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 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.

As a painter, I have often found the greatest enjoyment in going to galleries to view paintings as apposed to other artistic mediums.  However, when I visited the Original Voices exhibit at the Ken Saunders Gallery, this bias was turned on its head.

The Ken Saunders Gallery, located in River North, exclusively features innovative glass sculptors.  Original Voices, which ran from September to October 19, highlighted four artists—Matthew Cummings, Seth Fairweather, Bruno Romanelli, and Kanako Togaway—who were truly unique.  Before seeing this exhibit, I had the preconceived notion that glass sculptures consisted primarily of kitschy figurines and brightly-colored, organic-looking abstractions resembling sea creatures.  This exhibit was something else entirely.  

I was most taken with the work of Matthew Cummings, whose sculptures were all black, clear, and white with only a few well-placed pops of color.  Cunningham’s use of such a monochromatic palette serves as commentary on negative and positive space—which is only intensified by the transparency of glass.  Some of his works, such as “Specimen Study,” were mounted against the wall in what can best be described as a shadowbox frame.  This style of installation tests the boundaries between two and three-dimensional art, as if to say, “you can frame this work too!”  Viewers heard the message loud and clear; words like composition and balance immediately came to mind.

Matthew Cummings, Suspended

Matthew Cummings, Specimen Study

Matthew Cummings, Birth and Death of a Shadow

Bruno Romanelli’s sculptures were equally impressive.  I tend to define “good” art as art that can hold my attention for more than a few minutes.  Romanelli passed this test with soaring colors; I could stare at one of his sculptures all day.  Works such as “Kraz” include a plethora of tiny bubbles and disturbances embedded within the glass that form wispy spider webs of clouds and fog.  Poetry must be called upon to describe this artist’s work.  So consider me convinced.  Although I can’t appreciate the process that goes into making glass sculptures in the same way that I can with painting, I can certainly still appreciate the results.

Bruno Romanelli, Dione

Bruno Romanelli, Kraz

If you are also convinced, go check out the new glass sculpture exhibit that is currently open at Ken Saunders Gallery, featuring Jeffrey Sarmiento and José Chardiet. KSG is located at 30 West Superior Street.  For more information about the new exhibit, visit their website.  For more informatiob about Original Voices and to view the entire catalog, visit the KSG publications.

Attention art (and sculpture) enthusiasts:

Have you registered yet for the 23rd International Sculpture Conference?  We know that you appreciate art, but you may not know about the 23rd International Sculpture Conference in Chicago this October 4th – 6th.  We want to invite you to dive deeper into the world of sculpture, the arts, and to meet other like-minded people!  This year’s multi-track conference, Process, Public, Patron offers something for everyone, whether you are a working artist, teacher, administrator, collector, patron, or simply love sculpture!

Conference events include:

• 7 networking parties and social events
  

• Skill workshops, demonstrations, talks + activities
  

• Intimate mentor sessions

• ARTSlams – share your work with your colleagues and get instant feedback!

• Panels on current topics in the sculpture / art field (including The Transformative Nature of Sculpture on an Urban Community;  Public Art: Alternate Models;  How Can Architects and Sculptors Work Together?;  Relevance of the Gallery System: Galleries, the Internet and Art Fairs in a Changing Market)
  

• Keynote addresses by Sanford Biggers, Sophie Ryder, and Ed Uhlir

• Hundreds of people and professionals who share your interest

 
Conference panels and keynotes will be held at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the Chicago Cultural Center, and the week of activity promises to be packed with lots to see and do.  Register now as optional tours, workshops and activities are also gauging interest levels – either they fill to capacity or will be cancelled.  Don’t miss out on this experience.  Register today!

Depth, humor, deception, and a whole lot of color are what you will find at Kipper and the Corpse opening this Friday, April 20th at Robert Bills Contemporary Gallery. These works of art created in a variety of different mediums, including sculpture, photography, drawing, collage, and animation will play tricks on you, abstracting spatial relationships and disguising images and materials as if it were a game. Flipping through the preview images on gallery's website, it's no wonder why this group was put together. Visually you can see parallels between form, texture, color combination, and technique. It's not until you investigate a little bit further into the artists' work where you begin to read into a clear dialogue happening between the themes and context of these crafted works as well.

(Montgomery Perry Smith)

The show features the works of four highly talented conceptual and skilled makers, Lauren Anderson, Mike Andrews, Jessica Labatte, and Montgomery Perry Smith. The three, Anderson, Labatte, and Smith are all former students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), while Mike Andrews, is a current faculty in the Fiber and Material Studies Department, making this a show that I personally am definitely anticipating and looking forward to. The show will be on view from April 20th until June 2nd.

(Mike Andrews)

(Lauren Anderson)

(Jessica Labatte)

Take a look at the full press release at:
http://robertbillscontemporary.com/