July 21 - September 1

Beyond Blue - Curated by Justin Dwaun

Opening Reception: July 21, 7- 10 pm

BEYOND BLUE - Unveiling the Hidden Narratives of Indigo Opening Reception
RSVP here

Step into the world of Beyond Blue and uncover the hidden narratives that reside within the indigo pigment. This thought-provoking art exhibition celebrates the resilience and triumphs of those affected by the indigo pigment's historical significance in West Africa and America.

Join us for the opening reception on July 21 from 7p to 10p, as we come together to celebrate the power of art in igniting conversations and fostering connection. Engage with the artists themselves, gaining insight into their creative process and the stories behind their vibrant artworks.

Throughout the exhibition, participate in various interactive workshops including a quilting workshop led by Amanda Christine Harth, a master of textile craftsmanship, and a denim workshop with Landon Tate. Explore the art of quilting and denim creation, both intimately connected to the indigo heritage, and unleash your own creativity.

Expand your horizons through an artist talks and panel discussion, where esteemed guests, Alexandria Eregbu and Amanda Christine Harth, share their perspectives on identity, memory, and the enduring impact of indigo. These conversations will deepen your appreciation for the profound connection between art and storytelling.

Experience the fusion of art and literature in our Poetry Circle & Writer's Workshop with Justus Pugh. Explore the poetic expressions inspired by indigo and discover how the written word can unveil hidden narratives.

Indulge your senses in an extraordinary artistic and culinary fusion at the Artist Dinner hosted by Alaasë. This intimate gathering celebrates the diverse voices and experiences that intersect within the indigo realm, creating a space for inclusivity, understanding, and the celebration of our shared humanity through West African dishes with an American twist.

Join us for the Closing Reception, where we bid farewell to this transformative exhibition. Hosted by NO BOTTLE SERVICE, this event will prioritize the art and collective experience allowing us to immerse ourselves fully in the rich narratives presented and celebrate the artist that have created the amazing pieces and programming that make up the exhibition.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to our partners at Compound Yellow, The Design Museum of Chicago, and alt_ as well as our programming partners Landon Tate, Justus Pugh, Alaasë, and NO BOTTLE SERVICE for their invaluable support and collaboration in bringing this extraordinary exhibition to life. Together, we aim to create an inclusive space that welcomes diverse perspectives, fosters dialogue, and honors the multifaceted stories woven into the indigo pigment.

Justine Dwaun Redding: @justindwaunredding @Naomiprojects

Alexandria Eregbu: @alexandriaeregbu @findingijeoma

Amanda Christine Harth: @amandachristineharth @universeofharth

may 6th -june 3rd

mikey mosher - biofeedback

Opening Reception: May 6th, 2-5pm

 “This exhibition, "Biofeedback" is a body of work by Chicago-based artist Mikey Mosher, which reflects on and attempts to rectify the loss of tactility in contemporary American culture. This loss is particularly obvious in the context of technology, and our physical interactions with it. Touch screens lessen the physical sensation of every swipe, type, and tap, so much so that these sensations need to be simulated back into the experience through added haptic feedback. This loss of touch has stretched into our interpersonal relationships even more during the pandemic era. Reflecting on these patterns brought about this body of work which attempts to both embody this loss of tactility, but also be an act of resistance to that loss. Pieces in this exhibition involve “hands-off” production processes such as lasercutting, but also require significant “hands-on” methods like sanding, collaging, painting, and arranging.

Mikey Mosher is an interdisciplinary artist from Massachusetts, currently based in Chicago. He holds an MFA in Studio Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Much of his work is influenced by his undergraduate Religious Studies background. This academic study of the religious history of New England allowed him to root his reflections on the relationship between religion, spirituality, colonial power, and indoctrination in historical events that took place where he grew up. Since then, he has been using his artistic practice as an act of perpetual self-reeducation; a way of filtering and rearranging the information he picks up from contemporary media to reflect the grim and surreal reality that underlies all corners of American life. More recently, he sees his practice as a channel for genuine spiritual reflection, both for himself and his audience, while infusing cultural critique into that process.

mikeymosher.com

FEBRUARY 24TH - MARCH 25TH

TOOLBOX - GROUP EXHIBITION BY ARTIST COLLECTIVE SSPATZ

Opening Reception: February 24, 6pm

Since its foundation, sspatz has been all about art in domestic spaces. The starting point has been the need to make contemporary art tangible as part of living spaces and to test how it can be presented and received in completely regular homes, outside of exclusive properties or pure white cube settings. So you could definitely say that sspatz's mission is to normalize living with art. The pandemic has clearly shown how important it is to open up new spaces and forms of presentation for art. We therefore decided to work with 12 artists during the lock-down to develop a Toolbox that people can use to create and encounter art in their own homes. In 2021 we sent out 55 boxes to people all over the world so they could create their very own contemporary art experience at home.

