Focus 4: Four Solo Exhibitions
ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM CHICAGO GALLERY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 10, 2014
PLEASE CONTACT:
Doug Stapleton at dstapleston@museum.state.il.us
Jane Stevens at jstevens@museum.state.il.us
Exhibition dates: April 14th - August 15th, 2014
Focus 4: Four Solo Exhibitions
Barbara Aubin / collage, mixed media and prints
Guy Benson / paintings and drawings
Julia Haw / paintings and drawings
Thom Whalen / paintings, prints and sculpture
Focus 4: Four Solo Exhibitions is an ongoing program that highlights work by accomplished artists in four separate exhibits. The artists are selected by four fine arts curators from various sites of the statewide Illinois State Museum system.
Barbara Aubin (Chicago IL) has created incredibly complex and beautiful visual landscapes for over four decades. Her watercolor and collage compositions originate out of autobiographical sources, but draw on surrealist vocabulary and a strong feminist perspective to create dream-like and potent images of subconscious reality. Curated by Jane Stevens, Associate Curator of Art, ISM Chicago Gallery.
Guy Benson (Evanston IL) paints symbols and shapes in ordered patterns that banter in a conspiracy between precise rendering and visual riot. His intimate paintings and works on paper resemble fragments of a pictorial language, but any syntax or meaning is confounded by their formal abstraction and playful wit. Curated by Doug Stapleton, Assistant Curator of Art, ISM Chicago Gallery
Julia Haw's (Chicago IL) object based and figurative paintings and drawings are confrontations with the self, the psyche and the audience. Many of her subjects are veiled, instruments of separation and protection, and also a surrealist device that transports the image outside of autobiography into a broader reading of loss, survival and memory. Curated by John Lustig, Director of the ISM Lockport Gallery.
Thom Whalen’s (Chatham IL) art has a glow like stained glass; a psychedelic, highly crafted world of writhing sensual forms stretched taught across the picture plane. Whether monochromatic or with saturated color, Whalen's paintings hard peddle the art of horror vacui, punctuating every square inch of the canvas with graphically stunning imagery. Curated by Robert Sill, Assistant Director of Art, ISM Springfield.
Reception: Friday, April 25th, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
(After 6pm, please enter by the LaSalle Street door)
Gallery Talks: Free to the Public
Friday, April 25th
4:00pm
Thom Whalen with curator Robert Sill
Wednesday, May 21st
Noon
Barbara Aubin with curator Jane Stevens
Wednesday, June 18th
Noon
Julia Haw with curator John Lustig
Wednesday, July 16th
Noon
Guy Benson with curator Doug Stapleton
The Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery, 100 West Randolph, suite 2-100, is located in the James R. Thompson Center and is one of five art sites around the state featuring Illinois artists and works from the Museum’s permanent collection. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM, closed state holidays. The Gallery is free and wheelchair-accessible. Tour and school groups are welcome. Please call for appointments for guided tours at 312-814-5322. Visit our website at: www.museum.state.il.us/ismsites/chicago/exhibitions.
High resolution images are available upon request. Contact Doug Stapleton (312) 814-5320 or dstapleton@museum.state.il.us
Monday, March 03, 2014
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Illinois State Museum
Founded 1877
The Illinois State Museum promotes discovery, learning, and an appreciation of Illinois' natural, cultural, and artistic heritage.
General Information: (217)782-7386
Director's Office: (217)782-7011
Interim Museum Director: Michael Wiant
Press Contact: michael.wiant@illinois.gov
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