the archives

Show Room/Odie Off

threewallsSOLO

Two Shows: June 29 – August 4, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, June 29th, 6-9pm

In the BIG space:
Show Room: Laura Davis, Carson Fisk-Vittori and Julia Klein
Curated by Shannon Stratton
In the SMALL space:
Odie Off: Mike Rea and Kelly Kaczynski

Show Room: Laura Davis, Carson Fisk-Vittori and Julia Klein
Curated by Shannon Stratton

Working collaboratively within the simple constraint of a white carpet, Laura Davis, Carson Fisk-Vittori and Julia Klein combine, overlap, manipulate and prop-up each other’s objects, making decisions about the nature of display and decoration as they are considered in the art gallery, the retail venue and the home. All three artists work with objects in a process of interrogating and collapsing these discrete realms, questioning the seemingly artificial boundaries that determine what is precious versus what is functional; how things are used publicly versus privately and how decisions about display and presentation itself have the power to elevate objects from the mundane to the marvelous. 

The above image is available as a c-print, limited edition of 10, for $100. Photo by Carson Fisk-Vittori. Visit the store to purchase.

Laura Davis is a Chicago based artist whose work examines and reconfigures our psychological relationships with the material world. Through sculpture, drawing and installation she teases out historical associations, material contradictions and emotional triggers in the objects are where art, design and craft intersect. Davis was recently awarded a year-long residency at the Chicago Artists Coalition’s BOLT studios where she will use the space to create a series of installations culminating in a self published catalog. She has exhibited at the Evanston Art Center, Chicago; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Gallery 400, Chicago; SPACES, Cleveland; The Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, CO; and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI. Davis teaches in the Department of Contemporary Practices at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, holds a MFA from the University of Chicago and a BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Carson Fisk-Vittori has been exhibited internationally at galleries and institutions such as Favorite Goods, LA, The Future Gallery, Berlin, ICA Philadelphia, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid, Contemporary Gallery TLV, Tel Aviv, Humble Arts, New York, and Roots & Culture, Chicago. Upcoming exhibitions include Mr Kitly, Melbourne and Alderman Exhibitions, Chicago. This May she was featured as a "2012 Breakout Artist" in New City. She is currently exploring the idea of anthropocene, a new term denoting the current geological era characterized by the significant effect of humanity on the earths ecosystems. Using photography, installation, and collaborative practices she explores the many devices through which we see nature, and our attempts to replicate the natural world. In February of 2012 she was awarded the Site-Specific Grant from 4Culture Arts in Seattle for the collaborative project, "Garden Show" at The Northwest Flower and Garden Show that took place at the Seattle Convention Center. Fisk-Vittori was asked to participate in the 2012 threewalls Spring CSA program for which she made an edition of 30 vases titled Open-Source Vase. Carson received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 where she was awarded a Fellowship, SAIC Project Grant, and First Year Merit Scholarship. She lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.

Julia Klein received her MFA in Sculpture from Bard College's Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts (2008) and her BFA from the University of Michigan's School of Art and Design (2002). She has exhibited at venues including Hyde Park Art Center, International Museum for Surgical Science and Columbia College's A+D Gallery, as well as Incident Report, Hudson, NY and Gridspace, Brooklyn, NY.  She has designed props for performances by Theatre of a Two-Headed Calf, NYC; Collaboraction, Chicago; as well as for performances by directors Emilia Javanica, John Beer, and Carla Harryman, among others. Her work will be shown at Alderman Exhibitions, Chicago in 2013. Klein also runs Soberscove Press which seeks to make accessible out-of-print/difficult to access art-related material and artists' books. Upcoming from Soberscove in Fall 2012: Possible Impermanence: Scott Burton's critical writings on artists, art, and performance, 1965-75, edited by David Getsy, and Dive Suits of Factography: Collective Actions' Layers of Documentation, 1976-1989, edited by Yelena Kalinsky. www.soberscovepress.com and www.juliakleinjuliaklein.com.

Odie Off: Mike Rea and Kelly Kaczynski

Odie Off is an off comment, off the books, off kilter, face off between artists Mike Rea and Kelly Kaczynski. Begun as a simple provocation, Odie Off assumes a position somewhere between process, performance and production where the interactions between the two artists equally elicits both banter and dialogue. 

The artists will build a speakeasy in the back of threewalls. Here, you are welcome to join them as they move through the stages of making double Odie’s, the oblique dog character from the classic cartoon, Garfield, first appearing in 1978. Each artist will begin an Odie while sitting across from one another at the bar. Built from clay, a material that both artists are familiar with but neither is practiced in, the conversation lends to one of mastery and craft alongside image and action. Meanwhile, the bar incites not only the iconic spectacle of artists’ think-tank with libations but also a surrogate studio that becomes the pedestal, all the while a stage. These Odie’s become testament to the individual concerns of the artists as well as the inevitable collaborative finale that merges from the environment.

The artists invite you to join them for Happy Hour every Tuesday and Thursday, 5-7pm, or whenever the artists are in.

Mike Rea was born and raised in the south suburbs of Chicago. Rea received his Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After completion of his M.F.A., Rea returned to Chicago where he now lives and works. Rea currently teaches Sculpture at Northern Illinois University. Rea has exhibited at: the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX; EbersMoore Gallery, Chicago, IL; Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL; Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA; the Scion Gallery, Culver City, CA; and the Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL.  Rea participated in the international exhibition/residency Forest Art, Darmstadt, Germany.  Rea most recently participated in the Power of Making exhibition at The Victoria Albert Museum, London, UK in 2012, and currently has work at the  Kunstmuseum Thurgau, Switzerland. In addition to the Odie-Off collaboration with Kelly Kaczyinski, Rea has recently collaborated with artist Geoffrey Todd Smith on the drawing project/exhibition/book, Sharks, Dicks, and Drugs. Rea will have two solo exhibitions this Fall one at EbersMoore gallery, Chicago, IL, and the second at the Gahlberg Gallery/McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL.  Over the past decade Rea has explored pop culture and the American identity through large garish sculptures, installations, and performances constructed from wood. Rea's work often employs a wry sense of humor combined with a meticulous and compulsive constructive process.

Kelly Kaczynski is a sculptor and installation artist residing in Chicago. She has exhibited with Gahlberg Gallery, College of DuPage, IL; threewalls, IL; Hyde Park Art Center, IL; Rowland Contemporary, IL; University at Buffalo Art Gallery, NY; Triple Candie, NY; Islip Art Museum, NY; Josee Bienvenu Gallery, NY; DeCordova Museum, MA; Boston Center for the Arts, MA. Public installations include projects with the Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA; the Interfaith Center, NY; Institute for Contemporary Art, Boston and the Boston National Historic Parks, MA; Boston Public Library, MA. Curatorial projects include the exhibition titled Mouthing (a sentient limb) at the Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, and an ongoing project-based entity titled Unnamed Future Space. Kaczynski received an MFA from Bard College, NY and BA from The Evergreen State College, WA. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University, IL.