Euan Macdonald: 9,000 PIECES April 9, 2011

Euan Macdonald works with video, drawing, and installation, playing with the power of images to subtly undermine widely-held notions of truth. His new exhibition at YBCA, 9,000 PIECES, showcases five new multidisciplinary works exploring perception and globalization through a single object, the piano. Macdonald’s 9,000 PIECES will be the former San Francisco resident’s first Bay Area show since exhibitions at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and other local galleries over five years ago.

The show’s title video work, commissioned by YBCA, portrays the durability testing of a piano at a secret factory in Shanghai, China, at which instruments are made for sale with labels deceptively indicating high-end European manufacture. Through this and other works, Macdonald reveals cracks in the reality offered to consumers in today’s globalized society.

The exhibition also includes: Shades, a series of five large graphite drawings of pianos owned by renowned artists including Elvis Presley and John Lennon that explore class, historical, and social associations; Kimball, a stop-motion video in which Macdonald uncovers an abandoned antique piano from underneath a pile of discarded books; Out of the Wild, a two-channel video work on the use of two tuning forks; and Play the Piano Drunk… a silkscreen series based on text from poet/writer Charles Bukowski’s 1979 book, Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit.

Public Programs:
Sat, Apr 9, 2-4 pm: Lecture on the history of the keyboard by Chris Brown, Chair of the Electronic Music Program at Mills College

Thu, Apr 14, 6-8 pm: Alternative Artist Lecture by Euan Macdonald

Sat, Apr 16, 8-11 pm: Piano Conversations and DJ Mixes with Bay Area Performance Artists Cliff Hengst and Scott Hewicker

Public Info:
415-978-2787 or http://ybca.org/content/euan-macdonald

Gallery Admission: $7 regular; $5 students, seniors & teachers/Free for YBCA Members

Euan Macdonald public programs are FREE w/ gallery admission.
April is Free College Month at YBCA—students get FREE gallery admission with I.D.
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Gallery Hours:
Thu-Sat: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, except FREE First Tuesday
FREE first Tuesday: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Official Website: http://ybca.org/content/euan-macdonald