Current Events at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative Gallery
DIS –
May 8 - June 26, 2021
Curated by Matt Bodett
Curatorial statement:
The prefix “dis-“ in the English language has meant “apart” since its early Latin roots. The artists in this exhibition challenge that prefix, instead showing us how “dis-“ can be a force of identity, empowerment, and community. In unique ways each artist has been an advocate for Disability rights in Chicago and the World. Whether it is through film, dance, visual art, poetry, or a myriad of other artistic media, these artists utilize their disability to commemorate the strengths which bind creative artistic output, personal experience, and radical aesthetics in an effort to disrupt exclusionary concepts.
Artists:
Bri Beck
Justin Cooper
Timotheus “TJ” Gordon Jr.
Riva Lehrer
Katie O’Neil
Reveca Torres
Sandie Yi
MOMENTA Dance Company
The CPC Gallery is now open to the public for in person visits Fridays & Saturdays 12-5 or by appointment!
Image ID: bolded text in red with the word DIS- plus text info with the dates of show (runs through June 26, with other info detailed above) overlaid onto a screenprint by Bri Beck based on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man, which depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in a circle and square. The man is repeated using two colors: a faded lavender and a faded red. The arms and legs of the man are repeated in different positions but the man’s head and torso only appear twice, one vertical and one sideways.
About the Show
Here's a peak at some of the work being featured in the exhibition:MOMENTA Dance Company
MIDNIGHT RIDEPerformed by Kris Lenzo
Music by Twenty One Pilots
Videography & Editing by Joe Kreml
Filmed in River Forest, Illinois
Riva Lehrer
Zoom Portraits: Sharrona Pearl, mixed media and collage on illustration board, 22 x 60 inches, $10,000 ©2020Courtesy of the Artist and Zolla/Lieberman Gallery
Image description:
The drawing by Riva Lehrer is a very long, horizontal piece with a background drawing and three rectangular pieces applied, evenly spaced, on top. The background is a light grey color overall with interspersed drawings of medical personnel and silhouettes of people and cats. The drawings of medical personnel contain various poses of interactions of nurses and doctors in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are helping patients with respirators, others are adjusting beds, looking at medical charts, or conversing with patients. All of these are pencil drawings with limited color added, blue gowns, yellow blankets or screens, and white masks or gowns. Interspersed with these medical drawings are silhouettes of various people and cats. There are children playing, parents walking with their children, a family sitting at a table, someone mopping a floor, and a few cats either sitting or walking. The three main drawings are on a white, semi-transparent paper, which means a little of the background images can be seen through the main drawings. The two drawings on the left appear to be the same woman, Sharonna, in two different environments. The third drawing is of Riva in her home. Each of the portraits were done while the two women conversed over Zoom during the pandemic, so the drawings all have the same format, which includes a bar across the top with the Apple logo, and various computer icons and file links. The portraits are each framed in on the left and right by text which runs up the sides, and the bottom is framed by a large block of text.
The first portrait of Sharonna is a black and white pencil drawing, showing her centered in the frame and looking directly into the camera with a slight smile. She has long wavy hair which extends beyond her shoulders. She is wearing a button up shirt which is just visible in the image. The shirt is white with a small image patterned on it. Occasionally in the pattern there are red lines drawn into it. To the left, and behind Sharonna, is a room with a dresser and mirror. There is a child over her shoulder, but drawn through a little to appear ghostlike. On the right side of the image is a bed and a closet door which is open to reveal some clothes.
The second portrait of Sharonna is a mixture of black and white pencil and colored pencil. In this image she is sitting toward the left of the frame and looking toward us in three quarter view. He hair is down, extending beyond the bottom edge of the picture plane, wearing a dark shirt slightly visible behind her hair, and a subtle smile on her face. Behind her is a curtain with a rope tying it up to the wall. On her right is a window which takes up just more than one half of this drawing. The window frame is drawn in black and white, but everything within the frame is in color. In the frame we can see a sunset outside, setting behind the silhouette of buildings and an electric pole with its conductors and elements. We also see the reflection of Sharonna, as well as a reflection of her computer screen.
The last drawing is a portrait of Riva and is drawn almost entirely in color. Riva is centered in this drawing and is looking directly at the viewer with her left hand up and balled up on her chin, thumb slightly extended. She has short hair, extending down just below her ears, and it is a mixture of whites and reds. Her eyes are reddish in this drawing, and the rest of her face and hand are a light skin tone. She is wearing a loose neck grey shirt. Behind her, and on the left of the image, is a shelving unit with stacks of objects which are not necessarily discernible. The objects and shelving unit are not colored in, but the area around them is blue. To the right of Riva is a small red lampshade, though the lamp itself disappears behind her. There is also a large artwork on the wall with a yellow/gold frame. The artwork is a groups of birds, mostly black/grey. The birds are congregated near the center of the artwork and flying out from there. At the bottom right edge there is the edge of either a blanket or pillow which is drawn in orange, but not colored in.
