| David Gere |
| 2008 Event Calendar |
Teacher Workshop: Make Art/Stop AIDS for Educators
This special teachers’ preview of Make Art/Stop AIDS features a walkthrough by curators David Gere and Robert
Sember, an HIV/AIDS 101 session lead by UCLA AIDS Ambassadors, and a puppet theater demonstration. Free
for members; $15 for non-members. Reservations required: 310/825-7325.
February 23, 2008 10 am–1 pm
This special teachers’ preview of Make Art/Stop AIDS features a walkthrough by curators David Gere and Robert
Sember, an HIV/AIDS 101 session lead by UCLA AIDS Ambassadors, and a puppet theater demonstration. Free
for members; $15 for non-members. Reservations required: 310/825-7325.
February 23, 2008 10 am–1 pm
Medicine Man" and "Icarian II" at the Fowler Museum
A new sculpture by Goldstein Kapellas will appear in Make Art/Stop AIDS an international traveling exhibition of art dealing
with the pandemic of HIV/AIDS opening at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles February 23rd.
Entitled "Medicine Man", the new work is shaped like a human figure and is made of over 300 suspended HIV/AIDS
medication bottles. It hovers at the center of six halos made of syringes.
Also on exhibit will be one of Daniel Goldstein's "Icarian Series" leather peices on loan to the museum from the private
collection of actor Richard Gere.
The image of "Medicine Man" (left) will be the official banner for the show and on display through downtown Los Angeles.
A new sculpture by Goldstein Kapellas will appear in Make Art/Stop AIDS an international traveling exhibition of art dealing
with the pandemic of HIV/AIDS opening at the Fowler Museum in Los Angeles February 23rd.
Entitled "Medicine Man", the new work is shaped like a human figure and is made of over 300 suspended HIV/AIDS
medication bottles. It hovers at the center of six halos made of syringes.
Also on exhibit will be one of Daniel Goldstein's "Icarian Series" leather peices on loan to the museum from the private
collection of actor Richard Gere.
The image of "Medicine Man" (left) will be the official banner for the show and on display through downtown Los Angeles.
Media Contact: Jason Lahman
Tel: 415-760-6970
Email: jason@goldsteinkapellas.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SF Sculptors Make Larger than Life Figure
from Syringes and AIDS Med Bottles
Goldstein Kapellas Studio’s piece Medicine Man premiers at the
Fowler Museum, UCLA’s exhibit MAKE ART/ STOP AIDS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 31, 2008 Nearly 300 empty HIV medication bottles collected during the past 15 years—
including those of HIV-positive artists Daniel Goldstein and John Kapellas and their partners, some dead, some living—were
used to construct Medicine Man. The suspended sculpture is over seven feet tall. Strands of steel wire are threaded with
translucent orange bottles of various sizes to create the elements of the floating figure.
Viewers are reminded of the countless pills HIV positive people must take and of the life-sustaining power these medicines
provide. Encircling the human-shaped cluster of bottles are 139 syringes, each tipped with a red droplet. This elicits both a
feeling of being bombarded and of energy radiating out from the body. “The piece speaks to the joy of living after having
experienced so much death.” says Goldstein. “One of the show’s curators from India told me this piece gave her great
hope.” “The shapes in this piece echo many spiritual traditions.” adds Kapellas. “From the resurrection in Christianity and the
enlightened Buddha on the lotus, to the halos that surround the saints of all cultures.”
Part of MAKE ART/ STOP AIDS, an international exhibition of art created to address the ongoing AIDS pandemic, Medicine
Man was chosen to be the image on the show’s banner and can be seen on light-posts across Westwood and Los Angeles.
An earlier work of Goldsteins’ Icarian II is on loan to the Fowler from actor Richard Gere’s private collection and
will also be in the exhibition. Icarian II is the print of a Shroud-of-Turin-like human figure on leather inside a reliquary
case. The form was created by human friction and sweat as the leather was once part of the workout equipment of a well-
known SF gay gym in the years before the AIDS epidemic decimated the population. The show runs Feb 23- June 15 and
then travels from UCLA to museums in Brazil, South Africa and India.
Goldstein Kapellas Studio: Most well known for their large-scale public sculptures in metal and glass, they have just released
their new series of abstract photographs of moving light. Other projects include a full-length animated film “The Unfolding”
and the company TV2ART LLC. TV2ART creates furniture that conceals flat-panel TVs, turning them into kinetic light
sculpture www.tv2art.com
Goldstein Kapellas Studio is located at 224 Guerrero Street,
San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: 415-621-5761 Fax: 415-255-2278 www.goldsteinkapellas.com
MEDICINE MANICARIAN II, INCLINE Hi-res images of the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS banner, and the pieces Medicine
Man and Icarian II are available.
