Where Sculpture and Painting Collide

MEDIA INTERSECTION: WHERE SCULPTURE AND PAINTING COLLIDE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2008 FROM 6:30 UNTIL 8:30PM @ Club 21 30-09 21st Street Astoria, NY 11102 www.club21nyc.com free admission / open to all ages cash bar / live music to follow Join us for an informal conversation between two of New York Foundation of the Arts' 2008 Fellows in Painting, Shaun El C. Leonardo and Omar Chacon, and Socrates Sculpture Park's 2008 Emerging Artist Fellow Chelsea Beck. The work of EAF08 artist Rajkamal Kahlon will also be presented. These artists integrate sculpture and painting into their works, with varying emphasis.  The discussion will position Shaun and Omar as painters who incorporate sculptural elements, alongside Chelsea and Raj as sculptors who employ painterly strategies in their works. The evening will begin at 6:30pm with a 10 minute presentation by each of the artists, moderated by Socrates Sculpture Park Studio Manager Lars Fisk, followed by an open conversation with the audience. Shaun El C. Leonardo and Omar Chacon are 2008 Artist Fellowship recipients of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). This presentation is co-sponsored by Artists & Audiences Exchange, a public program of NYFA. Special thanks to Socrates Sculpture Park for co-hosting this community event. Shaun El C. Leonardo Self-portrait superhero, 2005 Sign enamel on plywood cutout 72' x 60' x 3/4" Omar Chacon Entronización del Sancocho, 2007 Acrylic on canvas 42" x 54" x 1/4"   Rajkamal Kahlon Autopsy, 2008 Wood, vinyl, latex 24' x 12' x 18' Chelsea Beck From Here, 2008 Mixed media Dimensions variable SHAUN EL C. LEONARDO El C. received his MFA from the painting department at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2005 and currently lives/works in Astoria, Queens - the borough in which he was born and raised. He has received residencies/grants from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, The New York Studio School, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Art Matters, and has recently been awarded a 2008 New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship in painting. El C.'s work has been shown nationally and internationally and is represented by Rhys Mendes Gallery, Los Angeles/Brasil with recent solo exhibitions in New York City, Hartford and Boston. www.elcleonardo.com OMAR CHACON Omar Chacón was born in Bogotá, Colombia and moved to the United States with his family in 1989.  He received a BFA from the Ringling School of Art and Design in 2002 and an MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004.  Chacón has won numerous awards including the William & Dorothy Yeck Award juried by Jerry Saltz, a Merit Scholarship from the San Francisco Art Institute, and most recently has been awarded a 2008 NYFA fellowship in painting.  His work has recently been the subject of solo exhibitions at Lincart (San Francisco, CA), Greene Contemporary (NYC, NY), Margorocca Gallery (Milan, Italy) and Hiestand Galleries - Miami University (Oxford, OH). Chacón lives and works in Astoria, Queens. www.lincart.com CHELSEA BECK Chelsea Beck was born in 1980 in Rhode Island. She received her MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT in 2004 and her BA from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY in 2002. Her work has been shown at the NYU 80 Washington Square East Galleries, NY, NY; The National Newark Building, Newark, NJ; Planaria Gallery, NY, NY. She attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2008. Currently, her work can be seen in the Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park. www.hereforever.org/chelsea RAJKAMAL KAHLON Rajkamal Kahlon is a past participant of the Whitney Independent Study Program and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She received her MFA from the California College of the Arts and her B.A. from the University of California, Davis. Kahlon is a 2006 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Painting and Sculpture Award and a 2007 recipient of the Lambent Fellowship. Kahlon's work has been exhibited internationally and can currently be seen in the Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park. www.bquayartgallery.com/artists/kahlon_bio.html DIRECTIONS: BY SUBWAY: Take the N or W trains to the 30th Ave stop in Queens and walk six blocks along 30th Avenue toward the East River. Club 21 is located at the corner of 21st Street and 30th Avenue. For driving, cycling and walking directions, please click here.

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK 32-01 VERNON BOULEVARD (AT BROADWAY) LONG ISLAND CITY, NY 11106 TEL: 718-956-1819  FAX: 718-626-1533 WWW.SOCRATESSCULPTUREPARK.ORG