ALAN and MICHAEL FLEMING

STATEMENT

"Our collaboration is rooted in physicality and play. We have a conceptual relationship to space and materiality that manifests in an embodied art practice. Our art takes many forms- performances, video pieces, drawings, sculptures and more. In our live performances we tend to treat our immediate surroundings like a playground and create sculptural interventions of space using our bodies. Our video works and sculptures illustrate a quotidian relationship to a studio-based practice often highlighting the studio as a site for play, experimentation, or escape. "

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Alan and Michael Fleming currently live and work in New York. The Fleming twins have been working collaboratively since 2005. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including shows in Chicago, New York, Berlin, Copenhagen, Glasgow and Rio De Janeiro. In 2008 their video series "At Rest: The Body in Architecture" won the "Performing" section at the Kinolewchyk Festival at the Idea Museum in Lviv, Ukraine. In 2006 they were awarded the "Group 4 Award" from the Foundry Art Centre for their video "Defining the Frame". The twins received their MFA in Studio from the Performance Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where they attended graduate school as a collaborative. They also both received their BFA degrees in Painting from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Michael and Alan were both awarded Trustee Merit Scholarships from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and share the award of "Most Outstanding Senior" in the painting department from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Alan was recently a member of Culture Shock Chicago dance troupe and has been teaching Hip Hop and Breakdancing for the past three years. Alan received the Professional Advancement Award in Dance from the School at Jacob's Pillow in 2009. Michael is currently a board member of the not-for-profit organization OPENSOURCE Art, a teacher and a freelance designer for various institutions and artists. In 2009 Michael received the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education.