Saturday, June 21, 2008

Yes, Yuri Arajs is leaving town.

http://www.reclaimed-memories.blogspot.com/

http://www.rakemag.com/

Though not without some recessional fanfare. I've been hearing about it for weeks, since anyone who pays even the slightest attention to what's happening on the Minneapolis art scene has at least encountered a show produced by Yuri. He's been successful in the most hard-working, least obnoxious fashion possible, curating great art by unknowns as a labor of love and actually achieving some commercial success in the process. A Google search of his name lands an easy half-dozen pages of unique links before they start to repeat and age, but after 12 pages I stopped clicking. Since I'm no more than a distant observer, and haven't bothered to ask, I don't actually know why Yuri is splitsville; but, walk up good ol' 13th Ave NE and take a look at some of Yuri's recent work a la Rogue Buddha Gallery (reception was this evening) and maybe you'll bump into the guy himself. He's returning to Canada, I hear, leaving a big ol' pile of lore and a much-enriched local scene in his wake. Alas, alack.

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/March-2008/This-Way-In/index.php#commentform
Oh yeah, and here he is again, getting profiled. He takes a good picture. Even his poster in the City Center downtown is a respectable shot. He reminds me of Alan Rickman, for some reason.
What happens after he's gone?

http://www.placementgallery.blogspot.com/
Here's an older piece, something I totally missed at the time, from Minnesota Public Radio.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/02/23/paintbynumbers/

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