Allison Grant

Chicago Art Open and other weekend activities

2008-10-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

As a part of Chicago's 2008 Artists' Month the Chicago Artist Coalition is sponsoring the Chicago Art Open, an exhibition that features one of my photographs. There are over 300 artists participating in the show including some of my good friends. Come by and check out our work. The opening benefit is tomorrow with food, drinks and live musical entertainment for $25. If you can't swing that much, come by from October 4-19 for free!

Mike Rinders

Lisa Lindvay

Brooke Berger

Jennifer Ray

Caitlin Arnold

Also, starting this weekened, Columbia College's Center for Book and Paper Arts will be displaying the 120 foot original manuscript scroll that Jack Kerouac used to write On The Road. Totally amazing. Click here for more information.

Art for Obama

2008-10-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Starting today, over fifty seven artists will action their work here with 100% of the proceeds going to moveon.org, an advocacy group in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. This action is organized by a few artists who want to do their part to get Obama elected, but cannot afford to make large donations on their own. What a great way to support the arts community and the Obama campaign.

Here are a few of the works available:

Tim Davis, Barack Obama, Springfield, MO, 2008

Nicholas Muellner, West Danby, NY, Final Report, 2008

Katy Grannan, Nicole (kneeling in corner with blonde wig), from the series: The Westerns, 2008

An-My Le, US Marine Expeditionary Unit, Shoalwater Bay, Australia, Events Ashore 2006-2008, 2007

Weisman Exhibition

2008-09-08T06:50:00.000-07:00

Check out some of my new work at the Albert P Weisman Award Exhibition at the Hokin Gallery at 623 S. Wabash through October 18. The show has two of my pieces along with works by 37 other artists practicing various disciplines.

Allison Grant, 2008

While you're out, here are some other cool exhibitions up in the West loop.

John Opera at Andrew Rafacz Gallery (formerly Bucket Rider)

Parliaments II (Interior Abstraction), 2007

Zoar, 2006-2008

Rashid Johnson at Monique Meloche

Self-portrait as the black Jimmy Connors in the finals of the New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club Summer Tennis Tournament, 2008

Things I put on Layaway, 2008

Or head over to River North and see work by my friend Krista Wortendyke at the David Weinberg Gallery in an exhibition titled "Who Gets What: a political show."

Krista Wortendyke, 2008

Brad Temkin + Amy Stein

2008-08-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

These Brad Temkin pictures have been on my mind since I ran across them at the MoCP a while back. They have a quirky, colorful allure that makes me long for the backyard comforts I have given up to live in the city. Yet it is somewhat unsettling to consider the ways we link the pruned and decorated lawns and gardens surrounding our homes to our conceptions of what nature is and where it can be found.

Brad Temkin, Daisies & Buoys from the Private Places series - Toormore, Co. Cork Ireland 2003

Brad Temkin, Hose from the Private Places series - Skokie, IL 2004

Brad Temkin, Chairs & Lilacs from the Private Places series - Chicago, IL 2006

I also ran across this Amy Stein piece. It is a remarkably powerful piece to encounter in person and it brought to mind many similar thoughts about ways humans (try to) place and control nature.

Amy Stein, In Between from the Domesticated series

Pictures Found While Working + Pictures Found While Not Working

2008-08-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

This summer I have been helping the MoCP take inventory of their collection. This means my days are spent going through the museum's archives (best job ever). I have discovered a lot of exciting work that I am either unfamiliar with or that I have seen and passed over without due consideration. Over the next few weeks I am going to post some of this work.

My favorite images so far are from a body of work by Barabara Crane called People of the North Portal (1970). I am familiar with Crane as a long time faculty member at SAIC and a photographer of Chicago architecture and street life, but I was not aware of these photographs.

To create them, Crane stood at the exit of the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago and photographed people as they walked out. As people either realize they are being photographed or remain unaware, fascinating narratives play out through frozen body gestures and facial expressions. Read/see more here or here.

There is also great work to be seen at the MCA. Howard Henry Chen just opened his 12x12 show right next to the Jeff Koons exhibit. It is sweet.

Howard Henry Chen - "Tusks No. 1, Suoi Tien Amusement Park, Ho Chi Minh City" from the series Multiple Entry Visa

Richard Barnes Is Awesome

2008-08-01T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am thinking about his pictures today...

Richard Barnes from the Animal Logic series

New Friends

2008-07-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

Harold was fantastic. Life was effortless and care free.
Negatives seemed to fall out of my camera everywhere I went. The
whole experience was like falling in love with art all over again.

