Empty Shapes (2024)
A group exhibition at THE PLAN, 12th January - 18th Feburary 2024 610 N Albany Ave, Chicago, IL
Artists: Sarah Isela Aguilar, Makayla Lindsay, Micah McCoy, Jan Tichy, Miao Wang
In “Empty Shapes”, artists from UChicago, UIC, SAIC, and Columbia College exemplify the breadth of Chicago’s diverse pedagogical community. Through photography, sculpture, drawing, and installation this exhibition investigates spatial connections and the fluidity of ever-changing forms. The five artists trace their surroundings and the edges of invisible objects, defining the boundaries of what is and is not there. They are interested in negative space, blank forms, and the contours of the communities that they live within.
Sarah Isela Aguilar del fregadero, 2023, sink, graphite, graphite paper, map pins, vellum, tracing paper, 58 x 72 inch
Miao Wang No Title, 2021, Watercolor on synthetic paper 30 x 24 x 3/4 inch
Installation View Left: Makayla Lindsay, Right: Miao Wang
Makayla Lindsay She Projects as if Completed, 2023 Husky Straps, unfired clay, dimension variable
Sarah Isela Aguilar del techo, 2023plaster, ink, graphite variable size
The group exhibition Empty Shapes brings together artists from the University of Chicago, University of Illinois Chicago, tSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Columbia College exemplify the breadth of Chicago’s diverse pedagogical community. Through photography, sculpture, drawing, and installation this exhibition investigates spatial connections and the fluidity of ever-changing forms. The five artists trace their surroundings and the edges of invisible objects, defining the boundaries of what is and is not there. They are interested in negative space, blank forms, and the contours oft he communities that they live within.
One result of the global pandemic, that began in 2020, is that humanity has become more aware of the cycles of consumption and production that we had taken for granted. It is not only the movement of physical"stuff" that has been affected, but also our creative activities, our mentalexpressions, and our non-physical expressions. Our instinct is to believe that the word “empty” is akin to nothingness, to a void in space or a place where objects or emotions cannot exist. On the other hand, if emptiness is a state of being, then how can we perceive it as nothing at all? The curator, artist Rio Usui, uses the exhibition platform to collaborate with Chicago artists on projects that move between object and non-object, between the visible and the invisible and explores the possibilities of formless shapes floating in space with outlines that connect and expand.
Empty Shapes highlights connections between the city of Chicago and its scattered institutions. As an international student fromBauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany, Rio focuses on the existence of various art communities in Chicago, the limited connections that can be made through art universities and their culture, and the possibility of expanding the "Shapes" that outline these communities.
Jan Tichy temporary, unstable, 2023 two gelatine silver print photograms, 16x20 inch each(20 x 24 inch framed) Courtesy of the artist, Fridman Gallery, NYC
Micah McCoy Romola's Structure., 2019, Film Negative on Fabric, 24 x 24 inch
Makayla Lindsay The Edge of a Table, 2023, porcelain on concrete, drywall, collected rocks, shells on shelf, written text Dimensions variable
Makayla Lindsay Hold His Echo in Your Cheeks, 2023, porcelain and oil pastel on Washi paper, footnoted text 8 x 22 inch
Micah McCoy Left: 7th View of Concrete in Farmer City, IL., 2021Film Negative on Fabric8 x 10 inch. Right: 5th View of Concrete in Farmer City, IL., 2021Film Negative on Fabric8 x 10 inch
Graphic Design: Dahyun Hwang I Motion Graphic: Leon Calvin Rolle
Typeface: Krasz by nice to type