Read TimeOut Chicago’s Feature: The Best Chicago Contemporary Art Galleries
We’re thrilled to be included on TimeOut Chicago’s list of “The Best Contemporary Art Galleries In Chicago”. With a roster that highlights cutting-edge, mid-career artists from Latin America, Europe, China, New York, and Chicago, we’re exhibiting works that are truly unique, thoughtful, and captivating. Be sure to stop by and view some of the best contemporary art by today’s leading international artists situated in the heart of Chicago on Magnificent Mile. Check out the feature here!
Remembering Andy
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It’s been almost 30 years since Andy Warhol died in Manhattan’s New York Hospital on February 22, 1987. Since his death, Warhol’s star has only burned brighter. The King of Pop (Art) still reigns supreme with his influence felt in fashion, music, and film. Most notably, anything by Warhol has turned to commercial gold in the art world: his artworks sell for unprecedented prices.
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In 2002, Green Car Crash sold for $71 million; last year 200 One Dollar Bills sold at Sotheby’s for a cool $43.7 million; and the artist’s 1963 work, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) netted over $100 million.
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The legacy that Warhol left behind still attracts the world’s most renowned personalities — including ARTSPACE 8 street artist WhIsBe. Almost 30 years on, we celebrate the enduring legacy of Andy and his profound influence on culture.
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VISUAL FEAST FRIDAY
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Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting an artwork from our collection for a visual feast perfect for
stimulating your eyes and ushering in the weekend.
“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” —Auguste Rodin
New works by Chinese artist, Yang Yang, are currently on view in our exhibition Agápē,
located on our 3rd floor galleries at 900 N Michigan.
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FIRST LOOK: A Preview Of Agápē
The new exhibition AGAPE will open at our 3rd floor space at 900 N Michigan featuring new works by ARTSPACE 8’s collective of artists including Yang Yang, Bruce Thorn, Jordan Scott, Fidel Rodriguez, Dariusz Labuzek, and Troy Henriksen. AGAPE will also introduce new ARTSPACE 8 artists: Polish painter, Ula Dzwonik, Chicago painter, Sandra Perlow, and Mexican sculptor Noé Katz.
Here is a preview of things to come: hanging new artworks and preparing the layout for AGAPE.
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Be sure to stop by from 5:30-9pm for the exhibition opening Friday, February 12 for cocktails, refreshments, and an evening of beautiful art.
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What’s Love Got To Do With It?
ARTSPACE 8’s first exhibition of 2016 comes just in time for Valentine’s Day and is inspired by (what else?) the concept of love.
On Friday, February 12, the opening reception for the show Agápē will feature works by ARTSPACE 8 artists whose works loosely encompass impressions of love.
The multifaceted concept of love takes on different meanings when directed towards different people. When spoken to various people, the words, “I love you”, signify different meanings to a friend, parent, and lover. The Ancient Greek philosophers took on
no less than seven different words to signify the manifold states of love:
Storge: natural affection, the love you share with your family
Philia: love that you have for friends
Eros: erotic desire (positive or negative)
Agape: unconditional love, or divine love
Ludus: playful love, like childish love or flirting
Pragma: long standing love, the love shared between a married couple
Philautia: love of the self (positive or negative)
While the nature of each state of love have been argued over centuries between philosophers, Agápē, or agapic love is most considered to be the highest form of love. Encompassing a universalist kind of love, Agápē stands for a transcendental love for all humanity, extending an egalitarian command and impartial respect for others by virtue of our shared humanity.
In this vein, ARTSPACE 8 is excited to extend our love for art with our inaugural exhibition Agápē. We invite everyone to share in the love and festivities at the opening cocktail reception, Friday, February 12, from 5:30-9pm.
VISUAL FEAST FRIDAY
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Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting an artwork from our collection for a visual feast perfect for
stimulating your eyes and ushering in the weekend.
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“To draw, you must close your eyes and sing.“ —Pablo Picasso
Check out more of Ula Dzwonik‘s paintings that often hold hidden, quirky details like headphones and paper planes,
at our galleries located at 900 N Michigan.
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BLOOD SISTERS: The Women of Abstract Expressionism and Krista Harris
With their textured surfaces, expressive gestures, and overall orgiastic energy, Colorado artist Krista Harris’s paintings bear a remarkable resemblance to the lush and vigorous canvases of American Abstract Expressionist artist Elaine de Kooning and other women of Abstract Expressionism.
The abstract stylings of pioneering female artists like Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaller showcase an intuitive handling of material and direct gestural experimentation not exclusive to the boys-club insularity and heroic machismo spirit often attributed as a defining characteristic of the Abstract Expressionism movement. Often overlooked, the contradiction between these women’s private and working lives is revealed in the relegated reputations of Lee Krasner (wife of Jackson Pollock) and Elaine de Kooning (wife of Willem).
The collision of styles has had profound repercussions on Krista’s art whose inspiration is the paradoxical dichotomies found in life and nature. Adopting the loaded canvases and sensually manipulated surfaces of her predecessors, Krista crosses generational lines with her energetic command of line, space, color, and form that recalls the bravura technique and expressive freedom of earlier Abstract Expressionist women artists. Sprawling canvases offer sumptuous abstractions of naturalistic environments of verdant greenery dappled by sunlight (no doubt inspired by the scenic Colorado landscape where she resides). And a closer look at her paintings reveal the intensity of her process of working and building up the surface, where shapes and line morph in and out of focus. On her practice, Krista reveals, “the push & pull, moments of calm and frenzy, passages of transparency juxtaposed with the opaque, the elegant & awkward – that play of opposites, the ever-changing nature of thing- [is what] makes life and art magical for me.”
