This window installation was created through a performative action that took place on JUNE 5, 2016, as part of the fifth annual RAPID PULSE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL at DEFIBRILLATOR GALLERY.
Challenging the structural procedures presumed for gallery display, Manual GRAFT is an extension of Edra Soto’s ongoing architectural intervention project titled GRAFT. For Rapid Pulse, Manual GRAFT arrived via performative gestures and a process-based experience that unfolded in front of the viewers unveiling the artistic process to provide a generous look behind the scenes, humanizing the experience of creation.
EDRA SOTO is a Chicagobased artist, educator, curator, and gallery director. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, BetaLocal in Puerto Rico, and, through a 3Arts Fellowship, the Robert Rauschenberg Residency Program in Captiva, Florida.
Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally including the Elmhurst Art Museum Biennial, The 4th Poly/Graphic Triennial of San Juan and the Caribbean, and the cocuration of the exhibition Present Standard, at the Chicago Cultural Center with overwhelmingly positive reviews from the Chicago Tribune, Newcity and Artforum.
With her husband Dan Sullivan, she designed and fabricated THE FRANKLIN, an outdoor project space that they codirect. Soto and Sullivan received a commission from the Chicago Transit Authority to continue her GRAFT project at the Western Avenue Blue Line elevated train stop.
Photos by Joseph Ravens
