Coming up at the Chicago Art Source Gallery in Lincoln Park is an exhibition titled Chicago Six, opening Thursday, April 4 and featuring diverse works from the following Chicago artists: Mark Phillips, Eric Holubow, Sheila Ganch, Lynn Basa, Kristin Komar and Michelle Gordon. The focus of the group show is to allow each artist to represent what they find inspiring, challenging and rewarding about living in Chicago. Though these Chicago-based artists are not all originally from Chicago, they have all made the city their home.

The six artists I will be discussing cover a wide range of mediums such as printmaking, photography, sculpture and painting, while still representing the theme of Chicago life found in the buildings, the people and the busy streets in each work.

Mark Phillips works with metal, printmaking and paint to represent the gritty El stations, the graffiti-clad walls and the busy streets that have become visual embodiments of his urban life in Chicago.

Eric Holubow photographs abandoned churches, theatres and warehouses in an effort to capture the beauty in these dilapidated structures, revealing a different side of Chicago architecture.

Sheila Ganch shapes abstract sculptures portraying the people that grab her attention in the city, such as the form of a couple bent over a table in thought, maybe waiting for their food at a local restaurant or playing a game of chess in the park. By creating different bodies in varied positions, Chicago becomes their common denominator. 

The three painters in the exhibition see the city in more abstract, color-filled ways. 

Lynn Basa creates tableaus of color springing forth from city lights and buildings.

Kristin Komar pairs unnatural shapes and colors on a background of dripping paint that represents the man-made buildings placed up against natural parks and lake and river.

Finally, Michelle Gordon piles color upon color to portray the diverse spectrum of people and places that life in Chicago has to offer.

Chicago Six

April 5-June 22

Chicago Art Source Gallery

1871 N. Clybourn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60614

Thomas Masters Gallery turns 20 this year, and to celebrate this spring, they are having a very special exhibit at their space in Old Town through March 29. The gallery says it has been fortunate to work with so many talented artists over the years, and many of these artists have prepared special works just for this exhibit, including Tim Anderson, who is unveiling a special portrait of Thomas Masters himself, Brenda Barnum, Rory Burke and many more; some newer artists have also unveiled their latest projects for the show. At a special time for the gallery, owners Thomas and Agnieszka are inviting many others to celebrate with them. 

Thomas Masters says his gallery’s 20-year journey began as a “grass roots” space into which he put all of his money, knowing that he did not have anyone who could bail him out if he failed. He started slowly focusing only on succeeding day by day, but after 20 years of success, it is evident that his patience, hard work and passion paid off. Masters acknowledges that there are Chicago galleries that have been around longer than he has, so far, but he is thankful for the twenty years he has been able to experience the business and the lifestyle for which he has such a strong passion.

This is a time for Thomas Masters Gallery to celebrate the gift of 20 years in the Chicago art world, and what a better way to do so than to offer to the public a very special exhibit. Visit Thomas Master Gallery this weekend and enjoy the excitement and the new art created just for this event.

Thomas Masters Gallery

245 W. North Ave.

Chicago, IL 60610

312-440-2322

thomasmastersgallery.com 

The view of the front window featuring Tim Anderson’s Thomas Masters,” 2013, oil on canvas

Chicago Gallery News relocated to a bright new office at the end of 2012, and since then, we have been packing, unpacking, hanging loads of covers and art, organizing and reorganizing – dealing with all the necessary evils of moving.  With each cover and artwork that went up on our walls, we felt more at home, and we’re happy with our new space.  Recently, our last empty wall was adorned with perhaps our final decorative touch (for now anyway…) when artist Elizabeth Burke-Dain completed her latest installation.
 
When we left our old office space, we unfortunately also had to leave the large blue-threaded installation that Elizabeth installed for us back in 2011.  These unique installations are comprised of a series of plotted shapes, set nails and colored thread that ultimately end up forming meticulous geometric wall weavings.  I enjoyed seeing this piece come to life over the span of three days – from the initial circular markings, to the nail settings (our neighbors did not enjoy that as much), to the final weaving that brought the whole thing together.

"I see these wall weaving installations as existing in the 'design-as-art' realm," says Burke-Dain about her work. "I have a number of different wall treatments using thread and I'm anxious to get started on another project".
 
The new installation stretches nearly fifteen feet across and nearly three feet high.  The bright yellow thread sharply contrasts the grey paint behind it and appears to almost bounce off the wall.  This work, like the older blue piece, is formed from a series of intersecting thread lines that stem from the circular shapes and nail anchors that the thread is wrapped around.  The weaving causes a dense overlapping of thread in some areas, creating the ‘X’ shapes and more saturated fields of color.
 
