UPCOMING EVENTS /

MOST RECENT /
NEW ICON Curated by Britton Bertran

MEMBERSHIP /

MEMBERS /

PAST /
FROM A POSITION Curated by Maxwell G. Graham
SHAPE-SHIFTERS Curated by Jason Foumberg
INTERIORITY Curated by Stuart Keeler
STATE & LAKE Curated by Annie Morse
THINGS FALL FROM THE SKY Curated by Ken Fandell, Ciara Ennis
THE NEW COLLUSION
Curated by Kathryn Hixon and Sandra Dillon
OPERATION: HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
Curated by Matthew Girson
ARRANGED MARRIAGE: outer space(s) Curated by Marjorie Vecchio
FIELD PHENOMENA Curated by Douglas Garofalo
LIBIDINAL Curated by Susan Sensemann
STUFF Curated by Jeanne Dunning, James Yood
THE CONSTRUCTED SELF: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Curated by Patty Carroll
DISTRACTION Curated by Edward Maldonado, Nadine Wasserman, and Tina Wasserman
SUPERCONCENTRATED Curated by Hamza Walker, Mike Lash, and Fitz Gerald
YOUTH CULTURE KILLED MY DOG (but I don't really mind) Curated by Kathryn Hixson, Irene Tsatsos, and Joe Scanlon

MISSION /

CONTACT /

 




MOST RECENT /
NEW ICON

Curator: Britton Bertran

New Icon explores the notion of iconography in a contemporary society, focusing on new interpretations https://www.exness-th.com of old definitions by looking at the personal and public relationships to symbols and signs. Within the context of LUMA, nine artists will present works that enable new encounters with objects and ideas reflecting a variety of methodologies and attitudes. From the socio-political to abstract metaphors, New Icon challenges both the ritual and the object and our relationship to them. By going beyond our ideas of what an “icon” might be—through historical, spiritual, social, and conceptual approaches—a new future might be discovered.

 

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MEMBERSHIP /

Interested in Becoming a Member?

The Contemporary Arts Council (CAC) is an independent not-for-profit demo exness organization founded in 1994 by a group of art enthusiasts devoted to supporting Chicago-area contemporary art and artists, and expanding members’ appreciation of the diversity of Chicago’s arts scene. The CAC’s mission is to support, learn about and enjoy the Chicago-area art scene with an interesting group of like-minded art enthusiasts including artists, collectors and business and professional people of all types.

Yearly CAC dues ($300) fund a professionally-curated annual exhibition and catalog, featuring contemporary and emerging Chicago-area artists.

CAC events, pay-as-you-go for https://exness-th.com/demo-account those who attend, include visits to galleries, artists’ studios, private collections and other art and design venues in a small group setting with specially arranged presentations and lots of informal discussion and interaction. Events typically continue over dinner with CAC members and artist or collectors at local restaurants where discussion and camaraderie continue.

If you interested in becoming a member please contact the CAC

 

 


 

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MEMBERS /

Contemporary Arts Council Members

Frederic Biederman
Nancy Biederman
Kathryn Born
Claudine Ise
Anthony Bruck
Cleve Carney
Jane Chapman
John Chapman
J. Laurence Costin
Susan Costin
Carolynn Desch
Herb Desch
Tim Flood
Suzette Flood
Lawrence Hanson
Camille Hanson
Beth Hart
David Hart
Sandra Helton
Norman Edelson
Margaret Herbert
Tom Hodges
Gail Hodges
Bill Hood
Vicki Hood
Jeffrey Jahns
Jill Metcoff-Jahns
Julie Karagianis


Jim Karagianis
Charles  Lofgren
Mary Lofgren
Claudia Luebbers
Lynn Maddox
Eva Maddox
Randall Mattheis
Nancy Herman
Jean Meyers
Robert Meyers
Susan Michod
Chuck Michod
Mary O'Shaughnessy
Charlie Van Gilder
William Padnos
Chuck Price
Bobbie Price
Joann Richi
Myron Rogers
Linda Searl
Joe Valerio
Robert Sills
Janie Sills
Eric Steele
Tammy Steele
Anne Taft
John Venator
Dorianne Venator