The special thing about the contributions gathered in the Toolboxes is that the works are only completed through the active participation of the recipients. How the activation is to be carried out in detail can be found either on the contribution itself or in an accompanying manual.

Sometimes the instructions are relatively clear and sometimes absolutely ambiguous. In any case, however, the works call for dialogue and examination. For the contributions gathered in this Toolbox, the action of the recipients is decisive. They must be activated and should be touched - sometimes even roughly. The artworks in this box are strange tools. Not only do they intervene in the actual nature of the world and homes, but they also question our understanding of authorship and art. They are an invitation to question our own notions of where, when and what art is or can be.

The presentation of sspatz’s Toolbox project at Compound Yellow is an exhibition that extends from the Gallery to adjacent living spaces, a documentation of previous Toolbox activities and an open ended process for the audience in Chicago. With contributions by Franziska Windolf, Eva Gentner, Esther Steinbrecher, John Dombroski & Trevor Amery, Julia Dorflinger, Simon Fischer, Anas, Lukas Picard, Simon Pfeffel, Markus Vater, Aida El-Oweidy.

FEBRUARY - On going

Disclaimer - Installation By Industry of the ordinary

Industry of the Ordinary are Adam Brooks and Mathew Wilson.

Adam Brooks is an artist, curator and educator and Mathew Wilson is an artist and educator.

Their manifesto:

Through sculpture, text, photography, video, sound and performance Industry of the Ordinary are dedicated to an exploration and celebration of the customary, the everyday, and the usual. Their emphasis is on challenging pejorative notions of the ordinary and, in doing so, moving beyond the quotidian.

Their project at Compound Yellow features ‘Disclaimer’, 2023 ( (this installation, original project 2011) Vinyl banner, 13’ x 10', a public art installation on view through February and ongoing.

'The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting'. - Milan Kundera

september 18 - November 20

JAMES JANKOWIAK - "THE GREAT ESCAPE" NEW WORKS by JAMES JANKOWIAK

Opening Reception: September 18, 3-5p / Closing Reception: November 20, 3-6p

Chicago born artist and educator James Jankowiak’s current paintings and installation focuses on the role of color and familiar form as a means of communication in our day to day environment. His emotive abstract paintings and public artworks explore the intersections between color, visual rhythm, spirituality and music.

As an educator, Jankowiak has utilized contemporary painting practice and public artworks as a vehicle for social engagement with Chicago Public School students and teachers across the entire city for over two decades.

 Jankowiak’s work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art, SAIC’s Roger Brown Study Collection, the Hyde Park Art Center, Johalla Projects, Western Exhibitions and the Chicago Cultural Center.  He has also received numerous grants over the years, and is currently working on a large scale mural project for the 23rd Ward, commissioned by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Photo by Tom Van Eynde

May 7 - June 4

Jordan “Soup” Campbell’s - “a • float” solo exhibition

Opening Reception: May 7, 5:31-7:22p / Closing Reception: June 4, 5:31-7:11 PM

Campbell: “The sun serves as a witness to the centuries of this earth and its existence before and after us. The radiance of the sun nourished fields of corn, added depth to the complexion of skin and was able to capture the wrestling of cattle. In all of its glory and memory, the influence of the sun made its mark on a distinct American people:, Black Cowboys. If one studied the chronicles of American History, they could assume that the existence of this group of people had no significance. The half truths of the John Waynes and Clint Eastwoods would find is left no room for tales of the Bass Reeves’ and the Nat Loves.

a • float not only catapults the lives of Black Cowboys to center stage, but it also intentionally acknowledges the inventors from the 19th century until now -- the ones that have received a similar erasure from our history. For a while, I subscribed to this constant rotation of biased history. I’ve since begun peeling back the layers of Black culture, seeing how it rests within myself and understanding how it may manifest in different forms. Through my explorations as an artist, a Black Man of God, and a historian, I take the pages that have been whitewashed with the rhetoric of exclusivity and instead fill them with the pantheon of Black Folk who complete them. 

