Current Exhibition
Wish List
Recent works by Advanced Sculpture Practices Studio students from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Professors Joe Cavalier and Laurie Palmer.
Artists Statements:
Evan Blondell: I will present my findings on the sources, movements, and destinations of pharmaceuticals in the environment. My work explores some of the contradictions in the current interest in sustainability and in our growing consciousness about shifting relationships between humans and nature.
Sarah Elliott: 1. My work for this show will be on the subject of wish lists: if this (this exhibition) is one, what are its contents? who is it for? what is the nature of wishing? 2.The word I added to the list on the postcard for this exhibition was "and".
Derek Hlady: The recognition of systems and one's role and exchange with/in those systems. What are we shown? What are we not shown? Where does the need "to know" diverge from the satisfaction in "experience alone"? Think not of ourselves as individuals in the ways that we are different, but rather in the ways that we are not the same.
YoungHee Hong: My work is about recording small signals from a big flow. It could be my emotions and thoughts from my ordinary life, sunlight of certain times from an ordinary day, moments from my experiences, or even individuals from generations of human history.
Elizabeth Jaeger: (Everything/Every thing/Anything) exists as much as (everything/anything) else and (everything/every thing/anything) depends on (everything/every thing/anything) so nothing is better than (everything/anything) else: existential equality.
Na Young Lee: I want to visualize the realm of experience not satisfied in real life by the stuff that surrounds us every day.
Heather Lett: When creating art I am looking to find the innermost drive that inhabits me, and tap into my intuition. I am attempting to ignore the majority of the formal aspects I have been taught in an art institution and redirect my energy to whatever that intuition is saying to me at the moment. I am looking to separate my mind from guiding my hands, and letting every little interaction I encounter during the day be the direction for my fingers. I always seem to create some type of body or natural form, with exaggeration, visceral appeal, and humor.
Victoria Lopez: I am concerned with the elements and limits of structures and pathways.
Samia Mirza: One minute you're a slug and the next minute you're a hero, so you don't know what to think.
Aaron Straus: Documenting the interaction of space through subtle matter. String Crossing. Finding architecture in two Dimensions.
Justin Swinburne: For me, it is about folding. In making: experience and intention are folded into objects and images. In viewing: these objects and images entice their unfolding. Between the two lies a gap where distortion and miscommunication blur into creative thought and (mis)interpretation. Above all, conversation is key.
Bios:
Evan Blondell: is interested in the social construct of nature and that which is ignored in the process of its construction. He received a BFA in sculpture and art history from Potsdam College in 2006. He was a recipient of the 2006 International Sculpture Centers Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. From 2006-2007 Evan exhibited work at Grounds For Sculpture in NJ and has presented works in numerous juried and regional shows around NY.
Sarah Elliott: I was born in Juneau, Alaska in the beginning of 1986. I grew up in a smallish ranch house living with various configurations of two brothers and two parents. At Mendenhall Elementary School I was in the Gifted and Talented program between the ages of 7 and 11. During this time I was particularly interested in the following: long division, libraries, the American Civil and Second World Wars. These interests have deeply influenced currant ones, which include (especially) the spaces of reading and writing, physically and metaphorically.
YoungHee Hong: I was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1985. As a little girl, I enjoyed reading books and drawing on textbooks. I came to United States with my brother at the age of 16. I am planning to obtain a BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2008.
Derek Hlady: Born in Anchorage, Alaska, I moved continuously throughout my life. Ideas of "home" and "belonging" have always been points of interest for me, and visual art has so far provided me with the best means of exploring inter-personal communication. I have been living in Chicago for the past three years, and am working towards my BFA at the School of the Art Institute, graduating in May 2008. Rapid-cycling.
Elizabeth Jaeger: I was born and raised in San Francisco, and was immersed in a French language school that pushed hard ideas of temporality and symbolism. My interests in the arts were fueled by the need for an outlet for my feelings and thoughts that were lost in a sea of semantic errors between the English and French language shores. My interests remain as such, an exploration of what falls between the words of descriptive, communicative language.
Na Young Lee: I was born in 1979 in Seoul, Korea, and graduated with honors from Seoul National University in February 2005 (BFA Sculpture), and August 2007 (MFA Sculpture). I participated in exhibitions of young artists at Gallery Woo-Deok in 2006 and Woo Seok Hall in 2007. In my childhood it was hard for me to distinguish dreams and reality. Distorted memories from that time have developed in me the habit of not seeing reality as it is and this has a great influence on my work. The illusion I pursue is not something entirely new but unexpectedly discovered in our daily life.
Heather Lett: I was born in the south with heavy influence in folk art and crafting. With the ever constant knitting and quilting hands around me as a child, I desire to break up the strict definitions that separate folk, outsider, craft and art brut, and simply find within that carnal instinct to create.
Victoria Lopez: I am a Chicago suburb native, finishing a BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. My background is in figurative realism and drag-racing.
Samia Mirza: Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, I moved to Chicago in 2004 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In May of 2007 I received a fellowship award from the Union League and Civic Arts Foundation. This past August my piece, Deep Fry Your Soul, was included in an exhibition entitled Queer Fest Midwest with Sadie Benning, Bruce La Bruce, Terence Koh, and others. I will receive my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in May of 2008 and will be heading West to the city of Los Angeles, California.
Aaron Straus: I am a senior at the school. I spent a few years in Kansas before returning to my Home Chicago.
Justin Swinburne: I was born in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. I am currently a 2008 BFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with emphasis in Sculpture and Painting. While enjoying my education in Chicago, I am most clear-headed when surrounded by hills, cactuses, ocean water and tacos.