Come See the Ant

Here it is! The Industrious Cooperative Ant. It is on display now at the MN State Fair through Labor Day. Rabi was commissioned to create the sculpture for the DNR's Adopt-a-River program. Many of the parts were found during the Great Mississippi Riverboat Cleanup.

To see more pictures, check out the Ant's photo gallery.

The Making of the Ant

Here's a short video about the making of the 2008 Adopt-a-River Sculpture!

Back in the Day Rent Party Tonight!

Come support TAWU this evening from 8pm-1am!

Your Place or Mine

1832 Columbus Avenue

Minneapolis

(Parking Across the Street)

An adult evening of Music Dance and FUN!
Featuring R&B, Funk and Soul Music from the 60’s and 70’sRefreshments too!

*Dance Contest - Do all the old Dances
*Costume Contest - Dress for the times

This party will be sponsored by the TAWU Artist Group and contest winners will receive original artwork from the artists.

$10 at the door

Northern Exposure

Rabi will be participating in this exhibit. Stop on by!

Northern Exposure
An Exhibition of Twin Cities Contemporary Art

Highland Bank Court
811 LaSalle Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55402

August 23-September 7, 2008

Exhibition Hours
11am-3pm
8pm-11pm

Opening Reception
Saturday, August 30th
7-10pm

Music by Cazadores with David Monson & Paul Miksic

The Industrious Cooperative Ant

The Great MN Get-Together (ie MN State Fair) is starting soon. I can't give you a sneak peak of the sculpture yet (I haven't even seen the final product), but here's the text for the artist's interpretive panel:

Commissioned by Minnesota DNR as a tribute to 75,000 volunteers who have removed over five million pounds of rubbish from Minnesota’s public waters since 1989.

Sculptor Rabi Sanfo has combined artistic talent with technical and engineering skills, and has received high praise at recent sculpture contests. He has participated in exhibitions around Minnesota as well as Chicago, Illinois. One of his pieces has even found its way to India. As Rabi has described his work, “By the magic of bending, grinding and welding, I try to give inspirations a form, an expression and a touch of life so when I get lost in deep contemplation, I feel like they are living.” Rabi has described this year’s sculpture as follows:

“During the Great Mississippi Riverboat Cleanup (June 12, 2008), many people cleaned the river as a community. Cleaning the Mississippi riverbank in Lilydale, near downtown Saint Paul, my group removed a rusting, half-buried wheelbarrow. It reminded me of an ant’s head. Underneath the piece there were ants. At this point, I knew I would be creating an ant for my sculpture. I chose every piece after I found the wheelbarrow to help build the ant, including a gas cylinder and a steel pot. Ants live in community and build everything in this community in an organized way. If people did the same, the environment would be better.”

“When these pieces are garbage along the river, people don’t’ like them. Once you put them together and create something, people like them. In my home country of Burkina Faso (West Africa), people do not throw things away. They always try to find a way to repair items or they transform them into other useable objects. They reuse everything, down to nails and screws. This has inspired me to do found-object art here in the United States, combined with my metal sculptures. When I create found object art, I talk to the parts and tell them that I am giving them a new life, a life where people are going to like them, instead of having them sit somewhere in a landfill or on a riverbank.”

The materials for this work, except for the supporting structure, have been gathered from rubbish removed both in the riverboat cleanup and a large flood plain cleanup in Belle Plaine, along the Minnesota River (southwest of the metro area).

Armageddon

Rabi and "Armageddon"

Thanks to Jayme Halbritter! Check out his work; he's in the Q.arma Bldg too!

Gallery Grooves Tonight!

The Rake, D.E.M.O., KBEM Jazz 88 and MT Global Wines bring you:

Gallery Grooves

Pan African Fest Art & Jazz Party

Join us a for a special Gallery Grooves - The Pan African Fest Art & Jazz Party at Altered Esthetics Gallery. This is the an official event of the Twin Cities Pan African Music Festival and will feature art by Rabi, the latest international group exhibit at Altered Esthetics "The Revolution will not be Televised," live music and good conversation.

Altered Esthetics

1224 Quincy Street NE

Minneapolis, MN

Thursday, August 7th

7-9pm

7 p.m. Drums and Art Ensemble
8 p.m. Jazz and World Music by Guitarist John Penny

Loring Park Art Festival This Weekend!

Hope you can join us at the Loring Park Art Festival! Festival goers will enjoy two days of art provided by 140 artists that have been juried into the festival to assure high quality artwork in all media. Art at the festival includes; oil painting, watercolors, handmade paper, sculpture, textiles, photography, glass, ceramics, jewelry, mixed-media, wood, printmaking and more. There are a variety of price ranges with the goal being “something for everyone.”

In addition to art, visitors will enjoy family events, food, music and unique entertainment around the walking paths and ponds of Loring Park—an idyllic setting for an outdoor art festival.

Loring Park
Oak Grove Street and Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
Booth #138

Saturday, August 2nd @ 10am - 6pm
Sunday, August 3rd @ 10am - 5pm