Elefante is a solo exhibition by renowned Mexican artist, author, and filmmaker Leopoldo Goût, featuring a dynamic range of multimedia works. With a bold, maximalist vision, the exhibition spans textiles, bronze sculptures, paintings, video, and sound, exploring Goût’s enduring obsession with contradictions, dreams, and the ephemeral nature of existence. International in scope and deeply tied to Goût’s decades-long career, Elefante portrays image-making as a migratory journey.Leopoldo Goût is an artist, writer, and filmmaker who works across mediums to capture the ephemeral: an abstract and figurative clash with memory and humanity, with chaos. Born in Mexico City, Goût grew up among poets, musicians, explorers, activists, filmmakers, scientists, and visual artists. Their stories and ideas inspired Goût, who quickly became part of that community. He embarked on numerous artistic pursuits: painting, drawing, sculpture, filmmaking, digital art, soundscapes, performance, and more. He studied in London at the renowned Central Saint Martins School of Art through a full scholarship from the Mexican Center for the Arts and the British Council. He also won the Erasmus scholarship, despite not being European.&nbsp;It was at school that he began to approach his work as a kaleidoscope of references that inhabit and obscure easy origins and meaning. “I want to emulate and echo that fleeting moment when you wake from an intensely vivid dream, but immediately those images and senses start to dissipate,” Goût says. “I believe my work lives in that ephemeral space. Now you see it, now you don’t.” What may at first appear random, without any form whatsoever, is in reality a carefully crafted, unique perspective on what it means to be conscious. All his projects, including films&nbsp;and novels, influence each other in unexpected ways. Goût’s perspective is a confluence of the modern and ancient, order and disorder, and speaks to a wide audience.&nbsp;ELEFANTE PROGRAMMING AND ANCILLARY EVENTS SCHEDULE:&nbsp;10/02 - Film Screening, SW&nbsp;ARM Party<ul><li>5:30 - 7:30pm: Screening of Common Thread, the documentary we made with Chicago-based&nbsp;filmmaker Esteban Alarcón about Leopoldo Goût and his process of making the tapestries in&nbsp;Teotitlan del Valle. It also explores the world of the artisans behind the work, as well as his&nbsp;studios in Mexico &amp; NYC. RSVP <a href=https://www.eventbrite.com/e/povos-gallery-presents-common-thread-a-film-by-esteban-alarcon-tickets-1021320265407?aff=oddtdtcreator>here</a></li><li>8:00 - 10:00pm: Film screening afterparty: Unveiling of Leopoldo Goût's Video piece SWARM&nbsp;at 150 Media Stream. Drinks &amp; music. RSVP <a href=https://www.eventbrite.com/e/povos-gallery-x-150-media-stream-present-leopoldo-gouts-swarm-tickets-1010140686987?aff=oddtdtcreator>here</a></li></ul>&nbsp;

Elefante: Leopoldo Goût

Chicago artist Lucca Colombelli founded Povos in 2020 as an online gallery. After a run of successful pop-up projects, Povos moved to its first physical space on Milwaukee Avenue in late 2021, and later to a larger gallery in Chicago’s West Town. In 2024, Povos partnered with artist and gallerist Winston Guo, founder of W. Gallery, leading to the opening of Povos Downtown. This expansion allows Povos to open 10 exhibitions per year. Since its founding, Povos has produced 36 exhibitions featuring more than 160 unique artists.&nbsp; Povos amplifies the voices of emerging and early-career artists, focusing on unique, surreal, and politically engaged narratives. The gallery now aims to build its international platform, supporting artists committed to exploring deep and timeless truths.

