Johalla Projects and ACRE Residency Presents

Once, We Were Giants 

A solo exhibition by Montgomery Kim

February 3 – 6, 2012

Please join us for an opening on February 3rd, from 7 – 10pm

Johalla Projects

1821 W. Hubbard Street, Suite 110

Chicago, Il 60622

By Appointment Only 

Once, We Were Giants

In our era of super-technologies and hyper-infrastructures, the gap between body and mind seems to become exponentially smaller and blurred. The link between the physical world around us and ideology seamlessly blend into one another, as one is borne from the other in no discernible order. The niches we establish are formed by ever more calculated measures, which we perceive as extensions of our selves. In so doing, our person- our physical being – not only becomes one with external stimuli, but exists with infinite potential. It is possible now for us to immortalize our selves, not through God, but by becoming gods of our own.

The process for producing these works has been one of collecting and combining distinct visual elements from one overarching theme, and combining them in a collage-like manner. The elements presented in a piece, though visually cohesive, are meant to be brought together in the viewer’s mind in an intuitive manner. The shapes, colors, and objects brought together in these works exist through a kind of dream logic, whereby these elements ebb and flow between being singular parts and being a singular unit.

The primary conceptual concern was a term used by economists to describe excess consumption and over-saturation. This law of diminishing marginal utility was once described to Kim as follows:

“You purchase one whole cake for $5. It is a delicious cake and you are allowed to eat as much as you please. You are not, however, allowed to take any of it home. So you stuff your face with as much cake as possible. After the second or third slice, you will most likely not be enjoying your cake anymore. But you’ve paid for the whole cake and it would seem a waste to not get your money’s worth. What you do not realize is that the $5 dollars you paid is gone, and that there is only one peak point of satisfaction when consuming anything. Anything after this point is either dissatisfying and burdensome, or completely neutralized in its worth.”

Montgomery (Bum Joo) Kim works primarily with wood and pre-made objects. Kim explores themes of intercultural exchange and globalization and their effects on social consciousness. By looking at traditional imagery through the lens of contemporaneity, the objects and scenarios Kim creates are paradoxical attempts at nostalgia; they are memorabilia from a potential past, present or future.

Kim is a sculptor from Mexico City, Mexico. He graduated from The School of the Art Institute in 2011 with a BFA with a focus in Sculpture, for which he was awarded the Edward Ryerson Fellowship award. He is currently based in Chicago, and is the Gallery Assistant and Project Director for THE LAND: Artist Residency Program at the Chicago Urban Art Society.

Find Kim here!

Castings of Rockface, Paleozoic Plateau Region, Archival Pigment Print, 42x53, 2012

Johalla Projects and ACRE Residency Presents

Heidi Norton’s Reasons to Cut Into the Earth

February 10-29th

Opening Reception: Friday, February 10th, 7-10PM

Daytime Hours: Saturday and Sunday 12-5PM, or by appointment

Johalla Projects

1821 W. Hubbard Street, Suite 110

Chicago, Il 60622

Reasons to cut into the earth

1. An archaeological dig: a prevalent way to recover human history is through archaeological excavation. Archaeology is a loose discipline. The methods of unearthing are scientific and restrained, but the things you look for when digging like an archaeologist are numerous and sometimes completely unknown.

2. To see what’s growing underneath. She dug holes into the earth all summer, her hair tied up in a bandana. She built a studio in the woods, using the holes she dug as molds into which she poured colored wax, capturing flowers, insects, and weeds in the viscous bright liquid. (When big chunks of glaciers get stuck in earth, they create giant pools of ice that result in holes when they melt. Geologists call these holes “kettles,” and lakes often form in these depressions.) When she was a young girl in West Virginia, she dug holes to explore the parts of the world that were just barely invisible but still attainable to her. The work that she did digging those holes was unprofessionalized and undifferentiated. She could have been looking for fossils or diamonds or evidence of human history before her.

