Lightness & Being Exhibit

SoNa CHICAGO Contemporary Art
Lightness & Being group exhibition
Nov. 8, 2024 - Jan. 11, 2025

Opening Reception - West Town/Wicker Park
Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, 6 - 9 pm
1527 N Ashland, Chicago, IL 60622

Gallery hours
F 5-7 pm
Sa 12-4 pm

LIGHTNESS & BEING


How do we maintain serenity and peace within when forces outside of us are ambiguous and even tumultuous? How do we feel joy, share love, work, and create in times of uncertainty? What does it mean to “be” when we may feel apprehension about the future. This group show explores how artists interpret and express the idea of lightness and being. The artists selected for the show reflect on time, memories, and what lies ahead. They convey their wonderment at life, nature, spirituality, and our connections to each other. Light streams through the sky, through glass, or from an object. Lightness is interpreted through form, color, and texture. Silence, stillness, and meditation on spaces is conveyed in some of the artwork. Other artists reflect on hardship and how to move through it. The artists make statements with their work that are profoundly positive, and generative. They connect to nature, humanity, and creativity as forces that fill us and can impact society. Questions of what it means to be and how lightness can imbue our consciousness and senses are explored through various media.


Exhibiting Artists:  
Pinar Aral, Sharon Bladholm, Monica J. Brown, reisling dong, Alan Emerson Hicks, Robert  Fields, Mirentxu Ganzarain, Glen Gauthier, Markus Giolas, Fletcher Hayes, Anne Hughes, Ethan Hutchinson, Natalie Jackson, Damien James, Kathleen King, Pauline Kochanski, Loralyn Kumlin, Kim Laurel, Beatriz Ledesma, Antwane Lee, Michael Miller, Rosalina Perez, Corinne Peterson, Diane Ponder, Renee Robbins, Tom Robinson, Julian Sarria, Nicholas Sistler, Paul Gerard Somers, Eve Sopala, Gerardo Villarreal, Kathy Weaver, Glenn Wexler

“Fairy Ring”, Acrylic on canvas, 14”x16”, 2024

My work reflects the diverse world and the power of nature by creating awe and a sense of wonder.  By paying closer attention to our surroundings, we can experience our world with lightness and a deeper awareness of being human in our environment. The work invites us to see magical energy in everyday visual experiences.

Thanks so much to directors Laura and Molly for a fantastic show! Check out all the amazing pieces in the show on the gallery website. They put together a great online viewing experience in addition to the in person show.

 

Deep At Sea - Process

Renee Robbins, Deep at Sea, 3 color screen print, 2013.

The piece considers the shape of waves and the constantly shifting form of water.

Limited artist edition: of 27.
Dimensions: 11.5 x 11.5”
Materials: 3 color screenprint on paper

This print was made in collaboration with classical composer Seth Boustead.
Listen to the Deep at Sea Companion song by Seth here.

ABOUT: The edition was a collaboration between Spudnik Press, Homeroom Chicago, and Access Contemporary Music. The 2013 Ten x Ten project that pairs composers with visual artists to produce a song and print. There were concerts and exhibitions of the project which included 10 visual artists and 10 composers. The original edition set of 200 with prints and a vinyl record is now sold out. I have a few available from the small artist edition created with the project.

MY PROCESS: I made 5 original paintings/drawings preparing ideas and exploring forms for the project. I often call my works on paper drawings even if I use paint. After I did the originals, I next drew three layers with an old fashion quill pen and brush and ink on transparent film. The films were needed to burn screens to produce the different colors of the screen print. The print has three layers of blue. The edition was printed by hand by Chicago printmakers at Spudnik Press.

The print is available in my webstore here.

STUDIES in gouache and colored pencil

Studies for the larger originals which were made first.

Studies for the larger originals which were made first.

Original paintings in gouache and colored pencil

Hand Painted Films
using a Quill Pen, brush, & Ink

hand drawn film layer 1

hand drawn film layer 2

hand drawn film layer 3

Ten x Ten 2013

Ten x Ten, 2013 Edition

Ten x Ten is a collaboration between visual artists and musicians exploring visual and auditory interaction. By challenging artists to conceptualize their work across media, Ten x Ten asks participants stretch and expand their creative process. Through producing a limited edition compilation and public presentation of the resulting artworks, Ten x Ten documents, celebrates, and promotes Chicago’s artistic community.

Ten x Ten 2013 investigates the relationship between color and sound. Through exploring the underlying concepts of synesthesia, both academically and intuitively, artists and composers have worked together to produce artwork that takes the form of both a fine art print and an original score.  This project is presented by Access Contemporary Music, Homeroom, and Spudnik Press.

