Artists from
around the country are currently being displayed in an exhibition sponsored
by the Associate Board, a group of young business and civic leaders committed
to building awareness of the best ranked rehabilitation hospital in America,
as reported by U.S. News & World Report every year since 1991. The
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago will receive funds from an auction of
exhibit pieces during an event held this Thursday night, February 17, from
6:30 to 9PM. While tickets for this award party might be out of range
for student budgets, the exhibit is able to be viewed for free in the lobby
of the AMA building, 515 N State, until February 18th.
Entitled
ArtFutura, American artists submitted work based on
this theme and were selected by James Rondeau of the Art Institute. While it
is an American-themed exhibit, many Chicago-based artists are featured, including
Its own Bob Krawczyk, of the School of Architecture.
Among the works there are a variety of media presented, beginning with the
first presentations in the exhibit. Using a variety of symbols and
letters, a handful of artists submitted work that abstracted the ordinary
meanings of a clock or groups of words placed in a variety of colors.
Within the initial group of exhibited art is a unique quilting-inspired piece
that provides unobstructed cuts of fabric that are seamlessly layered and
interwoven. Strategically placed sewing thread lines complete the
piece. However, the exhibit quickly changes pace with a second section filled
with paintings and the compositions of twelve-to-fifty-seven million points
which make up Krawczyk’s work.
Possibly the artist who presents most competently to the theme ArtFutura,
Krawczyk uses “the value of the color, red, ranges from early time, nearly
black, to the recent time, bright red” to define his three ArtFutura pieces
in addition to the nearly two thousand other images online at
http://home.netcom.com/~bitart/ . By using color to crossover
dimensions, Krawczyk creates illusions, whether real or unnatural. The three
dimensional images present a highlight in a show that questions the future of
art by not questioning it at all. Although no one would be able to
fortune tell about the real plight of art, there were no digital elements
represented at all in this exhibit which presented a major disappointment and
absolutely no inspiration.
Getting back
to aged methods of art production, painter Deborah Adams Doering, gained
inspiration from holy subjects such as the inside of a stain-glass church and
priest figure for her pixilated works. Two other artists were be found
with similar works, but each with their own variation such as Anni Holm who
chose to work with black ink and her thumbs to create her pixelations. Larry
Deemer also took an eye-pleasing option of comparing different tones of blue
through a cubed painting.
The theme of ArtFutura becomes blurred with a series of three paintings of a
suspended nude model. Using two straps hung from the ceiling, a
variation of positions and household spaces are used for an unclear
meaning. Not too much thought was expended on these pieces as the
following etchings were too noticeable. One artist used two layers of
glass and papers to produce shapes by poked holes, similar to an unfinished
connect the dots. The result is fascinating with a variety of depth.
Another not so clear intention is that of artist Wendy Park, who blurred and
superimposed objects that are accompanied by a single, defined line cutting
through her two pieces. Combined with the titles “Integrity” and
“Artificial Boundaries,” no meaning at all was derived.
One artist, however, indeed used technology to create his version of Union
Station by using the same shot filled with different people. These shots were
then seamlessly put together and subjects were placed in a Polaroid frame,
which made the composition less effective. Another disappointing piece
of “futuristic art” was the documentation of airport call names, such as
O’Hare international airport’s ORD, gathered together in a square section of
graphing paper. One
last redemption for the show was Larry Chait’s close-up view of decaying leaf
edges on an otherwise healthy leaf.
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