READ ALL OVER - Saturday, February 12, 2011

BYSTANDER Presents: READ ALL OVER

Featuring: Brian Dupont, Seth Goodman & Kristen Jensen

A long time ago words held the images of every person’s imagination was required to take an adventure into other worlds, other realities, to experience the rush of London’s streets, or Paris’ debaucheries. There were no television sets, Marconi hadn’t yet invented the radio and when you wanted to solicit the love a beautiful maiden you would idealize her and then scribble passionate letters.

Times have changed and the media we have to choose from is infinite. The

written word has lost its value. Some that resonate these days in the tabloids and news media: Celebrity. Plastic surgery. Fear.

Fear of questions. Fear of thought. Fear that something different must be wrong. I drive the streets of cities and see strip malls, corporate conglomerates erasing the regionalism of our nation. Clothing, books, movie houses. There is no regional identity and we wonder why life is boring and we retreat into "Second-lives" and social media proclamations of having "the best times of our short lives."

READ ALL OVER serves as a celebration of deeper thought. The novel, the newspaper, the written word in general. From literature to pulp, we investigate the items in our society that do a lot of the investigating for us. Inspired by books, their cover art, the stories they tell, or what their readers might actually be seeking.

READ ALL OVER is also serving as an investigation of what people are reading, why they are reading and what they hope to get out of those books. It is a mirror held up and warped. We all want fifteen minutes of fame regardless of how we look during those fifteen minutes.

We will

be holding an opening reception and will be scheduling viewings by appointment. The opening will be held on FEBRUARY 12, 2010 from 5 – 9:00 PM at the gallery 2255 India Street, LA, CA 90039. Refreshments will be served.

READ ALL OVER

The fanfare has ended, the books have been placed on the shelves, the libraries are emptied out. Dan Brown and that Mormon who wrote Twilight control the bookshelves in Wal-Marts and supermarkets world wide. And we wonder why the country is the way it is.

Celebrity. Plastic surgery. Reality programs creating false celebrity. Fear. The best-sellers pre-chosen, dictated sensibilities. No one is safe from the taste-makers in unimpressive offices all over the world (LA, NY, Houston and Chicago).

Fear of questions. Fear of thought. Fear that something different must be wrong. I drive the streets of cities and see strip malls, corporate conglomerates erasing the regionalism of our nation. Clothing, books, movie houses. There is no regional identity and we wonder why life is boring and we retreat into "Second-lives" and social media proclamations of having "the best times of our short lives."

READ ALL OVER serves as a celebration of deeper thought. The novel. From literature to pulp, we investigate the things that do a lot of the investigating for us. Inspired by books, their cover art, the stories they tell, or what their readers might actually be seeking. READ ALL OVER is also serving as an investigation of what people are reading, why they are reading and what they hope to get out of those books.

More thoughts to come soon.

ByStander Presents:
READ ALL OVER
2255 India Street
TBD
And then by appointment only