As an artist and believer, it’s my role to reflect the times and be courageously creative. The culture we have soulfully permeated is now as reflective as diamonds. Our ideas, concepts, and movements have been crystallized in spite of unwanted and undeserved pressures. In this work, I am thinking about the spirit that motivated these inventors and Cowboys alike. The historical impact of these trailblazers, but also the right-now-ness of it. “

Jordan is part of the artist collective alt_ and is currently a Takeover resident at Compound Yellow. Read more about alt_ on our Takeover page.

April 1 - APril 27

JON VEAL - "MAYDAY" SOLO EXHIBITION

Opening Reception: April 1, 7-9p

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.” - Marcus Garvey

“I haven’t had an opportunity to share a complete body of work outside of collaboration since 2019. As I took time to reflect upon all that has happened, all I could say was
Mayday.” - Jon Veal

Mayday is a public challenge to the widely established narratives of written histories in favor of a collective history of the people. The latest works from artist Jon Veal invite the viewer to become a participant in both the work and the collective history of the community.

January 15 - January 29

DMITRY SAMAROv - COLLAGES

Faced with the plague outside his door, Samarov, a painter who'd worked for decades from outside in, looked into his past for subject-matter. Specifically, crates and drawers of old letters, homework assignments, failed or forgotten artwork, and varied ephemera. Ripping them up, gluing them back wrong, then scribbling all over the whole mess, Samarov is working out a personal visual lexicon unlike anything that came in his previous four decades of creative endeavor.

About Dmitry Samarov
Dmitry Samarov was born in Moscow, USSR in 1970. He immigrated to the US with his family in 1978. He got in trouble in 1st grade for doodling on his Lenin Red Star pin and hasn't stopped doodling since. After a false start at Parsons School of Design in New York, he graduated with a BFA in painting and printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993.

Upon graduation he promptly began driving a cab—first in Boston, then after a time, in Chicago— which eventually led to the publication of his illustrated work memoirs Hack: Stories from a Chicago Cab (University of Chicago Press, 2011) and Where To? A Hack Memoir (Curbside Splendor, 2014).

Music to My Eyes (Tortoise Books, 2019) is his first non-cabbie-related book. Soviet Stamps (Pictures&Blather, 2020) is the second. All Hack (Pictures&Blather, 2020) is a summation of his cabbie-related work. Old Style (Pictures&Blather, 2021) is his first work of fiction.

He has exhibited his work in all manner of bars, coffee shops, libraries, and even the odd gallery (when he's really hard up).

He writes dog portraits and paints book reviews in Chicago, Illinois. You can see more of his work than you'd ever want to at https://dmitrysamarov.com/.

October 29 - November 28

Takeover residency group exhibition - In good hands

Opening Reception: October 29, 6-9p / Closing Exhibition: November 27, 4-6p

The idiom “in good hands” is defined as to be in the care of a person or people who are able to take care of someone or something well. Oftentimes, women and femme identifying individuals are defaulted to be the caretaker. Women and queer artists are also celebrated one month out of the year from exhibitions, to talks, and highlights. To care is a spectrum, as is making; therefore if you are in the care of a maker, you are in good hands. Care is centered around the intention and attention to the work and by the hand that offers it.

"In Good Hands" is a group exhibition that features queer and women artists who create with their hands through the lens of photography, textile, fiber, text, sculpture, installation, and painting. Featured artists include, Bimbola Akinbola, Chi Nwosu, Jacqueline Surdell, Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero, Jane Georges, Sophia English, Sydnie Jiminez, and Vidushi Lohia.

From the soft gouache paintings of Bimbola Akinbola’s family intricately woven, to the small soft plush hand sewn pieces from Jacquelyn Carmen Guerrero, and hand molded life size sculptures and tiles from Sydnie Jimenez, care is behind every touch. Each artist’s hands put in the work to create that which exists beyond the default.

Novermber 14 - December 28

Spencer Hutchinson - Eglantine: Drawing and Photography

Opening Reception: November 14, 2-6p / Closing Reception: December 28, 2-6p

Past work by multidisciplinary artist Spencer Hutchinson that draws on the theme of linearity, silence, and the visual interpretation of sound.

