Monday, December 21, 2009

Cheat Codes: lessons in love


Cheat Codes: lessons in love
A video art show curated by Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Opening Friday January 8, 2010 from 6pm - 10pm
January 8 - February 6

A lesson in love [or, a cheat code] is a key sequence, password, or series of steps to be entered within a video art work [video game] that will provide the player some object, ability, or access to a level or location within the game that is secret, hidden, or that would have otherwise been unobtainable or unavailable to the viewer [player] [12]

Featuring work by:
Joanna Bovay
Jennie H. Bringaker
Eunjung Hwang
David Horvitz
Basim Magdy
Jason Martin
Jay Schleidt
Robert Spees
Brent Stewart
Amber Hawk Swanson
Joseph Whitt
Grant Worth

Also this month's Project Wall Space: Darina Mineva


ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534
Hours: by appointment only

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

BEN RUSSELL : LESSEN


BEN RUSSELL presents:
BEN RUSSELL : LESSEN

BEN FOCH
JOE GRIMM
NANCE KLEHM
CASEY LURIE
MICHAEL SNOW

1716 S Morgan #2F
Chicago, IL 60608

December 12, 2009 - January 9, 2010
Opening reception: Saturday 6-9 pm, December 12th, 2009

Private viewings by appointment*
*The performance of "Untitled (Lesson)" by Nance Klehm will be presented at approximately 8:00pm during the opening reception.

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ABOUT THE SHOW:
This one goes out to all you bloated-stomach Thanksgiving celebrants, you 4am Best Buy Black Friday tent-pitchers, youDamien Hirst diamond skull collectors, you non-recyclers and you Gucci Mane enthusiasts. These are foodstamp and slim wallettimes after all, and by now it should be clear that the best way forward is on your tiptoes, preferably in some nice soft leather moccasins. Your friends at BEN RUSSELL are here to help you focus your art consumption by 2/3rds, to find a use for all yourapple picking surplus and, if you do end up throwing anything away, to make sure that it ends up in that compost pile out back. With our help, you'll realize that gaudy neon flourishes are so 2008, that neo-minimalism persists only because Minimalism was abandoned far too soon, and that even "less is more" can be LESSENed to much less.

It's been a tough month or two at BEN RUSSELL, but now that our BEER hangover is finally over, we can clearly see thatBEN RUSSELL : LESSEN is in fact a lesson of the most useful kind, in five parts:

1) ABATE: From a Paiute American Indian reservation in California, ecologist/urban forager/gardener Nance Klehm gives us a virtual lesson on how to reduce and reuse our trace in the material world.
2) DECAY: Casey Lurie presents Apple Structure 2, the second iteration in a series of outdoor structures designed to be built using only quarter-inch dowel rods and apples as joints.
3) DIMINISH: In which the cash money ice glitz bling of hip-hop and R&B's greatest is subjected to the minimalist compositional tendencies of Joe Grimm's sonic minimalism/process art installation.
4) MINIMIZE: Complicating the transcendent ambition of high modernism's abstract expressionism, Ben Foch employs a common house painting roller to create a large scale gestural painting with an economy of means.
5) REDUCE: Michael Snow's 1967 seminal structuralist 16mm film Wavelength, comprising of a 44:00 zoom across a NYC loft, is screened in its 2003 15:00 video iteration as WVLNT (Wavelength For Those Who Don't Have the Time).

Please join us for the glorious-yet-humble 5th installment at BEN RUSSELL as we prepare for that long cold Chicago winter by clearing our collective bodies/minds of distractions and focusing on LESS(EN). Nothing, after all, is permanent; everything willLESSEN if we give it enough time...

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

BEN FOCH was born in Park Forest, IL. in 1977. He received his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. Foch's practice is diverse, utilizing several formal devices to reach his ideological ends, specifically the boundaries and definitions of artistic expression and the minimum criteria for an objects claim to high art. He has exhibited nationally and recently at the now defunct Pilsen space VEGA ESTATES and the Hyde Park Art Center. Foch states: "The next logical space for pictorial investigation is economic. Formal distinctions are fundamentally economic distinctions and perception is the currency of the future." He lives and works in Chicago.

JOE GRIMM is a Chicago-based artist who uses sound and light to investigate sensory experience and its construction. His work applies rational, structuralist tools in pursuit of irrational, ecstatic results. Performances and installations frequently take the form of meditations: resonance, repetition, friction, and disintegration become the hypnotic focal points in an attempt to reach a state of inner tranquility and heightened attention to sonic minutiae. He has shown at CAPC Bordeaux, La Casa Encendida Madrid, BMOCA, The Boston Cyberarts Festival, and in basements and squats worldwide.

NANCE KLEHM is a radical ecologist, designer, urban forager, grower and teacher. Her solo and collaborative work focuses on creating participatory social ecologies in response to a direct experience of a place. She grows and forages much of her own food in a densely urban area. She actively composts food, landscape and human waste. She only uses a flush toilet when no other option is available. She designed and currently manages a large scale, closed-loop vermicompost project at a downtown Chicago homeless shelter where cafeteria food waste becomes 4 tons of worm castings a year which in turn is used as the soil that grows food to return to the cafeteria. Nance has shown and taught in Mexico, Australia, England, Scandinavia, Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States. Her regular column ‘WEEDEATER’ appears in ARTHURmagazine.

CASEY LURIE is an artist and designer based in Chicago. Born in Goleta, California in 1976, Casey is a recent graduate of Northwestern's Art Theory and Practice department (M.F.A., 2009) and has also studied at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and California Institute of the Arts (B.F.A., 1998). A trained cabinet maker and carpenter Casey's work takes many forms and often explores the tension between man-made constructions and natural processes. Casey's work has been exhibited in the US and Asia.

MICHAEL SNOW is considered one of Canada's most important living artists, and one of the world's leading experimental filmmakers. His wide-ranging and multidisciplinary oeuvre explores the possibilities inherent in different mediums and genres, and encompasses film and video, painting, sculpture, photography, writing, and music. Snow's practice comprises a thorough investigation into the nature of perception. He played a major role in the "structural" film movement with such works as Wavelength (1967), Back and Forth (1969), and La Région Centrale (1971), exploring the world through deliberate and explicit decisions about formal approaches. Snow has had solo exhibitions and/or film retrospectives at the Venice Biennale, New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Paris Centre Pompidou, Cinémathèque Française, and elsewhere.
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ABOUT THE SPACE:
BEN RUSSELL is a newly formed art space in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Co-curated by artists Brandon Alvendia and Ben Russell and situated around the front two rooms in the apartment of its namesake, BEN RUSSELL began presenting a series of month-long 5-person shows on Memorial Day Weekend in the year 2009. Participating artists are invited to produce and exhibit work that is in accordance with the title/theme of each show, the name of which will be derived entirely from the 10 letters in the words "ben russell." Future shows may include BEN RUSSELL : BLUENESS, BEN RUSSELL : REBELS, and BEN RUSSELL : US. In keeping with the structural conceits of the French Oulipo language group and the spatial and material limits of what is effectively a rented apartment, BEN RUSSELL maintains a set of restrictions for all exhibiting artists by which:

- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work scaled at a minimum of three quarters of the thirteen by ten foot wall
- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work at a maximum of one half of the opposing wall space between the two adjacent doors
- One artist shall produce a time-based work to be presented via a CRT flat screen monitor (and associated components) with Dolby 5.1 audio in the adjacent screening room
- One artist shall produce work to be installed in the all-weather sculpture garden
- One artist shall produce work to be performed for the duration of 15-30 minutes during the opening

BEN RUSSELL features a rotating roster of Chicago-based and non-Chicago-based artists and will be open for viewings one night a month and by appointment, as needed.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

CELEBRATE UNIQUE MEXICAN TRADITIONS IN PILSEN, THE HEART OF CHICAGO’S MEXICAN COMMUNITY


Pilsen Posadas
Saturday, December 12, 2009

5:00am - 6:00pm
18th Street, Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago

Chicagoans can get a jump on this year’s Holiday celebrations and the city’s winter festival season at the first ever Posadas en Pilsen festival on Saturday, December 12, 2009. The Posadas en Pilsen festival will be a daylong event that will take place from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. along 18th Street and extending into some arterial streets in Pilsen, the heart of Chicago’s Mexican community. The event is being organized by the Pilsen Commerce Roundtable, a group of small businesses united to expand and strengthen commerce in Pilsen.

There will be many opportunities throughout the day for people to join in the day’s festivities. The day’s activities begin at 5:00 a.m. with the celebration of La Virgen de Guadalupe, patron saint to Mexico, at the neighboring churches with music and mass, attendees will be given the opportunity to eat a traditional Mexican breakfasts at participating restaurants and cafes. The highlight of the event is a walking tour along 18th Street, the main commercial corridor in Pilsen, beginning at noon. Attendees will then have the opportunity to visit 25 participating businesses and sample traditional Ponche, a Mexican hot beverage consisting of sugar cane, fruits, and cinnamon, all the while judging nativity scenes either hand crafted by local artists or by the business. There will be awards given to both the best Ponche and Nativity Scene and will all culminate at an outdoor festival at Plaza Tenochtitlan on the intersection of 18th Street and Blue Island Ave. where attendees will be given a complimentary Aguinaldo, traditional gift-bag given to the attendees who make the pilgrimage throughout Pilsen filled with various traditional candies and fruits, also the children will be given the opportunity to participate in breaking of a piñata that same evening.

“We wanted to create this event for Pilsen because it’s one of Chicago’s largest Mexican communities, and the Posada tradition is very important to the Mexican and Latino community” said Hector Saldana, one of the event’s organizers. A variety of businesses from Pilsen have signed up to participate and compete including restaurants, cafes, galleries and other local business.
Participating businesses:

De Colores Restaurant
Galería y Sabores
1626 S. Halsted St.
312.226.9886

Kristoffer’s Café
1733 S. Halsted
312.829.4150

Chicago Community Bank/Chocolate For Your Body Spa/BLR Realty
1743 S. Halsted St.
312-226-0777

Studio One Tattoo
1010 W. 18th St.
312.226.4220

The Beer Run Gallery
1104 W. 18th St.
312. 226. 4220

Ciao Amore Ristorante
1134 W. 18th St.
312.432.9090

Don Churro
1626 S. Blue Island Ave.
312.733.3173

Mestizarte Casa de Cultura Carlos Cortez
1440 W. 18th Street
312 455 1114

Mundial Cocina Mestiza
1640 W. 18th St.
312. 491.9908

Discoteca Angela
1736 W. 18th Street
312.593.7184
773.216.6636

Oxala Art Gallery
1653 W. 18th St.
312.850.1655

Fogata Village Restaurant
1820 S. Ashland Ave.
312.850.1702

Giron Books
1443 W. 18th St.
800.405.4276

Del Sol Realty/Real Fantasies Art Studio
1441 W. 18th St., 1
312.829.7812
773.504.1898

Jumping Bean Cafe
1439 W. 18th Street
312.455.0019

La Esperanza Restaurant
1864 S. Blue Island Ave
312.226.9640

El Milagro Restaurant
2400 W. 21st Pl.
773.847.6436

Rockotitlan/Casa Aztlan
1831 S. Racine
312.666.5508

Tonantzin Cultural Gallery
1173 W. 18th St.
312.479.1970

For more information please visit www.PilsenPortal.org/Posadas

Monday, November 23, 2009

Homage to Victor Jara


Calles y Sueños presents:
“Mi canto no tiene comienzo ni final” Homage to Victor Jara

Victor Jara (9 /23/32 - 9 /16/73) has been an extremely important influence on the music and culture of Chile. He was an essential part of the great Latin American musical movement known as ‘Nueva Canción’ or New Song. This musical current has been traditionally involved with the revolutionary movements in Latin America. After the Military Coup in Chile, led by Pinochet, hundreds of people were arrested, tortured and killed by the military. Many others “just disappeared” in clandestine jails or mass graves. Victor Jara was detained in the infamous Chile Stadium, tortured and assassinated. Witness recalled that his fingers were cut and his hands broken and then he was taunted to play his guitar and sing a song. Victor Jara is a symbol of the resistance and the revolutionary ideals of Latinoamérica. And still holding true is the call, Today for Today!

La Casa de Arte y Cultura Calles y Sueños is a collective of artists and cultural activists who work to provide an alternative arts space for exhibition, the performing arts, music, film, and cultural workshops for the Latino Arts community.

- Documentary Screening on the life of Victor Jara

- Live Testimony from an ex-political prisoner of Pinochet’s Coup

- Human Rights Update on the present situation in Latin America i

General Suggested Donation $10 / $5 students
Food and beverages provided

Saturday, December 12th @ 7pm

La Casa de Arte y Cultura
Calles y Sueños.
1900 S. Carpenter
Chicago, IL 60608

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Georgina Valverde: Moral Geometry

Georgina Valverde: Moral Geometry

Opening Friday December 4, from 6pm-10pm

December 4 - January 2, 2010

With performance by Microgig starting at 8:00 p.m.

In the introduction of The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzo speaks of “moral geometry” to explain how ‘The Philosophy of Tea,” or “Teaism,” embodies Eastern ideals related to purity, simplicity, and a sense of proportion to nature and the cosmos. “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence,” says Kakuzo.

Moral Geometry makes sense out of the “sordid facts” of the quotidian: repetition, waste and consumption. Using the components of over 1600 teabags donated by friends and acquaintances, Georgina Valverde creates a body of work exploring the potential for repeated small actions to manifest form, beauty and meaning.

The centerpiece of Moral Geometry is a small building titled Teacage based on the Wardian case, a precursor of the modern terrarium. Working for the British East India Company in 1848, Robert Fortune used Wardian cases to smuggle 20,000 tea plants from Shanghai to start the first plantations in Assam, India. Teacage is a flexible structure that can be broken down into a series of screens or space dividers. As such, Teacage is a forum for performance, workshops and social encounters. The first event is a performance by Microgig. Other events will be announced.


