(still image detail)
© Eric Fleischauer
Fleischauer's overall artistic practice uses video, film, and digital mediums placed in a conceptual framework to examine technology's vast and evolving influence on both the individual and on culture. Along that path, the In Circulation exhibition takes much of its inspiration from Expanded Cinema by Gene Youngblood, a book widely revered for its insights into technology's impact on cinema, or, as Youngblood writes in a larger sense, how "technology is reshaping the nature of human communication." In an ironic yet fitting twist, Youngblood's book is currently out of print but has been made available online for free downloading, bringing it into the realm of digital media and distribution in a way that furthers the proliferation of ideas and discussions.
animated GIF from Internet Nostalgia
© Eric Fleischauer
In Circulation
works by Eric Fleischauer
opening Friday 7 September, 6-9pm
Document Gallery
845 W. Washington Blvd., #3F, Chicago
Elsewhere in the city this Friday, Schneider Gallery opens the exhibition Every breath we drew, a new portfolio of images by Jess T. Dugan. Many of Dugan's previous works revolve around the queer and transgender communities, often centering on issues of sexuality and individual identity -- and in that sense, Every breath we drew is a potent continuation of those explorations.
Ely
from the series Every breath we drew
© Jess T. Dugan
The notion of identity seems especially relevant, as Dugan's photographs encourage the viewer to consider the complexities between one's internally-created identity versus how that becomes interpreted and understood by others thru our physical characteristics and actions. In Dugan's words:from the series Every breath we drew
© Jess T. Dugan
"As someone who has chosen to physically modify my body in order to feel more alive and at home in my skin, I understand how imperative it is to inhabit my body physically in a way that feels representative of my interior identity. These photographs explore my own complicated relationship with masculinity, sexuality, and identity, and how these aspects relate to those I seek connection with. Rejecting traditional expectations of gender and sexuality, I have renamed my body and reclaimed my desire."Also in that context, Every breath we drew points us to the crucial role of human connection, as Dugan's highly intimate portraits (including self-portraits) reveal the powerful dynamic between vulnerability and intimacy that is an integral component not only of photographic practice (i.e. the relationship between photographer and subject in the portraiture process) but also of the depth and breadth of how people connect with each other in fundamental human ways.
Erica and Krista
from the series Every breath we drew
© Jess T. Dugan
I find Dugan's work also notable for its contribution to the larger collection of artists across multiple practices who are confronting and expressing topics within the LGBT experience, at a juncture in contemporary society when such dialogues are so imperative as a counterpoint to the prejudices and vitriol targeted against the LGBT population every day throughout our social and political discourse.Every breath we drew
photographs by Jess T. Dugan
opening Friday 7 September, 5-7:30pm
Schneider Gallery
230 W. Superior St., Chicago
And just down the block from Schneider, Catherine Edelman Gallery opens two photography exhibitions on Friday as well. The first, titled Overview, features works by local photographer Terry Evans, who has spent the past 30+ years documenting the people and landscape of the Midwest.
Trees and Water, Edge of Gravel Pit, McHenry County, IL, March 23 (2003)
© Terry Evans
Preferring mainly an aerial perspective in her approach, Evans' images hone an aesthetic of clean, graphic compositions of the topography beneath -- an artistic tool that carries across into her other works from ground perspective as well. Overview includes works from throughout her long career, but considered as a whole, the selection represents the artist's commitment to documenting our human footprint on the evolving natural world -- whether in the plowed and developed prairie ecosystem near her native Kansas City, industrial factories in Indiana, mountaintop removal in Kentucky, or plant specimens from the Field Museum.© Terry Evans
Mountaintop removal, coal mining in eastern Kentucky, October (2009)
© Terry Evans
Also, Edelman's project space will be showing the interactive photo installation lacuna by Milwaukee artist Sonja Thomsen. Fresh off a recent exhibition in Iceland at the Reykjavik Museum of Photography, lacuna is Thomsen's exploration of intellectual and physical space through a methodology that creates narrative with spontaneous image sequencing. Arranged as a seemingly random array of small prints on the wall, Thomsen's piece provokes questions about the fragmented and transitory nature of memory. Many of the images are installed as stacks of reproductions, and viewers are encouraged to peel the pictures away; as the images are removed, they fade and reveal a Plexiglass impression of the previous image.© Terry Evans
lacuna (stack detail)
© Sonja Thomsen
Overview
photographs by Terry Evans
-and-
lacuna
works by Sonja Thomsen
opening Friday 7 September, 5-8pm
Catherine Edelman Gallery
300 W. Superior St., Chicago