October 10 - November 7

ANON ANYM - DETRITUS

Opening Reception: October 10, 2-6p / Closing Reception: November 7, 2-5p

“Every moment instructs, and every object: for wisdom is infused into every form.”
--Emerson, Nature (1844)

Detritus is a series of twenty-seven porcelain sculptures, presented as a collection of recently discovered calcified specimens that share a process of becoming.  The premise: these forms emerged through spontaneous or near spontaneous calcification of phenomenological or experiential catalysts. As a pseudo-scientific exhibit, each object is annotated with an analysis of its materiality and notes as to its provenance, the whole of which is a meditation on humanity's evolving existential crises, loss, and transformation.  

https://anonanym.com/section/494150-detritus.html)

October 10 - November 28

Nathan Mason - Improvisations

Opening Reception: October 10, 2-6p

From the artist:

“My working method is improvisational. 

In the suite of ceramic objects the source objects are kitsch figurines used as found with clay and glaze layered on. If the figurine has damage it is incorporated as an element to grow from. I am an art history nerd and frequently take inspiration from the tradition of Western European art and its iconographic sources. Thus, in the gallery is an Annunciation pairing with additional archangels. Pinkie, is a statuette of the famous Thomas Lawrence portrait of a young woman. Paired with her is Gabriel in the form of an orange and bluish clown bust. The red matador struck me as having a flaming sword and became Uriel, the angel guarding the gate of the Garden of Eden. The black matador is titled Raphael. The viewer is free to construct their own exegesis.

Part of my process is working within parameters. The colors of the two exterior works are industry standard safety colors. The chair construct is a spatial exercise in using objects as they are but transforming them by juxtaposition and color. The window tapestry is made from flagging tape for construction sites.”

To see more of Nathan’s work visit his website below:

https://nathanmason.com/home.html

OCTOBER 3 - OCTOBER 31

ERIK NEWMAN: AQUAHUT MK3

September 19

Julia Blake In collaboration with Marianne Bernstein - NOMADICUBE: INTERWOVEN

Reception: September 19, 4-6p

Interwoven is a material and psychological exploration of opposing forces, tension, and parallels, the dialogue those concepts elicit, and how strength borne from adversity can be nurtured and, given time, cherished and celebrated. It is an exploration of our human need for connectedness in a time of forced separation.

The warp strands remain isolated, allowing for free motion and appear to beckon the addition of weft intersection as expected in a woven composition. As work progresses, public human discourse within the cube has inadvertently begun to mimic the installation theme, with participants offering up their stories, histories, and experiences - bringing to light the intersectionality of the human condition.

Interwoven is an invitation for fluidity, openness, and a celebration of that which makes our experiences uniquely different, and yet collectively human. It is a call to let go of self-imposed expectations and instead embrace the kind of simplicity that brings tranquility and healing.” -Julia Blake

Julia Blake (juliamblake.com) is a fiber arts instructor, artist, and weaver. She spent her formative years moving back and forth between the midwestern United States and West Bengal, India and has been fascinated by textiles since early childhood. Julia has a degree in Education and Human Sciences, with a focus on Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also studied backstrap loom weaving at the Gagyel Lhundrup Weaving Center in Thimphu, Bhutan. Julia teaches the art of handwaving to the blind and visually impaired residents of Friedman Place in Chicago.

Nomadicube (nomadicube.com) is a participatory and collaborative project inside an open-framed 10’x10’ pink cube structure created and facilitated by Marianne Bernstein. The geometry of the cube frames space into a creative free zone; the practice inside is unpredictable, allowing for spontaneous and personal interactions. Marianne Bernstein is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator known for pushing boundaries of how art can be created and experienced in the social realm.

February 28 - March 28

Mikkel Nieman - Decaying

Opening Reception: February 28, 6-9p

Danish artist Mikkel Neimann will be in residence at Compound Yellow from February 28-March 28, 2020. He will be show casing four different videos that examine how political decisions impact urban design and our perception of the space we inhabit. Specifically, each of the videos portray abandoned villages in Greenland, abandoned factories in Detroit and the separation wall in Israel. Niemann, through his site visits, collects materials through digital video, photography, sound recording that emphasize a relationship between remnants of the architecture, human life, and the collective memories of these remnants. Niemann uses his collection process to capture everyday details which we see but do not gave much notice, like wallpaper, a painted wall, brick patterns, labels etc. The images are combined with sound, recorded onsite or from archives, helping the viewer contextualize how these remnants or spaces are used. The short musical non-narrative works that Niemann creates also addresses how these spaces often become an enactment of civil disobedience as they are transformed through generational population shifts.

