Zumbro Bend/Three Desiring Bodies
Rochester Art Center
Opening Saturday, November 18, 1-4 pm. Artist Talk 2 pm.
Sinuous Bend Installation /Onofrio Gallery
Gel Medium Lab/Davies Gallery
Bait Shop/Nook Gallery
Sound Compositions by Chooch Karton
In Zumbro Bend: Three Desiring Bodies, Minneapolis based visual artist Pete Driessen installs three separate site-specific works, each a different abstracted fork in the river ecosystem. Titled after the South Fork Zumbro River that winds around the Rochester Art Center, the artist illuminates meandering sociopolitical variants on the river as creative life force, terrain erosion and deposition, land extraction and water channeling.
Through the language of painting, form, and space, Driessen investigates river system topology, land erosion and sediment deposition structures, and the animate quality of flowing water systems. The Zumbro River, a Mississippi River tributary with three separate forks, offers three exhibit positions with distinct material situations.
The first fork, Zumbro Bend, reflects upon the river environments meandering erosion and deposition, with wood, limestone, and mixed media painting. The gallery floor serves as flood plain, with work arranged around the curvilinear structure of a river bend. In the second Gel Medium Lab fork, the artist experiments with gloss acrylic gel medium positioning the river via our human bodily connections to innate desire, creative production, and reproduction qualities. The third Bait Shop fork nostalgically reflects upon the artists locational identity within the water culture of the Minnesota & Upper Midwest through recreational and tinkering structures.
Amidst the duration of the exhibition, Driessen will present a choreographed sound performance with Pooch Karton, writer and artist dialogue, and a limited-edition artist’s book release.
Shows Runs November 18, 2023-March 24, 2024
Rochester Art Center Gallery Hours Wednesday – Sunday, 11 am - 4 pm
Closed Monday -Tuesday, & Holidays
30 Civic Center Drive SE, STE 120, Rochester, MN USA 55904
www.rochesterartcenter.org info@rochesterartcenter.org
Image: Pete Driessen © 2023. Line/Template. Dry rock protection wall construction east of Rochester, MN. Photographer unknown. Modified digital print. 17 x 24 inches. Courtesy the artist & Olmsted County Historical Society & Museum.