No More Worlds

Madeleine Bailey
Mark Hensel
Racer LeVan
Alex McLeod
Jessie Mott
Shana Moulton
Luke Painter

Curated by Corinna Kirsch and Katherine Pill

Saturday, September 12 – Saturday, October 10, 2009
Opening Reception: September 12, 7-10 pm

We don't want to conquer space at all. We want to expand Earth endlessly.
We don't want other worlds; we want a mirror.
—Dr. Snaut, Solaris, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972


CHICAGO, August 19, 2009: Following an investigative curatorial model, Concertina Gallery’s first exhibition inquires into the simple yet seldom insignificant gesture: the greeting. Although an invitation can take shape in a myriad of forms, the works in No More Worlds invite viewers to enter – through tactile engagement or with the aid of imagination – captivating yet unsettling environments. Featuring artists who use a variety of mediums, No More Worlds showcases works that deftly combine the fantastical and mysterious with elements of the everyday, reminding us that even our wildest ideas of new worlds are anchored in and mediated by our own experiences of reality. Reveling in the unknown surprises of the grotesque or the extraordinary sensuous qualities of the idyll, the impossible tableaux constructed by these artists hover between real and imagined worlds. These liminal environments give way to partially obscured narratives, both enchanting and monstrous.

Toronto-based artist Alex McLeod, for instance, uses 3D rendering software in his digital photograph Jolly Ranch to create a woodland cabin scene that is both inviting and frightening in its highly manipulated construction and lacquered sheen. In her Whispering Pines video series, Brooklyn-based artist Shana Moulton similarly tinges the mundane with the magical as her alter-ego Cynthia explores the surreal and transformative aspects of her kitschy household objects.

Although pleasure can be found in the imagining of new worlds, these works make vivid the fact that there is no escaping our own. Unable to get away from our experience of reality, we don’t want other worlds; we want a mirror, and we shouldn’t underestimate the delight of finding the fantastical in the everyday.

ARTIST LINKS:

Madeleine Bailey www.madeleinebailey.com

Mark Hensel www.hypercastle.com

Racer Levan www.racerlevan.com

Alex McLeod www.alxclub.com

Jesse Mott www.jessiemott.com

Shana Moulton www.shanamoultonweb.com

Luke Painter www.lukepainter.ca