featuring new work by gallery artists:
Justin Cooper, Robert Davis / Michael Langlois,
Jason Middlebrook, Karen Reimer, Joel Ross,
and Carrie Schneider

November 13, 2010 – January 8, 2011

While visiting our gallery artists’ studios over the past year in anticipation of future solo shows, the opportunity to curate a special group exhibition presented itself. This non-thematic show perfectly exhibits our gallery philosophy and will feature the newest work by selected artists that make up moniquemeloche.

Justin Cooper (American, born 1976)
In the spring of 2010, following the MCA Chicago’s exhibition Production Site, the museum acquired three drawings and a video by Cooper for their permanent collection. Then, on the heels of a very successful solo project in Basel this past June, Cooper moved to Brooklyn. For the month of November 2010, he will be an Artist in Residence at RedLine in Milwaukee WI. In February 2011, Cooper has a solo show at the Philip J. Steele Gallery at the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Denver CO. In April 2011, Cooper has a solo show and performance at the Arthouse in Austin TX.

Robert Davis/Michael Langlois (American, born 1970; American, born 1974)
The Miami Museum of Contemporary Art acquired two portrait drawings from our last exhibition with Davis/Langlois at the gallery in 2009, which was concurrent with their solo show at the MCA Chicago.  Since then, the collaborative artists have had successful solo shows in Miami and Seattle.  This fall, the artists will have work in two group exhibitions: Chicago Imagism(s), curated by Jim Yood, at the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery at San Jose State University opening Nov 16 and It Is What It Is, curated by Caroline Peters,  at Colorado State University Gallery in Pueblo CO opening Nov 12.

Jason Middlebrook (American, born 1966)
We were thrilled to have our first solo exhibition with Middlebrook in Summer 2010. Concurrently, his work was featured in the MCA Chicago exhibition Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy, which travels to the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Middlebrook’s solo exhibition titled More Art About Buildings and Food recently inaugurated the reopening of the expanded and newly renovated Arthouse at the Jones Center in Austin TX.  As we speak, he is finalizing two major commissions for the Manhattan Transit Authority Avenue U Station, Brooklyn NY and General Services Administration to create art for the new federal courthouse in Billings, MT.

Karen Reimer (American, born 1958)
In 2010 Karen Reimer was awarded the President’s Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art (WCA).  Recently her work has been featured in four major books: Limited Language: Rewriting Design: Responding to a Feedback Culture by Birkhauser Press: Basel, Contemporary Textiles: The Fabric of Fine Art by Black Dog Press, The Object of Labor: Art, Cloth, and Cultural Production by The MIT Press, and By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art by Princeton Architectural Press. We are looking forward to her much anticipated solo exhibition here in Fall 2011, and a show is in the works by the Gahlberg Gallery at the College of DuPage.

Joel Ross (American, born 1966)
After our successful 2009 solo exhibition with Ross and his sold-out showing in Miami 2009, Ross has been extremely busy. His photographs were included in the exhibition Four American Landscapes: Sang-ah Choi, Jeffrey T. Jones, Andrew Lenaghan, and Joel Ross that traveled from Virginia to New York, and his work was in countless group shows from Iowa City IA to Peoria IL to Seattle WA.  In 2011, Ross’s work will be included in the group exhibition Write Now!, curated by Nathan Mason at the Chicago Cultural Center and a solo show at Beta Pictoris Gallery in Birmingham, AL.  This fall Ross received tenure at the University of Illinois. Congrats!

Carrie Schneider (American, born 1979)
Following the December 2009 debut of her film Slow Dance at the MCA Chicago, Schneider was a Visiting Artist at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria. Group shows and screenings from New York to Norway led up to her 2010 solo exhibition The Artist’s Hand at The Robert T. Wright Gallery of Art, College of Lake County, IL. This summer Schneider collaborated with dancer/choreographer Kyle Abraham on a new work that premiered at Jacob’s Pillow Dance festival in the Berkshires in western MA. This fall Schneider has a solo show at Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary in Helsinki, Finland, and will be included in the group exhibition Betwixt and Between, curated by Liza Statton, at Artspace in New Haven CT.  Schneider was awarded a 2010 Individual Artist Project Grant from the Illinois Arts Council and will be included in the Pittsburgh Biennial, curated by Eric Shiner, at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA in 2011. Currently Schneider is faculty at the International Center of Photography in New York, NY.

on the wall: As if by Carla Arocha – Stéphane SchraenenThe on the wall series is a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed from Division Street through our floor to ceiling windows. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of “viewing,” the series features site-specific projects in a wide range of media made by an equally diverse group of artists.

