Gallery
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119 N Peoria, Suite 2A
Chicago, IL 60607 USA
312.480.8390
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July 14 to August 18, 2007
PRINTED SPACE
Or, Why So Many Contemporary Artists Are Preoccupied By The Collection And Display Of Many Small, Printed Pages
A Survey Of A Tendency In Contemporary Art With Works By:
Walter Andersons
Tyler Britt
Angee Lennard
John Neff
Melissa Oresky
Amanda Ross-Ho
Scott Short
Aaron Van Dyke
Pedro VelezImages here
Aaron Van Dyke
Untitled, 2006
wood, polyurethane foam, inkjet prints, mylar, hardware.
27.5" w x 20" d x 25.5" h
"Over the course of the past thirty years mainstream contemporary art's attention has shifted between the picture and the page. That is, the production and discussion of artists and art writers has privileged images and structures in turn ( e.g. the 1980s passage from neo-expressionism to neo-geo, or the similar recent shift of emphasis from Gothic figuration to forms of conceptual montage).
A new generation of artists is attempting to synthesize these approaches, to make works that fuse an investment in pictorial effects with a deep concern for and investigation of the structure of art objects and the systems through which such objects are distributed. The small, printed page (photocopies, laser prints, cheap color photos and altered advertisements) is a primary medium of this new art.
Such art is informed by, documents and in some cases attempts to work against the increasing virtualization of daily life and the psychological, social and political effects attendant to that change. As the Cubists, Futurists and Dadaists imbricated the stuff of industrial society into representations of their changing worlds, so young artists today incorporate the images and techniques of the information age, striving to give body and form to a culture on the verge of a sinister immateriality."
Printed Space, collated by Scott Speh and featuring an essay by John Neff (draft excerpted above), will be on view in Western Exhibitions' Plus Gallery from July 14 through August 18. At the close of the show the gallery will publish a small Xerox catalog containing reproductions of exhibited works and a version of Neff's essay.
Walter Andersons’ paintings have been discussed in Artnet, the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum and several other publications. His solo shows in Ten-in-One in New York and Chicago and TBA Exhibition Space in Chicago. He lives and works in Brooklyn.
Tyler Britt is a recent BFA grad from the University of Illinois-Chicago and his assemblages have been included in shows at 40000 and Gallery 400, both in Chicago. He lives and works in Chicago.
Angee Lennard’s artist books are in the collection of Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Greece. Her work has been included in group shows at Green Lantern, Western Exhibitions, Lloyd Dobler and ButchershopDogmatic, all in Chicago. She lives and works in Chicago
John Neff’s recent solo show at Western Exhibitions was reviewed in Time Out Chicago and Art Papers, in which critic Anthony Elms stated that “ he is by far the most ambitious emerging artist regularly exhibiting in Chicago.” His multimedia works have been in group shows at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Donald Young Gallery in Chicago, and he has work in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Neff maintains a studio in Chicago.
Melissa Oresky most recent solo show was at Western Exhibitions in spring of 2007 and her paintings and drawing have been included in shows at Van Harrison Gallery in New York and Chicago, Mixture Contemporary in Houston, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Oresky maintains a studio in Chicago.
Amanda Ross-Ho's second solo show at Western Exhibitions, in October 2006, was discussed in an ARTFORUM “First Take” article by Michael Ned Holte. Her recent solo show at Cherry and Martin in Los Angeles was reviewed in Art Review, Modern Painters and Artweek. Ross-Ho will be included in group shows at Guild and Greyskuhl, Artists Space and Small A Projects in Portland this summer. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Scott Short’s solo show at the Renaissance Society in Chicago was reviewed in Artforum, ArtUS, artforum.com, ArtNEWS, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Reader and has an upcoming show at the Christopher Grimes Gallery in Los Angeles in 2008. He lives and works in Chicago
Aaron Van Dyke is a recipient of a 2005/2006 MCAD/McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Visual Arts, had solo shows at Western Exhibitions and Thomas Barry in Minneapolis, been included in group shows at Midway Contemporary in Minneapolis, 1R in Chicago, and the Bower in San Antonio and has been written about in Frieze, Art Papers and Time Out Chicago. He lives and works in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Pedro Velez is an artist, curator and writer who works from both Chicago and his native Puerto Rico. His solo shows include Galerie Comerical in San Juan, Ingalls and Associates in Miami, the Bronx River Art Center in New York, The Hermetic Gallery in Milwaukee, TBA Exhibition Space in Chicago and three solo shows with Western Exhibitions. His group shows are to numerous to list. Velez' work has been written about in Artnet magazine, Frieze, New Art Examiner, ArtUS, El Nuevo Dia, Arte al Dia, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
ALL IMAGES © WESTERN EXHIBITIONS & EACH INDIVIDUAL ARTIST