Mikkel Niemann is a Danish multi-media artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mikkel works in video, photography, performance and installation exploring the connections between memory, history, architecture and decay.

August 4 -September 8

JUSTIN NALLEY - THIS IS NOT A RAMP

Opening Reception: August 4, 2-6p / Closing Reception: September 8, 2-6p

This is Not a Ramp is:
- notice what’s important
- friends / fun / collab with past self
- boredom as beauty
- making things easy
- 4 cards Rhonda pulled for me - rejoice in celebration
- SPRINKLES
- the first hour of every diet
- the last chapter of every self help audio book mom suggested
- drawing / poetry / starting an Etsy account
- lower the feed dogs
- be uncomfortable
- do almost anything you want

Justin T. Nalley is an over sensitive, sober alcoholic, hypochondriac artist and poet working in the field of humanistic confessionalism. With an interest in human struggle and sentiment, his whimsical, often self-deprecating works explore the tribulations of one seeking 21st century self-actualization. Inspired by his desire for and aversion to health, Nalley’s work (often autobiographical) examines human thought, feeling and action; specifically, around topics such as addiction, love, food, hope, fear, shame and identity. Nalley works primarily through poetry, drawing, book making, installation and ephemera. Public poetry readings act as a gesture of vulnerability, a mission born from his belief in art making as therapy and communication. Through this process, Nalley simultaneously seeks to empower and become empowered. As an educator, he expands on these missions by integrating healing art practices into his teaching. Justin holds a BA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and currently teaches ArtShop, a teen program at Hyde Park Art Center. He is an Adult Education Instructor of Photography at SAIC, where he also audits courses with a desire to strengthen both his personal practice and pedagogy.

June 2 - July 6

HOLLY HOLMES - ALL THOU LOST, BRING IT TOO DAY

Opening Reception: June 2, 2-4p

This is an exhibition of new work by Holly Holmes thinking about craft, process and care. Holmes uses hand altered porcelain casts to make stitching needles that vary by size, color and shape. At once fragile and strong, bold and delicate, she uses the needles to create a series of sculptures and a hand woven wall work. This new work marks a significant progression for Holmes as she begins to stake out new territories of representation and fabrication in her practice.

April 6 - May 11

PRISON + NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS PROJECT - THE LONG TERM

Opening Reception: April 6, 5-8p / Closing Reception: May 11, 2-6p / Film Screening and Discussion of “The Sentence” May 11, 4-6p

Between 2016-2018, artists, writers and members of the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project created a series of thematic works around long-term sentencing policies and the other long terms they produce: long-term struggles for freedom, long-term loss in communities, and long-term relationships behind the prison wall. These projects emerged out of classes and collaborative work at Stateville prison, where people are serving extraordinarily long prison terms (60, 70 and 80 years), often for crimes for which they would have already been released, had they been sentenced 30 years earlier, or in a different country.  

The Long Term exhibition is travelling around Chicago to create discussion about life and long term sentencing, with the voices of incarcerated artists and writers at the center. The exhibition includes: an 13 minute hand-drawn animation and a series of works on paper made by artists at Stateville prison; a series of video interviews with people impacted by long term sentencing; an audio installation with formerly incarcerated people about carceral policy; and a portfolio of risographic prints made by 15 Chicago artists that accompanies a book titled The Long Term: Resisting Life Sentences, Working Toward Freedom. The works in this exhibition examines the impacts of life and long sentences and demands an end to death by incarceration.

Curated by Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project

February 9 - February 23

MICHAEL LOPEZ and RONI PACKER - TWO SPREADS

Opening Reception: February 9, 3-6p / Closing Reception: February 23, 3-6p

Resisting boundaries that dictate convention within the arts, Lopez and Packer use the un-archival material of food with the hopes of forming memories; for this exhibition, the end game is anything but a sale. Typically known as object makers, they choose to explore new mediums as a supplement to those they are most comfortable using in the studio, opting instead to explore the mutual connections in which their friendship is grounded: a love of eating and a love of creating.

Inspired by the relationships between food and art, two of the artists’ great loves, Two Spreads highlights their passion for color and form. Creators in every way, Lopez and Packer pile mounds of homemade edible color onto a plate of canvas. Though these foodstuffs are the focus of the opening and closing events, they are unable to overpower the audience’s presence.

Lunch table as artwork, these spreads are made for sharing.