Carla Arocha (Venezuelan, born Caracas 1961, lives Antwerp, Belgium) and Stéphane Schraenen (Belgian, born 1971, lives Antwerp, Belgium) began collaborating publically in 2007 with their exhibition Mauraders at moniquemeloche. Previously, Arocha has had solo exhibitions at moniquemeloche in 2004 and 2001. In 2009 Carla Arocha – Stéphane Schraenen permanently installed the City of Chicago commissioned artwork 24/7 at the CTA’s Red Line Howard Station.  The artists have had solo exhibitions at the FRAC Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France, the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland, and the MUHKA in Antwerp, Belgium and have work in a number of prestigious institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, IL;  the F.R.A.C. Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; the Fundación Banco Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela; the  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (MUHKA), Antwerp, Belgium; and the Stiftung Kunsthalle Bern Gegenwart, Bern, Switzerland.

Please contact the gallery with questions:
Whitney Tassie, Director
773.252.0299, info@moniquemeloche.com
Tues-Sat 11am-6pm

September 16 – November 6, 2010

Opening reception for the artists Thursday, September 16^th, 4-7pm

With As if, Carla Arocha – Stéphane Schraenen offer us the double-edged sword that is a frequent feature of their work. The off-hand nonchalance of the title, now a loaded statement in the popular vernacular, might indicate a certain cynicism or world-weariness; a jaundiced eye cast in the direction of art and its efforts. But, like so many other aspects of their work, this is something of an illusion and an allusion.

The title equally refers to the formal and material nature of their new work itself. Within the work of Arocha – Schraenen, simile and facsimile are often content; the nature of an image and its similarity or distance from the perception of that image. In the works that play with layering and blurring the lines between what is, in reality, a solid surface and what is only a reflection –or the facsimile of a tangible material – Arocha – Schraenen join the dotted lines between Modernism’s approach to something nearing an abstracted form of representation and the age old mimetic thrust of art drawing upon observations of the world around us.

In As if this intersection between science and art’s mimetic drives is once again foregrounded. Each work is actually a moiré of one form or another, whether manifesting as a sculpture or photographic work. Most immediately associated with textiles, a moiré is also a scientific phenomenon: an interference created when two grids are superimposed at an angle or where their mesh sizes differ. The nature of the moiré phenomenon connects textile traditions with the photographic and reprographic process and naturally lies within Arocha – Schraenen’s explorations of how images are constructed. In this particular case, their interest examines how moirés manifest in static objects transmute into a perception of movement. Yet, the works also conversely evoke a sense of scientifically explained moirés that occur when an image-making device – for example a television camera- attempts to transmit an image of certain patterned static objects due to the sampling limitations of the medium itself. Just as an image may prove illusory, these works remind us more specifically that one way in which an image might prove to be different from its perception is in terms of movement. Exactly what is moving and what is still within each situation?

-          Text excerpted from essay by Ken Pratt

Carla Arocha (Venezuelan, born Caracas 1961, lives Antwerp, Belgium) and Stéphane Schraenen (Belgian, born 1971, lives Antwerp, Belgium) began collaborating publically in 2007 with their exhibition Mauraders at moniquemeloche. Previously, Arocha has had solo exhibitions at moniquemeloche in 2004 and 2001. In 2009 Carla Arocha – Stéphane Schraenen permanently installed the City of Chicago commissioned artwork 24/7 at the CTA’s Red Line Howard Station.  The artists have had solo exhibitions at the FRAC Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France, the Kunsthalle Bern in Switzerland, and the MUHKA in Antwerp, Belgium and have work in a number of prestigious institutions including the Art Institute of Chicago, IL;  the F.R.A.C. Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France; the Fundación Banco Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela; the  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (MUHKA), Antwerp, Belgium; and the Stiftung, Bern, Switzerland.

Special thanks to the Consulate of the Kingdom of Belgium. For more information please contact the gallery.

May 22 – July 31, 2010

“Less is more.” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect
“Doing more with less.” – Buckminster Fuller, designer
“Less but better.” Dieter Rams, industrial designer

“Live with less.” – Jason Middlebrook

Jason Middlebrook’s longstanding interest in the decaying landscape was all about “sustainability” before the word became part of our everyday vernacular. His paintings, drawings, sculptures and installations address the concept of living with less and literally build upon this strategy to convey that one can also be “alive with less.” Re-imagining discarded materials like cardboard and plastic bottles into provocative installations, Middlebrook essentially creates something from nothing. In his site-specific installation LESS, Middlebrook uses trashed and abandoned wood materials scavenged from the streets, alleys, and basements of Chicago to create a jumbled starburst of reclaimed wood in the gallery. The gravity-defying installation will be tension-supported as the arms of the starburst press against the gallery walls, each arm anchored with paintings and drawings further investigating man’s relationship with nature.

