"Directions", and Exhibition at OCCCA

The DIRECTIONS project is an exhibition curated by Jeffrey Crussell, which includes a group of 11 artists interpreting 55 specific directions in order to produce individual installations at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana, California in August 2009.

None of the artists know whom the other 10 are and were asked not to discuss the project with anyone during the course of the year. Each artist has worked in a vacuum absorbing and interpreting the DIRECTIONS in order to produce their final piece. On several occasions the artists are asked to incorporate time and date sensitive DIRECTIONS that would assemble them at the same city park or street corner to perform a task of gathering information that would be used in their final piece

The yearlong project started in June 2008 with the delivery of a packet of DIRECTIONS describing in detail the development of 10 specific shapes and topics. Read the original DIRECTIONS packet at http://www.crussell.com/art_directions01.html. Although at first glance the DIRECTIONS feel confining and rigid but the artists later became to understand the unlimited opportunities for expression and interpretation while stretching the boundaries of their own initial concepts.

Jeffrey Crussell selected the 11 artists for their demonstrated skills and mixed styles from past exhibits. Many of the artists have multiple skills, which include the ability to paint, sculpt, photograph, draw, produce a video and assemble an installation. The artists exhibiting are:

YaYa Chou
Jeffrey Crussell
Franscoise Issaly
David Michael Lee
Ann Tracy Lopez
Dali Polivka
Danica Ristow
Connie Sasso
Deborah Swett
Pamela Grau Twena
Richard Turner