Povos

Breaking BreadThérèse Mulgrew – Wendy S. Rolfe&nbsp;&nbsp;

Breaking Bread  Thérèse Mulgrew – Wendy S. Rolfe 

In William Schaeuble’s second solo presentation with the gallery, he presents a body of work exploring conflict in all of its absurdity. Documenting and questioning FIGHTS of different sorts and magnitudes, Schaeuble once again draws from his autobiographical reservoir to explore larger humanistic points of contention. Anecdotes of personal quarrels, familial spats, and imagined hilarity inform his pastoral, surrealist oil paintings. With FIGHTS, Schaeuble looks at the world, the viewer, and himself to ask, “why?” with a sense of humor and distinctly midwestern optimism.William Schaeuble is an American painter, amateur outdoorsman and aspiring bird watcher. He approaches painting through a self-documentarian lens; observing and recording the moments of today--as he sees them--so they can be relived tomorrow. Heavily influenced by his surroundings, Schaeuble draws on personal experience (with some imagination) to tell stories in the and sometimes stumble into larger lessons. When not found painting, Schaeuble is found hanging largemouth bass from trees and trying to get birds to land in his hands. His work has recently been exhibited at Thierry Goldberg (NY), Povos (Chicago), Platform (NYC) and featured in numerous national publications.

Fights 

Tarot and High Tea with Isabella Mellado: Sunday, April 14, 12-4pm&nbsp;Povos West Town,&nbsp; 1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642Image: &nbsp;The Magician (oil on canvas)

Tarot and High Tea with Isabella Mellado

<html><head></head><body>Povos Presents&nbsp;Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien EresMellado’s solo exhibition launches the gallery’s third year of emergent contemporary art programming, concurrent expansion to Povos Downtown, and inaugural EXPO Chicago showing.&nbsp;Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 10, 5-9pmPovos West Town,&nbsp; 1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642Povos West Town is proud to present&nbsp;Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien Eres, the first Chicago solo show for Puerto Rican artist Isabella Mellado, and the inaugural exhibition for Povos Chicago’s third year of programming and subsequent expansion to a second gallery location downtown. The exhibition will be on view from April 10 through May 25, 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Mellado’s exhibition of paintings and small works is to Mellado as sigils are to the witch. This insignia of work reflects Mellado’s visual exploration of self-actualization through relationships—coven, platonic, romantic, familial &amp; self. The title of this show is an excerpt from Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel Cervantes, directly translating to “Tell me who you surround yourself with and I’ll tell you who you are.”Mellado underlines queer trauma and Catholic shame by making reference to religious symbolism in Renaissance art. By relating gargoyles, demons, and angels as seen in Catholic art to the queer-coded figure in their paintings, Mellado reclaims and humanizes the queer “sin” and subsequently, the queer monster. Centralizing queer narrative as the artist has lived it, Mellado frames it with symbolism taken from mythology, folklore, tarot, astrology, and Puerto Rican pop culture.“It will be our first exhibition in the renovated flagship space and our first exhibition with Isabella, but I think I speak for the whole Povos team when I say we want to open up with a bang,” said Lucca Colombelli, Povos’s founder. “It will set a certain magical tone for the year that I think persists in the rest of the 2024 programming at both locations. As a gallery committed largely to artists with unique languages and the ability to translate different cultures, Isabella is a welcome addition to the Povos ecosystem.”