SPATIAL REASONING
new work by ALAN + MICHAEL FLEMING
April 21- May 5, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 21, 6-10PM
Open Hours: by appointment
Happy Collaborationists Exhibition Space
1254 N Noble St
Scale, 2012, C-print
SPATIAL REASONING
This exhibition will include new photography and video work made by the Fleming brothers over the past year. Being shown for the first time in the United States, one of the central works on display for this exhibition is a video shot on location in Denmark. Returning to their embodied practice of relating to architectural spaces, the artists present us with a unique glimpse of various engagements with buildings and sites around Copenhagen. As an international hub for architecture and design, the city provides a dynamic backdrop for the Flemings’ performative interventions.
ALAN + MICHAEL FLEMING are twin brothers who have been making art together over the past 7 years. They attended graduate school as a collaborative and each received an MFA in Studio from the Performance Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2010. Their work ranges from performance, to video, to sculpture. Their recent solo exhibition, GAME ON, at threewalls presented a poignant and humorous body of work that the artists made while living apartfor a year. In 2012 they were selected for the Artist in the Marketplace (AIM) Program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts and as a result their work will be included in the 2013 Bronx Biennial. Currently, they are both based in Brooklyn.
More information about Alan + Michael Fleming can be found at: www.spatialinterventions.com
BOYS’ LIFE
new works by ADAM BLUMBERG
APRIL 15-16, 2012
Opening Reception: Sunday, April 15, 4-8pm
Open Hours: Monday April 16, noon-4pm
ACRE Projects
1913 W 17th Street, Chicago 60608
Untitled, Archival Ink Jet Print, 2011
BOYS’ LIFE brings together photographs, sculptures and found and ephemeral objects that reflect on personal memories and popular culture to explore and examine perceptions of masculinity and cultural archetypes. Pragmatic images and symbols extol and critically articulate various iterations of masculinity in the American middle class. With a muted gaze that guiltily but inevitably verges on exploitation, these images and objects strive to retain evidence of Blumberg’s shared cultural heritage and participation in the events in and around the works while also addressing how the subjects view each other. Created with a playful spirit, the works serve as a commentary and celebration of American leisure in the language of popular culture and working class signifiers.
ADAM BLUMBERG (b. 1978, lives Philadelphia) – Raised amongst the horseradish fields and abandoned coal mines of a rural St. Louis suburb, Adam Blumberg is an avid baseball fan and enjoys collecting smashed pennies. He earned an MFA from ICP-Bard in 2007 and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. From 2004 to 2005, Adam participated in the Research Program at the Center for Contemporary Art in Kitakyushu, Japan. His work has been exhibited in England, Germany and Japan in addition to the United States, including recent exhibitions at Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Philadelphia, PA and Unit B Gallery, San Antonio, TX. He is currently curating an upcoming exhibition at Storage Gallery, Philadelphia for the summer 2012.
NEWPORT ROOM
new work by PAUL ERSCHEN
April 14- 28, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 14, 6-10PM
Open Hours: by appointment
THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER
128 N Campbell Street, Chicago 60612
Studio View: Marlboro and The KKK, Screen print and acrylic on canvas, 40″ x 34″, 2012
Sparked by an ongoing habit of collecting discarded cigarette packs, NEWPORT ROOM, presents a stubbornly incomplete taxonomy of anonymity, suspicion, and excess. Including an installation of screen prints, several hundred archived menthol cigarette packs, and a grouping of cast-object assemblages, “Newport Room” reveals Erschen’s preoccupation with the ambiguities of trash and the folly of urban legends.
PAUL ERSCHEN is an artist and musician who lives and works in Chicago. Erschen’s recent studio practice involves sculpture, printmaking, mold-making/casting, and archiving. Recent exhibitions include: “West Plaza” at Document Gallery, “Group Hug” at Co-Proseperity Sphere, and “Recipes for Mold And Sun”, a collaboration with Rachel Ettling, at Roxaboxen.
More information about Paul Erschen can be found at www.paulerschen.com
The Hills Esthetic Center is both a conventional and organic exhibition space located within a complex of artist’s studios and audio recording facilities on Chicago’s west side. Focusing on emerging artists and local arts initiatives, the space aims to promote a breadth of cultural production and invention in the service of independent artistic expression. We value a relaxed artist-controlled environment with the potential for the interaction of critical and social dialogues.