I met some really great people who happen to also be great artists and
musicians. Here are a few images by some of my new friends:

Scott Cowan

Maggie Haas

Grant Ernhart - from the I Trust You'll Take Care series

Aron Gent - "Just Like Anna
Nicole Smith" from the TheSuz series

Greg Stimac - from the Recoil series

Floetography by Nick Wylie

Mollie McKinley -
from the All Ye Merry Pilgrims
(Cape Cod) series

Off to Harold

2008-07-14T06:07:00.000-07:00

Today I am heading to eastern Ohio for a two week residency with Harold Arts. No cell phones, no e-mail and lots of other artists...what more can I ask for?

More Still Life

2008-07-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Sam Taylor-Wood has also explored contemporary conceptions of 17th century still life painting. How interesting that she has chosen to place an ink pen in front of the fruit arrangement in the first video and then a piece of fruit in front of the rabbit in the second video. These videos are shot in high definition and unfortunately the crappy reproductions I am posting don't do them the justice they deserve. Someone should start high def you tube.

**Fair Warning: the second video is not for those with a weak stomach.

Still Life, 2001

A Little Death, 2002

A Limited Edition

2008-07-10T05:59:00.001-07:00

Humble Arts Foundation is selling a limited edition of one of my pieces. Check it out right here.

Laura Letinsky is Awesome

2008-07-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

I think Laura Letinsky is an amazing photographer and her new body of work "To Say Isn't So" has been on my mind ever since I saw it at Art Chicago. In these pictures, she has replaced rotting fruit and domestic deitrus remensient of dutch still life painting with another sort of memento mori...consumer waste. A target bag, a soda can and dispoable cuttlery - these are the still lives of our time. The photographs are elegantly alluring, strangely sterile and disquieting. If you like the work, check out an interview with Laura on this Bad at Sports podcast.

Untitled #25

Untitled #9a

Untitled #9b

Untitled #4

Untitled #3

Love=2 Grand

2008-06-25T20:16:00.000-07:00

Does anyone have two grand to lend me? Jen Beckman featured a piece from Kent Rogowski's Love=Love series on 20x200 last week but the cheap prints sold out before I was able to snag one. I think this was the second or third piece featured by Rogowski and I still missed out. Bummer...that's what I get for not being on top of things. I guess I will have to settle for virtual ownership and just post one of his images on my blog.

Untitled #3 - Kent Rogowski, 2006
About the above image:
Apparently when puzzle manufactures make puzzles, they often use a single cutout pattern for multiple images. Rogowski has montaged different puzzle scenes that were made by the same manufacturer to create his photographs. I think you can buy the actual objects as well as the photographs.

2008-06-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Tony Wight Gallery (formerly Bodybuilder and Sportsman) has been showing some very interesting work recently. On the heels of Ken Fandell's fascinating exhibition Part II: Until It Doesn't Matter, Isn't It, featuring works by Ivin Ballen, Pello Irazu, Richard Rezac, and Tamara Zahaykevich opens June 13. The work in the show focuses on the "interplay of material construction and representation...(by) confronting some potential disparities between modes of assembly and resemblance."

I am particularly excited by Pello Irazu's work. Irazu arranges and photographs generic, mass produced items such as boxes, chairs and ladders inside his studio and then paints onto the surface of his photographs. The paint resembles the utilitarian, unadorned shape and texture of cheap, mass produced building materials. I love the way the intertwined layers of production - sculpture to photograph to painting - comment on the interplay between physical object, photographic illusion and surface, but also have a parallel commentary on the physical and textural sensibilities of the construction of utilitarian objects and furniture. I can't wait to see the images in person!

Pello Irazu - La Fábrica (Belgrado) VIII, 2007
Acrylic paint on photographic support

And in case you missed it...

Ken Fandell - Part II: Until It Doesn't Matter, 2008
Installation View

Grant Ray

2008-06-04T19:18:00.001-07:00

I really like some of the work my friend Grant Ray has been making. He is working on a project that investigates visual aspects of communication. In these images, Grant cleverly imagines the rainbow reflection of a burned cd serving as an index for the information it contains. See more of Grant's work here.

Lost Season II

Fleetwood Mac

US Constitution

Inspirations, new and old

2008-05-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with new ways of photographing (new photos to be posted soon) which has me thinking about my influences. Here is a list of artists I have been looking at - some for as long as I can remember and some I have recently discovered.

