wendy tetsu

Urban Experience
"Tar and Feathers"
by Michael Leaverton
San Francisco Weekly March 26,2005
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2005-03-23/calendar/urban.html

The serene beauty of Wendy Testu's Birds in Flight video belies its inspiration: the worst ecological disaster in European history. The Prestige oil tanker, loaded with 20 million gallons of fuel, sank off Spain in 2002, affecting 250,000 birds and decimating miles of coastline. Taking its title from the Madrid protests that followed, Tetsu's "Nunca Mais" (Basque for "never again") multimedia show explores two of the most potent images of environmental destruction -- seabirds and oil. Accompanying the video is the Birds in Flight installation, a flock of 25 decomposing birds fashioned out of ceramic, feathers, and wire; Found Remains, consisting of ceramic bird pieces, sea salt from Ocean Beach, and tar-covered Basque rocks; and Shadows, bird shapes formed via feathers pinned to a wall. A painted moving truck in the Shadows vein also roams the streets for the duration of the show.

As is fitting, the show starts at the beach -- specifically, at the foot of Lincoln Avenue atop a cement sewage overflow structure. As the sky darkens, Madi Hollingsworth sings "sad, eerie" sounds and hands out tar-paper books about the spill, Testu's video is projected onto the sand, and ceramic birds are set ablaze. Next the crowd moves as a "procession" to the gallery, accompanied by Hollingsworth's voice, a raised banner, and birds on hooks. If this doesn't stir up any empathy, art can't help you. Sushi and sake complete the night. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. at Lincoln near the Great Highway; the exhibit begins at 8 p.m. at the SoulArch Gallery, 4033A Judah (at 45th Avenue), S.F. Admission is free; call 759-4100.

-- Michael Leaverton

MORE REVIEWS:

lashowteeny (17K)

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Interview:
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http://aids-write.org/?p=262

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(you have to scroll down a bit to view article)
http://www.bigcrow.com/anna/journal/mar05.html

"School of Decaying Fish Skeletons"
Award 2004 Redwood Forest Foundation

Art critic review: San Francisco Bay Guardian Sept.17th 2003 (excerpt below).

"17 + Studio Artists of the Clay Studio" at Space 743

"One of the best works in the show is Wendy Testu's School of Decaying Fish Skeletons, which appears to swim out from the wall, briefly enter the gallery space, and then reenter the wall. The Raku-fired ceramic fish indeed seem to be decaying - their gaping mouths and empty eyes are grotesque and gargoylelike - but their small size and delicate, crumbling flesh make them look less like monsters and more like ghosts, or shells, of long-gone leviathans. Their almost-breaking-apart bodies echo the state of their "school," a haphazard formation that also appears to be disintegrating before our eyes." ( Lindsey Westbrook)

L'Art De Voyager
L'Art De Voyager
L'Art De Voyager

Family Spaces
Family Spaces
Family Spaces

American Homestyle & Garden
Zakka Catalog
Zakka Catalog

San Francisco Magazine
Garden House Book
Garden House Book

Smith and Hawkin Calendar
Smith and Hawkin Calendar
Victoria Magazine
Victoria Magazine

"School of Decaying Fish Skeletons" Award 2004 Redwood Forest Foundation

Art critic review: San Francisco Bay Guardian Sept.17th 2003 (excerpt below). "17 + Studio Artists of the Clay Studio" at Space 743 "One of the best works in the show is Wendy Testu's School of Decaying Fish Skeletons, which appears to swim out from the wall, briefly enter the gallery space, and then reenter the wall. The Raku-fired ceramic fish indeed seem to be decaying - their gaping mouths and empty eyes are grotesque and gargoylelike - but their small size and delicate, crumbling flesh make them look less like monsters and more like ghosts, or shells, of long-gone leviathans. Their almost-breaking-apart bodies echo the state of their "school," a haphazard formation that also appears to be disintegrating before our eyes." ( Lindsey Westbrook)

L'Art De Voyager	L'Art De Voyager	L'Art De Voyager
Family Spaces	Family Spaces	Family Spaces
American Homestyle & Garden	Zakka Catalog	Zakka Catalog
San Francisco Magazine	Garden House Book	Garden House Book
Smith and Hawkin Calendar	Smith and Hawkin Calendar	Victoria Magazine	Victoria Magazine