Guess what you're doing friday?!?







We're all really excited and gearing up for our next show in late July at Critical Line called Keeping Score, so I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of what to expect!

It's a really good mix and should be amazing. Keeping Score includes an installation by Anna Huff (You may know her as the music/video act Anna Oxygen), Kate Bingaman (Obsessive Consumption), and large photos by superstar Joanne Kim.

We'll get you more info soon, but for now here are a couple choice links to check out:

Best known for her aerobic live performances, Anna Huff has toured both Europe and the United States under the name Anna Oxygen, performing dance pop recitals and fantasy-science performance pieces. Anna Oxygen has a Myspace, so drop by and add her (find her on our friends list) or check out her band site.

Obsessive Consumption was created by Kate Bingaman to showcase her love/hate relationship with money, shopping, branding, credit cards, celebrity, advertising and marketing. She is currently hand drawing all of her credit card statements until they are paid off and also spends her time consuming, documenting and making.

Oh and definitely check out Joanne Kim. The link I have from her is a little outdated, but you can see her work she did with the Thin Ice collective several years back.

(Tacoma, WA)- ArtRod is thrilled to announce the opening of Keeping Score, a group exhibition at the new artspace, Critical Line. Keeping Score has brought together the work of two former northwest artists living in Los Angeles, Joanne Kim and Anna Huff, with Mississippi graphic designer, Kate Bingaman. The back space of the gallery will feature two video works by Patrick Rock from Portland.

Best known for her aerobic live performances, Anna Huff is a multi-media artist and musician. She has toured Europe and the United States under the name Anna Oxygen and released several albums of electronic music. Her work in Keeping Score is a continuation in a series of guided meditation box lanterns. Each lantern contains a different audio adventure, ambient soundscape, or guided meditation, and seeks to provide alternatives to public spaces.

Kate Bingamans work will showcase her love/hate relationship with money, shopping, branding, credit cards, celebrity, advertising and marketing. The work is inspired by credit card statements, craft as activism, and general consumerism. Beginning in 2002, Bingaman decided to document all of her purchases, and create a brand out of the process to package and promote. The work in Keeping Score is hand drawings of all her credit card statements which she continues to create until they are completely paid off. She is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Mississippi State University.

The photography of Joanne Kim was created during her remaining months in the Pacific Northwest before relocating to Los Angeles. It is a reaction to the intersections of nature and man-made environments. For Keeping Score Kim created large scale color photographs to engulf the viewer into the space as a participant in the image. She has shown her work in spaces in the Northwest and was part of the photo collective Thin Ice.

Patrick Rock currently resides in Portland and has exhibited internationally including Paris, Berlin, and the Havana Biennial. Rock works extensively in video, installation, and sculpture. For this exhibition two video pieces will be on display in the gallery.

Critical Lines will host a public event on Friday, July 21 from 6-9pm for the opening reception of the gallerys latest exhibition, Keeping Score.

This exhibition is on view at Critical Line July 21 October 1, 2006. Critical Line is located at 741 St. Helens in downtown Tacoma, WA. Open Thursday through Sunday from 12-6, third Thursday until 8pm.

ArtRod opened Critical Line, a contemporary exhibition center, this past May to an excited audience. The 1,800 square foot gallery serves as one of the regions most exciting spots for cutting-edge contemporary artworks. Director Jared Pappas-Kelley says, We are so pleased to be able to continue our history of bringing world-class artists and their work to the region. We intend to build on that reputation with Critical Line. In addition to Critical Line, ArtRod produces Toby Room magazine, and the Tollbooth Gallery.

ArtRod is a 501c3 non-profit organization established in 1958. ArtRods mission is to facilitate art exhibition in nontraditional public arenas. ArtRod has grown out of, and in response to, a specific need to bring contemporary art forms out of a solid, conventional museum setting and directly into the communitys path.

Keeping Score, is an interdisciplinary exhibition at Critical Line on view from July 21 October 1, 2006. Critical Line is located at 741 St. Helens in downtown Tacoma. Open Thursday through Sunday 12 6pm, third Thursday until 8pm and admission is free. ArtRod (253) 444-2741 www.ArtRod.org