Catch/Release/Release

Catch / Release / Release
Jerstin Crosby
LumpWest Project Space,
2493 Harris at the corner of Harris and 25th Ave, Eugene, OR
enter off 25th Ave.
Opening reception: 7-9pm Friday, March 21, 2008



Jerstin Crosby is a 28 year-old interdisciplinary artist who currently lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina. Crosby has been an active member of the Lump Gallery-based, Team Lump, since 2004 For LumpWest, Crosby will be presenting, Catch / Release / Release, a multi-media cross-examination of environmental activism, and animal rights extremism. On display will be his drawings of so-called "Eco-terrorists", with masks on, cuddling the animals they have liberated. Crosby writes, "I am struck by the acute juxtaposition between the serene, almost god-like, A.L.F. (animal liberation front) members and the, often, vacant expressions of the animals they embrace."
Also, Crosby will show a 40 min. performance video piece called, Fire-Starter (E.L.F.), in which the artist dresses in an elf costume, lights a fire in a pit, and watches and waits as the fire goes out. It plays more as boredom, than as a survival necessity. He made this video as a response to his research of the E.L.F., most notable for their grand arsons of ski resorts and Hummer dealerships. The elf in the video is an outcast, he is possibly the mole that put his friends in jail, or he is lost; he could even be at home.
During his stay in Oregon, Jerstin will be planting a large medicinal herb garden in the shape of an anarchy symbol. This mark on the land, is not meant as a symbol of political anarchy, but a warning of chaos from the eco-system. While the location of the garden will not be revealed, documentation from the event will be available at Catch / Release / Release.