New exhibits at Lubeznik Center for the Arts will include the opening reception for Edra Soto: Tropicalamerican, Bernard Williams: Hard Driving, and Chris Silva: Human Mess during the First Friday Art Walk. Meet the artists and enjoy light bites catered by Shoreline Brewery. Admission is free. Exhibitions are open during regular gallery hours on October 3 and run through January 9, 2016.
Edra Soto: Tropicalamerican (Hyndman Gallery) will feature a series of flags and chairs made by applying traditional crafting techniques to untraditional formats. The series was created during Soto's residency at the Robert Rauscheberg Foundation (New York, NY) in the summer of 2014. Flags are made with a variety of tropical leaves collaged and translated into a digital format. Chairs are made out of plastic and upholstered with beach towels. The tiger image on the towels animates the four-legged piece of furniture. The series approaches the patriotic art tradition that artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns and David Hammons, have followed with the intent to canonize events, aesthetics and American Culture. Born in Puerto Rico, Soto currently lives and works in Chicago. She attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she obtained her Masters in Fine Arts in 2000. Soto has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), Galeria Agustina Ferreya (Puerto Rico), and Field Projects (New York City, NY).
Bernard Williams: Hard Driving (Hyndman Gallery) will feature a life-sized car installation and objects that frame American culture in relation to the automobile. His “Scott Car” is a tribute to NASCAR's first African American driver, Wendall Scott. Williams states that, “The starting point for the work is often the archives of museums or libraries. The documentary/archival photograph might become the map for building sculpture. The research often results in a kind of self-projection. I enter the past, present, or future through rough reconstruction, reinterpreting, or a role-play with the object or idea.” Williams is a native of Chicago, IL and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). He has been teaching art at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1991. In 2014, William's work has been exhibited at the McCormick Gallery (Chicago, IL), Booth Museum (Cartersville, GA), and Knock Down Center (Brooklyn, NY).
Chris Silva: Human Mess features an array of mixed-media work that uses interesting juxtapositions of color, texture, lighting and sound. Silva was born in Puerto Rico, however, he contributes his creative pursuits in Chicago's urban culture. Silva studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and Columbia College Chicago. He has been a prominent figure in Chicago's graffiti and skateboarding scene since the late 1980's and played a significant role in the development of what is now commonly referred to as “street art”. For the past several years he has been working on
large-scale commissions and leading community-based public art projects with various Chicago arts organizations. Silva states, “I seek to make work which is engaging to children, speaks to the ‘inner children' of adults, and has a healthy dose of unpretentious complexity. I appreciate eye candy, but work to include a serving of ‘soul food' in my offerings.”
Lubeznik Center for the Arts is located at 101 W. 2nd St., at the lakefront in Michigan City, IN. Weekday hours are from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM (CDT). Weekend hours are from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM (CDT). Thursdays: 10 – 7* (Memorial Day – Labor Day) *Hyndman Gallery opens at 2 pm. For more information please visit lubeznikcenter.org or call 219-874-4900.
