Short Stories for Discerning Readers

Dreamsong is pleased to present Short Stories for Discerning Readers, a collection of roughly two-hundred small-scale, collaborative works on paper by Melba Price and Bruce Tapola. Alongside their respective studio practices, Price and Tapola have colluded, in one fashion or another, with each other and with their artist friends since 1978. In May of 2020, they began passing drawings back and forth on their porch in attempt to entertain each other with wit, skill, humor, wisdom, or lack thereof. As these works multiplied, narrative typologies began to emerge (romance, science-fiction, western) that were immediately complicated by artistic agreements and disagreements, misread contexts, and by attempts to support and undermine (to humorous effect) the other’s intentions. Bearing the hallmarks of a long and successful marriage – confusion, absurdity, love, beauty, and humor – their finished pieces read like small parts of larger stories, both integral and insignificant to their idiosyncratic and mischievous whole. 

Extended Hours May 19th - 21st
 Dreamsong will have extended hours to experience the exhibition during the annual Art-A-Whirl open studio crawl. Also on view in the main gallery will be Mary Griffin's Strange Vista. 

• Fri 12-5
• Sat 12-8 (Reception 4-6PM)
• Sun 12-5

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Melba Price was born in Texas, raised in Utah and currently lives in St. Paul, MN. She was awarded an MFA from Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (1982). Price has exhibited widely for over 30 years and has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Midway Contemporary Art (Minneapolis, MN), Nemeth Art Center (Grand Rapids, MN) and Rochester Art Center (Rochester, MN), among many other venues. She is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including the Bush Foundation Fellowship (2002, 1994), McKnight Foundation Fellowship (1994) and Arts Midwest National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship (1991). Work by the artist is held in many private and public collections, including the Walker Art Center, General Mills Foundation, US Bank, Minnesota History Center and the Smithsonian Museum.

Bruce Tapola was born and raised in Ohio and currently lives in St. Paul, MN. He was awarded an MFA from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT (1983). His work has been presented nationally and internationally for over thirty years, including at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Midway Contemporary (Minneapolis, MN), Front International Triennial for Contemporary Art (Cleveland, OH), Holter Art Museum (Helena, MT), Soap Factory (Minneapolis, MN), La Panaderia (Mexico City), among many other venues. Tapola is the recipient of three McKnight Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship (2017, 2001, 1995). In addition to his own studio practice, Tapola is a member of the artist collectives, Paintallica, Free Art School, Rat Trap Clay Club (RIP) and Artpolice.

Image: Untitled, 2020-2023, Acrylic on paper, Courtesy of the artists and Dreamsong