Janaina Tschape to be Presented Feb. 18-March 26 in UB Art Gallery

BUFFALO, NY --Janaina Tschäpe will open in University at Buffalo Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts at 5 p.m. on Feb. 18 with a gallery talk with the artist, Janaina Tschäpe, and UB Art Gallery curator, Sandra Firmin, followed by a reception from 6-7:30 p.m. In addition, screenings of Tschäpe's video, He drowned in her eyes as she called him to follow, 2000, are scheduled at 6, 6:30 and 7 p.m. In conjunction with the exhibition opening, the Center for the Arts has scheduled an open house with tours of the facilities at 6 and 6:30pm.

UB Art Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.. For information, please call 716-645-6912. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, will be on view through March 26, 2005.

Tschäpe's namesake is an Afro-Brazilian water goddess, a birthright that seems to have compelled the artist to develop a personal lexicon of aquatic forms and references within her video installations, photographs and drawings. Her performances transform landscapes into enchanted environments populated with inert bodies, fantastical characters and embryonic shapes.

Included in the exhibition are examples of inert bodies -- as seen in the photographs from 100 Little Deaths, where the artist depicts herself prostrate in a variety of settings, which range from Amalfi and Montauk to the East Village and Flanders. Also included are videos and photographs of performers wearing costumes, fabricated out of inflated and water-filled condoms, balloons and latex, which are reminiscent of amphibious creatures and embryonic shapes.

Born in Germany to a German father and Brazilian mother, Tschäpe grew up in Brazil and currently splits her time between Brazil and New York. She studied fine arts at Hochschule fur Bilende Kuenste in Hamburg, Germany, and received a master of fine arts degree from the School of Visual Arts, in New York in 1998. She also completed an Artist in Residence program at the Museu de Arte Moderna, in Salvador, Brazil. She has exhibited throughout much of Europe, South America and Asia and had her first New York show in 2004. This exhibition is her second solo show in North America.

A color brochure with an essay by Firmin accompanies the exhibition and is available free of charge.

The opening night events are sponsored by the UB Art Gallery, UB Center for the Arts and the UB Alumni Association Employee Chapter.

The UB Art Gallery is funded by The Visual Arts Building Fund, The Seymour H. Knox Foundation Fine Arts Fund, and The Fine Arts Center Endowment.