Georgina Valverde
was born in Mexico City in 1962. She has a BFA, 1987, in Painting and Printmaking and a BA, 1987, in Modern Languages from James Madison University, Va., and an MFA, 2003, from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Georgina’s work has been most recently featured at the Centro Jaime Sabines in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Tamaulipas, México, the University of Texas Pan-American, Edinburg, and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. Her work has also been exhibited at the former Bodybuilder & Sportsman Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art and the Cullacht Residency program at the Galway City Arts Center, Ireland among other venues.

This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.



Also this month's Project Wall Space: Chris Wood


Recomposition:

The project, Recomposition, is the culmination of a five year long process. The first four years involved building the collection. It started off rather casual, but became more serious as time went on. The very initial collecting of the foods happened more out of a general aloofness toward the state of my refrigerator, but soon developed into a curiosity: What will grow next? Why are these milks aging differently? Hummus... really? In time, I grew attached to certain items of interest and refused to part with them, even at the prodding of friends, roommates and those who helped move them to a new apartment. Though the final product carries with it a touch of absurdity, it is an earnest representation of a set of objects I find interest in, particularly when viewed as a set. Through documentation and presentation, the characters are presented in a slightly more permanent, though still liminal condition.

Chris Wood, a native of Pittsburgh, earned a BFA in Illustration from the University of Dayton in 2001 and an MFA in Painting from Northern Illinois University in 2005. His work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions nationally. Currently he lives and works in Chicago, where he runs his studio and teaches at the Illinois Institute of Art Chicago. His recent work uses a diverse range of materials, from graphite, charcoal and acrylic to digital, photography, foil and food.

Opening Friday December 4, from 6pm-10pm

December 4 - January 2, 2010


ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534
Hours: by appointment only

Monday, November 02, 2009

The Incredible Journey That is Consciousness

Golden Age





Please join us


Saturday, November 7 from 7-11pm


to launch

The Incredible Journey That is Consciousness
a new publication from Chicago's Alex Fuller and Gabe Usadel

"Squares, circles and triangles are at the core of what makes the industrial world around us. A universal visual language apparent in all things—the tools we use, the fashion we wear, the buildings we live in and the communications we see..."

*Limited edition artist prints will be available for sale

GOLDEN AGE
1744 W. 18th Street
Chicago, IL 60608
Thurs-Sun 12-6pm

+1 312 850 2574
contact@shopgoldenage.com
shopgoldenage.com

EL: Pink line to 18th Street, walk 1/2 block west

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

La Pocha Nostra Performance


photo: Zach Gross, 2007

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE:
Corpo Illicito: The Post-Human Society #69

Friday, October 30, 2009. 7:00pm. FREE.
Columbia College Chicago , 618 S. Michigan , 2nd Floor

Join us for a debut performance by members of La Pocha Nostra, the acclaimed Mexican-American “trans-disciplinary organization” and 2009-2010 Critical Encounters Artists-in-Residence. “Corpo Illicito” is the third in the group’s Mapa-Corpo series and will feature Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Violeta Luna and Roberto Sifuentes. The new piece tackles this historic moment of reinvention by looking into the past and attempting to prognosticate a possible future without resorting to quick fixes and false hopes. Using performance bodies as sites for political reinvention and poetic prophesying, La Pocha Nostra explores both the legacy of fear of the Other, the criminalization of the brown body inherited by the Bush administration, and the emerging culture of hope, imagination and faith that has developed in response to the former world order.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Zombie: A Mindless Affair



Zombie: A Mindless Affair
Curated by:
Edra Soto

Also Project Wall Space:Irene Perez

ARTISTS:
C Through Outfit (Erik Brown, Catie Olsen, Carl Warnik and Dawn Reed)
Deborah Boardman
Nate Lee
Jason Mena
Mindy Rose Schwartz
Amanda Browder
Derek Chan
Christopher Simkins
Chris Smith
Ann Toebbe
Harold Mendez
Paul Nudd
Noah Berlatsky
Vladimir Kharitonsky
Dana Peters
Gretel Garcia
Susannah Kite Strang
Rachel Hewitt
Corinne Halbert
Bert Stabler
Beatriz Monteavaro
Miguel Cortez
Edra Soto
Candace Briceno
Death by Design Co. (Teena McClelland and Michelle Maynard)
The Wiener Girls (Sydney Croskery and Katey Rafanello)
Betsy Odum
Jen Thomas and Bobby Lively
Jacob C. Hammes
Andrea Jablonski
Jeff Libersher
Aide Martinez

Opening Friday October 23 from 6pm-10pm
October 23 - November 21, 2009

ABOUT: Zombie: A Mindless Affair
Celebrations that invite us to observe a historical occurrence are still strongly practiced in contemporary culture. Halloween, as celebrated is America, profoundly depicts the strongest features from gothic and horror literature, film, TV, and graphic arts. Among the repertoire of traditional characters, the zombie distinguishes itself for possessing the biology and behavior of a normal human being, yet lacks consciousness. This exhibition uses the vernacular of the mythological zombie as a starting point to engage in ideas of death, mindlessness and symbolisms for the occult and inexplicable. The term zombie also intends to address issues referring to the mindless self in a social spectrum: leading and following; acts of automatism and fanatic behaviors.

From 6:30-7:00pm on opening night:
Join author Scott Kenemore, artist Mindy Rose Schwartz and collaborators Teena McClelland and Michelle Maynard from Death by Design Co. in conversation. They will talk about the darkness that enlightens their work. Screening of the film made by Death by Design Co. immediately after the conversation. Moderated by Edra Soto.



** During the opening, Carl Warnick of C Through Outfit will be running a Zombie Movie Server that will share over 60 movies. From I walk with a Zombie (1943) to a telecine of Zombieland (2009). Bring laptops or thumb drives to get free films! (note: Films are between 700mb to 1.5gb)

ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534
Hours: by appointment only
see MAP HERE

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

CARLOS & DOMINGUEZ FINE ARTS


CARLOS & DOMINGUEZ FINE ARTS Gallery is proud to present this special exhibit as our entry in the annual PILSEN OPEN STUDIOS Art Walk for 2009. We are #30 on the map which you can access on the internet at: www.pilsenopenstudios.org There will be buses to take you around to the over 40 artists' studios and galleries.

PIPELINES & BORDERLINES--ROUND 2

NOW THAT "W" IS GONE AND OBAMA IS IN
EVERYTHING IS OK!
.........................OR IS IT?

The CARLOS & DOMINGUEZ FINE ARTS Gallery presents "PIPELINES & BORDERLINES--ROUND 2, a grass roots political print portfolio featuring artists from Canada, the United States, and Mexico, the three NAFTA countries.

This exhibition is curated by Beverly Keys and has already travelled to all three countries. Brochures documenting the project and giving updates on what "W" called "NAFTA-PLUS" will be available.

In 2008, artists from the U.S., Mexico and Canada collaborated to creat artworks to spread awareness of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), which the Bush administration called NAFTA-PLUS. It is an umbrella for 300 joint corporate and governmental initiatives. Corporations set the agendas and these initiatives were carried out with LITTLE legislative and absolutely NO public input or awareness.

