What Just Happened

Studio Exhibition with Artist Rine Boyer

Elephant Room Gallery is excited to be hosting a studio exhibition with Chicago-based artist, Rine Boyer in September. Boyer’s studio is located in the Zhou B Art Center at 1029 W 35th St. in Chicago, studio 307. A reception will be held on Friday, September 17th from 6 to 9pm and the studio will have open hours on Saturday, September 18th from 12 to 5pm.

“What Just Happened” is a series of paintings on canvas, figures on plexiglass and animated shorts based on life over the past year and a half. The figures are based on protestors, vanishing and reappearing into each other, serving as reminders that our experiences are vastly different but that the fight for justice continues. Behind the standing figures are portraits of close friends and family, masked but familiar. The animated shorts depict life in isolation, echoing our collective experience in connecting with ourselves and those we are close to.

The body of work is personal; an opened diary of sorts reflecting Boyer’s perspective and mindset during the pandemic. “Everyone aside from a few family members and friends seemed to evaporate into an idea of a person only to be seen digitally or in my mind’s eye.” - Boyer

For a collector’s preview or to schedule a viewing appointment throughout the month of September, people can contact kim@elephantroomgallery.com or call 312-361-0281.

About the Artist

Rine Boyer’s figures from everyday life in the city explore how we see one another. Painting on canvas, metal, and wood she uses acrylic paint and ink to create two and three-dimensional painted drawings. Her figurative works reference the repeating pattern in pointillism, the flatness in portraits by Alex Katz, and the bright colors of Kaws to create pieces that blend modernism with current trends. The layer of small iconic shapes over the surface of her portraits create her unique style and link the figures to the underlying themes of culture, personality, and group dynamics.