Artists' Atlas: Mapping Their Journey > Show Information

Artists’ Atlas: Mapping Their Journey is a group art show at the State Street Gallery. Nine Chicago artists explore and map location, memory, and identity in this multi-medium art show. The local artists include Kass Copeland, Deanna Krueger, Alan Emerson Hicks, Jason Messinger, Matt Nichols, Emily Rapport, Jordan Scott, Marya Veeck and Joey Wozniak.

The artists’ unique perspectives and unconventional approaches to materials are reflected in a variety of both two and three dimensional forms. The show includes paintings, drawings, collages, sculptures, tile murals, assemblage constructions, and installations. The artists utilize materials as varied as paint, ink, canvas, paper, wood, ceramic, photographs, prints, text, found objects, plastic packaging, historical images, star charts, recycled medical diagnostic film, and cancelled postage stamps. By mapping places, charting memories, and tracing the elements of identity, the nine artists present a visual atlas of our interior worlds.

Kass Copeland’s box assemblages have a keen sense of personal intimacy and memory-laden nostalgia built into their subtle forms and dream-like narratives. Deanna Krueger’s photographic close-ups of abstract paint strokes evoke aerial and satellite landscapes. Her textile-like wall-hanging utilizes recycled X-ray and MRI film to create an external landscape made from internal views. Alan Emerson Hicks constructs and weaves plastic remnants and recycled packaging into exuberant and richly detailed sculptures that speak to personal identity.

Jason Messinger’s ceramic and porcelain tile murals emphasize the beauty and humor of maps, blueprints, postcards, and directions. Matt Nichols’ patterned collage paintings evoke multi-layered memories, and narrate life as complex and beautiful. Emily Rapport presents realistic but atmospheric paintings of urban buildings in transitional states, and exposes the potent symbolism of homes in our psyche.

Jordan Scott uses cancelled postage stamps to create elaborate maps and forms, utilizing raw materials that have already traveled the globe. Marya Veeck illuminates her own personal story in her richly detailed still-life paintings, and reflects the art practices of other artists in a new series of intimate portraits of their art studios. Joey Wozniak’s figurative tableau paintings merge text with stylized figures from art and history to illustrate a personal search for an artist’s identity. His humorous urban landscapes depict the world as a stage.

‘Artists’ Atlas: Mapping Their Journey’ exhibits at the State Street Gallery, prominently located at the corner of Van Buren and State Street, at 401 South State Street, Chicago. A reception with the artists will be held on Thursday, October 11th, from 5 to 7 pm. The show runs from Monday September 24th, 2018, through Thursday December 20th, 2018. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, from 10am to 6pm. The gallery is free and open to the viewing public. All artwork is available for sale. Artist-designed gifts and prints also available in the ‘Art Mart’ gift shop. You can visit the Artists’ Atlas website at Crazy8Art.com, and contact the gallery directly at (312)935-4086.