The artists are from residential facilities in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago. They are excited to present their exhibition, “Shades of Myself.” Through self-reflection, the artists utilized painting, drawing, and mixed media to explore experiences and aspects of themselves.
Wrong is wrong. the louder the lie the bigger the hide, Anti-War Rallies.
Venturing from painting, the artist seeks adventure working with unusual materials (horse hair, doorknobs, etc.) that strike a playful chord, finding balance a hair from off balance, from formal to the informal, from work to play.
For several years the artist has been painting abstractions of landscapes and cityscapes reflecting shadings and lights of different times, seasons and latitudes. Using visualizations of recollections as points of departure, the artist then “documents” these images with successive layers of vibrant colors until the images become meditative, culminating in translations of memories into serene representations. “Colors and surfaces are my ultimate sources of expression,” the artist states.
This series of monotypes depicts the biblical story of Noah and the flood from the experience of the doomed human and beastly creatures. Their gaping orifices freely admit the seas, merging their physical boundaries with the torrents.
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.
Over the past several years the artist has had the opportunity to travel in Australia, Japan, Canada, Europe and the US. These trips have been documented in various ways. This ongoing body of work entitled “The Travel Journals” will be exhibited at ARC in April.
This exhibit features 10 watercolors painted on location during a trip the artist took last summer to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, and England. “They exemplify my ideal of capturing the light, the color, and the mood in a manner that could be described as contemporary ‘plein-aire’ states the artist. Stationery packets of these 10 images will be available for sale at the opening reception. Included also are selected sketches, mixed-media works, and a folding screen based upon imagery from the travels. Love of history and of nature, combined with the fanciful and exotic, is something the artist hopes to communicate in this small space.