&nbsp;Mellado most recently exhibited at ESTACIÓN MATERIAL with Swivel Gallery as part of Mexico City Art Week 2024.&nbsp;Te Diré Quien Eres&nbsp;is timed to coincide with EXPO Chicago, during which time Povos is thrilled to make its international art fair debut in the esteemed&nbsp;EXPOSURE section. On April 12, Povos Downtown will celebrate its official opening with a group show featuring works by spotlighted Povos artists including Carolina Pereira and featured EXPO artists Ashkon Haidari and William Schaeuble.&nbsp;For more information about Povos Downtown and/or the gallery’s plans for EXPO, please reach out to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:press@povoschicago.com">press@povoschicago.com</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419603/vgbngz19lyi59ybzgoqe.jpg"><figcaption>The Magician (oil on canvas)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;ANCILLARY PROGRAMMING &amp; EVENTSOpening Reception (Povos West Town): Wednesday, April 10, 5-9pmPovos West Town,&nbsp; 1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642Opening Reception (Povos Downtown): Friday, April 12, 6pmPovos Downtown, 600 W Van Buren St, Chicago, IL 60607Tarot and High Tea with Isabella Mellado: Sunday, April 14, 12-4pm&nbsp;Povos West Town,&nbsp; 1541 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642&nbsp;<figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419604/qa0gz5cd5dim7b72jlfx.jpg"><figcaption>The Hierophant (gouache on paper)</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.isabellamellado.com/">ABOUT THE ARTIST</a>Isabella Mellado is a Chicago-based painter and educator native to San Juan, Puerto Rico. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2018 and her Masters in Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023. Mellado is best known for her magical realist paintings on latinidad, queer identity and tarot. She works in a wide range of media including painting, photography, costume design, digital collage and sculpture.Mellado is a 2023 Teacher Institute Fellow at the Museum of Contemporary Arts Chicago as well as a Spring 2023 Teaching Fellow at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been featured at art fairs such as Material Art Fair in Mexico City, MX; The Ponce Biennial in Ponce, PR; Pulse Contemporary Art Fair in Miami, FL and MECA Art Fair in San Juan, PR. Additionally, Mellado has exhibited at the Bronx Museum in New York, NY; Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago, IL; Walter Otero Contemporary Art in San Juan, PR and Swivel Gallery in New York, NY among others.&nbsp;<a href="https://povoschicago.com/">ABOUT POVOS CHICAGO</a>Povos is a contemporary art gallery committed to fostering the early careers of Chicago artists and beyond. Founded in 2020 by Artist and art educator Lucca Colombelli, the gallery focuses on diverse programming and collaborations that further the exposure and access of our artists. Now entering Year 3, the gallery launches a second location, “Povos Downtown,” in the Fulton Market District of Chicago. Welcoming new partner and Director Winston Guo, the different exhibition spaces will stagger openings on a monthly basis through 2024, while functioning&nbsp; as an extension of Povos’s comprehensive programming. Committed to innovating infrastructure in the fine art space, Povos has also launched a new advisory board in tandem with its physical expansion. The gallery makes its art fair debut in April 2024 with EXPO Chicago, and looks forward to a year of ambitious programming thereafter.For more information, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://povoschicago.com/">povoschicago.com</a>&nbsp;and connect with the gallery on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/povosgallery/?hl=en">Instagram</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;# # #&nbsp;&nbsp;Images (L-R):&nbsp; Show flyer; The Hierophant (gouache on paper); The Magician (oil on canvas)&nbsp;</body></html>