More information about The Hills Esthetic Center can be found at thehillsestheticcenter.com
The Last Page, 2008, Archival Inkjet Print
OTHER PEOPLE’S CLOTHES
Caleb Cole photographs himself in Other People’s Clothes. Each photograph in the series is a constructed scene that begins with an outfit or piece of clothing (either bought, found, or borrowed), then a person imagined to fill those clothes, and finally a location where that person can play out a silent moment alone. Stepping into the shoes, literally, of invented people, he takes on the personality of an individual in a transitional moment, a moment that highlights how human expectations and desires are often at odds with the reality of one’s life. Cate McQuaid of the Boston Globe explains that “the artist himself becomes an expression of his character’s inner sadness or shame, and the accouterments of clothing and place heighten the sense of not quite belonging, and at the same time, being entrenched.” Cole will exhibit prints from the span of the project, from 2007 to present.
More information about Caleb Cole can be found at www.calebcolephoto.com
HAMMES/PAYNE
new works by JACOB C HAMMES and LAUREN PAYNE
Friday, April 6, 2012
8PM-Midnight
New Capital
3114 W. Carrol Ave. Chicago, 60612
Jacob C Hammes will perform a new piece entitled “Prisoners Cinema” where through hypnotic suggestion, the audience may experience visual hallucinations of color, texture, and form. Participation begins at 10 pm sharp and the performance lasts approximately 2 hours.
Lauren Payne will perform a lunar ritual once at dusk (8:51pm) and again at midnight. A related video and neon will also be on display.
Hammes’ work is a broad exploration of the ambiguous distinction between perception and belief, and the physical and psychological conditions that inform the experience of space and sensory perception. Hammes is concerned with experiences that signal transformation within the tangibility of space and the often illusionistic properties of perception. Hammes uses hypnosis as a performance and collaborative medium towards the creation of images and narrative which disrupt normal perception and moving subjects towards a more desire-oriented experience.
Payne’s work focuses on establishing a physical relationship with the moon, using the cyclical nature of the lunar calendar to create a system to align the cycles of the female body. Payne’s desire to connect is steeped in creating site-specific happenings and rituals in aims of thrusting the content beyond the personal pursuit of connection into a new mythological context by creating a space for shared experiences.
JACOB C HAMMES is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Chicago. Hammes has exhibited and performed throughout the US and internationally, most recently at the Grunwald Museum at Indiana University and Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts in Auckland, NZ. Hammes’ work and various projects have been reviewed in publications such as Art Papers, Proximity Magazine, and the Leonardo Music journal.
More information about Jacob C Hammes can be found at www.stopgostop.com/jacobchammes
LAUREN PAYNE lives and works in Chicago. She received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2010. Selected Exhibitions include: Is This Thing On, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati; Magic > Nature False Front, Portland; White Lodge, High Concept Laboratories, Chicago; Out of the Woods, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit.
More information about Lauren Payne can be found at www.laurenpayne.com
1913 w 17th Street, Chicago 60608
Ben Pegram and Chris Semel live, work and collaborate in Chicago, IL. Ben will receive his BFA from The School of the Art Institute this May. Chris received his BA in photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2011. They met by coincidence in a record shop while both reaching for the same vinyl copy of Steely Dan’s Aja.
More information about Ben Pegram can be found at: www.bencpegram.com
More information about Chris Semel can be found at: www.christophersemel.com
3/31: LINCOLN NEVER ATE ANYTHING YELLOW, AKA: TENDENCIES WILL DEFINE YOU. // new work by SHANE WARD
LINCOLN NEVER ATE ANYTHING YELLOW, AKA: TENDENCIES WILL DEFINE YOU.
new work by SHANE WARD
March 31 – April 14, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 31, 6-10
Open Hours: by appointment
Happy Collaborationists Exhibition Space
1254 N Noble St
Lincoln never ate anything yellow, AKA: tendencies will define you.
Laundry induced Nostalgia: An old lady spends all day washing her laundry. Every ten minutes she shuffles over to the door, taking the shortest path possible, and lights a smoke inside. She takes a puff and slowly exhales the smoke as she squeezes through an old lady-sized sliver she makes between the door and its frame. When she returns to her machine, she notices her fabric softener box and is reminded of that afternoon she spent in the clouds looking for blue sparkle, the softest afternoon of her life.
