Lake Effect / Nor'easter: Part I

November 3 – December 22, 2012
Gallery One

Exhibition Text

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ANDREW RAFACZ is pleased to announce Lake Effect / Nor’easter: Part I, an exhibition in two parts in collaboration with LAMONTAGNE (Boston) in Gallery One. Each gallery will feature works by artists represented by the other. Part One takes place at ANDREW RAFACZ, opening November 3, 2012. Part Two will take place at LAMONTAGNE, opening December 15, 2012.

Chicago, IL, November 3, 2012- ANDREW RAFACZ continues the fall 2012 season with Lake Effect / Nor’easter: Part I, a collaboration with Lamontagne Gallery, Boston, featuring new works by Tory Fair, Jeff Perrott, Daniela Rivera, and Joe Wardwell. The exhibition aims to give Chicago a unique glimpse of the vitality of work being created by artists currently living and working in the Bay State. It continues through Saturday, December 22, 2012.

Referring to Tory Fair’s recent work, Dina Deitsch, curator at the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, writes, “In all, they stand out as overtly human-made objects that ultimately argue for the power of the human mind to create and connect to this world.”

Jeff Perrott’s abstract, chance-based painting explores the contingent nature of existence, drawing attention to the fragile and unknowable quality of everyday life, while offering a critique of painting’s will to power and knowledge.

Daniela Rivera’s paintings are often site-specific and react to the spaces of exhibition. Recreating utilitarian uses of painting and altering representational and perceptual planes, Rivera makes the painting perform as the space and asks the body to assume the role of the figure of the painting. Rivera simultaneously manipulates the process of baroque painting techniques, representational strategies, minimalism, and the legacy of Arte Povera.

Joe Wardwell is interested in the historic link between landscape painting and the shaping of national identity, a lineage that can be traced back to the early imperial advocates of Manifest Destiny and the Hudson River School. Today, this sentiment is seen in advertisements where rugged terrain is a stand-in for American-ness. By conflating a 19th century painting style-made famous by landscape painters Thomas Cole, Frederic Erwin Church, and Albert Bierstadt-with the lyrics of American music, Wardwell creates a singular vision of contemporary America.

TORY FAIR (American, b. 1968) lives and works in Boston. She received her MFA from Mass College of Art and her BA from Harvard. Recent exhibitions include the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Torrance Art Museum in CA; and the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, Norfolk, VA. Other shows include Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NY; and the Frederick Meijer Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. Her awards include a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, a Pollock-Krasner Grant, and a LEF Grant.

JEFF PERROTT (American, b. 1966) lives and works in Boston. A graduate of Yale School of Art, Perrott’s work is now featured in numerous private and corporate collections, including Wellington Management and Microsoft Corporation, as well as in the permanent collections of many museums, including the Wadsworth Atheneum, the deCordova Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. He is represented in Boston by LaMontagne Gallery.

DANIELA RIVERA (Chilean, b. 1973) lives and works in Boston. She received her BFA in 1996 from Universidad Catolica de Chile, where she later worked as a professor in the art school, and later at the Design School of Universidad Mayor of Santiago. She received her MFA from SMFA/Tufts University in 2006. She was also a 2006 Gund fellow at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.

JOE WARDWELL (American, b. 1972) lives and works in Boston. He received his MFA from Boston University and his BFA from the University of Washington. His exhibitions include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, with work in both collections. Currently an Assistant Professor at Brandeis University, Wardwell was also a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant in 2012.