Suspension
At 1926 Exhibition Space
1926 N. Halsted
Co-curated by SAIC students Deirdre McConnell and Skylar Smith,
Suspension is a collection of artistic interpretations about
suspension in physical space, but also a suspended exhibition:
the show closed on September 14, but each piece will be individually
displayed in the gallery concurrent with exhibitions for the
rest of the semester, until December 15.
Highlights included embroidered “Lap Drawings” on cotton fabric by faculty Candida Alvarez — small, lovingly sewn airplanes coupled with charcoal sketches on tissue paper; mylar cutouts by Dianna Frid that looked like a suspension bridge crumpled and stuck to the wall; and an enchanting painting by McConnell, who used acrylic, vinyl, mylar, and glitter to create a spooky, candy-colored scene of cable cars floating in a mountainous landscape.
A Tenacious Kind of Earth
At LG Space
37 S. Wabash, Rm. 220
This student-curated exhibition of ceramic sculpture investigates the possibilities of clay as a versatile, hands-on medium. Featured artwork includes organic, curvy, abstract forms by Alexander Lill, who inscribed one piece with hieroglyphics; a large, gold urn-like “self-portrait” by Marshall Svendsen, evoked a swooshing head in profile; and Maya Sohonie’s large, white, expressionless disembodied heads, installed on the floor. Natalie Leivant’s wall-mounted relief sculptures of figures on the El are expressionistic, craggy portraits of surly and sleeping passengers, subtly painted to highlight every facial wrinkle and clothing fold. For those who may dismiss ceramics as too traditional, the work of Aryne Dragon and Joseph Budka looks unusual and fresh. Dragon’s small Pisa-meets-Grimm-fairy-tale towers are wonderfully odd, and Budka’s “tree” sculptures have “branches” that look like segmented, crustacean legs emerging violently from sparkling black rock.
Faculty Sabbatical Exhibition
At Betty Rymer Gallery
280 S. Columbus Dr., 1st Floor
If you’ve often pined for the luxury of a year’s leave from school, this exhibition proves a sabbatical is not a mere vacation. Two favorites:
In Lou Mallozi’s sound installation, “Thisquiet,” and accompanying “accumulation” drawings, he explores memory and the “effect of creating an “experience ‘once removed’ in a place and time separate from viewing the originals,” as he says in his artist statement. A record player sits on the floor in front of two speakers, each emitting a different soundtrack (atmospheric location sound on one, a human voice on the other), and a chalkboard sits atop. An accumulation drawing (what appear to be scribbles but are actually gestural drawings layered over one another) is made on the chalkboard, creating a cacophonous effect.
Kay Rosen’s cheeky mixed media collages include “Blue Monday,” in which a desk calendar page is transformed by a single paint chip of the same name. Typewritten names for each day of the week follow: “Violet Tuesday,” “Red Wednesday,” “Orange Thursday” and so on through the color spectrum. In another collage, she alters existing material again: Rosen adds text to a found print ad for Helmut Lang fragrance in “Helmut Language.”
Hunting Shadows: Paintings by
Kata Mejía
At Gallery X
280 S. Columbus Dr., Rm. 113
Using the small, dimly lit space at Gallery X to great effect, Kata Mejía’s installation of paintings — some on raw-edged canvases, some on unfolded, glued-together CTA maps, and others on a table and the floor — evoke the changeable, transient nature of shadows. Her paintings of clotheslines, one each for summer and winter, are rendered like tracings — delicate and subtle tangles of straps, hangers, clothespins and fabric. In another series, Mejía depicts interior scenes of lamps without shades and vases of flowers. Most importantly, Mejía’s installation, in which she paints the “shadows” the objects create in the gallery — a chair, ladder and table — calls attention to the shadows everywhere else and lends layered meaning to the show’s overall result.