NASHVILLE, TN.- Cheekwood will hold a dual opening of contemporary art on October 5 for David Lefkowitz’s exhibition, Oblivious to Place, in the Temporary Contemporary gallery and Open Call: Emerging Video Artists in the Video Installation galleries. The reception opening the two shows will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Cheekwood’s Frist Learning Center. David Lefkowitz, a Nashville native, will give a gallery talk at 7:00 that evening.

In Oblivious to Place, David Lefkowitz explores the uneven development of architecture in the landscape. There are multiple ways to understand architectural design such as the discussions of a period, a region’s style, a client’s particular taste or an architect’s philosophy. In each case, decisions are made about how to manipulate a landscape. The installation of Lefkowitz’s architectural images represent the unpredictable direction development can take as well as the historical overlaps and juxtapositions they represent.

Lefkowitz suggests the uniform nature of contemporary architecture and landscape design in his images. He calls attention to how planned communities seem authoritarian and disconnected. His work creates discussion with the exhibition showing in Cheekwood’s Museum of Art, A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era, contrasting the 19th century picturesque landscape architecture with contemporary urban design issues. Oblivious to Place will be on display through December 30.

David Lefkowitz was raised in Nashville. He currently lives in Minnesota and teaches art at Carlton College. He has had solo exhibitions at Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, the ARC Gallery in Chicago, and at DCKT Contemporary in New York.

For the exhibition, Open Call: Emerging Video Artists, video artists from around the world submitted over 200 works to be judged by curators, artists, and art historians associated with Cheekwood. This exhibition presents a survey of styles and techniques currently explored in contemporary art, and each work intersects with multiple dialogues in contemporary culture. Open Call will be on view from October 6, 2007 through April 6, 2008 and will feature the work of:

Phillip Andrew Lewis - For Memphis-based artist Phillip Andrew Lewis, the landscape provides a site to document shifting patterns of light, sound, and movement across a horizon.

Julia Gail Oldham - Julia Gail Oldham performs interpretive dances that mimic the gestures of insects. She limits her movements to a series of repetitive gestures translated from the “dances” of insects. These dances suggest that humans like insects use movement to create systems of non-verbal communication.

Julie Orser - In the three-channel projection The Garden, artist Julie Orser creates a humorous scenario riffing on early twentieth-century film to experiment with how time and space affect a cinematic narrative..

Sam Easterson - Sam Easterson presents videos from the perspective of a variety of animals. To create these works, he attaches small noninvasive cameras to capture short glimpses into their routines and movements.

Mai Yamashita and Naoto Kobayashi - Infinity by the Japanese-born Germany-based artists Mai Yamashita and Naoto Kobayashi visually illustrates the proverb “paths are made by walking.” To create the symbol of infinity, the artists plotted a course in the grass at a park and ran along it for five consecutive days, and edited in a fast-forward format, making it seem like an infinite number of people traversed the path.

Hjørdis Kurås - Norwegian-artist Hjørdis Kurås uses a wolf as a metaphor for a misperceived danger. The found-video a wolf uses low light and infrared to document its movement across a landscape. The eerie green light is reminiscent of the violent scenes from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan shown by Western media. Kurås’ video suggests that like wolves the West misperceives Middle Eastern cultures as dangerous.

Cheekwood inspires and educates by making art, horticulture and nature accessible to a diverse community. Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art is located at 1200 Forrest Park Drive in Nashville, 8 miles southwest of downtown Nashville. Open Tuesday – Saturday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. For further information call 615-356-8000 or visit www.cheekwood.org.