Participating artists are:

RENE ARCEO, MARNIE BLAIR, NICOLAS DE JESUS, JAVIER LARA DIAZ, STEVE FISHER, JEFF ABBEY MALDONADO, JESUS ORLANDO MARTINEZ, CAROL FREIDLE, BALTZAR GODOY, MICHAEL MCGOVERN, LAURA MYNTTI, HEATHER HUSTON, EVELINE KOLIJN, BEVERLY KEYS, JANET SCHILL, MARY ELLEN PONSFORD, GABRIEL TRINIDAD, VICTOR JUAREZ VASQUEZ, & JOHN PITTMAN WEBER

Beverly Keys has chosen two of the 300 projects which affect all three countries for the focus of the PIPELINES & BORDERLINES portfolio exhibition.

The first is the OIL SANDS MINES project in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest surface mine in the world, with toxic chemicals endangering citizens as well as the wildlife left after massive deforestation. Thousands of laborers were bussed up from Mexico to work in the mines, promoting their exploitation, and weakening the labor force in all three countries.

This mine is large enough to be the SOLE REASON that Canada cannot meet its carbon reduction goals to combat global warming. A pipline is set to run from Alberta to mostly U.S. refineries, including the British Petroleum (BP) plant in Whiting, Indiana.

There, as we have heard, toxins will be released that will threaten the health of anyone who depends on Lake Michigan for drinking water.

The second project chosen was the AUTOMATED TARGETING SYSTEM (ATS), which combines the U.S. "no-fly" list into a single North American database. Every person flying over a U.S. border is assigned a "risk" assessment score.

It is full of errors and has assessed preschoolers and even the late Senator Ted Kennedy as "high risks". No one has access to find out what their score is and NO RIGHT TO CHALLENGE IT.

We are allowing pipelines to cross borders but preventing people from doing so. President Obama says that we need to rengotiate NAFTA, in order to "STOP THIS RACE TO THE BOTTOM.

WILL WE?

You won't want to miss this important print portfolio exhibition by well-known artist from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

Artists can express emotions in unique ways. Is this exhibition visually exciting, YES! Is it political?.....YOU BETCHA!!

Your presence is invited and will be welcomed. Don't miss the opening reception on October 16th at 6:30 p.m.

CARLOS & DOMINGUEZ FINE ARTS Gallery
1538 W. Cullerton Street (2000 South, east of Ashland)
Chicago, Illinois 60608

Lost? call 773-580-8053 for turn-by-turn instructions.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Antena @ Pilsen Open Studios


Saturday, October 17, 2009 - Sunday, October 18, 2009

Pilsen Open Studios is an artist run art walk that takes place in October. Each year artists, galleries, cultural centers and cafes open their doors during special hours. Over 30 spaces, 60+ artists from Carpenter St. to Leavitt St. and from 16th St. For more info go to: http://pilsenopenstudios.org/

Antena will participate again in this year's 18th St. Pilsen Open Studios' art walk weekend by showcasing new work by artists:

Jenny Priego
Miguel Cortez
Jaime Mendoza


Jenny Priego is visual and performance artist who draws inspiration from her existence as a feminine being and random beauty. She uses several forms of media to interpret her self exploration, such as technology, her body, voice, and formal fine art technique. Her latest and ongoing project is "Adelita Pata de Perro" a photographic journal of Adelita, a character that was inspired by the women who fought in the Mexican Revolution. Priego's Adelita is a hyper-ethnic woman wandering the world on an ever changing journey, and on her voyage of discovery she encounters symbols of power, femininity, sex, and cultural imagery. She finds herself in different situations and places that take her from Paris, to Rome and sugar cane mills in Mexico. Priego studied at Columbia College and currently works as a Stewardess.

Jaime Mendoza was awarded a grant from the National Performance Network/Visual Arts Network to participate in a one week residency at Galería De La Raza’s. The name of the exhibit, “No Distance Is More Awesome” was part of PICTURING IMMIGRATION, a year-long series of exhibitions and public events examining immigration from Latino perspectives. Mendoza earned his earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002.


Miguel Cortez is an artist living in Chicago and born in Guanajuato, Mexico. He has studied filmmaking at Columbia College and has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Recent exhibitions include a show in Champaign, IL at the Krannert Museum and at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, as well as, in Bridge Art Fair in Miami. Past shows include an exhibit in Dallas at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery, "Lo Romantico" at Glass Curtain Gallery and "Lies that Bill Gates told me: Exploring the Digital Divide" at VU Space in Melbourne, Australia.


18th St. Pilsen Open Studios 2009
Saturday and Sunday October 17-18, 2008
Noon - 7pm


ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534

Monday, September 28, 2009

18th St. Pilsen Open Studios 2009



18th St. Pilsen Open Studios 2009

Artists open their studios to the public!!
Saturday and Sunday October 17-18, 2009

Noon - 8pm


Pilsen Open Studios is an artist run art walk that takes place in October. Each year artists, galleries, cultural centers and cafes open their doors during special hours. Over 30 spaces, 60+ artists from Carpenter St. to Leavitt St. and from 17th St to Cermak.

There will be FREE buses that will take you to the studios. So park your car, jump on the buses and enjoy visiting the artists in Pilsen as they open their studios to the public during Chicago Artists Month!

http://www.pilsenopenstudios.org

DOWNLOAD PDF MAP HERE

Monday, August 31, 2009

Guillermo Gómez Peña/ La Pocha Nostra


2009 - 2010 WORKSHOP APPLICATION with Critical Encounters Artist in Residence Guillermo Gómez Peña/ La Pocha Nostra

Presented by:
Center for Teaching Excellence
Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media
Center for Community Arts Partnerships
LGBTQ Office of Culture and Community
National Performance Network

As part of the first Critical Encounters Artist Residency, renowned Mexican-American performance artist Guillermo Gómez Peña and his San Francisco-based “trans-disciplinary arts organization,” La Pocha Nostra, will lead an intensive artist workshop on campus that incorporates and challenges ideas of race, gender, faith, and boundaries. Inspired by the past work of La Pocha Nostra, the project aims to offer participants a dynamic and multiple-stage mentorship opportunity, initiated and developed over several months, and culminating in a public presentation.

Critical Encounters is a college-wide civic engagement initiative intended to synchronize conversations between the school and the community in an ongoing dialogue around a central, socially and culturally relevant issue each academic year. Fact & Faith explores how we negotiate the tension between the need to believe and the need to know, examining the concept of truth, what shapes it, and how it is expressed.

The workshop will comprise 20 participants, including students from Columbia College and other colleges and universities, joined by practicing artists, educators and community members. The diversity of cultures, ideas, abilities, perspectives, beliefs, and aspirations of participants will inform and shape the collective work. This workshop will explore the ideas of Columbia College Chicago’s Critical Encounters Initiative: Fact & Faith, while building a bridge between the Columbia College community and beyond.

