(No) Vacancy

February 4—March 31, 2012


Reception: Saturday, February 4 from 4-7 PM

Participating artists:
Lauren Anderson
Vincent Como
Antonia Contro
Alex Gartelmann and Jonas Sebura
Angelo Musco
Jamisen Ogg
Javier Pinon
Liliana Porter
Joel Ross
Alette Simmons-Jimenez
Paul Anthony Smith
Dietrich Wegner

A collaborative curatorial effort by the Carrie Secrist Gallery staff, (No) Vacancy grew from our contemplation of the hole – and the broad scope of what a hole can reference or suggest. This survey exhibition assembles a group of contemporary artists that employ a range of media to describe, illustrate, realize, invent, investigate, and/or deconstruct the simple or complex nature of a hole.

Formally, a hole might elicit a visual void (a fault, chasm, gap, interval, or portal), while conceptually, a hole might refer to an absence, something missing, an ominous threat, a sensual temptation, an entry or exit into another world, residue or remaining evidence of something that once was, and so on.

The three co-curators became overwhelmed by the notion of (w)holes in terms of trying to address larger questions about existence and infinity. As a result, our overall mission morphed into an instinct to select specific pieces that would fill a curatorial space or hole, something being made from nothing: Holes being made whole. With the wide reaching connection between the individual interpretations (for example – the play of a sexual connotation with an astrological phenomenon) as well as the simple truthfulness of a hole itself, the curatorial trio found resolution in the poetic nature of the void.

Personal layers of interest inform and define (No) Vacancy much more than, say, the hole as shape throughout the history of art or physics-based analyses of theoretical abyss, though these connections undoubtedly exist.

Instead, the individual works we chose examine architecture or framework, expose discontinuity in personal knowledge, or nod to a cheekier and more literal use of the word hole.

A site-specific installation by collaborators Alex Gartelmann and Jonas Sebura explores the loss of home as the idea of being a place. In attaching a decaying structure to a motorcycle, the artists address the intimacy and nature of their collaboration, which parallels the search for home. Through this sculpture the collaboration becomes a home and an act of preventative maintenance of the inevitable decay of one’s sense of fixed identity.

Also examining emotional and psychological vacancies, a selection of portraits by Kansas City-based Paul Anthony Smith investigate gaps in his familial history. Utilizing strangers in his native Jamaica as models, Smith’s portraits visualize potential relatives (people who might look like him) or imagine his own self-development and aging process, thereby filing holes in his personal narrative.

Continuing his ongoing study of blackness, Brooklyn-based Vincent Como exhibits Composition to Threaten Your Existence (2011), five small paintings punched directly into the gallery wall. By physically perforating the wall and interrupting its surface, Como’s work enters an unknown realm, a cosmological void that causes anxiety until filled.

Similarly minimal, Untitled (shot) by Liliana Porter offers a humorous view of deconstruction. A miniature figurine takes aim at his target, marking the gallery wall with a bullet hole and its residue.

Joel Ross presents two untitled works on paper, symbols of hearts also formed by bullet holes. These images represent a memory of past events, reminders that love can be both violent and consolatory.

The Martyrs collages by Javier Piñon invert negative space to expose figures of cowboys in Western landscapes. The iconographic cowboys freefall from torn space, permeating the picture plane with vacant symbols.

Gallery artist Dietrich Wegner shows Black Oracle (2011), a large-scale sculpture referencing a human cavity. Voluminous and tactile, Black Oracle glorifies and disguises this communal chasm.

Alette Simmons-Jimenez’ video installation depicts a hamster burrowing frantically toward us. Though seemingly whimsical, this behavior leaves viewers wondering why the small animal digs so erratically: Is there an imminent threat driven by panic, or is this favorite pet simply playing?

Gallery artist Angelo Musco brings Xylem (2011), recently debuted at PULSE Miami, an 8 x 20 feet photographic installation composed entirely of human figures. Each body or line of bodies in the work entwines to form a vast forest. Hollows in the background of the forest suggest a tunnel to an imaginary anti-universe, Musco’s fantastical abyss.

New York-based Jamisen Ogg exhibits a new piece, a framed drawing supported against the wall by a fluted 2 x 4. The saturated colors of the work on paper paired with the minimalist structure reveal a tension between division and reconciliation.

For more information please contact Stevie Greco at 312.491.0917.

Images

  • Lauren Anderson
    Untitled (#5), 2011
    Paper, color-aid, sandblasted glass, wood, acrylic
    18.75 x 23 inches

  • Lauren Anderson
    Untitled (#7), 2011
    Paper, color-aid, sandblasted glass, wood, acrylic
    19 x 21.5 inches

  • Vincent Como
    Composition to Threaten Your Existence, 2011
    Acrylic on canvas over board, beaten into wall
    7 elements, 6 x 6 inches each
    Installation view at Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago
    February 4 – March 31, 2012

  • Vincent Como
    Composition to Threaten Your Existence, 2011
    Detail
    Acrylic on canvas over board, beaten into wall
    7 elements, 6 x 6 inches each

  • Antonia Contro
    Ala, 2011
    Film in sculptural book
    11 x 10 inches
    Edition of three

  • Antonia Contro
    Ala, 2011
    Detail
    Film in sculptural book
    11 x 10 inches
    Edition of three

  • Alex Gartelmann and Jonas Sebura
    Enduro, 2012
    Motorcycle, steel, wood, vinyl, books, radio tuned to AM 530, graphite, plaster, paint, fabric, tar paper, lamp
    82 h. x 64 x 144 inches

  • Alex Gartelmann and Jonas Sebura
    Enduro, 2012
    Detail
    Motorcycle, steel, wood, vinyl, books, radio tuned to AM530, graphite, plaster, paint, fabric, tar paper, lamp
    82 h. x 64 x 144 inches

  • Angelo Musco
    Xylem, 2011
    C-print mounted between aluminum and Plexiglas
    5 panels, 105 x 42 inches each panel

  • Jamisen Ogg
    Untitled (dimensional thirdness), 2012
    Colored pencil and screenprint on paper, frame, wood
    Dimensions vary

  • Jamisen Ogg
    Untitled (dimensional thirdness), 2012
    Detail
    Colored pencil and screenprint on paper, frame, wood
    Dimensions vary

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyrs, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches each
    Installation view, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago
    February 4 – March 31, 2012

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyr 32, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyr 15, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyr 20, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyr 18, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches

  • Javier Pinon
    Martyr 14, 2008
    Collage
    11 3/8 x 8 1/2 inches

  • Liliana Porter
    Untitled (shot), 2012
    Acrylic on canvas with figurine, wall installation
    12 x 14 inches

  • Joel Ross
    Untitled, 2000
    Bullet holes in paper
    22 x 18 inches each
    Courtesy the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Installation view, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago
    February 4 – March 31, 2012

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Forward Ball Player, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8.5 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Old Joe, 2011
    oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8.5 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Birdy, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    9 x 7 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Love Session, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Unknown Cousin, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Mr. Farr, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Dream 1, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    5 x 6 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Funeral Party, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    12.5 x 16 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Dream 2, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    5 x 6 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Cricketers, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    8 x 10 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Daran, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8 inches

  • Paul Anthony Smith
    Clifton, 2011
    Oil on canvas
    10.5 x 8.5 inches

  • Dietrich Wegner
    Black Oracle, 2011
    Resin, fiberglass and steel
    96 x 96 x 48 inches