Isabella Mellado: Te Diré Quien Eres

Digs x Povos are proud to announce... 𝘉𝘜𝘙𝘙𝘖𝘞! Opening Reception Friday, Nov 10, 5-9pmAn exhibition showcasing works from 16 resident artists at The Digs, curated by cofounder Fawn Penn

𝘉𝘜𝘙𝘙𝘖𝘞!

Ashkon Haidari (b. 1991) is a Chicago artist.Drawing on a deep relationship with ancient history as well as his Persian heritage, Ashkon tells contemporary stories. In layered spaces that reference centuries of graphic art, he contributes uniquely to the legacy of surrealism. Engaging with a rich knowledge of cultural and art history, his work relates to old masters not only in content but in process. Despite being entirely self-taught; he takes a monastic, academic approach to painting. The arduous work and discipline contrast with a sense of self-exploration, as he often discovers the narrative or inspiration for a given work in its finality. Ashkon Haidari has shown for over 10 years nationally. His work has been exhibited recently in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles &amp; Seattle to warm receptions including a sell-out show (opening night) at Povos in Chicago in 2022. Under the Cherry Moon, opening Friday September 22, features exclusively new works from 2023.

Under the Cherry Moon: Solo exhibition by Chicago artist Ashkon Haidari

Povos and blackpuffin proudly present... Conflicts of Freedom. This group exhibition intentionally evaluates the responsibilities and excitement that artists experience when creating objects of beauty, expression and value. Creating is deeply personal, oftentimes requiring emotional labor resulting in works of art and beauty. Awareness of the intense emotional vulnerability present in their works, this show acknowledges how internal and external forces can shape an artist and their practice. The juxtaposition of deep feelings bared and the sense of freedom demands consideration. Often buried under theoretical discourses and commercial considerations, artists must navigate the political and market forces that shape the art world.Opening Friday, August 4th (first Friday) from 5 - 9pm.&nbsp;Participating artists:Jamaal PetermanKiyomi Quinn TaylorLola Ayisha OgbaraModou Dieng YacineNa'ye PerezNkechi EbubedikeRegina AguScott Vincent Campbell&nbsp;Thursday to Sunday: 12 - 6pm and by appointmentOn view from August 4 to September 17, 2023

Conflicts of Freedom

Opening reception 5-9pm Friday, July 7, 2023&nbsp;1541 W Chicago Ave&nbsp; &nbsp;Povos x IV Gallery LA present… Hubert Neal Jr: 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 In the artist’s first Chicago solo show, Hubert Neal Jr. comes home from Los Angeles with a strong statement reflecting on the state of the world. In his unique graphic language, he illustrates historical and personal experiences of hope, atrocity, and celebration.&nbsp; ••• Hubert Neal Jr. Is a Chicago artist that has been exhibiting in galleries and museums nationally for 15 years. His work has been shown at Queens Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio in New York, as well as recently at the Koehnline Museum of Art in Desplaines. He has exhibited in past years at Spring Break and EXPO Chicago, and at Band of Vices in Los Angeles. He is represented in LA by @ivgalleryla&nbsp;Image: Flyer with detail from "You Never Forget Your First Time" Hubert Neal Jr. 2023 &nbsp;

Hubert Neal Jr: Thoughts and Prayers

Front gallery: THE SPACE SHOW Space is the place, and you're in it. New work from William Schaeuble, Griffin Plumer, and Eleonore Zurawski ••• Back gallery: FUZZY MEMORIES Sculptural neon and tufted rug work from Carolina Pereira. ••• Bring your spacesuits. &nbsp;

Double Feature: “The Space Show” and “Fuzzy Memories”

The Lunch Drawings: Tony Fitzpatrick with Hannah Chavez, Owen Spryszak, Messejah Washington, Sierra SeversonOpening Wednesday, April 12, 2023

The Lunch Drawings: Tony Fitzpatrick

The inaugural exhibition of Povos new location at 1541 W Chicago Ave includes 31 artists, the vast majority of which are young emerging artists local to Chicago and the Midwest.Examining spring as a period for rebirth and growth both pictorially and symbolically, Bloom welcomes the change of the season and offers you somewhere to go now that the ice is melting.&nbsp;Featuring work from:&nbsp;Anthony AdcockJulien ChatelinHannah ChavezDiana CisnerosLucca ColombelliMadeleine FinleyNathalie GribinskiChristina HaglidAdam HolzrichterSébastien JohnsonGordon JohnsonJordan KeyesBenito Quas LongoriaMaeve McGaleElsa MuñozBruno PassosFawn PennGriffin PlumerMalik John-Marc PurvisWendy S. RolfeMarina RossMatt RyerseWilliam SchaeubleDavid SearSlater Reid SousleyCormac SteinbockBrad StumpfZuzu UtzModou Dieng YacineJuniper ZunigaEleonore Zurawski&nbsp;&nbsp;Curated by Lucca ColombelliDesignwork by Kate Bewley&nbsp;Image:Installation in new Povos's Chicago Ave. location&nbsp;