3. A geology sample: this object contains a hidden story that helps to analyze the history of the land. Geology samples are beautiful tubes of stratified sediment, about as wide as tennis ball containers, created through special methods of drilling. You have to learn the language of the colors and textures of compacted sediment layering the cylinder to tell a story about the hidden parts of the earth. See: archaeology.

4. Quarries and mines: this is a very violent thing to do. People who are paid to do this work often die. Sometimes it creates lakes to swim in after. (She grew up swimming in a quarry, so even to this day she cannot think of quarries without the warmth of that memory coming over her.) With quarries and mines, you are looking for something valuable, for treasures that you will bring elsewhere.

5. Gardening: this is also a fairly violent way to cut into the earth, depending on what you’re gardening and whether you plan to pull it up or look at.

Page 5 

In previous works Heidi uses prefabricated molds in a controlled studio environment to create geometric forms of wax and resin with plants embedded inside. In her new work, she take these traditional studio materials and cast them into the earth, layering plants and other life inside.

Above, “Page 5”, is an excerpt from a chapter in “Art in the Earth: A Field Guide from the Soil to the Studio”, an artist book that will be included in the exhibition. Heidi is collaborating on this book project with writer Monica Westin. One version, using appropriated album boxes, will take the form of an artist monograph and field guide. A second variation will be available as a limited edition artist book.

Heidi Norton, originally from Baltimore, MD received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in 2002. Her work has been exhibited all over Chicago in venues such as Monique Meloche Gallery, Dominican University, and Andrew Rafacz Gallery. Nationally and internationally, Norton’s has been exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum in Baltimore, the Knitting Factory in New York, as well as in Los Angeles, London, and Valenica, Spain. This past year she had solo shows in San Francisco at Hungry Man Gallery, EBERSMOORE and NEIU in Chicago. Her solo exhibition at EBERSMOORE was reviewed in the September 2011 issue of Frieze. She was voted solo show of the year by New City 2011 and Top 10 Art Exhibition in Chicago  2011 by TimeOut. She is represented by EBERSMOORE.

Find Heidi Norton here and ACRE Residency here.

]]> http://johallaprojects.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/johalla-projects-presents-heidi-norton-3/feed/ 0 johallaprojects Heidi http://johallaprojects.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/coming-up-in-the-art-world-tyler-blackwell/ http://johallaprojects.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/coming-up-in-the-art-world-tyler-blackwell/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:13:26 +0000 johallaprojects http://johallaprojects.wordpress.com/?p=969 ]]> Because our new handsome, yet humble intern, Tyler Blackwell, is too busy ranting and raving about how awesome his new internship is, we over here at Johalla Projects would like to take one quick moment to brag about some great news he just received.

One of Tyler’s photographs (find him here and here!) was just selected to be one of the featured holiday cards for the 2012-2013 season at The Art Institute of Chicago! So, a big shout out to our new Social Media Intern, Tyler Blackwell! Like Biggie said, “Get Money.”

-Aimee Quinkert, Assistant Director

This time, we’re working with SIFC to help restore a public mural by artists Nick Adam and Thor that was originally begun in October of 2009 at the Logan Square Blue Line stop. The mural, entitled “Home,” uniquely serves as a visual expansion of the home that extends to the neighborhood.It raises awareness and is a reminder that our public space is where we live as well. It is a welcome-mat inviting life, love, growth, investment, respect, and care. It’s these characteristics of home that lend themselves towards thriving and prosperous communities. After all, we think that public art should translate to anyone that experiences it, so the creative vision for this project is for the artists to compose a combination of literal and abstract representations that play on the sentiment of “home”.

However, on its last day of installment a large storm hit and destroyed the mural up to its installation point. Because of this tragic event, some of the initial sponsors had to withdraw funding due to the lack of promotions.

SO, with the fabulous help of Sixty Inches From Center and Alderman Rey Colon, we are IMMENSELY enthusiastic about raising the remaining funds needed to complete the mural at a soon-to-be-announced fundraiser!

