| Schedule of EventsSummer 2001 |
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Opening Reception: Friday, July 6th, 5 - 8pm
Artists' Talk: Saturday, August 11th, 2pm
Gallery 312's annual summer showcase exhibition features the work of 12 Chicago artists this year, and will include photography, painting, video, sculpture, sound and mixed media works.
(This exhibition is organized by Gallery 312's Advisory Programming Committee)
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Jessica Bader casts everyday objects in porcelain, selecting those which are usually associated with construction or support and subverting their expected function. Recent objects cast by Bader include hammers, nails, baseball bats, and cinder blocks and she explains that "the simple contradiction of fragility and strength begin to form the structural meaning of the work." |
| Line of Nails (detail), 2000, porcelain and glaze |
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Marie Krane Bergman's paintings are intensive studies in color, namely those found in her garden in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Choosing a single flower or bloom, Bergman subjects it to minute scrutiny of every shade of color evident and then translates this study into lush abstract canvases which also act as a way of marking the passage of time with it's eternal cycle of decay and re-generation. |
| Frankie, 2000, acrylic on canvas, 60" x 50" |
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Helidon Gjergji manipulates the familiar television monitor in ways that it becomes a purely formal element. By painting colors over the screens, building complex formations of multiple screens and allowing us to view these via an imperfect reflection of mylar or glossy painted surface, the artist deepens what he feels is our endless search to find our self-reflection in television, "a virtual version of one's own superego." |
| TeleTelevision2, 2001, painted TV sets in a mirrored environment (installation view) |
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Turhan Karabey's recent work has focused on the color yellow, with explorations of the transformative power of large scale installations in which the viewer wanders through, in his words, "an other-worldly sanctuary built for pure bodily experience." Constructing fragile environments from huge strips of tissue paper and employing arch forms derived from the ancient architecture of his native Turkey, Karabey will be creating a new installation for Gallery 312's high-ceilinged atrium space. |
| Arches, 2001, installation detail view |
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Mi-Yeon Kwon came to Chicago in 1999 as an international student from Korea and has been finding her way around the city's grid system while noting the diversity of Chicago's ethnic neighborhoods. Struck by this diversity, which is so different from the cultural homogeneity of her homeland, Kwon has been making large ceramic relief maps which track her travels through the city, while charting some of the ethnicities evident in Chicago's urban landscape. |
| Chicago, 1900 W, 800 N/2600 W, 4800 N, 2001, ceramic, installation view |
Cheri Reif Naselli has recently been studying the power of spoken language to alter space. She explains that, "Words are enunciated and seem to exist in the moment, but their true power lies in their resonance in the psyche. Naselli will be developing a series of soundscapes (derived from very personally charged language) which Gallery visitors will come upon in some very unexpected areas of the space.
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Trevor Paglen's video installation "Landscape No. 1" uses sound as a way to draw attention to how our perception of visual material can be greatly altered and influenced by the ambient sounds which accompany the video. Shot in front of an urban supermarket at night, the video is backed by a changing selection of sounds, leading the viewer to experience varying moods and impressions of the scene. More information on Trevor can be found at www.paglen.com. |
| Landscape No. 1, 2000, still from video |
| F. Inlay 1999, light, stone, wood, 30" x 4" x 5" Jason Peot's sculpture combines natural and found matter with finely crafted and highly finished wooden construction. Adding artificial light to the mix of shapes and textures, Peot makes simple and elegant structures which are incorporated into a given site. He will be creating a site-specific light sculpture calling attention to G312's integration with the basement foundation of it's former industrial home. |
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Luis Romero manipulates simple found objects with drawing and mark-making, divorcing them from their original function and inviting unique interpretations. He explains, "Many times I create objects that are also places. That is my way of negotiating with nostalgia and of entering the present." Romero's web project can be seen at www.artic.edu/~lromer. |
| Untitled, 2001, mixed media, installation view |
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Mike Smith's miniatures recall the intense concentration, patience and high level of dexterity needed to make small plastic scale models with kits. Developing complex plans, making molds and plastic casting many of his own components, Smith will be exhibiting a movie theatre and a fire escape which are accurate replicas of the originals in every detail. |
| Movie Theatre (detail), 2001, mixed media, installation view |
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Peter Stanfield's polished aluminum sculptures incorporate quasi-scientific apparatus and original text which, as he states, "deals with some of the problems inherent with being so dependent on technology, especially in a universe in which not everything is explainable. If the world follows complex but definable formulas, how can something new and unpredictable come from that system?" |
| Nut, 2001, mixed media, installation view |
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R. Kirk Williams' photographs are printed with platinum and palladium on vellum to render the subtlest tones and lend a depth and lightness to his studies of leaves and shadows in the forest. He describes his subject, "I understand nature not to be a pristine world untouched by humanity, but rather as a process at work throughout the universe of which we are a part, one that is connected to and dependent on time." |
| Untitled, 2000, platinum & palladium on vellum, 4" x 5" |
