Laura LetinskyThe Dog and The Wolf, January 16 � March 13, 2010
and the inauguration of our new series on the wall featuring assume vivid astro focus
Opening reception Saturday, January 16, 4-7pm
Laura Letinsky The Dog and The Wolf
The Dog and the Wolf is Letinsky�s newest series of photographs. The title is from Aesop�s Fable of the same name, but also refers to the French phrase L'heure entre chien et loup -- the time between dog and wolf is seen when dusk becomes night. This is a mysterious time when day and night exist together, when a dog is no longer a dog but not fully a wolf. Exploring this concept, Letinsky is now photographing in twilight as opposed to the morning light that permeated her earlier work. The subject matter of her recent still life photographs mirrors the darker lighting and mood with a grotesque beauty. Dead hares, birds, and even an octopus more typical of this historical genre share the stage with lollipops, candy canes, and half-eaten fruit from the artist�s own daily life.
Born in Canada in 1962, Letinsky received her MFA from Yale University in 1991 and was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000. Letinsky's work is held in the collections of the Stuttgart Museum, Germany, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Amon Carter Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others. She has exhibited internationally most recently in Rome, London and Bochum Germany. This past summer, Letinsky was an Artist in Residence at Randolph Cliff, Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland and Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China. A survey of her work is being organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 2010 and will travel. Laura Letinsky is currently a Professor at the University of Chicago.
on the wall
The on the wall series will be a rotation of projects on the gallery�s 10 x 25 foot wall viewed from Division Street through our floor to ceiling windows. Designed to engage the community and challenge the white cube notion of �viewing,� the series will feature 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! We are pleased to present the inaugural project with assume vivid astro focus.
assume vivid astro focus
assume vivid astro focus (avaf) is the pseudonym given to a unique network of collaborators �born anytime between the 20th and 21st centuries in various parts of the world.� The international group of visual and performance artists have a wide-ranging aesthetic project that combines psychadelia glam, kitsch, and pop. For this site-specific installation Butch Queen 5, vinyl wallpaper covers the entire street-facing wall of the new moniquemeloche gallery space. This will be the first solo project for avaf in Chicago, however the work was included in both the Sympathy for the Devil (2007) and Tropicalia (2006) exhibitions at the MCA Chicago. Selected exhibitions include The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway,(solo 2009), Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany (solo 2009), Poprally, MoMA, New York 2009, 28th S�o Paulo Biennial, curated by Ivo Mesquita and Ana Paula Cohen, S�o Paulo, Brazil, 2008, and the Whitney Biennial 2004. Upcoming in 2010 are a solo exhibitions at KadE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands and Centro Contemporaneo La Conserva, Murcia, Spain, as well as a Public art project for V/W, Autostadt, Wolfsburg, Germany. avaf has been featured in Art Forum, Frieze, Flash Art, L'Uomo Vogue, V Magazine, W Magazine, and is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawing Collection. avaf is currently based in New York and Paris. avaf work courtesy Peres Projects Berlin/LA.
