VANCOUVER, BC.-FUSE, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s monthly evening of art, music and performance, will feature an intriguing entertainment line-up on Friday, November 25, including a pop culture look at Picasso’s persona, a multi-media performance honouring Vancouver artist Al Neil and tours of the Gallery’s Protean Picasso exhibition. A live DJ, dining and drinks in The Gallery Café also make FUSE the perfect Friday night out in downtown Vancouver.

Mass Communications expert Joli Jensen takes the floor in the Protean Picasso: Drawings and Prints from the National Gallery of Canada and Selected Paintings from International Collections exhibition at 7p.m. for Loving Picasso: fans, scholars, mistresses. Engaging the crowd in lively discussion, Jensen will examine the construction of Pablo Picasso’s celebrity status through fan perpetuation of the artist’s bigger-than-life persona. Jensen, a communications professor at the University of Tulsa, is widely published on fan culture.

The Al Neil Project takes place in the Gallery’s Rotunda at 9 p.m. The fourth and final segment of a performance series developed for the 2005 LIVE Biennial of Performance Art in Vancouver, The Al Neil Project celebrates a Vancouver innovator whose career as a pianist, composer, writer and performance artist has spanned 60 years. Comprised of audio samples of Neil’s music prepared by electronic artist Ben Wilson and 360 degree video projections of his performances by Krista Lomax, the The Al Neil Project pays homage to the extensive work of the 86-year-old artist, who will be in attendance.

Every half-hour beginning at 6:30 p.m., Gallery “Animateurs” will lead FUSE-goers on tours of Protean Picasso: Drawings and Prints from the National Gallery of Canada and Selected Paintings from International Collections. The exhibition comprises the largest number of Picasso paintings ever exhibited in Vancouver in combination with Canada’s most significant collection of the artist’s works on paper. Also on view is Classified Materials: Accumulations, Archives, Artists. Spanning two Gallery floors, the exhibition explores how 44 internationally renowned contemporary artists produce meaning through the process of collection, classification and archival research.

FUSE tickets are $10 per person, $5 off the regular adult admission price, with food and beverages available for purchase in The Gallery Café. Members of the Vancouver Art Gallery receive free FUSE admission.