Khumbulani Mpofu, Trees

Dumela Contemporary African Art’s 2013 summer show opens this Friday, June 7.  The exhibition will be on view at August House Studio featuring original paintings, textiles, and a wide variety of vibrant, evocative work in all media by emerging and established artists from Zimbabwe, Kenya, and South Africa. 

Dumela has just one public show each year where visitors can see which pieces Dumela co-owners Leila Green and Nancy McDaniel have hand-picked from their recent travels.  The duo has established relationships with African artists from whom the work is purchased, and each piece is then custom framed locally in Chicago.

June 7-30

Opening reception on Friday, June 7, 5:30-9pm

August House Studio | 2113 W. Roscoe, Chicago, IL 60618

Check out the exhibition during studio hours: Fridays 5-9pm; Saturdays 1-6pm; Sunday 12-6pm; or contact Nancy McDaniel (773-477-2404 or email) to schedule a private viewing appointment.

Dumela’s Adventures from the past year...

In August 2012, Nancy made a trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia with two objectives: to buy art in Harare and to go on a week-long safari. It was a most successful trip on both accounts.  She met with a number of Dumela’s favorite artists including Charles Nkomo, David Chinyama, Khumbu Mpofu and Tendai Gurupira (an impressive watercolorist whom Dumela hadn’t seen in a number of years).  She also met with two women from the Weya Women’s Co-operative, from whom she purchased a number of “sadza” paintings (on fabric) as well as appliqués.  With this type of work, the artist translates a story and hides it somewhere on each piece.

Leila went to South Africa on safari in March and also met with a number of artists, both South African and Zimbabwean, in Johannesburg. The opportunity to meet new young artists being mentored by current, more established Dumela artists is always a treat. On this trip, Leila met Zenzo Siamenda and Petros Mwenga and bought work from each, which will be in the June show. 

October brought Dumela a fun opportunity back in Illinois, exhibiting work in the ART + VISION series at Spex Eyewear in Oak Park.

Zachariah Mukwira, Hard Workers; Barry Lungu, Sorting Tomatoes

Zygman Voss Gallery often showcases 17^th-20^th century masters, but the gallery’s latest exhibition features work by Chicago-based an artist, Elsa Muñoz, who stands her ground compared to the famous Dutch and Romantic realist painters who came before her. Muñoz, born in 1983, received her BFA from the Academy of Art in Chicago in 2006. Zygman Voss is excited to show her work because her talent and technique have been considered on par with old masters, while her subject matter presents a modern touch to each work.

Muñoz’s technique is detailed, while her subject matter is a twist on the Romantic’s idealization of beauty in nature. Three different series jumped out to me as I wandered around the gallery: Nightshore, Controlled Burn and Nightforest. I had the chance to talk to Ahron Zygman about the latest exhibition, and he told me a little about the meaning behind these three. Ahron explained to me that each had to do with the idea of fear in nature. Muñoz, who is afraid of the ocean, painted the Nightshore series as a way to combat her fear while portraying the unease that lies at the ocean shore. By portraying the shore at night with an ominous red tint to the sky, she draws the unknown out of the ocean. The work is beautiful while causing a sense of awe about the unknown.

Ahron informed me that Muñoz once watched a controlled forest fire, in which people burned part of the forest that was not producing much life in order to restart new growth. While there Muñoz experienced an element that many people understandably fear; even as the fire was controlled she could still recognize the great power of the flames. Muñoz captures this sense of awe mixed with fright in Controlled Burn.

Muñoz returned to the site after the fire had diminished and found the ash filled forest now with little patches of green sticking out in various places. In the pieces entitled Nightforest she brings a beautiful closure to the flames. This dangerous occurrence of a fire raging through a forest is no longer such a terrifying experience when the flames are controlled and one is able to see the good that is produced.

On view through June 1

Zygman Voss Gallery, 222 W. Superior, Chicago, IL 60654

www.zygmanvossgallery.com

Nightshore

Controlled Burn

Nightforest

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

Living with Wolves is on view now through July 7 at The Field Museum.  The exhibition features stunning large-scale photographs from Jim and Jamie Dutcher’s years spent living among a pack of wolves (the Sawtooth Pack) at the edge of Idaho’s Sawtooth wilderness.  Photographs and illustrations come from the recently published and critically acclaimed National Geographic book, The Hidden Life of Wolves.  A series of Emmy Award-winning films was also produced.

For over 20 years, the Dutchers have studied wolf behavior and fought to raise public awareness about the intelligent animals and the threats to their survival.  The Dutchers hope that this exhibition will help to debunk many misconceptions about wolves as they reveal the social hierarchy, family bonds and strong personalities of the Sawtooth Pack and other wolves.  Viewers will learn about the selection of pack leaders, the raising of pups, mourning processes within the pack, and how wolves play such an important role in balancing ecosystems.

Learn more about the Dutchers’ mission and get involved at livingwithwolves.org.

Click here to watch a short video, The Hidden Life of Wolves.

Thru July 7: Living with Wolves

The Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605

Last week I had the chance to visit Paul Rinaldi's latest exhibit at Perimeter Gallery. Though tricky to find, because the exhibit is in the basement of the gallery, I am so glad the gallery directed me down the stairs to this intriguing show. Rinaldi's works at Perimeter are paintings that call for contemplation and nostalgia the moment you enter the room. The works are painted on various sized blocks of wood. The paint used is not oil or watercolor, but Rinaldi's own mixture of raw pigments, beeswax and small portions of other materials to make a thick but flexible waxy substance. Rinaldi controls the pigment in order to make the wax more opaque or more translucent, and in this he creates ethereal works, which take a hold of time and create a sacred space on the walls where they are hung. By painting certain sides of the blocks with bright colors, the blocks cast a glow on the white walls causing the blocks to hover in front of a world of thoughts and memories.

This exhibit is showing until February 23, so there is time to stop by this gallery and experience Rinaldi's work for yourself. You can see if you experience the same sense of contemplation and nostalgia as I did when I went to visit. Below, are some pictures of Rinaldi's work.

Perimeter Gallery

210 W. Superior St.

Chicago, IL 60654

(312) 266-7984

www.paulrinaldi.net

www.perimetergallery.com