Email: Jason@goldsteinkapellas.com
For more info on the artists and their work:
www.goldsteinkapellas.com
Tel: 415-760-6970
Email: jason@goldsteinkapellas.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SF Sculptors Make Larger than Life Figure
from Syringes and AIDS Med Bottles
Goldstein Kapellas Studio’s piece Medicine Man premiers at the
Fowler Museum, UCLA’s exhibit MAKE ART/ STOP AIDS
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 31, 2008 Nearly 300 empty HIV medication bottles collected during the past 15 years—
including those of HIV-positive artists Daniel Goldstein and John Kapellas and their partners, some dead, some living—were
used to construct Medicine Man. The suspended sculpture is over seven feet tall. Strands of steel wire are threaded with
translucent orange bottles of various sizes to create the elements of the floating figure.
Viewers are reminded of the countless pills HIV positive people must take and of the life-sustaining power these medicines
provide. Encircling the human-shaped cluster of bottles are 139 syringes, each tipped with a red droplet. This elicits both a
feeling of being bombarded and of energy radiating out from the body. “The piece speaks to the joy of living after having
experienced so much death.” says Goldstein. “One of the show’s curators from India told me this piece gave her great
hope.” “The shapes in this piece echo many spiritual traditions.” adds Kapellas. “From the resurrection in Christianity and the
enlightened Buddha on the lotus, to the halos that surround the saints of all cultures.”
Part of MAKE ART/ STOP AIDS, an international exhibition of art created to address the ongoing AIDS pandemic, Medicine
Man was chosen to be the image on the show’s banner and can be seen on light-posts across Westwood and Los Angeles.
An earlier work of Goldsteins’ Icarian II is on loan to the Fowler from actor Richard Gere’s private collection and
will also be in the exhibition. Icarian II is the print of a Shroud-of-Turin-like human figure on leather inside a reliquary
case. The form was created by human friction and sweat as the leather was once part of the workout equipment of a well-
known SF gay gym in the years before the AIDS epidemic decimated the population. The show runs Feb 23- June 15 and
then travels from UCLA to museums in Brazil, South Africa and India.
Goldstein Kapellas Studio: Most well known for their large-scale public sculptures in metal and glass, they have just released
their new series of abstract photographs of moving light. Other projects include a full-length animated film “The Unfolding”
and the company TV2ART LLC. TV2ART creates furniture that conceals flat-panel TVs, turning them into kinetic light
sculpture www.tv2art.com
Goldstein Kapellas Studio is located at 224 Guerrero Street,
San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel: 415-621-5761 Fax: 415-255-2278 www.goldsteinkapellas.com
MEDICINE MANICARIAN II, INCLINE Hi-res images of the MAKE ART/STOP AIDS banner, and the pieces Medicine
Man and Icarian II are available.
Email: Jason@goldsteinkapellas.com
For more info on the artists and their work:
www.goldsteinkapellas.com
| Dress Up Against AIDS: Condom Couture by Adriana Bertini |
'Make Art/Stop AIDS' exhibition
Courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA
HAUTE COUTURE: Factory rejected condoms were dyed -- and turned into a dress.
At UCLA's Fowler Museum through June 15.
April 6, 2008
SWEAT on leather, framed under Plexiglas, makes its point at "Make Art/Stop AIDS." One of more than 60 pieces
primarily from the U.S., Brazil, India and South Africa on display through June 15 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA
exhibition, Daniel Goldstein's "Icarian II, Incline" (1993) features swatches from workout benches used in San Francisco
gyms that bear the imprint of men who died of AIDS-related causes.
Curator David Gere hopes artworks such as "Icarian II," on loan from Gere's actor brother Richard, provoke an activist
response from visitors. "Sometimes work is accused of having an agenda as if that were a bad thing," he says. "This is a
case where we want the art to have an agenda."
Make Art" objects include Goldstein and John Kapellas' "Medicine Man" (2007), constructed from syringes and nearly 300
empty pill bottles that once contained the artists' antiviral medications. On a more whimsical note, Brazilian artist Adriana
Bertini's evening gown "Eva" (2006) consists entirely of red-dyed factory-rejected condoms.
Gere and co-curator Robert Sember, both UCLA professors, incorporated a dash of humor into the exhibition after
previewing somber pieces for their students. Gere recalls, "At a certain point they said, 'We can't take any more -- you have
to make us laugh.' "
Photo Gallery
Courtesy of the Fowler Museum at UCLA
HAUTE COUTURE: Factory rejected condoms were dyed -- and turned into a dress.
At UCLA's Fowler Museum through June 15.
