Giving visual art a voice — beginning this April

Calling For All Geniuses

Giving visual art a voice — beginning this April 2006

Toronto, Ont. – April 5th, 2006 Are you one of those people who had a great idea for a painting and dreamed of collaborating with an artist to develop your idea? Well, this is your chance …

Introducing the truly ground-breaking concept of using modern technology to give visual art a voice. The Genius Loves Company art project uses the Internet to engage the general public in the co-creation of art inspired by art. Have you ever been moved by a song, taken into a fantasy journey by a great movie, or left spellbound by a wonderful book? Now imagine transferring that sense of wonderment onto a painting!

During the month of April 2006, artists from the SIX AH WI Collective will be accepting creative ideas from the general public for the creation of a total of six public paintings which will be displayed during the Genius Loves Company exhibition. The exhibition will take place from October 14th to 28th, 2006 at the Arta Gallery in the trendy Distillery district. Following the two-week run at Arta Gallery, the exhibition will move to Ellington’s Café (805 St. Clair Ave W).

But we need your participation immediately as the goal of the project is to foster the active participation of the general public with the artists during the creative process. Please e- mail the artists to share your ideas, encourage them in their creative process, or simply to lend your support in a few words.

How to get involved?
We invite you to visit the exhibition’s site today at www.geniuslovescompany.ca — where you will virtually meet the six talented artists of the Genius Loves Company exhibition. With the theme of the exhibition being “art inspired by art”, the nature of this project is to promote all facets of the arts so as to give Visual Art a more interactive and entertaining voice. The Genius Loves Company concept came about by exploring how the arts compliment and often give birth to one another. Each member of our collective will produce numerous works of art inspired by musicians, writers, poets, instrumentalists and filmmakers. Our intention is to inspire our audience to embrace visual arts by enticing them with art forms that are readily accessible to them; be it online, at bookstores or video and music outlets.
Each artist (Ato Seitu, Georgia Fullerton-Morgan, Sonia Farquharson, Michelle Montague, Abye Kifle, and Tafewa Turner) has chosen a particular piece from another artistic discipline (song, movie or book) which you will help them render into a painting. Take the opportunity now to visit the website and find out which original artistic expression they chose!

PRESS INFO
The SIX AH WI Collective is available for interviews. Members of the media are encouraged to contact Ato Seitu or Melvin Bakandika below to facilitate coverage of the artists and the exhibition.

See AfroToronto.com article on the SIX AH WI Collective http://www.afrotoronto.com/Articles/Mar06/Genius.html

Come out and make art history with our geniuses!

SIX AH WI Artist Collective
Ato Seitu
email: [email protected]
phone: 416-667-8200
AfroToronto.com
Melvin Bakandika
email: [email protected]
phone: 416-929-3769