Naperville District 203 Art Teacher's Show Their Stuff!

The current Naperville District 203 Art teachers’ exhibition at Benedictine University, which began on October 17th,  features the art works of thirteen high school art teachers. Their works range from painting, drawing, jewelry, ceramics, digital art and photography. It is part of the university art gallery's mission to display local talent, including high school students and their teachers.

Many of these teachers’ works are illustrative, and several present wild, fantastical places one can only hope to imagine. The they represent some of the best teachers in the school district and one can see why students would be inspired by and enthusiastic to work with these artists. I am posting some of their images here.

 

This exhibition runs through December 19^th, and is located  on the 2^nd floor atrium gallery space of Kindlon Hall of Learning.

 

The building is open to the public M-Sun 8:00am- 10 :00pm. For any questions about this exhibit, or others on campus, please contact us at cgaddis@ben.edu or call 630-829-6320, or visit our website at www.ben.edu/artgallery

Ed Paschke Commemorative Exhibit at KAG

Excerpts taken from an article from That’s Inked Up, a blog on contemporary printmaking, by Teresa J. Parker

"Ed Paschke: In Private Hands", October 6 - November 30, 2014

Benedictine University's Fr. Michael E. Komechak, O.S.B., Art Gallery, http://www.ben.edu/artgallery,  is pleased to present a special commemorative exhibition on famed Chicago artist, Ed Paschke. This exhibit gives us a look at his work, since his passing ten years ago. It features works from the family's private holdings, and some rarely seen works, including prints and posters.

Ed Paschke (1939 – 2004) was a Slovak-American painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and later worked as a commercial artist, until he was drafted into the Army in 1962. When he returned to Chicago, he worked as an illustrator and then went to teach painting at Northwestern University. His prolific career was cut short when he died on Thanksgiving morning, in 2004, of an apparent heart attack.

For those of you unfamiliar with Paschke's prints or paintings, they earned him worldwide acclaim, and secured a spot in the art history annals for Chicago's Imagist Movement; popular in the latter part of the 20th century. Paschke was aligned with a group of artists working in Chicago whose imagery was drawn from cartoon-like characters. Their bond has been a staple of the Chicago art scene, and has inspired numerous artists and followers, Tony Fitzpatrick and Jeff Koons, to name a few.(Koons studied with Paschke at Northwestern University, and admits Paschke's influence upon his own ideas.)

Paschke's love of making art started as a child while making objects with his father and brother. He liked Disney cartoons and grew up in Chicago during a period of relative calm until the civil rights marches came to the Midwest. The thing about Paschke's work is that he brings out the crust, if your will, of our society. I can't say these images of pimps, strippers and gestapo-like characters aren't prevalent in Chicago. They can be found, but one gets an oddly curious feel for these portraits. They are flamboyant, wild and gregarious. His work includes carney performer posters and weirdly misshapen musicians, with the ever seductive Marilyn Monroe picture stuck in there, just for fun.

A lot has been made of Paschke's fascination with these oddballs, his interest in Latino and African-American male portraits, with a few gangsta gun references and mask-like hooligans. These images are full and present, but there is nothing to suggest Paschke was truly mesmerized by these subjects any more than he was of painting a self-portrait or any other subject. They were subjects readily handy at the time and he grabbed at them, pulled them together in psychedelic neon colors and blazed a trail for us to follow.

"I like a lot of color. When I was a kid, I always found fireworks really fascinating. The way that firecrackers are packaged. The circus, too. The heightened sense of reality and the total spectacle of it."

His portraits of Michael Jordan were timely, with the Chicago Bulls championships of the 1990s, but he seemed more akin to finding and using the subjects as a tool for expanding his craft. The masks harken back to Picasso's use of primitive African masks in his work. At one point, Paschke eliminates the subjects' eyes, mouth and nose, deliberately de-personifying them. They have no place or time or identifying features, and then become, in a sense, a universal man. I am reminded of the work of Rodin, who achieved a universal masculinity. Paschke arrives at the same place via his own devices.

Paschke chose to change and manipulate his portraits. He chose to change their sex, and change their face from their body. His compositions are action-packed, and little is left open for us to wander far from the subject. He commands our attention with dexterity, quirky combinations of images and text, and linear bands of color that speak of the MTV Max Headroom days. His collages portray our fragmented society and our inability to 'tone it down' any longer. In a sense, it's as if Paschke is saying that since we can't control what’s happening in our visually bombarded world, then we may as well embrace it and crank up the visual volume. He makes us aware that there are always layers beneath one's veneer, beneath the mask we show the world.

I never really bought the idea that Paschke was trying to show the seedy side of Chicago in any specific or moralistic sense. These characters could be found anywhere. Well maybe not Anywhere...Paschke's studio on Howard Street was the dividing line between the big, bad city and t genteel suburbia. There would have been enough fringy characters running around the area for a good take on some of his subjects. Yet, the town (Chicago) is the town, and it has its plethora of issues with mafia, gangs, guns, and the like; but it is also a town of hard-working people, and especially hard-working artists. He was a good, hard-working artist who chose a bold, funky subject and ran with it. Who amongst us wouldn't have done the same?

The piece I chose to close this article with is one that was personal for Paschke. "Compassion" is a print of the artist and his wife Nancy. Nancy was also an artist, and after raising two children, Marc and Sharon, she developed a debilitating illness which required a caretaker. As Ed's career continued to take off, people suggested he move to New York to further his career, but he would not leave his wife. This print shows Paschke embracing Nancy as she leans her head on his shoulder. The colors here are noticeably more somber, quiet. They were soul mates. Two months after Paschke's sudden death, Nancy followed after him...

The exhibition at Benedictine University also features some of Paschke's family's work, by his father, brother, wife, son, and grandchildren.

In June 2014, the Ed Paschke Art Center was unveiled in Chicago, with many of the artist's works  and a replica of his studio.  You can also visit his website at http://edpaschke.org/ed-paschke-art-center.html. Marc Paschke, the artist's son, is compiling a cataloue raisonne on his father's works. They are still seeking any owners of Paschke's work to be included in that catalogue and website, so if you own a piece, or know someone that owns Paschke's work, please contact Marc at the Ed Paschke Art Center website.

Selected Public Collections:

The Art Institute of Chicago
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland
Benedictine University, Lisle, IL
Birmingham Museum of Art, England
Borg-Warner Corporation, Chicago
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Carnegie Museum, Pittsburg
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
The Chicago Tribune
Chicago History Museum, Chicago, IL
Cole-Taylor Bank, Chicago
Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Continental Bank, Chicago
Exxon Corporation, New York
First National Bank of Chicago
Hirshorn Museum, Washington, DC
Illinois State Museum of Art, Springfield, IL
John F Kennedy Library, Washington, DC
Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Musee d'Art Moderne Nationale, Paris
Museo de Art Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico
Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, Holland
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Inst. Washington, DC
Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University Museum, University Park, PA
Playboy Collection, Chicago
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yale University Museum, CT

Andrew Auten's "Appalachian Portraits" Makes its U.S. Debut

Benedictine University is pleased to present the U.S. debut of Texas photographer Andrew Auten. His exhibition , called “Appalachian Portraits” are a group of photographs taken from his trip to the Appalachia area of the United States. The exhibition is currently on display through December 19th.

 

Auten traveled to Appalachia and stayed there for a period of time. He got to know the members of a small, poor, rural community, taking their portraits over a period of a few months. Most of the images from this exhibition were taken at a community gathering at the local public school gymnasium. During the event, clothing, food, toys and entertainment were provided to the children and their families.

The artist’s fantastic use of tenebrism  captures these children’s expressions and throws them over the top in terms of their individual quirks, and showing us their developing sense of bravado. They are simultaneously playful and pensive, happy and lonely.