The intensive will take place from October 23 – 30, 2009. The residency culminates in the Chicago debut of La Pocha Nostra’s most recent work “Corpo Illicito” on Friday, October 30, 2009. From December 2009 to March 2010 participants will take part in additional workshops with Roberto Sifuentes, of La Pocha Nostra, and other artists/individuals through a partnership with Links Hall (datesand times to be determined by organizers and participants). On April 15–16, 2010, the workshop attendees will re-convene with La Pocha Nostra to rehearse their final participant-created performance, which will be presented at the 6th Annual Gender Fusions on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

Students are encouraged to work with their departments to use this opportunity as an independent study.
Applications due by Wednesday, September 23, 2009 5pm
Chosen participants will be notified by October 9, 2009 5pm

Questions and applications can be submitted to:
Dia Penning, Associate Director of Civic Engagement
Center for Teaching Excellence
600 S. Michigan, 8th Floor
dpenning@colum.edu
312.369.3286

see more info online:
http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B45IwVT5mc3MMGFhYTg1NjAtZTBmMi00ZmNlLTgyNTEtOWQwZDdlMTg0ZDkx&hl=en

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Fourth Annual Little Village Art Festival


The Fourth Annual Little Village Art Festival is looking for you!

For the past four years VILLARTE along with the help of Artists, Photographers, Performers, Educators, Students and others have converted empty storefronts, businesses and community centers into spaces of art and creativity for this three‐day event! Please join us as we once again celebrate the beauty of our community!

We are looking for all mediums of visual and performance art to be part of the The Fourth Annual Little Village Arts Festival running Saturday, October 4th and Sunday October 5th, 2009 with an opening night celebration on Friday, October 3rd, 2009.


We are looking for:
  • 2D (Drawing, Painting, Works on paper, Photography, etc.)
  • 3D (Sculpture, Installation, Assemblage, etc)
  • Video/Time‐Based (please note you will need to provide needed viewing equipment the weekend of the festival)

We are accepting works from Artists in all levels of experience
from:
  • Emerging
  • Established
  • Students
  • Artisans
  • The Weekend Creative Type!

Our goal for the Little Village Art Festival is to reach all Artists living, working and/or inspired by the community VILLARTE calls home.


How to Submit Artwork:


  • A completed submission/proposal form and required materials is due at the time you deliver your work to the gallery
  • All artworks should be dropped off at the VILLARTE Gallery Space located at 3348‐A West 25th Street, Chicago, IL (please no deliveries)!
  • If you are an arts organization and would like to work with us to hold a workshop, volunteer or just help out, please contact Anthony Marcos Rea at the above mentioned email.


Dates for Submitting Artwork:

  • 2D, 3D & Video/Time‐Based artworks will be accepted for drop‐off (no deliveries!) each Saturday beginning: August 29th thru September 5th, 12th and 19th between the hours of 12pm‐3pm
  • Saturday, September 26th, 2009 - All artwork submissions will be accepted from 10am‐6pm

Festival Details:
  • Opening Night, Friday ‐ October 3rd 2009, LOCATION TBA!
  • Festival Runs: Saturday thru Sunday – October 4th thru 5th 2009
  • Locations: Various locations with a confirmed list and map TBA by the first week of September!

Monday, August 24, 2009

September show @ Antena


James Jankowiak

Also Project Wall Space: Mike Nourse


"James Jankowiak paints organically, each work becoming a ritual of repetition. The organic composition of each piece is part of the evolutionary arch of the manner in which he operates. Specifically, the artist is interested in how simple form can evolve from one incarnation to the next - each step a mutation that replicates what science reinforces about our beginnings and the larger history of the universe. His paintings stand as a testament of a personal meditation on the process of being a living thing, of beginnings and endings, creating and evolving."
- Michael Gardner

James was born and raised in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Although his early forays in the Chicago graffiti scene proved to be influential upon several generations of spray can artists, he always took risks with his art and continues to evolve as a painter and installation artist. His work has been exhibited at several notable institutions such as the MCA, Northwestern University and the SAIC’s Roger Brown Gallery, and also continues to be accessible to the community through his work as a teaching artist with Urban Gateways, A.R.T. and Gallery 37. http://www.jamesjankowiak.com/

About Mike Nourse:

Since moving to Chicago from Montreal in 1996, Mike Nourse has been working as a visual artist, creating wall art in the form of gel medium transfers, and short videos using found footage. Combining old materials and aesthetics with new tools and techniques, Mike's art speaks to the past while pointing to contemporary art explorations. He is driven by the transition between an analog and digital world, so all of his art aims to combine old and new.

Separate from his transfer work, Mike Nourse's video shorts have been in festivals around North America and Europe, including Resfest, the Toronto International Media Art Biennial, Netherland’s Impakt Festival, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival. Mike’s work can be found at mikenourse.com.

Mike obtained a BA from Depaul University in 1999 and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002, and has taught visual arts to undergraduate and graduate students at the same schools. In an effort to work on his teachings, in 2003 he co-founded a visual arts organization for new and emerging Chicago artists, called the Chicago Art Department (chicagoartdepartment.org). CAD has just entered its 5th year of existence, and as part of this active non-profit, Mr. Nourse has spearheaded dozens of programs and exhibitions. Mike is also the manager the studio programs at Marwen (marwen.org), overseeing close to 90 visual arts programs for under-served youth while curating roughly 10 exhibitions per year. http://mikenourse.com

Opening Friday September 11 from 6pm-10pm
September 11 - October 10, 2009

ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
(773) 257-3534
Hours: by appointment only

ANA CASTILLO in Chicago


Más Memoir Writing Workshop
with ANA CASTILLO
Internationally Acclaimed Poet and Award Winning Author

Sunday, Sept, 20, 2009
10:00 am-2:00 pm
CHICAGO

The MáS Memoir Writing Workshop welcomes back previous participants. It will
include first time participants. Together, we’ll take a look at writing-in-progress, learn workshop method and discuss new writing tips and techniques.

In memoir, the reader must be persuaded that the narrator is writing honestly, whether
or not he/she is, is secondary. It doesn’t matter as much ‘what happened’ as what you
make of what you remember may have happened.The workshop will consist of exercises, which help us to know how to get started when desiring to work on a memoir essay. We’ll talk, we’ll laugh, we’ll cry. We’ll vent. We’ll write from our hearts and our minds. And then, we’ll learn to get rid of all the sentimentality and leave on the page what is important for the reader to know about your memoir. FOUR hours with Ana Castillo, poet, novelist all around genre-jumper. Persons interested must submit 1 pg
writing sample to apply.18 yrs. and up.

All Inquiries and to Apply:
email: anacastilloworkshops@gmail.com
Cost: $175 per person
Limit only 15 per workshop
* Exact locations and times will be given once applicant has been accepted.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The Declaration of Immigration mural


Mural Unveiling
August 11
3pm to 6pm


The Declaration of Immigration mural class partnered young artists with teaching artist Salvador Jimenez to conceptualize and create a 2 story high x 30ft wide mural on the Southwest exterior wall of the Yollocalli Arts Reach/Radio Arte shared building.

The mural is a visual dedication to all immigrants and allies who have marched hundreds of thousands of miles to advocate for fair legislation for immigrants and who have stood strong in the face of anti-immigrant rhetoric. Declaration of Immigration looked at some of the historic and current issues affecting immigrant communities and serve as a reminder that the United States of America was founded on emigration and settlement.

