![[Photos of the Powell Street Festival]](../images/p-season.jpg)
2009–2010 Season
For more info about any of the following events, please contact Kristen at gm at powellstreetfestival.com or 604.683.8240.
Powell Street Festival Society and Blim present
Kaori Kasai: Ura Monchan
March 4 – 27, 2010
OPENING Thursday, March 4, 2010, 8:00 – 11:00 pm
ARTIST TALK @ 8:30pm
FLIM NIGHT: Films curated by artist Kaori Kasai, Friday, March 26, 8:00 – 11:00pm
Blim, 197 E. 17th Ave, Vancouver
More information: 604.683.8240
Download the full press release
Powell Street Festival Society and Blim present the exhibition Kaori Kasai: Ura Monchan. Using androgynous characters, Kasai creates storyboards of short vignettes about kinship, alienation, emotional boundaries and our interactions with physical environments. During her artistic residency/exhibition, Kasai will present new paintings and print-based works, curate a Flim night (film event) on March 26th, and produce a limited edition screen printed shirt available at Blim.
Kasai’s new works in Ura Monchan include paintings and prints of a character named Monchan. Monchan is a complicated character whose name is derived from a combination of the Japanese colloquial term for monster, or “Mon,” and “chan,” the suffix used at the end of a name to denote endearment. Monchan reflects the artist’s struggles of acceptance and sense of self as a landed immigrant in Canada. This delightful character was conceived during a period of difficulty in Kasai’s life and became a source of comfort when the artist felt lonely or isolated. On the surface Monchan is the epitome of calmness, but on the inside, Monchan faces emotional turmoil. Unlike the eponymous character epitomized in Kasai’s forthcoming children’s book, Monchan’s Bag, Monchan is not perpetually cute, cuddly and happy. Entitled Ura Monchan, or “reverse side of” Monchan, this exhibition reveals the behind-the-scenes version of Kasai’s child-friendly Monchan. Ura Monchan depicts a complex, non-gender specific, and self-questioning character who represents Kasai’s struggles with self-expression in an often-alienating culture.
Kasai 2010 children’s book, Monchan’s Bag, is published by Simply Read Books. Her works have been exhibited at Giant Robot, Little Otsu and SOMARTS (San Francisco), Compound Gallery (Portland), gallery 1 (Japan), and the Powell Street Festival (Vancouver) at Helen Pitt Gallery.
On opening night, Thursday, March 4, Kasai will give an artist talk at 8:30 pm. Kasai will also curate FLIM night on Friday, March 26. Come watch Kasai’s selection of films, and view new works produced during her residency at BLIM; entry fee: sliding scale of $7 – $10. Blimited: Limited Edition Screenprinted shirt by Kaori Kasai available at Blim for month of March. Images available upon request.
This is the launching event for the Powell Street Festival’s 2010 season of events. Follow us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/powellstfest Blim: www.blim.ca
Media contact: Kristen @ 604.683.8240 or gm at powellstreetfestival.com
The Powell Street Festival Society gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, Department of Canadian Heritage, and City of Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs.