Resident Artist Andria Morales collaborates with Beth Beverly for LAST RIDE, opening this month

We welcome you to attend:
LAST RIDE
Performance and reception
Sunday March 27, 2011
3-5pm
The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia

LAST RIDE is a collaborative performance-based artwork by Andria Morales and Beth Beverly.  Inspired by Puerto Rican funeral celebrations and taxidermy traditions respectively, the artists have found a common interest in death.  Using the Rotunda’s church-like interior as a backdrop, the artist’s work will invite viewers to experience mourning as a celebration.

Andria Morales (formerly Andria Bibiloni) explores the divide between art representative of culture, and art produced from within a cultural community. By immersing herself in situations where cultural identity is consequential, she aims to provoke viewers into a confrontation and analysis of their own preconceptions. The resulting work is multidisciplinary, consisting of mixed media sculptures, self-portraits, performance based videos, and site-specific installations.  Andria Morales’s work has been exhibited at Labor K1 in Berlin, Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Projects Gallery in Philadelphia, the Ice Box in Philadelphia, and the CUE Art Foundation in New York. In 2008 she was awarded a Joan Mitchell MFA Grant for her work in mixed media sculpture and installation. Andria is currently a resident in the 40th St. Artist in Residence Program, and teaches at Tyler School of Art.

Beth Beverly is a State- and Federally-licensed taxidermist who has a BFA from Tyler School of Art and graduated from the Pocono Institute of Taxidermy with high marks. Ms. Beverly is passionate about using every part of an animal and being thankful for the ultimate sacrifice each creature makes to land both in her studio and on her plate. She has won numerous awards for her taxidermy creations, including Best in Show at the fifth annual Carnivorous Nights taxidermy contest in New York.  Beth’s work has been exhibited at Bahdee Bahdu Gallery, James Oliver Gallery, Wilbur Vintage Boutique and has been featured in a plethora of fashion & art blogs.

Admission is FREE