Elizabeth enjoys curating art exhibitions, creating PR strategies for art organizations and making things. She has a background in the humanities, arts, and art administration, and has been creating installations like these for several years.  CGN’s is the most recent addition to her repertoire, but she’s also installed her work in businesses including an advertising agency office, as well as in several other homes and residences.
 
Elizabeth would love to make many of these installations so solicitations and commissions for custom installations are welcome. These wall weavings are a great addition to business offices, design showrooms, restaurants, salons, boutiques, personal homes, etc.
 
Email Elizabeth with inquiries about a custom installation for your space, and to learn more about her work and see other samples, visit her Facebook page.

“I feel that in art there are no limits for the creator among any kind of expression. For me, what I am asking in my world is to bring the deepest elements of my existence up to the surface and transfer all the hidden personal codes to bring my personal signature to the universal and global world. As the Ancient Greek philosopher, Heraklitos said, everything is fluid, and as a subscriber to this philosophy, I believe in global logos. It is very important for me to jump from painting to sculpture and from sculpture to music and to any other kind of art in order to find the traces, which will drive me to the global truth. I think that this is a very fundamental reason for someone to live, to exist.”               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -Kostis Georgiou

In the latest exhibition at Hilton|Asmus Contemporary, Greek sculptor and painter Kostis Georgiou presents Pixels.  The show opened Friday, February 15, welcoming over 200 visitors excited to see some of Georgiou’s work. A pixel is the smallest element of an image that can be illuminated or darkened, and Georgiou’s works fill the gallery with brightly colored paintings and sculptures of simple detail and beautiful forms that boast a vitality that is very welcome in the dreary days of this Chicago February.

 Georgiou, known for his sculptural work in which he creates small figures – on view now at Hilton|Asmus Contemporary – as well as large works that can be up to 9 meters tall- as seen in France’s Peyrassol Vineyards. These simple form sculptures have a fluidity that can only come from the aforementioned global logos- this plan that governs all, passing from one form to another, just as his sculptures pass from one shape to another. With a focus on the simplistic shape Georgiou attempts to represent deep elements of his human existence, while creating works that boast beauty in both movement and form.

 Though known for his sculptures, it was Georgiou’s paintings that first caught my eye. They are brightly colored, with a very surreal and dreamlike sense to them. With thick, quick brushstrokes, moving around the canvas like a dance or song, each painting causes the viewing to travel around the work quickly, still understanding what is represented. Each one tells its own story and calls the viewer to stop and contemplate what the subject is thinking, doing or believing.

 It takes a talented artist to find success in representing his own existence in both painting and sculpture, and Georgiou does so with flair. From his 9 meter tall sculptures, which could easily be found in a large open space such as Millennium Park, to his colorful paintings of subjects swimming under the night moon, Georgiou’s work was able to take me into the artist’s world and I hope you will be able to stop by Hilton|Asmus Contemporary so his work may sweep you up as well.

Hilton|Asmus 

716 N. Wells St.

Chicago, IL 60654

312-475-1788

www.hilton-asmus.com

Below are some photos of Georgiou's work as the gallery.

If you haven’t made it out to ARC Gallery’s current exhibitions, you have until next Saturday, February 2^nd to view these impressive works. The gallery offers viewers the chance to see the works of artists, Granite Amit, Nicole McCormick Santiago, and Christopher Fraser.

 Granite Amit                                   

Hereticha Be’Eynecha

Hereticha Be'eynecha is an audio video installation by Granite Amit. Using large-scale prints on translucent surfaces, Amit processes texts and ancient melodies from the Hebrew Bible and focuses on a textual junction within the narrative: the end of the journey in the wilderness and the beginning of the narrative of the story of the creation. The positioning of the visual text with the ancient melodies provides the viewer to connect the responsibilities of both its natural and human surroundings.

Nicole McCormick Santiago                       

Paintings and Drawings

Nicole McCormick Santiago's Paintings and Drawings is a juxtaposition of past, present, and future narratives, as they move around each other in each scene. This communicates a scattered, yet very honest insight into daily life.               

Christopher Fraser                                   

Trust the Photograph

Christopher Fraser's paintings are figurative, selected from images that incite an emotional response, or effuse an apparent subliminal understanding that is obvious. The portraits capture a self-awareness as portrayed through life. With sweeping brushstrokes, Fraser is able to go further into this self-awareness than with a simple snapshot, as he is in constant dialogue with his image.                                    

If you really want the full experience, come to the gallery’s closing reception this Friday, January 25^th.  ARC and Amit have teamed up to honor the memory of Darius McGraw, who worked with Amit and ARC on the “Recurrent Dream” project. Youth from McGraw’s community will present a hip-hop performance, followed by reflections from Camille Odeh.

ARC Gallery

Through February 2

2156 N. Damen Avenue


Chicago, IL 60647

773-252-2232

 www.arcgallery.org