Featured print and song collaborations:

Lilli Carre and Michael Miller
Edie Fake and Andrew Tham
Jo Dery and Jude Mathews
Aaron Renier and Brain Baxter
Chad Kouri and Marjorie Rusche
Craig Hansen and Betsy Start
Aaron Maurer and Tim Corpus
Ann Worthing and Amos Gillespie
Angee Lennard and Randall West
Renee Robbins and Seth Boustead

The collection of prints includes an LP with ten unique tracks, a hand-printed folio, and a plastic protective sleeve.

 

Classic Crime album and "Radar"

I had a chance to create a new painting inspired in part by the comb jellyfish. The underlying structure of this painting started with looking at images and videos of the bioluminescent creature that lives in the deep ocean.

This is the same creature that inspired H.R. Giger to create the alien for the alien movies. I think his interpretation is much more menacing than my own. I use my own language of painting to create the otherworldly unseen universe in each original art piece.

As in many of my artworks, some inspirations are nameable in our world and some are completely abstract. However, I think my visual language adds secrets and hidden meanings to these real sources. The viewer can consider if is this real or not. I want viewers to question and look within their knowledge of the universe to see what they can figure out, decode, or even imagine.

I sometimes wonder if it is important for me to name the creatures that inspire my work because I change it so much from the the original source that it is hardly recognizable. I was also inspired by diatoms which are the light blue and purple forms in the night sky or deep ocean. There are many forms in this painting that are invented and do not come from our world. This painting is part of the GLOW series created in 2012-2013 but this new piece was created in 2024

Radar, 14" x 16", acrylic on canvas, 2024, private collection.

The album layout was designed by Graphic Designer Alexander C. Sprungle https://sprungle.co/ He did such a great job with the project and I love the little details he took from my painting and added to the layout here.
My amazing artist friend Justin Henry Miller recommended my artwork for this project. Thank you so much to Justin! Please check out his work as he is an incredible artist based in Missouri and shows frequently here in Chicago at ZG Gallery.

You Can Pick it Up On Radar, 20" x 20", acrylic on canvas, 2013, private collection

How to Be Human

April 28, 2017

“It's been almost five years since The Classic Crime dropped their last full-length album of originals, called Phoenix; and many wondered what they would get from their newest offering… Thankfully, the Classic Crime are still around. And thankfully, they’re still making some of the best music out there. The suitable conclusion that the album arrives at in its final line ("Savior/Save me") serves as an appropriate statement to end such a colorful listening experience.”

Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Youtube

Video Animation of my painting

 
 

Behind "Wish Fulfillment"

Wish Fulfillment, 14” h. x16” w., acrylic on canvas, 2024. part of the FERN DWELLERS series.

I heard somewhere that if you believe your wishes will come true it actually rewires your brain. It sounds sort of silly with Pollyanna-like thinking but I guess people have studied our thinking related to our mindset and experience. I don’t remember the source but I’ve heard it a few times. We also have like 80,000 thoughts in a day and most of them are negative fixations. This blows my mind to consider. How can one person even have that many thoughts? You don’t have to follow them all either.

The power of positive thinking over time even in small amounts causes synapses in your brain to actually physically change in the cells and makes it easier for good thoughts to bloom.

I’m intentionally choose to try and combat a few of those negative thoughts each day by imagining all my wishes have already come true and I am fulfilled. This is the secret to life I believe. When you realize that already have everything you desire and you control your own experience with the world you reclaim your own power and abundance.

This star form is a recurring motif in my work. Inspired by the special star shaped sand that can be only found on the beaches of Japan. Link in bio to see the collection of works with this form.

Check out the collection of art works with this same form or motif here. They all have different color palettes and compositions. And another piece I have created with the star sand motif here.

I also really like that Sonic Youth song of the same name. Don’t mind if I borrow it for this painting title at all.

 

About "Nightwatching"

Nightwatching, 16” x 20”, aersol, spraypaint, and colored pencil, 2021.

Night Watching is from the EXPEDITION SPECTRUM series. Each piece starts with a different base color from the rainbow. I was thinking about outdoor colors around midnight and the intense way they interact.

I enjoy looking at the night sky and imagining a multitude flora and fauna in a distant land.  These forms grow, bloom and change. Letting my imagination go wild and dream is my very favorite activity. The quiet space to dream in viewing the sky fuels my energy and curiosity about the world we live in.