A major show of more than 50 works by female Abstract Expressionists including Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler will be exhibited in Krista’s native Denver Art Museum opening June 2016 that will finally give full attention to these extraordinary artists. The works of Krista Harris are currently on display at ARTSPACE 8.
VISUAL FEAST FRIDAY
Every Friday, we’ll be highlighting an artwork from our collection for a visual feast perfect for
stimulating your eyes and ushering in the weekend.
“The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real.“ —Lucian Freud
Check out Jordan Scott‘s mixed media collage, entitled Omnis, on our 4th floor galleries located at 900 N Michigan. A closer look
at Jordan’s work reveals thousands of vintage U.S. postage stamps arranged on canvas and encased in resin.
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END OF YEAR WISH LIST: Art For Every Type Of Person You Know
Now that 2015 is winding down, it’s time for reflection and gratitude. Because nothing is more memorable than a carefully chosen work of art: ARTSPACE 8 took a look a through our collection to identify our favorite artworks for all the special people in your life. From the stylish fashionista to the nerdy comic book collector, we’ve curated a selection of affordable art (ranging in price from $700 – $3800) that is aesthetically tailored to fit everyone you know. Scroll through for our best picks for your end-of-year wish lists perfect for ringing in the New Year.
For The Cyberpunk…
Dreaming in neon has never been more exciting than with CJ Hungerman’s colorful paintings. Delve deep into a
grotesque world filled with roaring faces charged with all the energy of a V-2 rocket. His vibrant colors
form a stimulating expression of environment evocative of science-fiction anime and video game aesthetics.
Fisty Science Director, 2015
Mixed media on panel
18 x 24 inches
Artist: CJ Hungerman
For The Romantic…
Shar Coulson describes her Fauna Flora series as “emerging life-forms flowing freely between the real
and the ideal”. Her ethereal canvases radiate with passion, colors awash in tender and delicate
brushwork. These graceful and organic abstractions offer a cure for even the most incurable romantic.
FaunaFlora10, 2015
Acrylic on linen
24 x 24 inches
Artist: Shar Coulson
For The Provocateur…
This series of portraits by famed photographer Jimmy Fishbein are taken from a project entitled Angola
depicting Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates participating in the inmate rodeo in April 2009.
Stir things up with this socially compelling and thought-provoking work.
Untitled, 2015
Digital photographic print
40 x 40 inches
Artist: Jimmy Fishbein
For The Comic Book Nerd…
Reminiscent of Japanese “menko” cards, popular culture figures populate Bruce Thorn’s monotypes with retro
illustrations of superheroes and vixens. Think of these cartoon mashups as distilled comics perfect for
the comic book collector that never quite grew up.
Nice Work Too, 2012
Monotype
26 x 20 inches
Artist: Bruce Thorn
For The Fashionista…
The irreverence that made designers like Miucca Prada, Alexander McQueen, and Viktor & Rolf timeless are on full
display in French artist Catherine Lupis-Thomas’s cheeky collages. She creates stylish handmade collage works that
combine graphic design from fashion advertising.
Fashion Blah Blah Blah, 2015
Mixed media collage
15.75 x 21.65 inches
Artist: Catherine Lupis-Thomas
For The Stamp Collector…
Fastidious and meticulous, Jordan Scott uses thousands of vintage U.S. postage stamps (collected over many years)
to fashion patchworks of pattern and color that form a trompe-l’œil textile effect. From afar, these panels look just like
woven fabrics, but each stamp is set in glass-like resin preserving these antique stamps with crystalline lucidity.
Golden Lake Morning, 2013
Used U.S. postage stamps and resin on panel
24 x 48 inches
Artist: Jordan Scott
INTRODUCING… WhIsBe: Street Art Prankster And Provocateur
Street-art in New York has a considerable following; Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat both started their careers as graffiti artists, filling local walls with their colorful designs, while Banksy most recently turned New York City into his own personal art gallery in 2013.
Clearly inspired by these graffiti giants, Manhattan street artist, WhIsBe, brings an irreverent and playful edge to his own art. In 2011, WhIsBe first gained notoriety by adorning the same hallowed walls tagged by SAMO© (aka Jean-Michel Basquiat) around New York’s School of Visual Art. His “McDictator” graffiti mascot, not unlike Bansky’s own political interventions, were featured in a Huffington Post article featuring protest art targeting the Golden Arches.
Bridging both graffiti and Pop art, ARTSPACE 8 is excited to bring WhIsBe’s artwork from the streets of downtown New York to the heart of Chicago. His candy-colored canvases featuring pop culture icons from Andy Warhol to Coca-Cola are injected with equal parts naughty and nice. In his artwork, you’ll find gummy bear mugshots and 1950s pinups smiling seductively.
Vandal Gummy Bear, Acrylic and ink on canvas, 2015. Inquire for pricing.
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Make sure to check out WhIsBe’s work exclusively at ARTSPACE 8, on the 3rd and 4th floor of 900 N Michigan shops.
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