New York exhibit tries to make art from news

NEW YORK, Mar 1 (Reuters) Art is imitating news in New York, where a new exhibit features artists interpreting real world events in a day's time.

More than 30 artists are participating in ''Emergency Room,'' a multimedia exhibit staged in the city's Queens borough, where they have 24 hours to create works of art in response to something that appeared in the news.

If an artist fails to meet the daily 0030 hrs deadline, their piece is rejected.

''We tried to show that an artist can work fast and make a masterpiece,'' said Thierry Geoffroy, creator of the exhibit, who said he came up with the concept after growing frustrated by his inability to express himself while watching the news.

''Contemporary art has a one- or two-year delay,'' said the French-born artist. ''You cannot express fast, so I decided to start a system where I could express the same day.'' The stories artists choose must present an emergency or have long-lasting implications, and they must present a point of view. While criticism of the Bush administration is permitted, no direct critiques of President George W Bush are allowed, Geoffroy said.

''That would be too easy,'' he said.

One recent piece depicted the face of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spray-painted on a piece of cloth inscribed with the words, ''I'm The Decider.'' Another piece, created by Brooklyn artist Mac Premo, showed images of fingerprints and a hand protruding from a cast, playing on a loop on a video screen.

Premo said he created the project in response to news about a U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan to force foreigners to provide imprints of ten, instead of two, fingers when they arrive in the United States.

While not all the artists submit a piece each day of the exhibit, which runs until March 19, Premo does, rising each morning at 630 hrs to scour newspapers for a suitable story and create an animated piece. ''Then I get in my car and drive here as quickly as I can,'' the artist said.

That immediacy is what Geoffroy wants to promote.

''When the artist sees something that doesn't work in the democracy, for example misuse of power, propaganda strategy, he has to inform the public very fast,'' he said.

REUTERS BDP RK0838