BANGROCK 8/7/09

Minneapolis July 31 2009- The Music Box is proud to announce BANGROCK, the inaugural art exhibition at the Music Box. BANGROCK features the work of Twin Cities artists Jesse Draxler and Peter Lochner and will be exhibited in the main lobby area of the Music Box from August 7 2009 to October 4 2009. Already the home to the weekly Mad Ripple Hootenanny, the Music Box is transforming itself into a multi-purpose, community-centered performance and exhibition space and the visual arts are an important component of that civic engagement. The opening reception on Friday August 7 will run from 6-8pm with the Mad Ripple Hootenanny hosted by Jim Walsh running later into the night.

BANGROCK celebrates the intersection of art, music and popular culture with powerful graphic sensibilities and explosive color. The complementing styles of Draxler and Lochner were selected by curator Carl Atiya Swanson to emphasize the wry and potent ability of visual art to engage other art forms and draw upon a wealth of cultural images. This incisive work will bring a vibrant and contemporary edge into the lobby of this 1920s theater, providing a riveting and harmonious blend of classic and contemporary.

Jesse Draxler is a graduate of the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul whose work involves elements of assemblage, illustration and cut & paste techniques. Themes such as relationships, social justice, city life and satire flow throughout his work to create compositions that are in equal part skilled, focused and amusing, keeping line with Draxler’s artistic philosophy of “Taking it all in, and throwing it all up.” Draxler’s work has been exhibited at the Weisman Art Museum and the Rosalux Gallery and he is a founding member of the Lovelee Buttons Creative Collective.

Peter Lochner is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he taught various illustration courses from 2002 through 2007. His graphic work has been seen in CMYK Magazine, the City Pages as well as numerous rock posters and album art. He has exhibited at MCAD and at the Clapperclaw Music & Arts Festival. In addition to his visual art, Lochner is an accomplished musician both as a solo artist and on guitar for local rockers Stook! & the Jukes.

What:
BANGROCK
Jesse Draxler + Peter Lochner
Inaugural Art Exhibition at the Music Box

When:
Friday August 7 2009- October 4 2009
Opening reception 6-8pm Friday August 7 2009 along with Mad Ripple Hootenanny

Where:
The Music Box
1411 Nicollet Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55403