SHANE WARD is an artist living and working in Chicago. He is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Chicago.
More information about Shane Ward can be found at becomimgshaneward.com
HAPPY COLLABORATIONISTS is a Chicago based collective, consisting of Anna Trier, Hadley Vogel, and Meredith Weber. The focus of “Happy C” is to provide a platform for the creation and exhibition of performance, installation and new media derived works. We curate artists, not art and work with individuals to execute new projects rooted in ephemeral arts and audience experience. Donning blue wigs as a visual moniker of artistic solidarity, Happy C is committed to bridging the gap between art and art events – curation as art.
More information about Happy Collaborationists can be found at happycollaborationists.com
EXPO CHICAGO, The International Exposition of Contemporary / Modern Art and Design, will kick off EXPO Dialogues Monday, April 2, 2012 with a panel discussion at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Ballroom, 112 South Michigan Avenue. The first installment of the year long / Dialogues series will focus on artist residency programs in Chicago and surrounding areas, and will be moderated by Tricia Van Eck of 6018 North & The Happiness Project. Special guest panelists will include Elizabeth Chodos of Ox-Bow, Brad Killam of Poor Farm, Cortney Lederer of BOLT, Abigail Satinsky of threewalls and Nicholas Wylie of ACRE.
We’re excited to release this new informational e-booklet designed by Todd King. Replete with images of the farm and facilities, it should tell you everything you need to know and more about ACRE’s 2012 residency program. Share it with your friends!
2012 ACRE RESIDENCY catalogue
*best when viewed with acrobat
SLOW DANCE
new works by MATT AUSTIN + EJ HILL
MARCH 25-26, 2012
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 25, 4-8pm
Open Hours: Monday March 26, noon-4pm
ACRE Projects
1913 w 17th Street, Chicago 60608
Matt Austin, Bird Hanger, Archival Pigment Print, 20×24″, 2012
SLOW DANCE
There are innumerable instances in one’s lifetime when a decelerated pace is not only necessary but inevitable. These moments may appear under the guise of an injured lower back, resulting in a perfectly-timed bout of rest and relaxation; they might appear as a mid-day cell phone battery death, granting one the opportunity for a temporary and guiltless disconnect. On the other hand, there are the times when days quickly become nights that become days (which become days all over again). However, these differing moments share the same seat of significance. They are to each other as the up is to the down, as the inhale is to the exhale.
On March 25, Matt Austin and EJ Hill come together at ACRE Projects for SLOW DANCE, an exhibition of new works highlighting the negotiation of individual positions within a given union. Through photography, writing, and drawing, Austin and Hill dissolve boundaries between what are typically viewed as dichotomous relationships, in order to highlight their complementary nature. In a constant back and forth and sway from left to right, Austin and Hill lead and follow, while committing (and submitting) to synchronous (and separate) rhythms.
At the opening, the artists will be present with their new collaborative publication titled “/”. The / publication is a 60-page book comprising drawings, writing, and photographs printed in an edition of 30; each copy is signed and numbered.
MATT AUSTIN (b. 1986, Hartford, CT) is currently an artist and educator based out of Chicago, IL. He received his BFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2009 and is teaching for the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Senn High School, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lillstreet Art Center, and Hyde Park Art Center. He has recently been involved with various community projects including the ACRE Artist Residency Staff, a co-founded art installation project known as TAIST, and an experimental pedagogical project The Mountain was a Gift. His photographs have been exhibited widely, including exhibitions at the Catherine Edelman Gallery, NEXT: Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art, the MDW Art Fair, and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sullivan Galleries. He recently received the Illinois Artists’ Council Grant that will fund the publishing of his book Wake that will parallel that body of work’s inclusion in the kids are all right, a large group exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in October 2012 that will travel to the Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Addison Gallery of American Art through 2013.
More information about Matt Austin can be found at www.mattaustinphoto.com
EJ HILL is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. Much of his work incorporates his own body, exploring its physical properties and limitations as well as its role in cultural signification. Recent exhibitions include One Inch Punch (Los Angeles),dream, in, the, act at Kunz, Vis Projects (Chicago), Overkill at The Mission Projects (Chicago), and One-Day Performance at LiVE WORK (San Francisco). EJ earned a BFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2011 and is a current MFA candidate at UCLA.
More information about EJ Hill can be found at www.ejhill.info
