recent shows in New York, Milan and ArtBasel Miami. His work has been included in over 50 group exhibitions, including shows at the Guggenheim, the Heist Gallery in New York, Patrick Painter Inc. in Santa Monica and the International Artists' Museum in Venice. Newsom has been profiled by publications including Art + Living, British Vogue, Elle UK, BlackBook, The New Yorker, Artnews, ArtReview, ArtForum, New York Magazine and the New York Times. He works and resides in New York.

Born in Paris, France in 1966, Mr. Mazard moved to New York in 1976 and has been living there ever since, after receiving a BFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988. His work has been shown in a solo show opening party for Surface to Air in France in 2002, a group show opening party in Japan for Loveless in 2003-2004, and a group exhibit for the Armory Print Show from 2003 to 2005 in New York. Mostly interested in figurative painting, Mr. Mazard's work deals primarily with the realities of our times, in which some remnants of humor are contrasted with the troubling realities experienced. In his recent work, he has used comic book aesthetics and compositional attributes to explore the social and political relationship we share with all other living species on the planet. This spirit of irreverence found in comic books permits the artist to more adequately illustrate with direct visual statements the pressing ecological matters that society is unable to alleviate.