November 3, 2004

Visiting Performance Artist At Boise State Examines The Eroticism of The Color Pink

The Boise State University Department of Art’s Visiting Artist and Scholar Series presents “The Performance of Pink” by Joanna Frueh, art critic, performance artist and professor of art history at the University of Nevada, Reno, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in the Special Events Center (Note: This performance may not be suitable for young audiences). The performance is in conjunction with Point of View 2004: Sexuality in a Diverse Society. Free parking is available in the Liberal Arts parking lot and the Student Union visitor lot. If using the Student Union lot, state that you are a guest of the Visiting Artist and Scholar Series and place the received permit on your dashboard. Frueh is recognized as a daring and innovative scholar and multidisciplinary artist. She received the 2001 Nevada Arts Council Artist Fellowship in Literary Art for nonfiction. Frueh has written extensively on contemporary art and women artists, and her articles, reviews and performance texts have appeared in Art in America, Art Journal, Afterimage, High Performance, n. paradoxa, and New Art Examiner, among others. She is co-editor and contributor to New Feminist Criticism: Art, Identity, Action (1994) and Feminist Art Criticism: An Anthology (1991), and author of Hannah Wilke: A Retrospective (1989). She has contributed chapters to important books on contemporary women’s art such as The Power of Feminist Art (1994) and Women Artists and Modernism (1998). Recognized as a powerful, provocative, and articulate performance artist, she has presented performances — as well as lectures — at museums, galleries, universities and conferences in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. “The Performance of Pink” is complex and dynamic, and carries the essence of erotic play. In this piece, Frueh performs that essence. Her costume and her girly and romantic way with words and emotions activate the pleasure of pink, a color that lifts spirits and symbolizes love. While our culture trivializes pink, Frueh reveals its potency. With tenderness and passion, she relates pink to comfort, gender, sex and fashion as she eats heart-shaped cookies decorated with pink sugar sprinkles. This performance/lecture is co-sponsored by Student Union and Activities. Additional sponsors for the Visiting Artist and Scholar Series include the Idaho Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and the Boise City Arts Commission. For further information, contact Gallery Director Kathleen Keys at (208) 426-3994 or kathleenkeys@boisestate.edu. -30- Contact: Kathleen Keys, Department of Art, (208) 426-3994, kathleenkeys@boisestate.edu  Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, communications and marketing, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu