The Visualist » The Family Room

Nancy Rosen: More is More

karly — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 23:00:57 +0000

Since Nancy Rosen was a little child she has found solace in the small things: sunflower seeds, rubber band balls, using the roll of toothpaste until there is not a single drop left. She sees beauty and comfort in repetition, patterns in most any variety.

It’s the little things that guide her painting. The way a subject smiles. The way the light hits their arm. That tiny background detail that suddenly seems dreadfully important to the finished work. Nancy’s artistic process is one of open arms.

She paints without vacation or hiatus, filling the walls of her Chicago studio with works-in-progress, none removed until they’re finished. Patterns beget new patterns; images layer on top of one another as she aims to capture little human encounters, ranging from a soft embrace to the hidden, reassuring brush of an index finger at the edge of the picture plane.

She’s truly an artist in every essence of the word. More Is More, in the Family Room, represents a diverse and expansive taste of her endless collection—a wide variety of little things.

There, now it will last forever

karly — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:44 +0000

Views of Nature and Conceptions of Preservation.

Join us as we delve into human nature in relation to the natural environment; our inherent connection as animals dependent on the Earth for survival and the disconnection created by technology, self & society.

There, now it will last forever is an exhibition of works by some of Chicago’s most talented environmentally minded and motivated artists. The exhibition includes drawings, paintings, collage, objects, and installations.

Work by Stephen Eichhorn, James Ewert Jr, Ron Ewert, Mike Fortress, Jenny Kendler, Michael Ruggirello, Ben Speckmann, Davey Sommers, Scott Thomas, Ina Weise and INDO.

We Are Family

karly — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:00:46 +0000

In conjunction with Chicago Design Week 2010, the Post Family welcomes nine voices from the far reaches of Chicago’s graphic design community to the Family Room Gallery for a look at surprising, evocative and oftentimes challenging work that consistently redefines the boundaries of the field.

Participants include Also, Margot Harrington, Shawn Hazen, Letterform, Plural, Scott Reinhard, Sonnenzimmer, Issac Tobin and David Weik.

FOLLOWING OF ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER

karly — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:00:53 +0000

All the way from Dresden, Germany, Ina Weise came to Chicago eager to become what became the first intern at the design collaborative The Post Family. This opportunity rapidly evolved into a self-initiated artist residency. Over the past year Ina has created a large portfolio including screenprinted and letterpressed works, small scale sculptural objects, and artist books. THE FOLLOWING OF ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER is a multiplatform site-specific installation inspired by her time spent in Chicago.

In true Post Family form, Ina collaborates with Linsey Burritt of INDO. Riffing on the idea of a dodecahedron symbolizing the 5th element or the universe, they transform the formal gallery space into a mystical world of form, textures, and light (or lack thereof), using mostly salvaged and discarded materials from the studio and around the city. Ina will also be displaying other collaborative pieces like large scale letterpress prints executed with Letterform and a projected video installation created by Gus Gavino which utilizes some of Weise’s early screenprint studies.

Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher: Vorab Fabrik

karly — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:00:52 +0000

As Sonnenzimmer, Nadine Nakanishi and Nick Butcher have created screen printed posters for clients as varied as Throbbing Gristle, Andrew Bird, The Newberry Library and Human Rights Watch. Using a mixture of chance abstraction, modernist typography, and representational imagery, the duo has created a unique aesthetic that pulls from various movements in art history while remaining distinctly forward thinking. Vorab Fabrik or “Beforehand Factory” is the duo’s first exclusive solo gallery show focusing on their non commissioned art work. Pulling from such influences as minimalism, arte povera, and abstract expressionism, the two are creating work that forgoes the functionality of the poster yet retains the graphic quality found in their commercial work. Vorab Fabrik features new paintings, prints, and installations.

Family View

karly — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 00:30:17 +0000

What is family? The answer can be comforting to some, and terrifying to others. For most of us the answer lies somewhere in-between those two extremes, and that’s where things just begin to get interesting.

Join us in welcoming Paul Elledge, Leasha Overturf and Jo-Nell Sieren to the Family Room Gallery this September as they individually answer this seemingly simple, straightforward question through a common medium of photography in Family View.