April 6, 2008
SWEAT on leather, framed under Plexiglas, makes its point at "Make Art/Stop AIDS." One of more than 60 pieces
primarily from the U.S., Brazil, India and South Africa on display through June 15 at the Fowler Museum at UCLA
exhibition, Daniel Goldstein's "Icarian II, Incline" (1993) features swatches from workout benches used in San Francisco
gyms that bear the imprint of men who died of AIDS-related causes.
Curator David Gere hopes artworks such as "Icarian II," on loan from Gere's actor brother Richard, provoke an activist
response from visitors. "Sometimes work is accused of having an agenda as if that were a bad thing," he says. "This is a
case where we want the art to have an agenda."
Make Art" objects include Goldstein and John Kapellas' "Medicine Man" (2007), constructed from syringes and nearly 300
empty pill bottles that once contained the artists' antiviral medications. On a more whimsical note, Brazilian artist Adriana
Bertini's evening gown "Eva" (2006) consists entirely of red-dyed factory-rejected condoms.
Gere and co-curator Robert Sember, both UCLA professors, incorporated a dash of humor into the exhibition after
previewing somber pieces for their students. Gere recalls, "At a certain point they said, 'We can't take any more -- you have
to make us laugh.' "
Photo Gallery
| ...My boss David Gere, my co-worker Cathryn, Richard Gere (my boss David's brother), and me. David brought his brother over to say, HI. I was a bit star struck, I admit. I've always been impressed with Richard Gere's work with Tibet... |
Cause binds Gere brothers
- AIDS fight through art
December 17 , 2008
Whenever David Gere is asked “how it feels” to be a Hollywood heartthrob’s brother— and that is
often — his answer is: “It feels good”.
“Every time I am asked this question it gives me an opportunity, like now, to say how much I love
him,” actor Richard Gere’s sibling, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, told
Metro on Tuesday.
David, who is in town to promote his project Make Art/Stop AIDS, spoke about his and Richard’s common interest in AIDS
prevention during an interactive session with visitors at CIMA Gallery. “We are two brothers who love each other very much
and have a common interest,” he said.
But while he is appreciative of his brother’s way of promoting the cause, his methods are a little different. The Make Art/Stop
AIDS programme is an example.
“This project was born in Calcutta. I was in Bangalore on a Fulbright fellowship in 2004 and had come down to the city,” David,
a former art critic, recalled.
Pointing to a canvas in the potua tradition, painted by patachitra artist Swarna Chitrakar, David said: “She is one of those
associated with our project, though this canvas is on something different.”
David also spoke about two young New Delhi-based artists who work as a duo, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra. “They designed
these rubber slippers, on the soles of which were cartoons on how to take out a condom from a packet. They are working on a
project called Put it On, the condom that is,” David said, with a twinkle in his eyes that reminded the audience of his more
famous brother.
David said he was all for sensationalism if it helped send the message across. “One of Jiten and Sumir’s canvases has these
flowers that remind me of Bollywood kissing scenes. Each flower is a demonstration of how to put on a condom.”
So, what does he make of the peck his brother gave Shilpa Shetty? Did controversy help spread the message?
“As long as you find something positive in that, it will make him happy and it will make me happy,” he said.
- AIDS fight through art
December 17 , 2008
Whenever David Gere is asked “how it feels” to be a Hollywood heartthrob’s brother— and that is
often — his answer is: “It feels good”.
“Every time I am asked this question it gives me an opportunity, like now, to say how much I love
him,” actor Richard Gere’s sibling, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, told
Metro on Tuesday.
David, who is in town to promote his project Make Art/Stop AIDS, spoke about his and Richard’s common interest in AIDS
prevention during an interactive session with visitors at CIMA Gallery. “We are two brothers who love each other very much
and have a common interest,” he said.
But while he is appreciative of his brother’s way of promoting the cause, his methods are a little different. The Make Art/Stop
AIDS programme is an example.
“This project was born in Calcutta. I was in Bangalore on a Fulbright fellowship in 2004 and had come down to the city,” David,
a former art critic, recalled.
Pointing to a canvas in the potua tradition, painted by patachitra artist Swarna Chitrakar, David said: “She is one of those
associated with our project, though this canvas is on something different.”
David also spoke about two young New Delhi-based artists who work as a duo, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra. “They designed
these rubber slippers, on the soles of which were cartoons on how to take out a condom from a packet. They are working on a
project called Put it On, the condom that is,” David said, with a twinkle in his eyes that reminded the audience of his more
famous brother.
David said he was all for sensationalism if it helped send the message across. “One of Jiten and Sumir’s canvases has these
flowers that remind me of Bollywood kissing scenes. Each flower is a demonstration of how to put on a condom.”
So, what does he make of the peck his brother gave Shilpa Shetty? Did controversy help spread the message?
“As long as you find something positive in that, it will make him happy and it will make me happy,” he said.
| David Gere at CIMA Gallery on Tuesday. Picture by Amit Datta |