Shunning novelty and artistic ego, Steven Husby’s two small, hard-edged abstract paintings are unrivaled in this group show. These immaculate grayscales, both Untitled, 2008, are so perfectly proportioned and precise in their value shifts that they could be prototypes for gradient scales in the printing industry; they leave no trace of Husby’s hand or subjective imagination, and they conjure Giacomo Balla and Bridget Riley equally. Esteban Schimpf’s God, Imagine the Storm on Jupiter, 2006, is juvenile by comparison. Here, orange paint is sprayed onto a blue bedsheet spelling out the piece’s title. Its large blazon text belies the dopey rumination it evokes. Jason Lazarus’s single contribution to this all-male lineup is a photograph of a tiger-printed blanket covering a figure reclining in a landscape. Photographed from a high vantage point, the colorful, kitschy shroud is in stark contrast to the field of dormant grass in which the body rests. With the exception of Husby’s paintings, internal juxtapositions within the works presented in this exhibition unify the disparate contributions. In Greg Stimac’s Red Diamond, 2008, a print featuring a red graphic rhombus imposed over vernacular photographs of houses, and Curtis Mann’s painterly bleached photographs eliciting apocalyptic narratives, incongruity abounds and thematizes unlikely bedfellows.

— Michelle Grabner

Chicago artist Jason Lazarus lies in brown grass at the edge of a river in his photograph At Rest (2006). Cocooned from head to toe in a black blanket emblazoned with a tiger’s head, he waits for spring—or, as the gallery notes explain, an American leader he can support.

The eight works of “Bad Moon” were produced in 2008—except for Lazarus’s standout piece—by four artists from Chicago and one from L.A. who don’t typically identify with a political agenda. Here, however, the quintet successfully represents how frustrated and powerless worldwide conflict makes many young Americans feel. The artists confront uncontrollable issues including war, economic downturn and the Bush administration, albeit as passive observers.

In Red Diamond, Greg Stimac takes on the horrendous housing market. Scanning and rotating four photos of homes from real-estate ads into a disorienting grid, Stimac covers up the ads’ BANK-OWNED and IN FORECLOSURE banners, replacing them with an arresting red diamond that could be a symbol of the American Dream’s dark side. Curtis Mann, in contrast, offers a sense of hope: In bleaching found photographs of war-torn Israel/Palestine and Lebanon, the artist creates what looks like a soothing white light in the center of each image of combat.

Esteban Schimpf simply spray-paints a bedsheet with the words “God, imagine the storm on Jupiter”—something he said to his girlfriend after Hurricane Katrina. His attempt at humor in response to a natural disaster reflects a contemporary way of thinking. Whereas in the 1960s, many artists were loud and forthright in their activism, “Bad Moon” is quietly contemplative.


— Amy Schroeder

Opens Friday Decemeber 12th from 5-8 p.m.

Artists:

Steven Husby
Jason Lazarus
Curtis Mann
Esteban Schimpf
Greg Stimac

"Chicago, IL, December 12, 2008 – Andrew Rafacz ends the year with Bad Moon, a look at our current economic, political, and psychological state. The gallery will have a reception for the artists on Friday, December 12, from 5 to 8pm. The exhibition continues through January 24, 2009.

Bad Moon seeks to investigate without an agenda our current social and political climate through several artists’ reactions to recent events. Our interest is to raise questions, bring certain ideas to light, and in some cases find a cathartic and often-humorous place at which to deal with troubled times. None of the artists in the exhibition would be described as ‘political’ in their practice, as they resist agitprop in favor of something more sublime, uncovering their own private moments within a strained public environment."

Esteban is an exhibition entitled, "INDEX: Directions in Contemporary Photography" at the University of Saint Francis

Featuring:

JEFF OTTO-O’BRIEN, Vancouver, Canada
JOHANNA REED, Santa Barbara, California
ESTEBAN SCHIMPF, based in Chicago, Illinois
AMY WAINWRIGHT, based in Chicago, Illinois

"Esteban’s multi-disciplined and seemingly carefree studio practice reveals a humorous and observant fascination with architecture, modern design, and celebrity culture."

This summer Esteban will participate in one of two summer group shows at The Contemporary Arts Workshop in Chicago. The Contemporary Arts Workshop was founded in 1949 by John Kearney, Leon Golub, Cosmo Campoli and Ray Fink, making the Contemporary Art Workshop one of the oldest artist-run alternative spaces in the country.

Esteban has been invited to exhibit his work in the 13th Annual Asian American Showcase. Each year the exhibition is held at the Ellen Sandor Family Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. The theme of the show invites thirteen artists to deal with, interpret or explore the idea of THIRTEEN whether number, process, or whatever.

Esteban has been awarded the Frederick Fursman Painting Scholarship and will attend an artist's residency at Ox-Bow.

Ox-Bow, school of art and artists’ residency, has served as a haven for visual artists since 1910. Founded on the shores of Lake Michigan as an escape from the city, Ox-Bow’s campus encompasses 115-acres of pristine natural forests, dunes, a lagoon, and historic buildings. It is both defined and protected by the landscape that inspires the artists who live and work there.

Esteban just got back from a trip to Quito, Ecuador. While there he took the time to create many new works which can be viewed within the photography section of this website.

Recently Esteban has been shortlisted for the prestigious international Adobe Design Achievement Award in Photography for his piece Untitled (United). Over 52 Countries participated in this year's search.

Press release for a show that Esteban is in entitled, "FREE REIN/FULL PLAY: New Chicago Photography" which is currently up in St. Louis, MO.

Ellen Curlee Gallery is pleased to announce
FREE REIN/FULL PLAY: New Chicago Photography
curated by Dana Turkovic and Anne Wischmeyer.

Featuring Adam Ekberg, Jenny Kendler, Mayumi Lake, Lilly McElroy, Lindsay Page, David Parker, Sabrina Raaf and Esteban Schimpf.

February 16 – March 31, 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, February 16, 6pm – 9pm

In his essay, “On Inventing Our Own Art”, Ibram Lassaw describes the attitude being formed by artist’s of his generation: “They feel that the important thing for art is to be alive, to be full of suggestion and possibilities, to enlarge our sensibility and to intensify experience….” It is precisely this synergy that becomes apparent in the work of these new Chicago photographers. Free Rein / Full Play is an exhibition that attempts to explore this phenomena, to capture this energy, with a combination of fantasy and performance, whether it utilize the body, object, or material. Although each work maintains its conceptual individuality, this association of freedom and playfulness produces a common uninhibited conceptual approach, which is enhanced by the photographic medium. Lassaw also suggests: “The artist no longer feels that he is ‘representing reality’, he is actually making reality… Reality is something stranger and greater than merely photographic rendering can show.” This is apparent in the collection of works by these artist’s, each of them produces images that in some ways, reveals a subconscious effort at Lassaw’s idea of a “new reality”. Free Rein / Full Play is a small, but concentrated attempt of capturing a spirit of art-making, in this case Chicago, and one that continues in its claim of “endless opportunity”.

The Ellen Curlee Gallery is located at 1308A Washington Avenue in the Washington Avenue loft district. Hours are 11am to 4pm Tuesday-Saturday and 11:00am to 9pm on First Fridays, the first Friday of each month. Tel: (314) 241-1299