NavtaSchulz Gallery and Monique Meloche Gallery are pleased to present The Unicorn in
Captivity, by Alexa Horochowski. This body of work was first exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts during the summer of 2006. For the Chicago exhibition, in addition to the work first shown at the museum, Horochowski will be exhibiting several new paintings, a video, and a new wall drawing. Horochowski’s narrative paintings typically depict female adolescents precariously perched on the verge of physical tragedy. These playful and vividly color-rich works expose the vulnerability of innocence or more specifically the impending loss of innocence brought on through experience. The paintings, however, continue to provoke the viewer.
In an essay written for the Minneapolis exhibition, artist and writer Michelle Grabner draws attention to the duality of each painting’s protagonist: “Horochowski…complicates the thorny
subject matter of love, desire, fear, and hope. Her prepubescent girls are dewy and tainted, gracious and crestfallen. They embody all the ills and benevolence that constitute the human condition. They are neither good nor evil.” The work takes its visual cues from comic books and graphic novels. However, these paintings remove the comforts and privacy afforded through such formats. Horochowski’s paintings are nearly 5 by 6 feet.
The Minneapolis exhibition marked the reintroduction of the Minnesota Institute of Art’s Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP). Horochowski was given two new adjoining galleries to show these large acrylic works on paper. Typically the program intends to show the work of two artists simultaneously – a practice halted for Horochowski’s exhibition.
Although she was raised in Patagonia, Argentina, Horochowski received a Bachelor of Journalism, from the University of Missouri, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In addition to solo shows at Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Braga Menendez Gallery in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the artist has shown at Minneapolis’s Soap Factory and at Liste ’05 in Basel, Switzerland.
The Unicorn in Captivity runs from January 12, 2007 through March 6, 2007 at NavtaSchulz Gallery, 1039 West Lake Street, Chicago, IL 60607. A reception for the artist will be held at NavtaSchulz Gallery on January 12th, 2006 from 6pm through 9pm.
