gallery hopped with lauren today after ta-ing for a middle school drawing class. these are some words about the works we saw:
devening projects, 3039 west carroll avenue
mie kongo
weight, form, balance, solid, certain yet precarious, playful, fit, furniture, stacked, colour
her pieces have such an elegance, yet a playfulness to them. the experience of seeing them was delightful, like a child going into a toy store, but instead of playing and touching the toys, it's a visual play that is exciting and entertaining, yet peaceful and weighted.
peter shear
space, fragments, texture, obscure, hiding, marks, 1+1=>2, sketches, rich
i loved these paintings by shear, they seemed like fragments of spaces - very generic yet deliberate. there was this one that looked like a spider on a tiled bathroom floor. you know something is good when i enjoy looking at it so much i forget to photograph it. i think dan curated the whole show really well too - the breathing room he gave that upset the symmetry of the space in a very subtle manner was crucial.
tiger strikes asteroid, 319 n albany
karolina gnatowski
so well-made, subtly humorous/strange - functional but not. really enjoyed the finger on the second piece.
dan gunn
manipulating form and material - there is a delicateness in the way the sculpture looks, being held up by its four legs at a 90 degree angle, the blue string wants to much for there to be another leg there - tension, the hardness of the wood and edges, in contrast to the pink shape. the second piece, using wood to sculpt fabric, loved the way the piece is held together by thin red wire. meticulously tied to each circle.
vanessa chow
delicate, relationships, funny, natural, care, gentle, character. loved these little figures - she apparently has a lot. they are made out of teabags stitched delicately together. there's a lightness, humanness, and a kind of empathy that is evoked.
mindy rose schwartz
loved this so so much. taking kitsch and craft but still making it elegant, and soulful, and cared for. the detail of the crocheting of the figure, the glitter pool of water, the tiny flowers. there's a real sense of honesty and genuinity in the piece that touched me.
carrie secrist gallery, 835 west washington blvd
ryan fenchel
i was not impressed on first glance, paintings of vessels does not really seem like images i was interested in. but as i walked around, the texture and quality of the oil sticks was very visceral and inviting. i began to notice the deliberate use of colour - some vessels very decorated, others just a solid colour. also, those with solid colours also had hints of surprises in the touch of bright orange, that mimicked a moment in another part of the painting, the outline of yellow that was the background on the right. also, looking up at the lightboxes, and seeing a more figurative portrayal of the vessels - thinking of vessels also as these anthropomorphic forms, that began to have a life of their own. also, i was talking to britton (?) i think his name was, and he talked about how in the past, vessels contained things, and people also because of the value of what was within, began decorating the outsides of vessels. fenchel's last painting of the series began more to move the form of the vessel beyond an object to a figure. also, the double sided lightboxes, especially the reduction of the image to just 4 eyes was a nice touch.
monique meloche, 2154 west division
andy coolquitt
we walked a long walk to see this piece. we were walking in the direction that the door was closer to the display case, so we walked into the gallery. inside were ben murray's big paintings that i personally was as not drawn to/ also was not really there to see. i peeked behind the wall, to see coolquitt's installation. the best view of the installation was from the outside. as lauren and me peered through the glass walls at his piece, the sheer number of items was exciting: lighters glued together to form this tall structure, a chair-like form hanging from the ceiling, unconventional lighting fixtures, a stack of bread slices, yellowing disposable cups and lids, an old beer can in a brown paper bag, a hand flipping you off made out of what looks like dog poo. it was fun to draw new relationships between objects, or to find something you didn't initially realise. there also was tension in this deliberate action of keeping the viewer outside the gallery while viewing an installation of items from an artist studio.
heaven gallery, 1550 n milwaukee ave #2
caleb yono
raul de lara
liz mccarthy
ryan pfeiffer and rebecca walz
i was really tired by the time we got here, i really enjoyed the pieces at heaven too, the delicate drawn marks, with reference to body, sexuality and gender, and also the very polished sculptural/installed pieces, the video that was playing, and the clay pieces - showing a process/aftermath.
i wanted to go for the opening at roman susan but i'll have to go another day. came home and opened my fridge to cook dinner, but realised i had leftovers, was a nice find.