Jan 9th 2021

Zachary Cahill is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chicago. His work examines the nature of propaganda, politics, nation-building, religion, and society. Cahill’s practice focuses primarily on a fictional nation, the USSA, as a metaphorical tool for investigating real political narratives. Through boldly colorful, fantastical, and nearly-abstract projects in a variety of media, the artist plays with the objects, places, and rituals that make up a society. Since 2010, the USSA has incorporated installations, paintings, sculptures, séance performances, and artistic writings, which have focused on several zones of ideological indoctrination including: an orphanage, a gift shop, a wellness center, the state farm, a state church/assembly, and a postal service.

His work has been exhibited in numerous venues in the United States and Europe, including the Berlin Biennale; Regina Rex, New York; Threewalls and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, among others. His writings have appeared in Afterall, Artforum, Critical Inquiry, Frieze, Journal of Visual Culture, Mousse Magazine and other arts publications. The Black Flame of Paradise his first novel, was recently published by Mousse.

Scott Wolniak is a multidisciplinary artist, teacher and occasional curator based in Chicago. His work in drawing, painting, sculpture and video involves humor and everyday life, labor-intensive techniques and humble materials. Wolniak has exhibited extensively throughout the US. His work has been written about in publications including ArtForum, Art in America and the Chicago Tribune, and is part of numerous permanent collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Lynden Sculpture Garden, Milwaukee.

Wolniak cofounded and directed Suitable Gallery, which operated out of his garage in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago between 1999 and 2004.

Wolniak received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 and MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002. He is an Instructional Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.

Image: Scott Wolniak, Untitled, acrylic, ink, oil and dry beans on canvas, 2020

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