Learning Together: Art Education And Community

Rodney Graham</a>'s atypical single-channel piece, a music video for a song written and performed by the artist, featuring bucolic scenes of cherry blossoms and paddling swans intercut with images of a guitar lovingly caressed by a pink fur puff.</p><p><br></p>" />

Corbett vs. Dempsey</a> is pleased to present <a target="_blank" href=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Learning-Together--Art-Education-And-Com/"/Artist/Albert-Oehlen/840587705FF51756">Albert Oehlen</a> &amp; Kim <a target="_blank" href=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Learning-Together--Art-Education-And-Com/"/Artist/Kim-Gordon/89B3F50DBCE3F4C4">Gordon, an exhibition of new paintings and multi-media works. This is Oehlen’s fifth show with the gallery and Gordon’s first exhibition in Chicago.</p><p>In this exhibition, German-born artist Albert Oehlen presents three monumental pieces on shaped aluminum. With enamel paint marks applied directly to the raw substates, which are cut into “omega” shapes similar to those of some newer Oehlen works, these 12-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide metal paintings come equipped with sonic transducers on each of their four adjacent panels. When amplified, the paintings act as de facto speakers and project sound vibrations into the room. Oehlen invited Kim Gordon to make soundtracks for the works. She developed these sound recordings in direct material relationship with the paintings, using the transduced metal plates as amplifiers for her electric guitar. Rather than simply making these sounds for the paintings, she made the sounds on them. Gordon’s bracing improvisations, lasting around 8-minutes each, explore a wide range of colors, from chords, drone, and feedback to electrical noises made with the unplugged guitar cord. The works play intermittently, erupting energetically, then relaxing into silence, their metal forms and the gestural lines inscribed on them supercharged by Gordon’s music. In addition to these three works made collaboratively by the two artists, the exhibition presents a new canvas by Oehlen and a group of small, vibrant paintings by Gordon.</p><p><br></p>" />

Vertical Gallery, Chicago</a>’s premier urban-contemporary art gallery, is very proud to present 'Something Lost; Something Gained,' Chicago-area painter <a target="_blank" href=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Learning-Together--Art-Education-And-Com/"/Artist/Christy-Grossmann/DC8A405A912FCABE">Christy Grossmann</a>’s first solo gallery showcase.</p><p>‘Something Lost; Something Gained,’ which runs Feb. 7- Mar. 1 at Vertical’s flagship West Town location (2006 W. Chicago Ave. #1R; enter via the alley off Damen Ave.), captures and celebrates the feminine mystique in all its myriad forms. The exhibition draws insight and inspiration from seismic shifts in Grossmann’s personal and professional life: in the months leading up to ‘Something Lost; Something Gained,’ she hit pause on a 13-year career teaching art to elementary school students, and gave birth to her first child.&nbsp;</p><p>“I was an artist and teacher. Now I am a mom. I did not fully understand what that transition would mean professionally, emotionally and spiritually,” Grossmann says. “The work presented in this collection explores themes of internal growth, change, possibility and expanding beyond self-imposed boundaries.”</p><p>‘Something Lost; Something Gained’ spotlights Grossmann’s signature magical-realist portraits of enigmatic young women rendered in vivid acrylic hues. “I love to paint femininity — the flowing hair and the bright colors,” she says. “I have always been drawn to feminine energy, especially now. There are so many cool things about women and what we do.”</p><p>Each piece in ‘Something Lost; Something Gained’ incorporates antique picture framing and other upcycled materials. “The frames are part of the work,” Grossmann explains. “They demonstrate that you can take something that used to be a boundary and go past it, and make it part of something new. There are so many hidden little details and storylines in this body of work, and I'm hoping viewers can take time to reflect and really enjoy the moment.”</p><p><br></p>" />