Michael Devoni finds place to crash for rest of summer

NEWS RELEASE

ART GALLERY OF ALGOMA

************************* Artist to sleep in gallery every night

Sault Ste. Marie artist Michael Devoni will bunk down in the Art Gallery of Algoma’s main gallery through July, August and September as part of his new exhibition A SooRealist Dream, which opens Thursday, July 22, 2010, at 7 p.m.

Inspired in part by the collage novels of Max Ernst and a story that presented itself in a dream, A SooRealist Dream includes collages, sculptures and a performance piece created by Devoni.

This exhibition presents viewers with an alternate reality: an alien invasion of Sault Ste. Marie that has gone horribly wrong.

Collages will recount the story of this ill-fated visitation and Devoni himself will spend each night of the exhibition sleeping in a bedroom-like setting in the middle of the main gallery during the AGA’s closing hours.

The space will also feature numerous surveillance cameras, so that nighttime viewers can watch Devoni sleep, dream and mill about via a closed-circuit television positioned in the gallery’s entrance way.

Michael Devoni was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1971, and worked for many years in the local steel mill.

*************************