Transformer announces first international presentation of Washington, DC artists abroad

Give & Take / Da y Toma
@ Garash Galeria, Mexico City
July 30 - August 20, 2009


Advancing their mission to build a broad network of support for emerging artists, their ideas and work, and to further contemporary art dialogue within Washington, DC and beyond, Transformer announces the continuation of an artistic exchange with Mexico City and Garash Galeria, with the upcoming Give & Take/ Da y Toma exhibition.

Following the success of the ID-entity exhibition presented in 2008 at Transformer and the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, DC, which highlighted the work of ten Mexico City-based emerging artists, Give & Take/ Da y Toma at Garash Galeria will present the work of five DC-based emerging artists - Holly Bass, Breck Brunson, Nilay Lawson, Solomon Sanchez, and Chakraphan Rangaratna (aka Señor Tangcito, aka Tang) - each of whom will be exhibiting internationally for the first time.

The artists in Give & Take/Da y Toma are creating new, conceptual works that focus on the dynamics of exchange. Through artistic action, installation, and the creation of artist built environments, the participating artists investigate aspects of competition, fair play, ownership, equality, and stewardship. Responding to and inspired by cultural differences and similarities, the global economy, human nature and the natural environment, the artists in Give & Take/Da y Toma playfully challenge audiences to think about and interpret common and uncommon interactions.

Transformer provides the participating artists the opportunity to spend ten days in Mexico City (July 22- August 1, 2009), where they will meet with peer emerging artists as well as arts leaders, install their work, engage with audiences through an opening reception and artist talks, and experience aspects of life in another federal city.

Give & Take/Da y Toma is made possible in large part by the substantial award of a $20,000 grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, with matching support from individual contributions.

For more information on Give & Take/Da y Toma and other Transformer programs and exhibitions, see: www.transformergallery.org, or contact 202.483.1102