FREE and Open to the Public
Tuesday, August 11, 2009 from 3:00pm - 6:00pm

Yollocalli Arts Reach
1401 W. 18th St.
Chicago, IL 60608

Monday, August 03, 2009

march/parade against Pilsen violence


In the wake of the death by gunfire of artist Jeff Abbey Maldonado, Jr., Michael Hernandez De Luna, Miguel Cortez and Pete Rodriguez called a meeting to organize a community response to the rash of shootings in the area.


There will be a march/parade against Pilsen violence on Sunday, August 9, at 3:00 p.m. starting at Juarez High School, on 22d & Ashland.

Following the march, "Casa Sandia" (old Pilsen-ites Sandy and Eric) will be welcoming the group into their yard for celebration, on the corner of 16th and Loomis.

Tell everyone with the guts to make a difference!

*******
There will be another planning meeting Aug 5 Wednesday for sign making bring materials.
CASA ATZLAN 1831 S Racine @ 7PM.
********
Some details are still up in the air, so check back for updates as things develop.
But please come, and bring art, music, creativity and a good attitude.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Fundraiser for Jeff and Elizabeth Maldonado


Fundraiser for Jeff and Elizabeth Maldonado, due to the tragic death of their son.

Friday July 31, from of 7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
cash donation of $10.00.

All the proceed will go towards funeral expenses and needs of the family. For more info regarding his death go to: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=6935825

APO
1436 W. 18th St.
Chicago, IL 60608

Funeral services will be at Zefran Funeral Home on 1943 West Cermak Road. Thursday July 30, between the hours of 2:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. and On Friday the procession will be at 10:00 A.M.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The HomeAide Stand


The HomeAide Stand

1626 W. 21 St is a storefront supporting local Chicago artists with the focus on recycled art.

Opening July 31, 2009 3pm – 8pm
Grand opening fundraiser for an Illinois Arts Council grant to support a local disabled artist.

http://www.chicagostudioworks.com/

We will also be featuring many local talented artists.

Come and enjoy a bronze sculpture, fiber art, recycled notebooks, photography, paintings and live sitar.

"Surveillance & Spirituality"

"Surveillance & Spirituality":
New works by
Gabriel Villa

Project Wall Space: Cole Pierce

Gabriel Villa’s work is multifaceted and has evolved conceptually since moving to Chicago and has adopted new imagery, themes, and formal strategies and intensified from the use of newfound images.

For the past nine years Villa has lived and worked in Chicago producing an idiosyncratic body of work that builds upon previous work but whose diversity and powerful imagery are direct results of his adopted home. Each of Villa’s images represents either his ongoing transformation into a new, unknown identity, a dual symbol of psychological oppression and a personal memory, a lingering catholic symbol or an icon of the Chihuahua desert.

Thematically, Villa is socially conscious, mostly expressed as empathy for those marginalized for their economic or racial reasons. Surely his work operates between figuration and abstraction, leaving more questions unanswered than answered, but his increasingly powerful combination of signs symbols with his figures and abstraction opens many avenues to interpretation, positive or negative, simple or complex.

His most recent public art work was erased by the city of Chicago by the request of Bridgeport alderman Jim Balcer. This sparked issues of censorship because the mural was commissioned. For more info: http://www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=34234

For this show he will recreate some of the work that was lost plus show more of his new work.

Opening Friday August 7 from 6pm-10pm
August 7- September 5, 2009

ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
Hours: by appointment
only

BEN RUSSELL : BURNS


BEN RUSSELL presents
BEN RUSSELL : BURNS

CAMLAB (ANNA MAYER & JEMIMA WYMAN)
DIANA GUERRERO-MACÍA
MATT HANNER
SEMICONDUCTOR (RUTH JARMAN & JOE GERHARDT)

1716 S Morgan #2F
Chicago, IL 60608

August 2 to August 30, 2009
Opening reception: 6-10 pm, August 2, 2009
Private viewings by appointment*

*A performance by Camlab will be presented once at 9pm during the opening reception.

-----
ABOUT THE SHOW:

In remembrance of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Harrowing Pepsi Shoot of 1984, the Tragic Heat Wave of 1995, and that August '09 sweat on your Midwest brow; in honor of the public swimming pool around the corner, the names of various Midwestern sports teams, the ice cream truck that is actually probably not a drug front, and the sweet rattle of window-mounted air-conditioning units; in praise of art and summertime and the rapid rise in regional mercury, BEN RUSSELL presents its third show in just as many months - BEN RUSSELL : BURNS

Following (hot) on the heels of last month's (smoking) success, an opening that was made complete with the romance of a simulated Mars-Moon eclipse in the cop-infested alleyway (via artists Roxanne Hopper and Julie Rudder), this month's scorcher features two artists and two artist duos of international persuasion. Break your sunglasses, skip the tanning salon, throw that 60SPF sunscreen in the trash and let the BURNS at BEN RUSSELL char to a crisp your inner and outer cultural selves. From the language-branded cowflesh of Chicagoan Diana Guerrero-Macía to the glow-in-the-dark smokebomb abstractions of Matt Hanner, from UK team Semiconductor's sun-flared NASA video grit to the campfire-replacement sculpture and damsel-in-distress performance of CamLab, BEN RUSSELL : BURNS will demonstrate unequivocally that, at least in Pilsen, the heat is on.

In keeping with the by-now time-honored BEN RUSSELL custom, opening-night attendees are invited to feel the (afore-mentioned) heat of the barbecue and bask in the chill of mild inebriation, while supplies last.
----
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

CAMLAB is a collaboration between Jemima Wyman and Anna Mayer. CamLab has exhibited in group exhibitions internationally and had solo shows at The Block, Queensland University of Technology (Australia), Sea and Space Explorations, Los Angeles, and at 40000 in Chicago. Recently they staged a live performance in conjunction with a social project documented throughout the duration of the exhibition for “Performing Economies” exhibition at Fellows for Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. This summer CamLab is living and working at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport as part of the ThreeWalls residency program. They currently have work in “No Other One Is,” a group show of the summer residents’ at ThreeWalls.

DIANA GUERRERO-MACÍA is an artist deeply invested in the history of language and the usage of signs and symbols in art. Her work demonstrates the construction of universal statements culled from popular narratives as fields of text and image recalling eccentric forms of concrete poetry. Her playful and paradoxical approach to language resonates through her hand-sewn materials of choice: wool, vinyl, cotton, and leather. She received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, a BFA from Villanova University, and studied at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant and two residencies at the MacDowell Colony. Her solo shows include Artpace, San Antonio, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Bodybuilder & Sportsman, and Tony Wight Gallery. She has finished public art commissions for the Public Art Fund, NYC, and the Chicago Public Art Foundation. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Fiber & Material Studies and Painting Departments at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

MATT HANNER has exhibited his wall paintings, collages, and installations in group and solo exhibitions at the Hyde Park Art Center, Temporary Services, mini-dutch and Deadtech, Chicago. Additionally he has had exhibitions in Dallas, TX, Puerto Rico, and Denmark. He lives in Porter, Indiana with his wife Erika, daughter Gigi and their moody cat Angelina.

