TABLE FIGHTS 2012

Sunday, August 19, 2012
The Plant Courtyard (Adjacent to Yellow Peril Gallery) – 4 PM – 7 PM

Yellow Peril Gallery and Rhode Island State Council for the Arts (RISCA) are pleased to announce the return of Table Fights 2012 to its birthplace in Providence. The furniture performance art event will take place at The Plant Courtyard on Sunday, August 19, 2012 from 4PM to 7PM. Admission is free and open to the general public.

Table Fights 2012 features fully automated, remote controlled, fighting tables that compete for “ultimate supremacy in a splinter thirsty showdown of furniture mayhem.”

This year, Table Fights founders Shaun Bullens, Annie Evelyn and artist Cara Blaine seek to engage more local artists who may not otherwise have experimented with electronic media or had the opportunity to showcase their work in a performance setting.

“We wish to expand our impact on local audiences with the thrill of a Table Fights event as a vehicle for performance art appreciation,” says Bullens, who conceived Table Fights in 2007 with Evelyn during their graduate student years in RISD’s Furniture Design program.

Since its inception, Table Fights has grown to be a much-anticipated annual event during Design Week, both for the artists involved and for the audience in attendance. In June 2012, Table Fights was invited to perform at the annual Furniture Society conference in Boston, MA, where over 500 people were in attendance.

“We have experienced Table Fights to be the ‘great equalizer’ among artists and non-artists alike,” notes Blaine. “The nature of a Table Fights table is appealing to artists, designers, craftspeople, engineers, actors and athletes.”

Table Fights features a raised 12’ diameter ring, witty announcers, ring girls and boys, judges, and a DJ. “Gritty, absurd, and intentionally outrageous, Table Fights promises to infuse some wildness to the local Providence arts scene,” says Bullens.

A call for entries, along with specific guidelines, will be posted throughout Providence, on the Table Fights website (tablefights.com) and Yellow Peril Gallery website (yellowperilgallery.com) starting Wednesday, August 1, 2012. This project is supported in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

About Table Fights 2012
TABLE FIGHTS is a furniture performance art event. A diverse group of artists from around the country build fully automated, remote controlled, fighting tables that compete for ultimate supremacy in a splinter thirsty showdown of furniture mayhem. In 2007, Shaun Bullens and Annie Evelyn, at the time both graduate students in RISD’s Furniture Design program, conceived of “Table Fights.” Their desire to push the boundaries at New York’s Design Week, with an event that brought makers, performers, and people of all ages together to experience art and design, led to the creation of Table Fights. Their first event was during New York Design Week in 2008 at Magnan Projects Gallery. The following January, Bullens and Evelyn ran a RISD Wintersession Table Fights class through the Furniture Design department that culminated in an incredibly successful on-campus event that saw over 300 student attendees. Since then, Table Fights has grown to be a much-anticipated annual event, both for the artists involved and for the audience in attendance. For more info about Table Fights, visit tablefights.com.

About Yellow Peril Gallery
YELLOW PERIL GALLERY is located at The Plant, a historic mill complex in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island. The Gallery strives to foster modern art critiques on popular culture and society from established and emerging artists in the United States and abroad. We aspire to exhibit provocative and visually arresting artwork created specifically to ignite conversations long after viewers have left the building. Artists that we represent share our commitment to social responsibility, and a percentage from the sale of all artwork is donated to a charitable organization of the Artists’ choice. For more info about future exhibitions, visit www.yellowperilgallery.com.

About Rhode Island State Council on the Arts
Established in 1967, the RI State Council on the Arts (RISCA) is charged by the state legislature to stimulate public interest and participation in the arts and to serve as the liaison to the state arts community.

For more info about RISCA, visit www.arts.ri.gov.

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If you’d like more information about this press release, please contact V Souvannasane at +1 401 861 1535 or e-mail at van@yellowperilgallery.com.

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