Bloom - A Spring Group Show

<a href="https://povoschicago.org/gallery">View exhibition online</a>Ties Between is a duo exhibition of the monolithic, emotional, formal abstract works of Madeleine Finley &amp; Eleonore Zurawski.&nbsp;Examining the limitations of media, Ties Between confronts painting as a process for processing. Through our lives we gradually abstract our experience only to encounter pareidolia1 in self-reflection. The difficult beauty of painting is the threat of denouement. The pressure of decision enforces some finality upon those otherwise aggressively fluid things: memory; emotion; connotation. It is leveling an area of ground whereupon much dancing has occurred. It is though, in these capturing moments—however grotesque—that we find a truth seldom expressed by any other language. In those quiet moments of clarity, the abstraction subsides to understanding and we explore ourselves at our most vulnerable. Find what remains captured in both the paved and unpaved path, and see what you may learn by walking down it once more.Ties Between is the final show at 2000 N Milwaukee Ave.&nbsp;Povos is moving to 1541 W Chicago Ave in the new year.***Madeleine Finley (b. 1991) received her BFA and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has lived and worked in Washington D.C, Rome, Italy, and Chicago Illinois. Her work has been shown in Rome, Chicago, Washington D.C, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is currently a teaching instructor for After School Matters in Chicago.Eleonore Zurawski studied under Pat Lipsky at the Arts Students League New York in 2020 -2021. She currently resides in Chicago, IL. Humoring a Midwestern sensibility, themes of nature and symmetry permeate her large works, resembling simultaneously landscapes and reflections. Taking inspiration from natural processes, the work is made intuitively, with careful considerations of color and form.&nbsp;Image credit: Ties Between show installed at Povos Chicago &nbsp;

Madeleine Finley & Eleonore Zurawski

Anthony Adcock (American b. 1987) blends his unique experiences working as a Local #1 Ironworker and as an artist to create works that explore the relationship between labor and value. Using hyper illusionistic trompe l’oeil painting, sculpture, and installation, he distorts the line between reality and perception to question the importance and relevance of authorship.“Working as a Union Ironworker in Chicago during such a time of uncertainty has provided me the opportunity to understand and identify with workers who fear uncertainties, misinformation, and societal revisions.&nbsp;Work in Progress investigates the workers’ dilemma through a form of&nbsp; productive confusion that mimics my relationship with work and art. This exhibition aims to function as a conceptual bridge to the unpopulated intersection of contemporary art discourse and Union labor.”&nbsp;Povos collaborated with Anthony Adcock to <a href="https://vimeo.com/771639892">create a mockumentary short</a> about the event ft. local art world characters.Image credit: Install at Povos Chicago 2000 N Milwaukee &nbsp;

Anthony Adcock: Work In Progress

<html><head></head><body><figure class="image"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1721419566/bx5zxqbeul0cspmc26ds.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;&nbsp;A sleepless dream.A new body of work from Griffin Plumer debuts at Povos.&nbsp;Image credit: Griffin Plumer, "Vittoria (Tosca Act II), Oil on panel, 40" x 30", 2022"&nbsp;&nbsp;</body></html>

PASSAGE: New Works by Griffin Plumer 

Cats, birds, and the rest of the crew continue on their Schaeublian odyssey and engage in a fierce exploration of space in a spaceless universe, finding plenty of games to play along the way.A new body of work from William Schaeuble introduces us further to how his characters deal with his logic, how a game of binocular chess is played, and clearly that birds are not reliable members of a choir.In the hyperflat, Schaeuble reflects on space and time and our experiences of day to day life, finding levity in strange places, inside and out...&nbsp;About the ArtistWilliam Schaeuble was born and raised in Iowa with one goal and one goal only: to catch the biggest freshwater pond fish in the midwest.But, since that is an ongoing process (and might take a while) he started painting naked bald people and dogs with long tails as a way to pass the time. When not found painting, Schaeuble is found hanging largemouth bass from trees and trying to get birds to land in his hands.In Chicago, Will approaches painting through a self-documentarian lens; observing and recording the moments of today--as he sees them--so they can be relived tomorrow.Heavily influenced by his surroundings; he documents days spent and games played with his partner, muse, and spiritual advisor Briseis Schreibman, whose substantial presence in the work is not only denoted by a long-bodied lady, but by some of the ideas themselves.Will and Briseis both leave Chicago this August, and in separate ways; and so the autobiographical work documents--with some imagination--this pivotal time in both of their lives.Image credit: William schaeuble&nbsp;&nbsp;

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