B) Daniel Edwards,Oprah Burial Mask with O, life size, Resin Cast, 2008

C) Daniel Edwards,Oprah Burial Mask with O, life size, Resin Cast, 2008

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OPRAH WINFREY DEPICTED WITH LATE DOGS IN PUPPIES’ MEMORIAL
New York Gallery Appeals to Pet Lovers With Exhibit

NEW YORK, NY (May 2008) –An exhibit dedicated to the memory of Oprah Winfrey’s late dogs opens in Manhattan’s west village, helping to promote pet safety awareness. A life-size monument depicts ‘puppy versions’ of Oprah’s Cocker Spaniel Sophie and Golden Labrador Gracie atop the head of the talk show icon by controversial sculptor Daniel Edwards. The Puppies’ Memorial will be exhibited at Leo Kesting Gallery on May 22nd.

“Memories of Sophie and Gracie: A Puppies’ Memorial” is inspired by the Oprah press releases that announced the passing of Gracie, who choked on a ball last year, and the passing of Sophie, who died in March.

“To represent Sophie and Gracie together, joined in Oprah’s memory as they were in life and in Oprah’s heart, the artist depicted them as conjoined at the hip and sharing a common tail,” says co-director John Leo. The dogs are shown standing on the flowing-maned golden likeness of Oprah’s head, in reference to how the dogs’ deaths may be weighing heavily on Winfrey’s mind. “Losing two beloved pets within a year is likely to take its toll on anybody.”

Last month, Oprah dedicated a show investigating abuses at puppy mills to Sophie, who died from kidney failure. “Sophie gave me 13 years of unconditional love,” Winfrey said.

The Puppies’ Memorial also highlights the overlooked threat of accidental pet fatality by common household products.

“Given the natures of the demise of Oprah’s dogs, we feel the horrors of a puppy mill could be inconsequential compared to the poison hazards pets face in the home. Leaving a puppy mill for a nice home could be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire for some pets,” says gallery co-director David Kesting. “According to the APCC (Animal Poison Control Center), the anti-freeze commonly leaked on garage floors, for example, is sweet smelling and tasting to pets, but it causes kidney failure and death.”

“The memories of Oprah’s pets could serve as a reminder to all pet lovers that this may be a good time to thoroughly ‘puppy-proof’ their pet’s habitats,” says Daniel Edwards.

“Sophie’s kidney failure may have resulted from natural causes, but we hope the Puppies’ Memorial will remind everyone that Gracie’s choking could have been prevented,” says Kesting.

Edwards’s other works include a pro-euthanasia monument to Kentucky Derby winning racehorse Barbaro, The Paris Hilton Autopsy featuring her forlorn pet Chihuahua Tinkerbell, and a nude Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug.

RECEPTION FOR THE PRESS, MAY 21ST AT 11:00 AM. Public reception is May 22nd, 6:00 pm at Leo Kesting Gallery, 812 Washington St. Contact David Kesting at 917-650-3760 or John Leo at 917-292-8865 or visit http://www.LeoKesting.com .

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Media Contacts:
David Kesting
+1-917-650-3760
and
John Leo
+1-917-292-8865
of LeoKestingGallery
info@CaplaKesting.com

photo caption: Puppies’ Memorial by Daniel Edwards.
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ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF JULIA MANDLE AND THE FRIENDS OF THE HIGHLINE

Brooklyn-based, multi-disciplinary artist Julia Mandle, who led 30 students from the NYC Lab School wearing her signature “chalk shoes” in a performance of large-scale, public street drawing will exhibit the Chalk Shoes at Leo Kesting Gallery May 15th – 21. The Chalk Shoes will be available for purchase to raise funds for The Friends of Highline.

Last April 30 students created a drawing by scuffing the chalk shoes along the paths they will take to the High Line, New York’s elevated park built on a former freight rail viaduct, set to open later this year. Mandle’s performance, a commission by Friends of the High Line, highlighted the future public access points of the High Line, and drew connections between the neighborhood and the new park.

The exhibition of chalk shoes will run from May 15-21 at Leo Kesting Gallery, 812 Washington Street in the Meatpacking District. Shoes used in the performance, and a video documenting the project, will be on view. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM. The exhibition will coincide with Meatpacking District Design Week.

“We’re excited to involve school kids from the Lab School in Chelsea, where Friends of the High Line has had an education program for the past two years,” said Robert Hammond, co-founder of Friends of the High Line. “In their performance, the kids literally lead the way to the High Line, marking their path through the neighborhood with eye-catching color.”

“In my work, I seek to create moments that allow audiences to pause and heighten their perception of everyday environments,” said Julia Mandle, the commissioned artist. “Just as the park promises to reveal a new perspective of the city. My slow-paced drawing will similarly intervene in the fast urban pace and draw the public’s attention to the future entrances to their park.”

“Chalk Shoes to the High Line” is part of Friends of the High Line’s education program, now in its sixth year. Friends of the High Line is working with the Lab School for Collaborative Studies, using the High Line as a learning tool for multiple subjects including math, science and art.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Julia Mandle has exhibited performance/installation pieces with The New Museum, The Queens Museum, White Columns Gallery. She is the recent recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Performance Art and numerous awards, including her earliest grant from Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art, and later from the New York State Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has also been awarded recent artist’s residencies at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Yaddo, and Weir Farm Trust. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Williams College and a Master of Arts at the Gallatin School of New York University.

ABOUT THE HIGH LINE: The High Line is a 1.45-mile-long elevated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side. Built in the 1930’s, the High Line was originally a rail trestle for freight trains into and out of lower Manhattan until it went out of use in 1980. Friends of the High Line is a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit group that was formed in 1999 to protect the historic structure, then under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line’s mission is to preserve the structure for reuse as an elevated public open space. Friends of the High Line gained the City’s support in 2002. The High Line south of 30th Street was donated to the City by CSX Transportation Inc. in 2005. The team of Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro is now at work on a design for the High Line’s public landscape. Construction began in spring 2006. The first section of the park (Gansevoort to 20th Streets) is projected to open by the end of 2008. More information is available at www.thehighline.org .

ABOUT LEO KESTING: Founded in October 2007 by John Leo and David Kesting, Leo Kesting is the sister gallery of Capla Kesting Fine Art, which opened its doors 4 years earlier in the gallery hub of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Leo Kesting offers the public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting. The gallery constantly seeks new undiscovered artists with a cutting edge to their craft that would be otherwise overlooked by the contemporary art scene. In this way, Leo Kesting presents its collectors with an off-the-beaten-path approach to acquiring artwork that shines in our minds and culture. The gallery is located at 812 Washington Street at the corner of Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11: 00 AM until 7:00 PM.