SEMICONDUCTOR make moving images which reveal our physical world in flux: cities in motion, shifting landscapes, and systems in chaos. Since 1999, UK artists Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt have worked with digital animation in an attempt to transcend the constraints of time, scale, and natural forces and explore the world beyond everyday experience. Central to these works is the role of sound, as it creates, controls, and deciphers images, exploring resonance through the natural order of things. Their work has been exhibited at the Tate Britain, ICA London, San Francisco Film Festival, Mutek Montreal, and the Venice Biennale, among other venues worldwide. Recent fellowships and residencies have supported site-specific work, including research and experimentation at the NASA Space Sciences Laboratories of UC Berkeley in California.
-------
*image1: still from Brilliant Noise by Semiconductor (2006, video, 9:40)

---
ABOUT THE SPACE:

BEN RUSSELL is a newly formed art space in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Co-curated by artists Brandon Alvendia and Ben Russell and situated around the front two rooms in the apartment of its namesake, BEN RUSSELL began presenting a series of month-long 5-person shows on Memorial Day Weekend in the year 2009. Participating artists are invited to produce and exhibit work that is in accordance with the title/theme of each show, the name of which will be derived entirely from the 10 letters in the words "ben russell." Future shows may include BEN RUSSELL : BLUENESS, BEN RUSSELL : REBELS, and BEN RUSSELL : BEER. In keeping with the structural conceits of the French Oulipo language group and the spatial and material limits of what is effectively a rented apartment, BEN RUSSELL maintains a set of restrictions for all exhibiting artists by which:

- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work scaled at a minimum of three quarters of the thirteen by ten foot wall
- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work at a maximum of one half of the opposing wall space between the two adjacent doors
- One artist shall produce a time-based work to be presented via a CRT flat screen monitor (and associated components) with Dolby 5.1 audio in the adjacent screening room
- One artist shall produce work to be installed in the all-weather sculpture garden
- One artist shall produce work to be performed for the duration of 15-30 minutes during the opening

BEN RUSSELL features a rotating roster of Chicago-based and non-Chicago-based artists and will be open for viewings one night a month and by appointment, as needed.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Calles y Sueños reopens in Pilsen


"Calles y Sueños" presents Semillas de Pilsen

Saturday, August 1 2009, 6pm-10pm

Featuring:

Stick N Move Dance Crew
TABCAT Capoeria Angola
Raíz Viva
Diana Hinojosa
Son del Viento

Exhibition:

Artists from Juchitán, Oaxaca:
César Martínez, Patricia Herrera, Manuel Cabrera,José Angel Santiago, Rodrigo Vasquez Medina, Soid Pastrana, from Miguel Angel Toledo

Artists from Chicago:
Rebecca Wolfram, Bertha Husband, Miguel Cortez, Miguel jiménez, Nuco, and Vicky Cervantes


"Calles y Sueños"
La Casa de Arte y Cultura
1900 S. Carpenter

$8 Suggested Donation
Some food and refreshments provided

La Casa se Arte y Cultura was a cultural space that existed from 1994-1999 in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Come join us for the grand reopening.

For more information contact us at cys_94@hotmail.com
Visit us at www.myspace.com/callesysueños

Calles y Sueños @ Colibri


"Calles y Sueños”

“We realize that we live in the entrails of the “Great Monster,’ hence we walk the streets and dream, our feet in unison with fire in our hearts, crystal minds, agile hands and lucid eyes. “

The foundation for "Calles y Sueños” was developed by several Latino artists, as a creative response to the once prevalent artistic void that existed in Chicago’s Latino arts community in the late 80’s. Its intention was to be nurtured through the change and freedom that was expressed on a multitude of levels. Culturally, the artistic community that was created by “Calles y Sueños” continues to this day cultivate its Latino roots and plant new seeds for its ever-evolving identity to continue to germinate. As the community of “Calles y Sueños” grows we continue to realize we are a transplanted people still growing in a jungle of alienation, racism and economic hardship."

"Calles y Sueños" and Colibrí Gallery/Studio presents

The Art Exhibition and Reception
Who are we, What is our name? and Behind the Disturbances

Saturday, July 25 2009, from 6 to 9pm

Exhibition by young artists Rodrigo VasquezMedina and Jose Angel Santiago from Juchitån, Oaxaca.

Featuring:

MAS Musical and María Blues

THEN

10pm Fandango

Featuring Fandaguero
$8 Suggested Donation

Colibrí Gallery/ Studio
2032 W. 18th Street
312-733-8431

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

SERGENT GARCIA


Manu Chao collaborator & The King of RaggaSalsa!
SERGENT GARCIA
12 Piece Big Band, Chicago Debut!
CumbiaReggaeSalsaSkaFusion!

+ Los Vicios de Papá

Monday July 20th 8:30pm SHOW
Doors at 7:30pm
Logan Square Auditorium
2539 N. Kedzie Blvd
http://soundculturechicago.com/

Thursday, July 02, 2009

BEN RUSSELL : RUSE


BEN RUSSELL presents:
BEN RUSSELL : RUSE

MARCO KANE BRAUNSCHWEILER and MARTINE SYMS PAUL CHAN MIGUEL CORTEZ ROXANE HOPPER and JULIE RUDDER KELLY KACZYNSKI

Opening reception July 5, 2009 from 6-10 pm
July 5 to July 26, 2009

*The performance "NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN" by Roxane Hopper and Julie Rudder will be presented once at 9pm during the opening reception. Paul Chan's video "RE:_THE OPERATION" will only be screened on the 5th of July.
BEN RUSSELL
1716 S Morgan #2F
Chicago, IL 60608
Private viewings by appointment*
-----
ABOUT THE SPACE:

BEN RUSSELL is a newly formed art space in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Co-curated by artists Brandon Alvendia and Ben Russell and situated around the front two rooms in the apartment of its namesake, BEN RUSSELL began presenting a series of month-long 5-person shows on Memorial Day Weekend in the year 2009. Participating artists are invited to produce and exhibit work that is in accordance with the title/theme of each show, the name of which will be derived entirely from the 10 letters in the words "ben russell." Future shows may include BEN RUSSELL : BLUENESS, BEN RUSSELL : REBELS, and BEN RUSSELL : BEER. In keeping with the structural conceits of the French Oulipo language group and the spatial and material limits of what is effectively a rented apartment, BEN RUSSELL maintains a set of restrictions for all exhibiting artists by which:

- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work scaled at a minimum of three quarters of the thirteen by ten foot wall
- One artist shall produce a wall-mounted work at a maximum of one half of the opposing wall space between the two adjacent doors
- One artist shall produce a time-based work to be presented via a CRT flat screen monitor (and associated components) with Dolby 5.1 audio in the adjacent screening room
- One artist shall produce work to be installed in the all-weather sculpture garden
- One artist shall produce work to be performed for the duration of 15-30 minutes during the opening

BEN RUSSELL features a rotating roster of Chicago-based and non-Chicago-based artists and will be open for viewings one night a month and by appointment, as needed.

-----
ABOUT THE SHOW:

As a follow-up to last month’s inaugural exhibition (BEN RUSSELL : BENRUSSELL, which foregrounded the apartment-as-found-object), BEN RUSSELL is proud to present the second show of its new and still-dewy-eyed life in the form of BEN RUSSELL : RUSE .

