JOEL ROSS ROADSIDE: A Presentation of Recent Field Experiments and Prototypes May 2 � June 28, 2009
opening reception: tacos + tequila with the artist Saturday May 2nd, 6-9pm * Sauza� Tres Generaciones� Triple-Distilled Tequila sponsored by Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc.
* FREE shuttle service to West Loop from Art Chicago/NEXT
Monique Meloche opened her gallery in May 2001 with Joel Ross� memorable solo exhibition �I borrowed my mother�s bedroom.� For his 3rd solo show at the gallery, Texas-born Ross continues his investigation into public signage with a series of new photographs, works on paper, and a site-specific installation for �ROADSIDE: A Presentation of Recent Field Experiments and Prototypes.� Ross is �currently working on a series of sculptures that take the form of roadside signage. These objects are made and then sited at locations ranging from single-lane gravel farm roads to major highways. Most of these installations are not formally authorized, so the work's engagement with its initial audience, travelers on the road, is often rather brief. A series of photographs of these installations and the related works on paper become a record of these events as well as the primary point of engagement with their second audience, the art-going public.�
Joel Ross (American b. 1966) holds a MFA from Cranbrook Academy for Art (Michigan) and a BFA from Tufts University (Maine). Currently he is Assistant Professor in the School of Art and Design at University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana, a position he has held since 2004 . The Krannert Museum of Art at U of I recently acquired work by Ross for their Permanent Collection. Many are familiar with his installation in the lobby of The James Hotel Chicago titled �Room 28� -- a seminal work for Ross in which the contents of an entire motel room is repacked in a minimal stack of vintage suitcases. Recent group shows include �Cultivating Instability� curated by Iain Muirhead at Cliff Dwellers, Chicago as well as �Lifting: Theft in Art� curated by Atopia Projects at Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen Scotland, travelled to Georgia Sherman Projects ,Toronto and Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Fort Worth, TX (catalogue forthcoming). In addition to moniquemeloche, Ross has had solo shows at The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2007), Rare Gallery NY (2006/2001), Vedanta Gallery (now Kavi Gupta) Chicago (1999), Lunds University Gallery Sweden (1996), and Chicago Project Room (1996). An interview with Ross is forthcoming in the June issue of Chicago Magazine.
This exhibition has been generously supported by the University of Illinois Research Board, which gave Ross his second Arnold O. Beckman Research Award in May 2008 for a grant proposal that showed �special distinction, special promise, or special resource value.� This new body of work would not have been possible without that support.
Also on view in minig: works by Carla Arocha + Stephane Schraenen, Rashid Johnson, Kendell Carter, and Karen Reimer
Please contact Whitney Tassie at the gallery for images and information.
mmg artist updates
Carla AROCHA/Stephane SCHRAENEN: * Congrats on Chicago Transit Authority Commission for permanent installation in new Howard Station metro unveiling Summer 2009! - Artist Project Art Brussels April 24-27, 2009 http://www.artexis.be/artbrussels/artistproject.html - Solo exhibition @ Periferico, Caracas, Venezuela Curated by Jesus Fuenmayor (catalogue forthcoming)
- Group show I Want You To Want Me @ Marx & Zavattero, San Francisco, thru May 16 - Recent acquisitions by MCA San Diego and Laguna Beach Art Museum
Justin COOPER: * Congrats on being chosen for the Franconia Sculpture Park grant and summer residency program! - ArtForum review (forthcoming) - Summer residency Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Woodside, CA - Performance series Here/Not There @ the MCA Chicago, June 30 - August 2, 2009
DAVIS/LANGLOIS: - Group show The End @ Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh curated by Eric Shiner, thru May 3 (catalogue) - Group show Artists Run Chicago, curated by Britton Bertran and Allison Peters Quinn, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, May 10 �July 5 - Solo exhibition, 12x12 @ MCA Chicago, September 2009
Rashid JOHNSON: - Solo project Smoke and Mirrors @ Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY opens May 10th - Group exhibition Matthew Chambers I Brendan Fowler I Rashid Johnson I Jason Kraus @ Rental Gallery, NY opens May 2nd - Solo exhibition The Dead Lecturer Laboratory Dojo and Performance Space, Power House Memphis, TN extended thru May 16 - Group exhibition 30 Americans Rubell Family Collection Miami Dec 3, 2008- May 30, 2009 (catalogue) - Group exhibition Across the Divide: Reconsidering the Other @ the Illinois State Gallery Chicago, thru May 8th - Catalogue available from solo exhibition Sharpening My Oyster Knife at the Kunstmuseum Magdeburg, Germany
Laura LETINSKY: - Solo show �Likeness� James Hyman Gallery London April 29 � May 30 - Artist in residence Edinburgh College of Art's Randall Cliff June 2009 - Artist in residence Three Shadows, Beijing late summer 2009
Cindy LOEHR: - Group exhibition In Practice at the Sculpture Center, Long Island City, NY opens May 10 - Group show The Puppet Show, organized by Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia traveling exhibition: currently at The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, May 16-Sept 13 - Bluebird Burden recent acquisition and on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Karen REIMER: - New publication Contemporary Textiles: The Fabric of Fine Art by Black Dog publishing
Joel ROSS: - New acquisition Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Alison RUTTAN: - Group exhibition Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture @ Hyde Park Art Center opens July 19 (catalogue by FrontForty Press)
Carrie SCHNEIDER: - Solo project in Tense Territories @ Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, thru May 24 - Group show Response: Art and the Art of Criticism, I-Space, Chicago, IL thru May 30 - Group exhibition Signs of the Apocalypse/Rapture @ Hyde Park Art Center opens July 19 (catalogue by FrontForty Press)
Scott STACK: * Congratulations on receiving the 2009 Fellowship in Visual Arts from the Illinois State Arts Council!!
Pamela WILSON-RYCKMAN: * Congratulations on receiving a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship! - Group show Auto. Suena y Materia @ Laboral, Gijon, Spain; opens May 15
