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

I recently got the chance to check out the galleries in the John Hancock Center for the first time. The galleries in this building are all noteworthy as well as unique.What really struck a cord with me was the latest addition to the John Hancock Center’s gallery repertoire. Mongerson Galleries has been a Chicago gallery staple since the early 1970s, but has just recently joined the good company of the Hancock Center’s 25^th floor. The gallery specializes in paintings and sculptures of our country’s Westward Expansion along with other related fields such as Sporting, American Impression, Early Moderns and Contemporary.

It was here that a work caught my eye and remained in my thoughts for days after I visited Mongerson Galleries.  The piece was an oil painting by Charles McGee entitled Ring Around the Rosy. McGee, 87, grew up in Detroit and focuses much of his work on the culture and activity found in the streets of his city. In this painting McGee conveys rough and dirty living conditions while still portraying this innate innocence and vulnerability of young girls playing ring around the rosy. It is by no means a whimsical painting yet there is a sense of playful mischief and young imagination while poverty and pain still surround. As I sat and stared at this work, I was quickly captivated by the harsh lines of the painting combined with the soft forms of the young girls. The work draws the viewer into the happiness shared by the girls while still causing a sense of oppression brought on by what surrounds them. 

Gallery owner Tyler Mongerson shows excitement for each work in the gallery and loves to explain the importance, the history and the beauty of each artist and each piece. Stop by to see the new space and talk with Mr. Mongerson to learn more about the gallery’s history and its plans for the future. While visiting make sure you also check out I was able Marc Swanson's work in the Richard Gray Gallery, Francine Turk's pieces in KM Fine Arts and Herbert Ferber's paintings and sculptures in the Valerie Carberry Gallery.

Mongerson Galleries

875 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2520

Chicago, IL 60611

312-943-2354 

Charles McGee

Ring Around the Rosy

Oil on Board

27 x 68 inches

“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.

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

This past weekend I had a chance to check out Andrew Rafacz Gallery’s current group show Lake Effect/ Nor’easter: Part I in the West Loop. An exhibition of two parts collaboration with LAMONTAGNE, a gallery located in Boston. Each gallery will feature works represented by the other. Part II will take place at LAMONTAGNE opening in Boston on December 15. Featured artists in Part I include: Tory Fair, Jeff Perrott, Daniela Rivera and Joe Wardwell.
 
The aim of the show is to give Chicago a unique glimpse of the vitality of the work created by artists working and living in the Bay State.
 
I enjoy the idea of a two part collaborative show in different cities, functioning as a sort of artist swap, giving the other city a friendly glimpse of different work. The works themselves were lighthearted. Tory Fair’s cast resin sculptures Sculpture From Above and Pink Crate Sculpture struck me as innovative and a little strange, in an unexpected way. Fair’s palette utilizes a soft pink - a color I’m not typically drawn to - in a satisfying manner along with bright yellow and metallic silver. The way the sculptures are positioned casually on the hardwood floor instead of formally on a pedestal, adds to their contemporary air. These sculptures have a presence of being honest, and give off the idea of hope that art can connect to the viewer without being too serious.
 
Daniela Rivera’s oil paintings are arranged with some hung on the wall in a grid, and others trailing off into two stacks onto the floor. All twelve canvases are painted varying shades of green, reminiscent of summertime grass. Rivera’s paintings are easy to relate to, giving an intriguing mix of nostalgia and that refreshing, forbidden feeling of not wearing sandals in the summer while sipping on homemade lemonade.
 
Fair’s sculptures and Rivera’s paintings stood out to me in the group show. Jeff Perrott’s abstract large paintings and Joe Wardwell’s graphic paintings were both interesting, unfortunately I didn’t relate to them as much as I would have liked. Overall, the show was refreshing, contemporary, and the works were playful.
 
Be sure to check out the exhibition for yourself - the show runs until Saturday, December 22. Andrew Rafacz Gallery is located at 835 W. Washington Blvd, Chicago.

Tory Fair, Sculpture From Above, cast resin, 18” x 14” x 12”, 2012 and Tory Fair, Pink Crated Sculpture, cast aluminum and resin, 15” x 15” x 14”, photographer: Erin McGuire

Daniela Rivera, Growth, oil on canvas on panel, 24” x 24” x 2 ½ ”, 2011, photographer: Erin McGuire

Daniela Rivera, Growth, oil on canvas on panel, 24” x 24” x 2 ½ ”, 2011, photographer: Erin McGuire