Three works of mine are included in the show Scratching Peace Symbols on Your Eyes, Shiva, and Something I saw in the desert. All are constructed out of paper and finished with paper mache and enamel paint; some are coated with shark teeth while others are mounted with marbled orange rocks collected from Arizona. The opening reception was really exciting and a great number of individuals made it out to see the show. I decided to keep what I have to say to a minimum and I have included a portion of the press release below for you to enjoy! If you can make it out to the opening there are a lot of great artists involved in the show and it is not to be missed.
Artist's included in the show:
Mike Andrews
Reed Barrow
Brian Getnick
Sarah Hicks
Chris Kerr
Elliot Layda
Josh Mannis
Samia Mirza
Melissa Pokorny
Mindy Rose Schwartz
Samia Mirza, Scratching Peace Symbols on Your Eyes.
Reed Barrow I Believe I Can Walk through Walls, 2006 and Sarah Hicks, objects from Things Lasting No More than a Day, 2008
An image of Shiva
After the opening we went to Zocalo for the post-opening dinner.
Curator, Jason Foumberg and catalog designer, Ryan Swanson.
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Remnants of Digested Culture Re-Purposed in: Shape Shifters
Presented by the Contemporary Arts Council
Curated by Jason Foumberg
May 23-July 3, 2008
Opening reception May 23, 5pm-8pm. Performance at 7pm.
Chicago --- Alfedena Gallery is pleased to host the Contemporary Arts Council’s 14th annual show of emerging artists, Shape-shifters, curated by critic Jason Foumberg. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Friday, May 23rd from 5-8 pm. A performance to be held in the gallery by artist Brian Getnick the evening of the reception will start at 7 pm. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Like a whale’s vacuum-suck mouth that efficiently consumes the ocean, we too devour our surrounds. The art objects in Shape-shifters are remnants of digested culture, re-shaped and re-purposed. Olympiad bodies, zombies, household gods, and urban myths: by holding many pieces of culture in balance inside us, we become a conglomerate body—an animate spawn of the culture that nourishes us.
This is the Contemporary Arts Council’s 14th annual exhibition of new and emerging Chicago-based artists. In order to support contemporary art and artists in Chicago, to seek out the new and valuable, and to foster the insight and enjoyment that good art provides, the Contemporary Arts Council works each year with an independent curator to flesh out his or her idea. A catalog in the form of an exquisite corpse game is available with essays by Jesse Ball, Reed Barrow, Elijah Burgher, Jason Foumberg, Brian Getnick, and Dan Gleason.
