FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 17, 2004

CONTACT: Nora Wendl, (515) 271-1994, nora.wendl@drake.edu
Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

ANDERSON GALLERY TO FEATURE JOINT EXHIBIT BY MERS AND MCGEE
In "Looking At/Looking Through," Chicago-based artists Adelheid Mers and Patrick McGee will juxtapose their respective graphic and sculptural elements in a collaborative installation at Drake University’s Anderson Gallery. The exhibition will open with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, and a gallery talk at 5:30 p.m.

Continuing a visual exploration of the book “Moral Politics - How Liberals and Conservatives Think,” by cognitive scientist George Lakoff, Mers presents her timely, political posters in a format that encourages viewer interaction. Inkjet prints laminated with a dry-erase surface, the posters will invite visitors to explain the difference between liberals and conservatives themselves, reacting to the artist’s interpretation of this author.

The sturdy construction of this installation, which continues through Nov. 14, will allow the posters to enclose visitors, who may have their photographs taken with them as "backdrops." Mers observes that the superimposition of virtual environments created of controlled sound, text and imagery, on modern public space is common, and almost unnoticed. This installation brings the tension between virtual and real environments to the forefront, enlivening the context for Mers’ politically based work.

A former interest in devices, such as directional compasses, for measuring phenomena that humans cannot perceive, has given way to the creation and installation of works that are entirely site-specific. Patrick McGee’s gallery-scale installations of dyed string trace the outlines of architectural and geometric forms that visitors delineate as they move around the works, engaging the full exhibition space. His past installations include string-works of existing architectural features, including an El track truss-and-girder section, and a full-scale reversed replication of the front entrance of Berlin’s Gallery Johannes Zielke. Lines intersecting in space to create a form with no mass, McGee’s installations are as engaging at a distance as they are close-up, inviting and allowing audience navigation.

Born in Dusseldorf, Germany, Adelheid Mers has exhibited and lectured extensively, in both the United States and abroad. Currently a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she has taught at various colleges and universities, and acted as curator for several exhibitions. Adelheid Mers’ work may be viewed at www.adelheidmers.com. A review of her most recent exhibition—named Critic's Choice by the Chicago Reader —may be viewed at www.chireader.com/listings/static/performingcritic.html.

Patrick McGee has been exhibited widely in Chicago, most prominently at the Hyde Park Art Center and the Ten in One Gallery. He has installed works in New York, Berlin, and Vienna. Patrick McGee’s work may be viewed at www.adequatearts.com.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
(All events/programs at the Anderson Gallery are free and open to the public)
Exhibition Dates: Oct. 8 – Nov. 14
Opening Reception: 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8, Anderson Gallery

CONTACT
Anderson Gallery: (515) 271-1994
Fax: (515) 271-2558
E-mail: andersongalleryinfo@drake.edu
Web site: ww.drake.edu/andersongallery

ADDRESS
Anderson Gallery
Drake University
25th Street and Carpenter Avenue
Harmon Fine Arts Center
Des Moines, IA 50311
The main entrance to the Anderson Gallery is on 25th Street, on the street level of Harmon Fine Arts Center (red brick building on the northwest corner of 25th and Carpenter). Free, two-hour parking is available on 24th and 25th Streets.

GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday through Sunday
Noon to 4 p.m.
Free admission to the Anderson Gallery and programs at the gallery

ABOUT THE ANDERSON GALLERY
The Anderson Gallery, a nonprofit exhibition space at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, was founded in 1996 to exhibit and support innovation in art and design. The gallery strives to enrich the cultural life of the University and area communities through diverse and challenging exhibitions, educational programs and publications.

As a showcase for art and design exhibitions, the Anderson Gallery, with its humanistic and interdisciplinary interpretation of art and culture, is an essential component of the University’s academic programs and the Department of Art and Design. The gallery offers area residents, visitors and students from all disciplines the opportunity to participate in the current discourse and historical context surrounding art and design.

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