"Afghan Star": Contemporary Forum Film and Lecture Series Sponsored by Bentley Gallery

AFGHAN STAR
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WINNER

"In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing."


Wednesday, December 30, 2009

7pm

Phoenix Art Museum – Whiteman Hall
Central at McDowell

Admission is Free – Everyone is Invited

After thirty years of war and five devastating years of Taliban rule, pop culture is beginning to return to Afghanistan, and millions are tuning in to the wildly popular American Idol-style television competition Afghan Star.

Two thousand people audition to compete for a cash prize and a record deal, and when viewers vote for their favorites via cell phone it is, for many, their first encounter with the democratic process. However, not everyone is on board and more conservative Afghanis cry out against the singers’ audacity hurling condemnation and death threats. Sadly, even in a country whose population is tired of war, the fighting continues in other ways. This movie takes us somewhere that few movies have and the audience ends up cheering.

"Works from Bentley Gallery" @ eye lounge

December 18th, 2009 – January 9th, 2010

Opening Nights – December 18th from 6pm-9pm and January 1st from 6pm-10pm.

Free and open to the public.

eye lounge gallery
419 E. Roosevelt St.
Phoenix, AZ 85004

Gallery Hours: eye lounge is open Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 5pm; Friday 9am to 9pm; and the first Friday of every month from 5pm to 10pm.

Bentley Gallery is pleased to announce “Works from Bentley Gallery”, a series of selected pieces to be exhibited at the eye lounge gallery in Downtown’s Roosevelt Row arts district. We will be hosting two opening receptions: Third Friday, December 18 from 6pm-10 pm and First Friday, January 1st from 6pm-10pm. The collection will be on display through January 9th.

The exhibition intends to strengthen the relationship between the Phoenix and Scottsdale arts districts by integrating work from the Bentley collection into the special and unique spirit that comprises the downtown art scene. Artists featured will include: Will Berry, Denise Yaghmourian, Dominique Blain, Hector Ruiz & DOSE, Martin Mull, Christina Kahlo, Rogelio “Gory” Lopez Marin, and a maquette for a large-scale sculpture by Craig Randich (to be featured in eye lounge’s east gallery January 15th – February 13th).

Both receptions are free and open to the public. For more information contact ashley@bentleygallery.com; 480.946.6060.

image: Hector Ruiz & DOSE, "Untitled 26", mixed media on paper, 20"h x 30"w, 2009

CONTEMPORARY FORUM LECTURE AND FILM SERIES
SPONSORED BY BENTLEY GALLERY/BENTLEY PROJECTS

Herb & Dorothy : "Curatorial Visionaries"

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Two Showings: 4pm and 7pm

Phoenix Art Museum – Whiteman Hall
Central at McDowell

Everyone is invited and admission is free.

This wonderful film recounts how after 30 years of meticulous collecting and buying, the Vogels managed to accumulate over 2000 pieces of art filling every corner of their tiny one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. In 1992, the Vogels decided to move their entire collection to the National Gallery of Art (in 5 moving trucks), and the vast majority of their collection was given as a gift to that institution. Many of the works they acquired appreciated so significantly over the years that their collection today is worth millions of dollars. Still, the Vogels never sold a single piece. Today, Herb and Dorothy live in the same apartment in New York with 19 turtles, lots of fish and one cat. They collected artwork guided by two rules: the work had to be affordable and it had to fit into their living space. Within these limitations, they proved themselves to be "curatorial visionaries."