In an attempt to accurately reflect the past, present, and future of the ranks of the Pilsen artist-run spaces that they have joined, BEN RUSSELL’s own artist-curators Brandon Alvendia and Ben Russell have asked Paul Chan (Dogmatic, 1997-2005), Marco Kane Braunschweiler and Martine Syms (Golden Age, 2007-present), Miguel Cortez (Antena, 2008-present), Roxane Hopper and Julie Rudder (VEGA Estates, 2007-present), and Kelly Kaczynski (Unnamed Future Space, ? – future) to present work that abides by the restrictions and theme of their new space. Conceived of in part as a counterpoint to the “Artists Run Chicago” show at the Hyde Park Arts Center, this exhibit features the mostly-new works of seven artists behind five different artist-run spaces in the Pilsen neighborhood.

As such, BEN RUSSELL : RUSE is both wily subterfuge and meta-provocation, an interrogation into the complex relationship of artists and curators as content/context providers through the blurring of authorship. Are curators the new artists or are artists the new curators?

And so: come plumb the depths of psychic surveillance, backwards stage sets, makeshift cosmic phenomena, backyard re-inventions, and Colin Powell reading from Foucault on the inevitability of history! Ponder the differences between the artists' studio practices and curatorial agendas! See the contract** signed by Kelly Kaczynski that makes the exhibition of her work contingent on the future opening of her own Pilsen artist-run space! Sit in the dark and watch a video by Paul Chan!

A veritable Where’s Waldo of trickery shall ensue as any number of RUSEs are laid out by the exhibiting artist-curators. In keeping with the newest of post-holiday customs, day-old fireworks, vegetarian barbecue, and beer will be available to all gallery visitors upon request while supplies last.

----
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

MARCO KANE BRAUNSCHWEILER and MARTINE SYMS are visual artists and conceptual entrepreneurs based in Chicago, Illinois. In 2007, they started Golden Age, a concept shop that sells publications, music, apparel and other editioned works created by artists. Golden Age makes a statement about an alternative mode of making and selling art; that it can be straightforward, accessible, and moderately priced. They are currently interested in using their lifestyle as creative content.

PAUL CHAN lives and works in New York. In 1997 he founded Dogmatic in Chicago with Aviv Kruglanski, Andrew Natale, and Michael Thomas, a space that was "committed to civil and artistic actions that could draw attention to the growing rifts within their community." The gallery exhibited work by Jeremy Boyle, Amanda Ross-Ho, Scott Wolniak and many others. Chan's recent solo exhibitions have been presented at the New Museum, New York (2008); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, (2007); Serpentine Gallery, London (2007); The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, (2006-07); Portikus, Frankfurt, (2006); Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall (2006); Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2006); UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2005); and The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston (2005).

MIGUEL CORTEZ is an artist living in Chicago and born in Guanajuato, Mexico. He currently runs an alternative contemporary art space called Antena in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, and was a founding member of Polvo, an art collective that began in 1996. He has organized various shows throughout the years at the Polvo space and a variety of other alternative spaces. His work has been exhibited recently at the Krannert Museum in Champaign, IL , the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, and the Bridge Art Fair in Miami. Past shows include an exhibit at Mighty Fine Arts Gallery in Dallas, "Lo Romantico" at Glass Curtain Gallery and "Lies that Bill Gates told me: Exploring the Digital Divide" at VU Space in Melbourne, Australia.

ROXANE HOPPER and JULIE RUDDER met while in graduate school at Northwestern University's department of Art Theory and Practice. In 2007 they started up the project space, Vega Estates, from a shared interest in the creation of art and community in Chicago. Both artists work in multiple media, including photography and video and recently their individual practices have both been concerned with light as material - Roxane's being more invested in the spiritual and Julie's in the relationship to the political. Julie is from Eastern North Carolina and Roxane is from San Antonio, Texas.

KELLY KACZYNSKI is an artist living in Chicago but with an affinity to the landscape surrounding the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up. Her work, while existing in a temporal-spatial platform, is predominately materials based. Her most recent exhibition, 'Olympus Manger', Scene II was exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center, 2008. She teaches in the Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Vega Estates


Vega Estates Presents our first show of the season:

Chelsea Culp & Ben Foch: Substance and Shadow
Saturday, June 27, 2009
6pm-10pm
723 W. 16th Street
Chicago, Il 60616

Substance and Shadow is a two-part collaborative installation between Chicago artists Chelsea Culp and Ben Foch. The title of the installation is derived from the novel Substance and Shadow, written by Marius Roux in 1879. The novel, which until recently has existed in obscurity, is a thinly shrouded expose of the early career of Paul Cézanne. Roux's title refers to La Fontaine's fable about the dog that drops the food in its jaw in an attempt to seize its more enticing reflection.

This two-part installation attempts to unravel the dynamic contained both within and surrounding the novel and is an investigation into the social politics of early modernism, tackling both narrative and perception, its impact and its potential role in the contemporary. The garage will be used to address substance by creating an authoritative gallery space, a simulacrum for the experience of canonical art. Using drywall and lighting to produce this effect, the space will suggest a dumb experience of materiality. On display in the basement will be a collection of Peruvian burial dolls, religious relics that may or may not generate something insubstantial and formless, suggesting a conscious experience of immateriality. The substance and shadow of authenticity are separated to determine how much of one lay in the other, how many ways there are to act in accordance with either, and what conditions trigger the decisions to do so.

Hope to see you on Saturday! The summer schedule is listed on our newly updated website under the "current" section. www.vegaestatespresents.com

**Bunker Brew and Vega icecream!
--
Vega Estates
Roxane Hopper and Julie Rudder

723 West 16th St.
Chicago, IL 60616

(773) 852-9665
(312) 545-4716
www.vegaestatespresents.com

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Summer Show @ Antena


Summer Show
New works by:
Saul Aguirre, drawings
Yarima Ariza, installation


Project Wall Space: Adriana Baltazar, installation

Saul Aguirre, born Mexico City and lives in Chicago is currently getting his BFA at the School of the Art Institute. He has shown his art for more than 15 years throughout Chicago, Mexico, Peru and recently has participated in Bridge Art Miami and Versionfest. His work is in several public and private collections throughout Chicago, Washington DC, Italy and Peru.

Yarima Ariza originally from Bogotá, Colombia and has studied at Columbia College Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has in the past collaborated on art projects involving hair with fiber artist Anne Wilson. Ariza currently lives in Miami.

Adriana Baltazar, born in southwest Chicago, has grown up to be a near hermit hidden away in an office by day to pay off art school debt. By night, squeezing in time to be an artist around homework as well. She completed her BFA at the School of the Art Institute in 2004 and is now pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching at Roosevelt University. She has shown in different places, big and small, near and far, but finds more pleasure in wandering through neglected nooks in the city and wilderness seeking sublime inspiration and escape in vacant lots and other plots of earth overridden with trees and foliage.

Opening Friday June 26 from 6pm-10pm
June 26 - July 25, 2009

ANTENA
1765 S. Laflin St.
Chicago IL 60608
www.antenapilsen.com
antenapilsen (at) gmail.com
Saturdays noon-5pm or by appointment