For his long-awaited third solo show at moniquemeloche, Scott Stack presents three large-scale, optically challenging paintings made in painstakingly selected shades of grey. The new works are paintings of paintings of paintings that at one point referenced source material like film stills and historic photographic images, but the further they move away from the original reference, the more they become things in themselves that the viewer must decode. This new body of work, which does stem from Stack's earlier “night vision” paintings, has an even stricter self-imposed code that continues Stack’s interest in what he can empty out of painting – like mark making, rendering, perspective, and even color. Yet somehow, without most of the visual clues we use to navigate our world, Stack painting's still define and represent space - only to break it down again.
Scott Stack (b. 1952) lives in Oak Park, IL and received his BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1976. He has had solo exhibitions at White Columns NY, Chicago Cultural Center, and Thomas Barry Fine Arts in Minneapolis. Selected group exhibitions include the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Drawing Center NY, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Hyde Park Art Center, and Gahlberg Gallery. Reviews of his work have appeared in Art in America, Art Papers, New Art Examiner, and Chicago Magazine. Stack has received numerous awards from such granting institutions as The Illinois State Arts Council, McNight Foundation and Jerome Foundation.
*Please join us for a conversation with Scott Stack and artist/curator/writer Michelle Grabner at 1pm on Saturday November 12.
on the wall
Cheryl Pope A Silent I
Sept 9 – December 31, 2011 Public Receptions
Part 1: Friday Sept 9, 6-9pm Part 2: Saturday Oct 15, 4-7pm Part 3: Saturday Nov 19, 4-7pm Part 3: Saturday Nov 19, 4-7pm
For the next installment of our “on the wall” series, moniquemeloche is pleased to announce the project A Silent I by Chicago-based artist Cheryl Pope this Fall/Winter 2011. As an artist-in-residence at Chicago Public School Lindblom Math and Science Academy in 2010, Pope asked the high school students to anonymously submit one truth and one lie about themselves, without designating which was which, as part of a collaborative art project. Of the 125 submitted statements, Pope selected 20 to reproduce in the style of athletic championship banners and installed them in the Lindblom gymnasium for their initial presentation. Addressing complex issues of identity, self-worth, and inter-personal relationships, this celebratory series speaks to all ages, so we invited Pope to make a more public installation “on the wall.” During the run of the exhibition, Pope will switch out the banners three times, grouping the unlabeled truths and lies in various combinations, and will engage the high school students from Roberto Clemente Community Academy, which is practically next door to the gallery. The format of that collaboration is still being developed.
Cheryl Pope (American, born 1980, lives Chicago) received a Masters in Design in 2010 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which was supported by a Full Tuition Merit Scholarship, and Bachelors in Fine Arts from the same in 2003. Her work has been in exhibitions at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, the Evanston Art Center, Swimming Pool Projects, and the School of the Art Instituteof Chicago, to name a few. In 2009, she was selected for Art Chicago’s exhibition New Insight, a selection of the top graduate students from the best art schools in the country, and was named one of the “Rising Stars” in the Fall issue of CS Interiors. Pope and her work have also been discussed in The New York Times and The Cleveland Scene. She has been the studio manager for artist Nick Cave since 2003 and credits him and his work as a great influence on her practice. Pope is part-time faculty at the School of Art Institute Fashion Department in Chicago. In September 2011, Pope will have a solo exhibition titled Matter of Fact at Dorsch Gallery in Miami.
The “on the wall” series is a rotation of projects on the gallery’s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed through our floor to ceiling windows on Division Street visible 24/7. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of “viewing,” the series features site-specific projects in a wide range of media made by an equally diverse group of artists. The gallery hopes to bring new work to Chicago and views this series as an opportunity to work with an exciting group of artists new to the gallery. The “on the wall” series is generously funded in part the Wicker Park Bucktown Special Service Area 33.