 

The Caravaggio-esque lighting bring these contemporary images back to the Baroque period, and we feel we are looking at these subjects as we would with any painting done by Velazquez or Caravaggio. They are fresh, daunting and bold.

 

Auten’s perspective lends new directions for photography which have been locked into technology since its inception. Here we see the beginnings of a new, broader use of the medium, as art. We forget these are photographs.

 

Auten studied fine art at the College of Santa Fe, and currently lives in Austin. More of his work can be found at www.andrewauten.com/

WITNESS TO THE REVOLUTION!

Benedictine University paid homage to its cultural heritage when it recently hosted the traveling exhibition called Witness to the Revolution!, September 17 - October 10, 2014. The multimedia exhibition is one of three separate travelling exhibits curated and sponsored by The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, of Iowa. Note* Benedictine University was originally founded by Czech and Slovak priests who migrated from Chicago, and further still from Europe.

As communism fell in Europe in the fall and winter of 1989, several Americans were in Czechoslovakia and had the opportunity to witness a pivotal moment in history. This traveling exhibit uses eyewitness accounts from Americans who were there, including a professor, a student, a reporter and U.S. Embassy staff. Their notes, pictures and videos combine to tell a fascinating story of revolution and freedom.

 

A reception was held for the Czech and Slovak community on Saturday, September 20th. The exhibit was sent to its next venues in California at its conclusion. Several people attending the reception stood up and gave emotional personal accounts of their experiences during the Velvet Revolution. As an American, who has been fortunate to live in a free society, it was moving to hear their testimony.  

 

For more information on this exhibition and all things Czech and Slovak, contact the following:

 

National Czech & Slovak Museum and Library, http://www.ncsml.org/
Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Chicago, http://www.mzv.cz/chicago/en
Consulate General of Slovakia in NewYork, http://www.mzv.sk/

FU-RIN "Ruins" by Aya Takada Makes U.S. Debut at Benedictine University

Japanese photographer, Aya Takada's work immediately reveals something unexpected: the remnants and ruins of buildings and places - neither ancient nor stereotypically exotic - in a country perceived by Westerners as on a constant economic and social upswing: her native Japan. 

Much of the work in this exhibition was taken at an abandoned motel for quick stays called FU-RIN, outside of Tokyo, which is also the title of this show, Takada's first in the United States.  

Takada, who was born in 1973 in Kanagawa, makes work about abandoned places, work that reflects a trend by Japanese photographers of photographing modern ghost towns and ghost buildings (haikyo), which are not difficult to find in a country in which the population is falling, putting its economic future at risk. In the United States, we have seen countless photographers descending on Detroit with similar motivations. 

But Takada's photographs go beyond the "urban-ruins" approach to photography.. Her work appears to be informed by the detached gaze of photographers ranging from Eugene Atget to William Eggleston. And yet, her work is not quite so distant. Her presence is felt in her photographs, of what she calls simply "ruins," or of snowy, winter scenes. It is an honor to present this work for the first time at Benedictine University.

Text by John Sevigny

This exhibition ran from August 11 – September 30, 2014.  For more information on Takada's work see: http://www.japanexposures.com/2009/10/15/aya-takada-from-fragrance-midnight/

"Coolness!" Sculptures by Larry Ballard opens Fall 2014 exhibit season at Fr. Michael E.Komechak OSB Art Gallery

Larry Ballard’s “COOLNESS!” exhibition celebrates Benedictine University’s first anniversary of the Fr. Michael E. Komechak, O.S.B. Art Gallery. His show ran from August 25 – October 10, 2014

Ballard, a resident of Lisle and noted collector of folk art, started to make his own artwork about twenty years ago. He has always been fascinated with the creativity of so-called untrained artists, like Minnie Atkins and Mr. Imagination, with whom he became close friends. Larry Ballard’s own take on making artwork ranges from whimsical, to religious to political to endearing. He chooses to make animals, celebrities, and subtle statements about our urban living conditions and not so subtle statements about race and gun control. In all, the work is bold, brash, and  colorful.