“Instead of making work about man’s misunderstanding of nature I am making work that embraces nature’s endless visual gifts and complexities of its processes. In the past I chose to comment on man’s fear and destruction of the environment. In recent years I’m more interested in a collaboration with nature, a deeper look at nature.” — Jason Middlebrook 2010

Jason Middlebrook, born 1966 in Michigan and based in Hudson New York, has exhibited extensively in the US and in Europe since 1994 when he graduated from San Francisco Art Institute. His work has been exhibited at The Aldrich Museum, Connecticut; The Aspen Art Museum, Colorado; Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea Siena, Italy; The New Museum; The Whitney Museum; The Welcome Trust, London; and the Public Art Fund NY, among other institutions. In 2010 Middlebrook has two major commissions that will be completed, The Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago as part of the exhibit Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy curated by Lynne Warren.

Karl Haendel & Walead Beshty,
Sheree Hovsepian,
and Barbara Kasten

March 20 – May 15, 2010

This group exhibition considers three different manifestations of black and white photographic abstraction, each questioning the apparent boundaries of the “imitative” medium by introducing the plurality and rich histories of other artistic genres. Though still concerned with the photographic process, these artists look outside the medium to further the discourse around abstract photography.

In the “Plug-n-Play” series, Haendel and Beshty collaborate to make photo/spray enamel/inkjet collages. Beshty’s underlying photographic print tracks the process of exposing light sensitive photographic paper. On top of this base, Haendel places what appears to be an abstract photographic image but is instead unique spay enamel on paper mimicking the photographic look. Then, completely blurring medium-specific imagery, the artists together create an inkjet image, at once a photo and a painting.

Hovsepian pushes photography’s definition with digital manipulation and added sculptural elements. The artist photographs light emitted through holes punched in black paper. The resultant image is then mirrored and enlarged digitally before printing. On top of this meticulously created image, the artist adds the unique elements of string and graphite: the white and red string wound around nails echoes the photo’s tight, controlled composition while the silver graphite on the black matte paper brings a free, emotive quality to work.

Kasten, perhaps the most “traditional” of the three artists, begins by building sculptures of Plexiglas for her “Studio Constructs” series. Plexiglas, a protective material typically used to glaze photographs, by purpose is not meant to have any visual affect. But, by manipulating light and the transparent material, Kasten’s enlarged images are filled with tension and contrast as well as subtle tonal differences. She poetically creates and captures a representational value that never existed.

Karl Haendel (American b. NY 1976, lives Los Angeles) received his BA from Brown University in 1998 and his MFA from UCLA in 2003. He has an upcoming solo show at the Lever House NY 2010 and an upcoming group show at the Guggenheim in 2010. Currently his work is on view in the exhibition Beg Borrow Steal at the Rubell Family Collection and was recently included in Picturing the Artist’s Studio at the Sullivan Galleries at SAIC. His work is in the permanent collections of the Hammer LA, the Fogg Boston, the Guggenheim NY, MOMA NY, MoCA LA, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY to name a few.

Walead Beshty (British b. London 1976, lives Los Angeles) received his BA from Bard in 1999 and his MFA from Yale in 2002. His work was recently included in group exhibitions at MOMA NY, Tate Britain, The Whitney Museum, NY; and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Beshty recently had solo exhibitions at the Hammer Museum LA, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden DC, and PS1 Long Island City, NY. Select permanent collections that own his work include the Hammer LA, The Henry, The Hirshhorn, The Guggenheim NY, MOMA NY, MCA Chicago, V+A London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

Sheree Hovsepian (American b. Iran 1974, lives NY) received her BFA/BA from the University of Toledo in 1999, studied at The Glasgow School of Art, Scotland and received her MFA from SAIC in 2002. Her work was recently exhibited in group shows at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Momenta Art Brooklyn, and Charest-Weinberg Gallery in Miami. In 2009 she had a solo show at the Spertus Museum in Chicago. In 2008 she was a recipient of the 2008 Aljira Emerge 20 Residency in Newark NJ. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Spertus Museum Chicago.

Barbara Kasten (American b. Chicago 1936, lives Chicago) received her BFA from the University of Arizona, Tucson in 1959 and her MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland in 1970. In 2006, she was named Columbia College Chicago’s first “Distinguished Artist.” Kasten is having quite a resurgence in Chicago with group exhibitions currently on view at Columbia College A+D Gallery and upcoming at both Shane Campbell and Tony Wight. Her work is also currently on view in Starburst: The History of Color Photography in the 1970’s, a travelling exhibition recently opened at The Cincinnati Museum of Art (catalog avail). Upcoming is a solo show in Paris a Galerie Almine Rech. Kasten’s work is in such prestigious museum collections as The Art Institute of Chicago, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo Mexico City, High Museum Atlanta, International Center for Photography NY, J.Paul Getty Museum, LA, LACMA, Met, MFA Houston, MOMA NY, Museum of Modern Art Lodz Poland, and SFMoma.

