Exhibitions

Armory Center for the Arts is pleased to present DANCE, OPERA, DRAW, a performance and exhibition by artist Jocelyn Foye, located in Mezzanine East at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. The exhibition, organized by curator Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne, will commence with a live performance at the opening reception on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 8:30pm. A subsequent exhibition of work created during the performance will be on display from February 12 – May 13, 2012. In conjunction with the opening of exhibitions by Richard Jackson, Dawn Kasper, and Nicolas Grider, a reception, free and open to the public, will take place on Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 7-9pm.

Jocelyn Foye’s works are defined by an interest in capturing and illustrating how the reoccurrence of every day actions - derived from labor - produce fundamental visual patterns. Many of her performances, in which she acts as producer rather than participant, have combined a sport or action not usually seen in a gallery that results in a static work - a record of the event - cast in clay. Her private and public performances are often heavy with spectacle, and the resulting objects carry the aura of the performance, but function as complete artworks to contemplate unto themselves. Unlike many performance artists who view the spectacle along with the resulting detritus as the work itself, Foye places significance on the end product standing on its own.

In her upcoming performance, DANCE, OPERA, DRAW, Foye has chosen to explore the arena of opera, dance, and art; seeking to create a conversation between the genres. As soprano opera singer Sonia Kazarova robustly resounds Strauss' modern opera Salome, two flanking dancers, Mecca Andrews and Lora Ivanova, will physically interpret the duality of spatial dramatics on a canvas of charcoal. The resulting "drawings" created by the imprints of the dancer's hands, bodies, and feet, will be mounted and displayed for the duration of the exhibition along with audio documentation from the event. For Foye, this performance is not only an opportunity to challenge the stereotype of what an operatic recital is, but also a chance to respond to the conversation that exists between the arts in our current political climate – one that is disconnected and under-supported but ripe for cross pollination.

About the Artist
Jocelyn Foye received her MFA from California State University, Long Beach. She has shown her work nationally and internationally, more prominently throughout Southern California, including the Torrance Art Museum and in a recent solo exhibition at Kristi Engle Gallery. In 2011 she was granted a California Community Fund Fellowship for Visual Artists. She lives and works in Long Beach, CA. 

About the Performers
Mecca Vazie Andrews  is a Los Angeles based dancer whose credits include American Apparel, Bedtime Stories, Rent, "MTV Movie Awards," Hysterica Dance Company, and VH1's "Showgirl Bootcamp." Some of her most recent artistic partnerships have involved Lady Gaga, The Slits, LA Philharmonic, Center Theatre Group, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Andrews currently teaches for Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company and Edge Performing Arts Center. Her company mecca v.a and the MOVEMENT movement will be performing at the Armory Center for the Arts in summer 2012.

Lora Ivanova is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis’ schools of Theatre and Film with an independent focus in Directing. She spent the earlier part of her career in Europe as part of the experimental physical theatre ensemble Naked Snail. She is a founding member of the Art Players ensemble in Hollywood and SKIN collaborative. Ivanova is a versatile artist whose work explores issues of identity, behavior patterns, habitual perceptions, conformism, and reality.

Sonia Kazarova is a native of Colorado, who has made her home in Manhattan, and now Los Angeles. Credits include Ensemble Studio Theatre’s production of Strippers, Snakes, and Elvis, Kate in Kiss Me Kate, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, and Camelot. Her stage combat and martial arts skills led her to pieces like Cola Wars, the action short Fifteen Minutes to Two, and Kabuki theater. Other projects include the feature length film Darling XX (kiss kiss), filming in Tribeca. Kazarova has a B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Illinois.

• Click here for images from this exhibition.

Jocelyn Foye: DANCE, OPERA, DRAW is on view in Mezzanine East at the Armory at 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena. Gallery hours are Tuesday – Sunday, noon-5pm. $5 suggested donation. Armory members, students, and seniors are free. The Armory is easily accessible from the Gold Line Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. For information about Armory exhibitions and events, the public may call 626.792.5101 x122.