SPORE Art Salon 9!

Monday 29 August, 7-11pm

ECHO LOFT, Chinatown, Singapore, Singapore 162005
http://sporeartsalon.blogspot.com/2011/08/spore-art-salon-9th-edition.html

In the month of AUGUST, we are proud to present you a mish mash of artistic wonders! Doors open 7pm at ECHOLoft, a local short film screening will commence at 7:30PM... life drawing sessions, a stage play, poetry reading, an acoustic trio n then some!

SPORE Art Salon is a non-profit opportunity created for visual artists to meet, mingle, inspire, and share with performing artists. During the event, we alternate between drawing sessions with live models, and performances from musicians, contortionists, poets, dancers, actors and more. We also feature works of, and demonstrations by visual artists, individually or collaboratively.

For those who are new to the art salon, our event is modeled after world famous Giles Larrain's Art Salon in NYC, with a distinctly Singaporean twist and flavour!

There is a minimum donation of $15/person at the door, and proceeds will benefit ECHOLoft and our featured artists. There will be alcoholic drinks for sale, and a small spread of 'tapas'! Come meet, mingle and inspire with fellow creatives of various disciplines. Guests are encouraged to participate in the life drawing sessions in between performances, so, bring your charcoal, pastels, paints, drawing pad, ipad...... you are also welcomed to take the stage at the end of the evening during our 'open mic'!


FEATURED VISUAL ARTIST:

JOW ZHI WEI (film maker)
http://jowzhiwei.wordpress.com/

Born in Singapore, Jow Zhi Wei graduated with first-class honours from The Puttnam School of Film, Lasalle in 2010. He believes in making films that deeply examine the human condition through compassionate, intimate observation of behaviour, discovering the cycles of life and death, the fragility of relationships and the emotional isolation that characters feel in urban spaces.

During his two year study at the school, he wrote and directed two short films. His first, Outing, was selected for competition at the 58th San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain. His graduation work, Waiting, had its international premiere at the 15th Busan International Film Festival in South Korea. It also received the award for ‘Best Script’ at the 2nd Singapore Short Film Awards 2011, and a ‘Jury Special Mention’ for both ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Performance’.

Both his films have screened at the National Museum of Singapore’s Cinematheque programme, the Singapore Short Cuts, a showcase of outstanding short films from Singaporean filmmakers.
Collectively, they have screened in over 20 countries.

He is an alumnus of the Golden Horse Film Academy in Taiwan, organized by illustrious Taiwanese filmmaker, Hou Hsiao-hsien and is due to pursue his studies at Le Fresnoy - National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France.

'WAITING' will be screened at 7:30PM.


FEATURED PERFORMING ARTISTS:

BECCA D'BUS (host)
Eugene Tan is an artist who works in performance, garments and drag. Till recently, Eugene was based in Boston, MA, where he worked he directed A Street Theater Named Desire, a guerrilla AIDS activist performance troupe that did work in gay cruising areas in the middle of the night, he also created Come As You Are: Celebrate Queer Sex!, a performance series that looked at queer sexual values 40 years after Stonewall, versions of Come As You Are were seen in 13 cities across the US, from major gay capitals like San Francisco to cities such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As an artist in research at the Berwick Research Institute in 2005, Eugene started an exploration of garments as performing objects, this, he has continued this work with costume design for plays, and also in the creation of Becca D’Bus, his drag persona. Eugene is currently a theater reviewer for The Flying Inkpot.

ALL I WANT - a stage play by Ren Robles
“What are you looking for in a partner?” Watch Vince and Amy try to answer this age-old question that has plagued single people all over the world in the charming romantic comedy ALL I WANT. A lighthearted romp through the perils of singledom and the quest to find The One, this one-act play is written and directed by playwright Ren Robles. ALL I WANT stars Jason Miller as Vince and Crista Leopardi as Amy, two old friends who stumble, bumble, and fumble their way to finding out just what they’re looking for.

REN ROBLES (Playwright and Director) finished with a degree in Psychology but pursues his passions in theatre as a veteran of Repertory Philippines Children’s Theatre as well as the Asian premiere of the stage version of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL directed by Chari Arespacochaga for Ateneo Blue Repertory in Manila.

JASON MILLER (Vince; Ba. Musical Theatre at CQUniversity) has played Lennox and understudy for Banquo and Malcolm in MACBETH: THE CONTEMPORARY ROCK OPERA (2009), directed by Beth Child at Cremorne Theatre, QPAC.

CRISTA LEOPARDI (Amy; BS in Dance Management) is mostly a dancer but proudly credits roles in CHILDREN OF EDEN (Ensemble), BEND (an Original staging), and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (Winnie).

ACE BIGCAS is Stage Manager for this production.

The Russian Dolls (acoustic trio)
Fuelled with the passion for music, Sarah E., Fauzo, and Ed came together in the spirit of this one mutual love, to try a hand at a new collaboration. The results weren't surprising... not yet anyway! But are increasingly entertaining, sparked off by the great chemistry within this unexpected trio! Let The Russian Dolls bring you a night of entertainment and laughter!

Stephanie Dogfoot (performance poet)
http://stephdogfoot.wordpress.com/
Stephanie is a performance poet who toys with ideas about identity, foreignness, (not) growing up and river snails. She won the Annual Singapore Poetry Slam in 2010, and represented Singapore in the Indian Ocean Poetry Slam on Reunion Island that same year where she competed against poets from countries like Botswana, India and Madagascar and bridged geographical, cultural and language barriers with a universal ode to hawker food. She was also runner-up in the Vancouver Queer Slam 2008.

Stephanie is in back in Singapore for the moment but is more often found in London where she performs poetry and hosts spoken word events in various spaces around the city (especially squatted buildings) and sometimes finds the time to study law. She recently came to the conclusion that lawyers and poets are more similar than they would like to think because both are in the business of arranging words to change people’s feelings. Stephanie is inspired by things in the world (but especially Singapore) that make her enraged, being righteously enraged, then laughing at them. Her work has been described as ‘spiritual lyrics for the human journey’ (some guy named Sky) and "um...a bit chim. A bit embarrassing for our family. But nice." (her sister).