Extended View!
on the wall featuring assume vivid astro focus

 The on the wall series will be a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed from Division Street through our floor to ceiling windows. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of “viewing,” the series will feature site-specific projects in a wide range of media made by an equally diverse group of artists. The gallery hopes to bring new work to Chicago and views this series as an opportunity to work with an exciting group of artists new to the gallery! We are pleased to present the inaugural project with assume vivid astro focus.

Butch Queen 5

assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is the pseudonym given to a unique network of collaborators “born anytime between the 20th and 21st centuries in various parts of the world.” The international group of visual and performance artists have a wide-ranging aesthetic project that combines psychadelia glam, kitsch, and pop. For this site-specific installation Butch Queen 5, vinyl wallpaper covers the entire street-facing wall of the new moniquemeloche gallery space. This will be the first solo project for avaf in Chicago, however the work was included in both the Sympathy for the Devil (2007) and Tropicalia (2006) exhibitions at the MCA Chicago. Selected exhibitions include The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway,(solo 2009), Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany (solo 2009), Poprally, MoMA, New York 2009, 28th São Paulo Biennial, curated by Ivo Mesquita and Ana Paula Cohen, São Paulo, Brazil, 2008, and the Whitney Biennial 2004. Upcoming in 2010 are a solo exhibitions at KadE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Centro Contemporaneo La Conserva, Murcia, Spain, as well as a Public art project for V/W, Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany. avaf has been featured in Art Forum, Frieze, Flash Art, L’Uomo Vogue, V Magazine, W Magazine, and is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawing Collection. avaf is currently based in New York and Paris. avaf work courtesy Peres Projects Berlin/LA.

January 16 – March 13, 2010

The Dog and the Wolf is Letinsky’s newest series of photographs. The title is from Aesop’s Fable of the same name, but also refers to the French phrase L’heure entre chien et loup — the time between dog and wolf is seen when dusk becomes night. This is a mysterious time when day and night exist together, when a dog is no longer a dog but not fully a wolf. Exploring this concept, Letinsky is now photographing in twilight as opposed to the morning light that permeated her earlier work. The subject matter of her recent still life photographs mirrors the darker lighting and mood with a grotesque beauty. Dead hares, birds, and even an octopus more typical of this historical genre share the stage with lollipops, candy canes, and half-eaten fruit from the artist’s own daily life.

Born in Canada in 1962, Letinsky received her MFA from Yale University in 1991 and was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. Letinsky’s work is held in the collections of the Stuttgart Museum, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Amon Carter Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. She has exhibited internationally most recently in Rome, London and Bochum Germany. This past summer, Letinsky was an Artist in Residence at Randolph Cliff, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China. A survey of her work is being organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2010 and will travel. Laura Letinsky is currently a Professor at the University of Chicago.

LINKS:
ArtForum
TimeOut Chicago
NewCity
Flavorpill
Gapers Block
The Chi Guide

ANOUNCING on the wall
…. featuring assume vivid astro focus

The on the wall series will be a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed from Division Street through our floor to ceiling windows. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of “viewing,” the series will feature site-specific projects in a wide range of media made by an equally diverse group of artists. The gallery hopes to bring new work to Chicago and views this series as an opportunity to work with an exciting group of artists new to the gallery! We are pleased to present the inaugural project with assume vivid astro focus.

Butch Queen 5

assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is the pseudonym given to a unique network of collaborators “born anytime between the 20th and 21st centuries in various parts of the world.” The international group of visual and performance artists have a wide-ranging aesthetic project that combines psychadelia glam, kitsch, and pop. For this site-specific installation Butch Queen 5, vinyl wallpaper covers the entire street-facing wall of the new moniquemeloche gallery space. This will be the first solo project for avaf in Chicago, however the work was included in both the Sympathy for the Devil (2007) and Tropicalia (2006) exhibitions at the MCA Chicago. Selected exhibitions include The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway,(solo 2009), Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany (solo 2009), Poprally, MoMA, New York 2009, 28th São Paulo Biennial, curated by Ivo Mesquita and Ana Paula Cohen, São Paulo, Brazil, 2008, and the Whitney Biennial 2004. Upcoming in 2010 are a solo exhibitions at KadE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Centro Contemporaneo La Conserva, Murcia, Spain, as well as a Public art project for V/W, Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany. avaf has been featured in Art Forum, Frieze, Flash Art, L’Uomo Vogue, V Magazine, W Magazine, and is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawing Collection. avaf is currently based in New York and Paris. avaf work courtesy Peres Projects Berlin/LA.