Michael Lopez is an interdisciplinary “bi-racial” UIC MFA native of Chicago. His mother is a public school teacher and last year he claimed only $3,400 on his taxes. For a detailed breakdown of his genetics and artwork please visit www.michaelplopez.com

Roni Packer is a painter who prioritizes the paint over the image. Her spacious paintings and installations are a terrain for material and formal explorations that invariably put color at their core. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Packer moved to the United States in 2014. She received her MFA from The University of Illinois-Chicago in 2017, and was a BOLT resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition in 2017-2018.  www.ronipacker.com

An essay by Lauren Leving will accompany the exhibition.

September 14 - October 14

Michael Dain And Elizabeth Burke-Dain - THE BIFF & YUBBIE SHOW

Opening Reception: September 14, 6-9p

The Biff & Yubbie Show is a visual collaboration between two art lovers who have worked in a variety of creative cultural industries in Chicago for the past three decades. The title references the artists' nicknames--“Biff” is Michael Dain and “Yubbie” is Elizabeth Burke-Dain. They have been known by these names since childhood. 

Michael’s sculptures represent a lifelong fascination with high and low technology, light, shadow, and form, while Elizabeth's site-specific installation (composed of pliant pool toys) creates a visual cohesion--and playful counterbalance--to the geometric structuralism of Michael’s work.

Michael Dain has shown with Chicago’s Kavi Gupta Gallery, Ten in One, the Chinn Gallery, and the Weir Gallery. He currently teaches user experience design at Northwestern University and is a director at the Chicago advertising agency Foote, Cone & Belding. He received his Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction from DePaul University. 

Elizabeth Burke-Dain is curator, artist, and marketing and media professional. She has dedicated her career to promoting and elevating the arts in Chicago and nationally through the many positions she has held with the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine, the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College, Garfield Park Conservatory, and as co-founder of Around the Coyote. As an artist, she is inspired by designs found in nature and she works in a variety of materials from ceramics to assemblage.

February 17 - April 7

DYLAN CALE JONES - OBSERVATION DEVICES

Opening Reception: February 17, 2-8p / Artist Talk: March 18, 3-5p / Closing Reception: April 7, 2-5p

Observation Devices is a growing collection of artworks by Dylan Cale Jones. Observation Devices takes its title from the Chicago Police Department's surveillance cameras, called 'Police Observation Devices'. These cameras are part of Operation Virtual Shield, one of the largest networks of surveillance infrastructure in the world. When plans for this surveillance network were unveiled, Mayor Richard Daley declared the city's goal to have "a camera on every corner." Although observation has power it also has limitations. All forms of observation leave some things unseen. By using numerous mediums Dylan Cale Jones develops a complex picture of the public space surrounding the cameras. These drawings, sculptures, photographs, texts, and events document the artist’s observations of public spaces in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. Observation Devices offers both a critique and an expansion of Operation Virtual Shield, demonstrating ways that observation can foster curiosity, intimacy, and connection. dylancalejones.com

October 30:

Alberto Aguilar and Jesse Malmed - HOME MEANT IMPROV/UNCERTAINTY MAKES A GREAT SHOW

Opening Reception and Live Performance: October 30, 2-6p

Jesse: Home Meant Improv. Peppered throughout and to taste: sixteen sweet acts ceremonially mastered by Alberto Aguilar and Jesse Malmed (each with enough gentility to name the other first in their descriptions). To inaugurate an old space with a new name and new ideas, Al and Mal have devised a structure of sorts while disorganizing a series of performances within an exhibition. Each will perform—without planning or notes—a magic trick, a stand-up bit and a song. These interstitials play host to a series of improvising guests.

 Alberto: Uncertainty Makes a Great Show. You are invited to a program of 16 uncertain acts. Jesse Malmed and Alberto Aguilar act as both master of ceremonies and co-curators. At this event they will perform one magic trick, one stand up comedy bit and an impromotu song. Along with this they will each invite 5 artists that will also perform during the program. An exhibition throughout the compound of all performing artists will be on view for an undetermined amount of time.
 
