FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 14, 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION
     about this Matheus Rocha-Pitta event,
     contact Brady Dyer, Blanton Museum PR Department
     Brady.dyer@blantonmuseum.org / 512.232.5171
EVENT DATE: Tuesday, March 25, 6 p.m.

Discussion by Brazilian artist Matheus Rocha-Pitta and screening of his recently awarded video Drive Thru Tuesday, March 25, 6 p.m.

Matheus Rocha-Pitta, a young artist from Rio de Janeiro, came to the Blanton Museum this past fall to be the first Iberê Camargo artist-in-residence. For this program the Blanton Museum successfully partnered with the Brazil Center at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and the Creative Research Lab at the College of Fine Arts to host and organize a variety of events. While in Austin, Rocha-Pitta produced a new video work entitled Drive Thru, which he will present and discuss at CRL. Drive Thru follows Rocha-Pitta's interests by exploring the theme of displacement, and the circulation of commodities within a capitalist society. Using photography and video, the work was divided into three parts: the purchasing and transformation of a Volvo station wagon, the production of objects using Texas dirt that mimics drugs, and the creation of a video. The car served as the central stage in the video, with all action taking place around and inside the car. Led by Rocha-Pitta, the production team included the Latin American department staff and UT students Erik Culver, Kristina Felix, Santiago Ferrero, Alex Freeman, and Chris Hubbert. The car, dirt, and bricks used during the shooting of the video became a sculpture, now on view at Creative Research Lab's parking lot through the end of March.

The Latin American department at the Blanton Museum of Art continues to collaborate with young Latin American artists by providing opportunities such as this residency, making the Blanton one of the few institutions that supports and encourages young artistic production from Latin America.

Matheus Rocha-Pitta was born in 1980 in Minas Gerais, Rocha-Pitta. He studied history at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and philosophy at the Universidade Estadual do Rio do Janeiro. Over the years, his work has focused on the displacement and discontinuity of contemporary life. Drive Thru was recently awarded the first edition of the Illy Sustainart and ARCO prize in Spain, an award given to young artists to support the development of their careers.

This program is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art supported by the Barbara Duncan Centennial Endowed Lectureship. Additional support has been provided by the Creative Research Lab at the College of Fine Arts, and the Brazil Center at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information, please visit:
www.blantonmuseum.org
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/llilas/brazil/index/

The Creative Research Laboratory is a component of the University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts in the Department of Art and Art History. It serves as a flexible interdisciplinary educational environment advancing professional practices in Studio Art, Art History, Design, Visual Art Studies and Art Education. As a creative incubator, it is designed to facilitate collaboration between artists and scholars and connect with diverse communities at large. Creative Research Laboratory presents a year-round schedule of exhibitions of work by students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, and facilitates workshops, performances, demonstrations, seminars and collaborations.

Creative Research Lab is located in East Austin at 2832 East Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, inside Flatbed World Headquarters. There is ample free parking and bus service available on Capitol Metro's route 18. The activities of the Department of Art and Art History and the Creative Research Laboratory are free and open to the public.