Isa Genzken - Urlaub, 2004

Mark Bradford - America, 2007

Rachel Whiteread - Water Tower Project, 1998

Mark Dion - Aviary (Library for the Birds of Massachusetts), 2005

Vija Clemens - Unitled, 2005

Jason Rhodes - Twelve Wheel, Wagon Wheel Chandelier, 2004

John Pilson - still from video "Skyscraper Souls," 2007

Erwin Wurm - Instruction on How to be Pollitically Incorrect: Inspection, 2003

Andy Goldsworthy - Dandelion Line, Storm King Sculpture Park, New York 2000

Vik Muniz - Barry Le Va from the Picture of Dust series, 2000

Richard Misrach - Submerged Gas Pumps, Salton Sea, 1983

Bernd and Hilla Becher - Water Towers, 1980

Thomas Demand - Studio, 1997

Thomas Ruff - Stern 17h 51m /-22, 1990

Eirik Johnson - Image from the Borderlands series

Robert Adams - East from Flagstaff Mountain, Boulder County, Colorado, 1975

Columbia College MFA Thesis Show

2008-05-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

This week Columbia College's MFA Thesis Show for 2008 grads opens and it is going to be sweet! The class is pretty small this year so in addition to photographs, Amy Wainwright, Nate Mathews and Curtis Mann will also be creating three dimensional installations. The gallery is located at 617 S. State St. and is open from May 9 - June 1.

Melissa Stallard

Nate Mathews

Amy Wainwright

Curtis Mann

Jon Cancelino

Light Work

2008-05-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

I am excited to be a part of a physical and virtual exhibition called Educating Artists: Photo Programs in Review that is on view right now at Light Work.

The exhibition features student work that was submitted by teachers who have participated in Light Work's residency program. You can see the humorous/disturbing images below + more in the online exhibition here.

Christina Page, Pomeranian - student from International Center of Photography

Tzu Cheng, Syracuse New York - student from Syracuse University

An Exciting Weekend

2008-04-24T10:07:00.000-07:00

There are so many great things to do this weekend thanks in part to Art Chicago.

Art Chicago starts with a preview night tonight and continues through Sunday. Just about every gallery under the sun is participating. I am very excited to see the New Insight exhibition that features graduate work by promising artists. Here are a few people I want to see:

Stina Carlberg/Nastigraphics, Serious Ballooning

Todd Simeone Record Cover in a Flash (Air Supply), 2006

Also opening on Friday is an exciting exhibition at I-Space called Strange Habit. It was curated by Luke Batten and features works by Shane Huffman, Steven Husby, Emily Kennerk, Curtis Mann and Alice Shaw. Here is an interesting piece by Emily Kennerk that was part of her SuburbanNation exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Forefront Gallery

Emily Kennerk, Untitled: Porches,2007

Finally, two Columbia College Alumni, Cecil McDonald and Ben Gest are conveniently showing works across the street from one another at Catherine Edelman and Stephen Daiter.

Cecil McDonald Afternoon Picnic, she is sometimes embarrassed by me, 2007

Ben Gest, Alice Waiting, 2006

I am going to have a blast navigating all of this. If you live in Chicago, come out, get wild and take in the art!!

2008-04-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Nails and Bleach

2008-04-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

Check out this article about my friend/class mate Curtis Mann that my beau Zach Thomas wrote for Gapers Block this week. Pretty sweet!

Curtis Mann, tree thing

Curtis Mann, escape (attempt)

Faces In Places

2008-03-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

My new favorite blog :)

2008-02-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Lots of exciting press this week about the opening for "31 under 31" including a blurb in the Village Voice and this review from Worship Worthy that features one of my photographs. I am off to NYC tomorrow for the opening on Saturday, so stop by and see me if you live close by!

Tired of Winter

2008-02-25T16:56:00.001-08:00

I am so tired of the cold. After another big snow storm here in Chicago, I feel like I am in this Amy Bennett painting. I wish I was in this Lori Nix photograph instead.

Amy Bennett, Up to Our Necks, oil on a 6x6 inch panel

Lori Nix, Birds in Flight, color photograph from the Some Other Places series

Some Photographs I Have Been Thinking About

2008-02-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Visiting and observing national parks is an interesting ritual...especially through the lens of a camera.

Roger Minick, Sightseer Series, Yosemite National Park, 1980

David Mussina, Mather Point, Grand Canyon National Park, 1978

Below - Three images of Hot Springs and Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. from the Third View Rephotographic Survey of the American West

William Henry Jackson, 1872. Hot Springs and the Castle Geyser. (Yellowstone National Park Collection.)

Mark Klett and Gordon Bushaw for the Rephotographic Survey Project, 1978. Crested Hot Springs and the Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.

Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe for the Third View Project, 2000. Crested Hot Springs and the Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo.

**update: This photograph was sent to me by one of my professors this week. Viewing a National Park with a map from a balcony...hilarious or disturbing?

Zachary Furness, photograph of vacationers made on vacation (my title, not his), Summer 2007

Brooke Berger Lecture

2008-02-07T15:57:00.001-08:00

My good friend and fellow photographer Brooke Berger is heading to The University of Vermont for a lecture this weekend. She is in a show there with Matt Siber - both are alumni. If you live close by, go check her out at 5pm on 2/11 in the Williams building.(more info here)

Brooke Berger, 2008

Matt Siber, from the Floating Logos project