Reveca Torres
Pain Series I, photography, NFS
Image description: This photograph by Reveca Torres is of an androgynous body laying on its back viewed from above and entirely encased in a light gold colored stretchy fabric. The top of the figure is cut off by the frame of the photo around where the nose might be, and at the bottom of the legs around the ankles. Bright red x’s are digitally drawn on areas of the body with two on left shoulder, right rib cage and knee, one on left ribcage, three across left abdomen and left upper leg muscle. Bright red circles are digitally drawn over left neck, forearm and wrist. Background is mostly black with slight hints of a blue lit fabric upon which the body is laid out.
Bri Beck
Twelve 8 x 10 screenprints/ink on paper, $250 (for all 12), ©2019
Image description: This artwork by Bri Beck is organized in a grid with twelve, eight by ten inch sheets of paper, each one hanging horizontally and in three rows of four images. Each print contains the image of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, which is a detailed drawing of a nude male figure standing with his arms directly out at each side forming a ninety degree angle, and his legs together. Imposed on the drawing is a second figure, sharing the same body and head, but with his legs spread and his arms slightly raised above his head. The figure is enclosed in two shapes, a circle and a square, the boundaries of which meet the tips of his fingers and the soles of his feet.
Watch this great video of Bri talking about the process of making these prints!Timotheus "T.J." Gordon Jr.
Masked Identity (Gold mask), Painted Found Object, 9.75 x 10 x 4 ©2021 Price: $100
Justin Cooper
Lake Shore Boats, photography, $250 (wrapped on canvas)
Image description: This photograph by Justin is dominated by two fields of blue, the sky which has no clouds, just a soft gradation as it reaches from the top of the image to the horizon, and the lake which is a much deeper blue and has the indication of gentle waves. On the lake are four sail boats, each with a white triangular sail which breaks across the horizon line and into the sky.
Katie O'Neil
The Etymology of My Symptoms, 14 x 17 inches on Bristol paper/ ink, paper, graphite, acrylic, $650 ©2021
Image description: This collage by Katie O'Neil is on a large rectangular sheet of white paper. It contains a lot of chaotic elements which overlap, integrate, and repeat. While most of the collage is black and white, there are a series of small squares which are yellow/orange in color. At the top left is a hand written note which says “know me.” Below this is a series of yellow squares. In each square is a different shape or line, sometimes it is very scribble like, and other times it is concentric circles. Under each square is a descriptive word like “Audio/Visual Hallucination”, “Panic”, “Paranoia”, or “fidgeting”. In the rest of the collage there are various repeated elements taken from the squares. Long flowing series of circles, condensed and dense toward the top, and fluidly moving and expanding as they move slightly down the page. There are three large paint smears, one in the lower left, one in the center right, and one at the top right of the page. There are bits of text scattered throughout the image, but all of it relates to Madness and the symptoms associated with her experiences, much like they were listed above.
Sandi Yi
One of Us, Stamp, ink, and blank cards, NFS
Image Description: This artwork by Sandi Yi consists of a few separate elements: a stamp, an inkpad, and blank notecards. The hand-held stamp has a short black handle attached to a rectangular wood base. The stamp image is a hand with two fingers and on the palm are the words “one of us”. The stamp pad is a rectangular plastic container holding a red felt pad. The blank note cards are small white rectangles intended to be stamped on and either taken or shared with the gallery.
“One of us comes from a scene in the 1932 motion picture, Freaks, in which disabled circus performers chant the line 'Gooble, gobble, we accept her, we accept her, one of us, one of us!' One of us’ has become an ‘insider’ line shared by people in disability culture community." - Sandi Yi
Matt Bodett, curator
Eroica, 36 x 25 inches, 6 layer reduction linocut, 6 layers monotype, and trace monotype, Edition of 8
MOMENTA Dance Company
STREET STAGEDChoreographed by Sarah Najera in collaboration with Dancers
Music by Amiina
Videography by Joe Kreml
Filmed at Linden Avenue viaduct in Oak Park, Illinois
MOMENTA Dance Company
IN UNISONChoreographed by Mei-Kuang Chen
Music by Antonin Dvorak
Videography & Editing by Joe Kreml
Filmed at Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois
Reveca Torres
From the pain series, painting, NFS
Image description: The painting is small in size and has a figure on a light blue background painted in white with a blue outline, and red/orange elements within. The figure is shown seated from the back, with nondescript arms at its side and with only part of the back of the head showing with what might be hair colored black with dark purple and blue overtones.
TIMOTHEUS "T.J." GORDON JR.
Pride of the Black Autist (Black mask), 6 x 16.5, Painted Found Object ©2021 SOLD
Cheevers 2K (White mask), Painted Found Object, 9.25 x 9.75, ©2021 SOLD