Ballard makes his statues from carving wood and then paints them in psychedelic colors. His ability to get just the right attitude in the celebrities’ faces is uncanny. Andy Warhol has a vacant stare, as was his ‘look’. Michael Jackson in white paint  and his military style jacket recounts the musician’s latter days after much plastic surgery. Dennis Rodman’s serious stare amid the nose ring and chains defines his earlier look when he played with the Bulls, before more facial hardware nearly obscured his face.

The animals Ballard chooses to make are mainly dogs, and the exhibition at Benedictine University includes a spaniel, a dalmatian, a beagle, a junk yard dog – most with their tongues wagging and fangs showing. Other animals in the exhibit include a lamb, a hyena, a Tasmanian devil and a wolf. Each animal has their own personality and are quite endearing.

Ballard’s other side of the artistic coin falls upon social/political commentary. A piece that tells a tale of commonsense is the one of a gambler  holding out his two last dollars for the a politician and a Native American to take from him, saying ‘gambling makes the rich richer and the poor poorer’.

Another aspect of this is he is upfront about the effects of crowded urban dwellings where there isn’t enough room for people to live in confined quarters; where drugs and death prevail for those who live above the local Gun Shop, and where suicide is more common than we would like to know about. He addresses a very timely issue in the exhibit with his  painting called “Please Don’t Shoot Me”. In it, there are two men facing each other with their arms upraised. Surrounding them are angels and vicious dogs. The swirling colors around them speak about shouting voices and sirens and confusion.It was painted twenty years ago, but speaks to America’s on-going racial divide and misunderstandings that have garnished worldwide attention from the Trayvon Martin murder in Florida to the Ferguson, Missouri situation during the summer of 2014. 

Ballard nails it when it deals with societal truths of our own failings. The colorful manner with which he describes these serious situations leads us in like candy to a child and we are faced with the reality of our generation. These are strong pieces and one hopes Ballard will continue to make his visual voice heard.

“Ballard had been a longtime friend with our art gallery’s namesake, the former Fr. Michael Komechak, so it was an easy decision to select him for the gallery’s first anniversary show”, according to Teresa J. Parker, curator of the gallery.  “This show will start our season with subjects that will appeal to our students, and the community.”

Ballard has shown his work in museums and galleries in Chicago and in Europe. He is included in numerous public and private collection in the US and at the Vatican.

Solo Exhibitions:

2014       “COOLNESS!”,  Fr. Michael E. Komechak O.S.B. Art Gallery, Benedictine University, Lisle, IL

2002       Lindsay Art Gallery, Columbus, OH

2001       Judy Saslow Gallery, Chicago, IL

2000       Saint Matthias College, Tunsdorf, Germany

1998       Lownik Hall, Illinois Benedictine College, Lisle, IL

1997       Lakeview Museum of Art, Peoria, IL

Group Exhibitions:

2003       John Michael Kohler Arts Center & Museum, Sheboygan, WI

2002       Folk Fest, Atlanta, GA

2002       Lindsay Art Gallery, Columbus, OH

2002       Lakeview Museum of Art, Peoria, IL

2001       Krasa Hall, Benedictine University, Lisle, IL

2000       Lakeview Museum of Art, Peoria, IL

2000       Freeark Art Gallery, Riverside, IL

Collections:

Benedictine University, Lisle, IL

Crayola Factory Art Museum, Easton, PA

Folk Art Society of America, Richmond, VA

Lakeview Museum of Art, Peoria, IL

Matt Lamb Collection, Chicago, IL

Naperville children’s Museum, Naperville, IL

Pontifical North American College, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

Saint Matthias College, Tunsdorf, Germany

The Fr. Michael E. Komechak, O.S.B., Art Gallery is located on the 5th floor of the Kindlon Hall of Learning, at, 5700 College Rd., in Lisle, IL.  

Contact: Ph. 1-630-829-6320 Website: www.ben.edu/artgallery 

Gallery Hours: M-F 10-4p, Sat 11-3p and by appt.