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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 10, 2006

Contact: Contact: Mike Emery
713.743.8186 (office)
713.415.6551 (pager)
pemery@uh.edu

No flying umbrella…no super-powered nanny. Nonetheless, when Urs Fischer’s “Mary Poppins” makes its world premiere at Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, visitors will indeed be treated to a bit of creative magic.

In addition to Fischer’s collection of new works, artist Tam Van Tran, will make his Houston debut with “Psychonaut.” Both exhibitions will be displayed at the gallery May 13 – August 5. An opening reception featuring both artists will be held in the gallery at 7 p.m., Friday, May 12.

Fischer will unveil works that blend aspects of the imaginary with everyday reality. Inspired by the infusion of the extraordinary into ordinary patterns of daily existence that fuel stories such as “Mary Poppins,” Fischer has created a new body of sculpture that continues his tradition of violating established orders of reality.

“Fischer plays with popular stories and myths to evoke parallel worlds of fantasy and magic,” said Claudia Schmuckli, the exhibition’s curator. “At the same time, his work is firmly grounded in the common rituals of everyday life. As a whole, his installation can be read as a meditation on the theme of the relativity of experience.”

Van Tran’s “Psychonaut” will also transport audiences to new and different worlds. Blending disparate materials such as beet juice, acrylic paint and spirulina, the artist combines the organic essence of Chinese landscape paintings with futuristic, technological overtones.

“Painting is like obsessing over a single cell,” Van Tran said. “I want the paintings to be psychologically dense and abstract yet also fantastical like video and virtual reality games.”

Blaffer Gallery is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday. It is closed on holidays. For additional details on the gallery or the exhibitions, visit www.blaffergallery.org, or contact Claudia Schmuckli at 713-743-9528.

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