title: Chicago Spring
curator: Lauren Iacoponi
artists: Darryll Schiff, Charlotte Gasparetti Ribar + Spiros Loukopoulos, Millicent Kennedy, MyLinh Mac, Tabor Shiles, Ata Berkol, David Stonehouse, Sarah Genematas, Marcy Thomas-Burns + Amy Shelton, Gordon Hall (exhibition poster from DOCUMENT)
materials: varies (listed below)
dimensions: three 30 x 53.5 inch windows, artwork size varies (listed below)
location: Chicago, Illinois, US
Introduction
Hello, my name is Lauren Iacoponi. I'm the Founder and Director of Purple Window Gallery and Co-op. I had the idea for Hello Neighbor satellite exhibitions about a week into shelter in place. Overwhelmed by life, I decided to take a walk around my Chicago neighborhood.
On my walk I spent a lot of time thinking about what we can do to get things started with Purple Window. I’ve been trying to get a co-op together for almost a year now. We cannot rightfully convene at this time, but we can still reach people with our art. While it’s completely obvious why we named our co-op “Purple Window”, (the window panes of our pending exhibition space are purple) the name seemed to jump out at me. Let’s use our windows to showcase artwork!
Hello Neighbor calls for participants to use domestic and storefront windows to showcase artwork to the outside world. This is an ongoing curatorial project during the C-19 shutdowns world-wide.
Our public art initiative serves to connect people through art and improve the physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals during this difficult time in history. So far, Hello Neighbor exhibitions will take place across the United States in Illinois, Washington, West Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, California, Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, Massachusetts and New York. Exhibitions will take place outside of the US in Canada, England, France, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.
Interested in bringing the exhibition to your neighborhood? Hello Neighbor by Purple Window is an open call.
Email purplewindowgallery@gmail.com for more information on how to get involved.
Chicago Spring
My window display titled Chicago Spring, is a collection of images and small sculptural works that I've purchased or acquired from Chicago artists and galleries over the past couple of years. Acquisitions include two works on paper purchased at Chicago's GIFC show at Western Exhibitions, an exhibition poster from DOCUMENT, scarves purchased at Renegade Craft Fair & RAW Artists Showcase, pieces sold over Instagram, and artworks gifted to me for organizing past exhibitions. Each artwork was selected because it reminded me of Chicago Spring (or lack thereof). Bright colors, bare bodies, flowers, sunglasses, florescent rope, architectural structures, and a black and white blizzard all come together in my six windowpanes. In Chicago, it's summer or it's winter, we tend to miss out on spring. This feels particularly true this year.
"My decision to exhibit these particular works is partially due to convenience (they were already in my home). But they also remind me of exploring the city, taking part in the art community, and discovering new artwork. I wanted to take my treasures and give them back to the city through an homage to the Chicago art scene I miss inhabiting."
Chicago Spring, curated by Lauren Iacoponi
Photography by Amy Shelton
Top Left Window (left to right): Sarah Genematas, colored pencil drawing, 9x11 inches; David Stonehouse, mixed media drawing, 9x11 inches
Bottom Left Window (top to bottom, left to right): MyLinh Mac, canvas painting, 8x8 inches, Ata Berkol, hand marbled fabric, folded 9x11 inches, Marcy Thomas-Burns + Amy Shelton collaboration: Sculpture by Thomas-Burns, Print by Shelton, 11x14 inches
Top Middle Window: Darryll Schiff, fine art photo print on cotton paper, 17x22.5 inches
Bottom Middle Window (left to right): Gordon Hall exhibition poster (DOCUMENT), inkjet print on paper, 11x17 inches, John Heinze, polyhedron wooden sculpture, approx. 9x4 inches, Shistine Peterson, plastic primary colored houses, approx. 2x3 inches each
Top Right Window (top to bottom): Tabor Shiles, screen print on silk, 11x11 inches, Trashformal (Charlotte Gasparetti Ribar + Spiros Loukopoulos), screen print on paper, 13.5x10 inches
Bottom Right Window (left to right): Botany illustrations published by S.Curtis Glazenwood Essex, June 1,1833., 5.5x9 inches each, Millicent Kennedy, colored pencil and ink drawing, 9x11 inches
On display in Chicago Spring
Artist's Instagrams:
Sarah Genematas: @vagittarius
David Stonehouse: @davesauce
MyLinh (Millie) Mac: @millie_d_mac
Ata Berkhol: @easy.bake.oven
Marcy Thomas-Burns: @mjthomasburns
Amy Shelton: @amysheltonphotography
Darryll Schiff: @darryllschiff
Gordon Hall: @gordon_hall_
John Heinze: @adlubescence
Shistine Peterson: @_shistine
Tabor Shiles: @taborshiles
Trashformal: @trashformal
Millicent Kennedy: @millicentkennedystudios
More on Lauren Iacoponi's curatorial practice
I co-founded the roving project space Unpacked Mobile Gallery in 2017, with artists Shane Bowers and Naomi Elson. This was during our Master’s program at Northern Illinois University. Unpacked as a DIY exhibition space was the topic of my MFA Thesis. Through Unpacked we have exhibited 20 artists in 5 exhibitions. I served as the Exhibition Coordinator & Co-curator at Rubberneck Gallery in West Town Chicago from 2017-2019. Each of my curatorial projects have been self-directed from Unpacked, to Rubberneck Gallery, and the upcoming exhibition Crafting Our Legacy at Heaven Gallery (slated to open June 12, 2020).
As a community engager I am influenced by The Exhibition as an Artistic Medium, which explores the cultural and sociological effects of a museum and encourages the examination of exhibition and whom it might be for. Through Unpacked we aim to redefine the accepted notions of our public and private lives and exhibit on topics that matter socially and culturally. We aim to engage the viewer in a dialogue about art, identity, public space, and the innovative ways artists can curate meaning and a sense of community through installation.
Lauren Iacoponi is an artist, curator, and arts administrator living and working in Chicago, IL. Iacoponi received her MFA from Northern Illinois University with a Certificate in Art History and her BFA from Columbia College with a Minor in Art History. She was the 2016-2017 recipient of the Northern Illinois University Fellowship for the School of Art and Design. Iacoponi is the Director and Co-Founder of Purple Window Gallery as well as Unpacked Mobile Gallery, a curatorial assistant at Johalla Projects in Chicago, and the midwest representative for BOCCARA Art, an international art dealing agency with locations in Chicago, New York, London, Hong Kong, and Paris.
Iacoponi has over six years of experience working as a fine arts professional and is adept in independent curation, exhibition coordination, and fine art promotion. Iacoponi is keenly interested in the development of living artists, and actively promotes the work of emerging, mid-career, and under-represented artists. Follow her on Instagram: @lauren.ike
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