 Invited Artists: Blair Bogin, Hui-min Tsen, Jimmy Schaus, Josh Rios, Madeleine Aguilar, Mitsu Salmon, Sadie Woods, Susy Bielak, Fred Schmalz (Balas & Wax), and more

JESSE MALMED is an artist and curator, working in video, performance, text, occasional objects and their gaps and overlaps. He has performed, screened and exhibited at museums. microcinemas, film festivals, galleries, bars and barns, including recent solo presentations at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, D Gallery, Syntax Season, Roots and Culture, the Chicago Cultural Center, Cinema Contra, Microlights, Echo Park Film Center, Lease Agreement and the University of Chicago Film Studies Center. www.jessemalmed.net

ALBERTO AGUILAR I will write this biography using 165 words but will not discover this number until it is complete. From this point forward he will be speaking in third person. Alberto Aguilar is a Chicago based aartist and was born there as well. Aguilar’s creative practice often incorporates whatever materials are at hand as well as exchanges with his family, other aartists, and people he encounters. His work bridges media from painting and sculpture to video, installation, performance, and sound and has been exhibited at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary AArt, the Queens Museum,  Crystal Bridges Museum of American AArt, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of AArt, the Minneapolis Institute of AArt and the AArt Institute of Chicago. He holds a BFAA and an MFAA from the School of the AArt Institute of Chicago and currently teaches at Harold Washington College one of the City Colleges of Chicago. In order to create slight confusion, he has added an extra letter A where ever the word aart appears in this bio. www.albertoaguilar.org

October 28

Spencer Paul Hutchinson - I SEE MY LIGHT COME SHINING, ITERATION NO. 3

Opening Reception: October 28, 6-9p / Live Performance: 7:30p

“I See My Light Come Shining” is a sound based installation utilizing found objects that addresses the social history of African-Americans’ attempt to climb the “social ladder” and achieve the American Dream and confront the existential realities that are inherent in the struggle. The installation at Compound Yellow marks the third iteration of the installation and performance.

There will be a second sound piece debuted after the performance of I See My Light Come Shining titled "On Second Thought", a loosely composed/improvised piece for oscillating fan and violin. The piece calls into question the presence of technology in musical production and how the tools uses to enhance and even to disseminate music can put themselves at odds with the musician themselves.

March 18 - April 24

Rachel Wallis - Gone But Not Forgotten

Sewing Circle: March 22, 6-9p / Artist Talk: March 18, 2-4p

Gone But Not Forgotten is a collaborative quilting project creating a memorial quilt for individuals killed by the Chicago Police Department or while in police custody from 2006 to 2015. In collaboration with the grassroots group We Charge Genocide, artist Rachel Wallis planned and organized a series of peace circles/quilting circles where participants could read the victims’ stories aloud, while creating a hand embroidered quilt in their memory. The circles have provided a safe space where more than 200 people from vastly different neighborhoods and backgrounds could come together and discuss transformative justice, police accountability, and community safety. Together, we created a six panel quilt which stretches nearly 40 feet in length and commemorating the lives of 144 individuals.
 

Compound Yellow will be exhibiting one of the six finished quilt panels, while hosting public quilting circles creating squares for the seventh, and final panel of the project. 

MARCH 5 - MARCH 26:

CURTIS LOCKE - PERIPHERAL VISION-A CHICAGO PERIMETER RIDE PROJECT (2015-ONGOING)

Opening Reception: March 5, 2p / Periphery Ride: March 26, 8:30 - 9a / begins at The Point (Promontory Point) and will last approximately 6-7 hours. 

Is the presence of a bicycle in an art gallery an inevitable Duchampian gesture, or is it sometimes just Freud's cigar? A bicycle without a cyclist is simply a potential ride, while a cyclist without a bicycle is a bi-ped. The Chicago perimeter ride is a fleeting, ephemeral yet concrete street traffic performance staged site-specific on the outskirts and along the city limits of Chicago. The streets serve as a fringe theater where the methodical, methodized actor-cyclist performs his routine. This ritual ride is repeated like a meditation, a prayer, poem, a song. The route is routinized but varies from time to time. This routine act, spinning bicycle and body, tracing boundaries and memories, traverses 90+ miles through Chicago's built environment. There have been 97 performances to date, both clock-wise and counter, encountering 39 of Chicago's 77 community areas and 30 adjacent municipalities, covering over 8,900 miles. During this same span another 10,000+ miles were pedaled outside the parameters of this project. These cyclical edge performances, fluid and mechanical, topographical but not isochronous, are typically six to seven hours in duration. Completing a circuit, I physically echo previous rides while simultaneously feel the invisible pull of (and anxiously anticipate) the next cycle round, looping endless endless.