So, please stay tuned and keep your eyes and ears open for an upcoming event…We’ll be back soon to give you more information and hope you can join us!

An artist Johalla Projects knows very well…Chad Kouri.

Chad’s work can be found here.

We’re excited to talk about Chad Kouri’s upcoming group show “Studio Visit” at the Patti and Rusty Rueff West Gallery at Purdue University.

Also featured in the show are Stephen Eichhorn (found here and here and here!) and Cody Hudson (found here and here!). You should check them out, too, as they’re both supremely masterful artists!

Chad is a hugely talented Chicago artist who has exhibited with JP and collaborated with us on a variety of different cool projects. He is also a founding member of the Post Family – ”a resource, gallery, letterpress & screenprinting studio, experimental music venue and a creative incubator awarded and critically applauded by the art and design world.” The Post Family studio/gallery is also directly above Johalla Projects at 1821 W. Hubbard! We all affectionately refer to 1821 as “the bunk bed.”

Chad is showing at the Rueff West Gallery from January 30th to February 17th, so if you’re in the Purdue area, you should definitely go and check out Chad’s work in “Studio Visit,” an exhibition curated by Purdue MFA candidate Garet Martin!

Hey all, as part of our goal to post more content, we’re excited to share more kind of behind-the-scenes information about different aspects of Johalla Projects.

Our director Anna Cerniglia is working as a juror for the Indiana University Northwest Gallery for Contemporary Art‘s open call for a photography exhibition entitled “Documentary Photography: The Economic Crisis.”

The curator for the show is the immensely talented Jennifer Greenburg, who is also an Assistant Professor of Photography at IUN.

While the show’s deadline for submission is tomorrow, we urge to check back right here for a possible spotlight on those chosen for the exhibition!

Chiara No’s practice is to redefine and re-construct materials by stripping them of their original purpose and cultural significance, reducing them to objects qua objects. Through the recalibration of these objects, she intends to illicit pure aesthetic seduction. The objects avoid didacticism and social critique; not out of anti-intellectualism, but rather out of an indifference towards intellect. By presenting streamers and embroideries without origin, context, or function, the work’s intent is to highlight their inherent beauty. They are feral forms, practical items which have escaped their domestic sphere. Wholly superficial and unconcerned with wit or place, they lean instead toward an existential happiness, an emotional zone where the pieces’ essential nothingness is in fact its content. And, grouped together, the pieces play against each other, exhibiting an even stronger, more congenial emptiness that defies both original and new milieu; they emphasize that an accumulation of everything is still nothing.

We here at Johalla Projects are excited to start 2012 and our new season of programming! As January gets underway, we have decided to revamp our online outlets. These updates include new looks and much more current and relevant content for our website, our blog, our Tumblr, our Twitter, and our Facebook. We want to get YOU involved and provide really cool information and great art for anyone and everyone interested!

Just as a little refresher for you all, look for us on all of the following:

Website: johallaprojects.com

Twitter: @JohallaProjects

Blog: johallaprojects.wordpress.com

Tumblr: johallaprojects.tumblr.com

Facebook:JohallaProjects

Contact: johallaprojects@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you in 2012!

Please join us for Crossing the Rubikon, an exhibit of work by sophomore year School of the Art Institute students curated by Barbara DeGenevieve.  With this exhibit, Zeb Arrington, Jon Chacon, Alyssa Chappe, Julia Cuddy, Andrew Green, Angel Harrold, Carson Hoerz, Mira Ishii, Vivian Kvitka, Joan Laser, Elliott Mickleburgh, Sandra Nazz, Jannah Tate, Wei Hsinyen, and Marie Weston are declaring their decision to continue on with their BFA program. The reception for Crossing the Rubikon is on November 4th from 7 – 10pm with a video screening at 8pm and a performance by Wei Hsinyen at 9pm.

This week artist Ryan Duggan will have his piece “Today Is Yours” installed at the California Blue line station. What a great piece to come home to.