Contemporary Arts Council
2009 – 2010 Exhibition Committee

Tim Flood co-chair
William Padnos co-chair
Nancy Biederman
Jane Chapman
Carolyn Desch
Beth Hart
Nancy Herman
Claudia Luebbers
Lynn Maddox
Randall Mattheis
Susan Michod
Mary O'Shaughnessy
Chuck Price
Robert Sills
Eric Steele
Tammy Steele

 

Board

Lynn Maddox, president-elect/ secretary
Eric Steele, membership
William Padnost, exhibitions
Mary O'Shaughnessy, exhibitions
Ann Taft, programs
Kathryn Born - online content

 

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PAST /

FROM A POSITION

Curator:Maxwell G. Graham

May 24 - June 28, 2009 Evanston Art Center

From A Position is an exhibition of the relationships between figure and ground, foreground and background. These issues are not inherently locatable as the themes of narratives
propelling the various artworks in the exhibition, but are rather used as the structural premise outlining how these or any artworks might actually function. It is a matter of how not what. The artwork is a graph of distances between subjects and objects. There is always the portrayed place, person or idea which exits as a kind of spatial and temporal background to the foregrounded object of art. This back and forth between the portrayed and the portrayal is representation. Yet, there is another relation of figure and
ground which operates in the exhibition, between the object and the second subject, namely the beholder or gallery visitor. This relation is one of even greater flux as the freedom of this second subject allows for movement, time
a priori associations and of course a reliance on the physical and social given in which the artworks exist. This field is composed of such diverse conditions as architecture, climate and of great significance to this exhibition, the surrounding artworks which frame and in turn are framed. The exhibition is a graph with more than just an x and y axis. The shifting coordinates where the x,y,z,1,2,3…intercepts coincidentally or constructively intersect is our Position.

Barbara Crane
Jeff Carter
Heather Guertin
and Zak Prekop
Xavier Jimenez
Owen Land
Jason Loebs
William J. O'Brien
Lucy McKenzie
Jason Pickleman
Stephen Prina
Valerie Snobeck
Catherine Sullivan
Tony Tasset

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Jason Pickleman
untitled collage
   

 

 

 

SHAPE-SHIFTERS


Curator: Jason Foumberg

May 23 - July 3, 2008 Alfedena Gallery

434 W. Ontario Street, Chicago IL

Opening reception May 23, 5pm-8pm. Performance at 7pm.

Exhibition hours: Tuesday - Friday, 10am - 6pm. Saturday, 10am - 5pm

Like a whale’s vacuum-suck mouth that efficiently consumes the ocean, we too devour our surrounds. The art objects in Shape-shifters are remnants of digested culture, re-shaped and re-purposed. Olympiad bodies, zombies, household gods, and urban myths: by holding many pieces of culture in balance inside us, we become a conglomerate body—an animate spawn of the culture that nourishes us.

A catalog in the form of an exquisite corpse game is available with essays by Jesse Ball, Reed Barrow, Elijah Burgher, Jason Foumberg, Brian Getnick, and Dan
Gleason

 


Sarah Hicks, objects from Things Lasting No More than a Day, 2008
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INTERIORITY

June 10 - July 29, 2007 Hyde Park Art Center

Interiority is an expanding conceptual art work. It is an investigative means of pushing conceptual ideas of interior / exterior aspects of shared physical space. The main premise is to deconstruct and examine the construct of curatorial practices as a new social framework by extending exhibition prosthetics as works of art.

An active contextualizing of the exhibition catalogue and website as current contemporary art practices, in addition to the gallery exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center. The notion of the Surrealists, and the exquisite corpse was a conceptual experiment of artmaking - this same concept is the beginning working premise for this exhibition. Interiority seeks to create conversation as a catalyst for making new social connections through contemporary art practices with Chicago artists.

An initial set of 6 invited artists will select 3 artists with the Interiority social criteria, these 3 artists are people they do not know, or who have not met, and have admired or responded to the work, from this shortlist of 3 artists 1 artist will be selected from the Curator and Artist and Committee. Expanding the Chicago art community creating new connections will be a series of social projects, studio visits, exchanges, where process is the highlighted media in the production of the final exhibition and catalogue.

Amanda Browder
Beth Lipman
Sumakshi Singh
Carol Jackson
Amy Mayfield 
Kerry James Marshall
Justin Cooper  
Nick Cave
Michael Rakowitz 
Benjamin Bellas
LaShawnda Crowe Storm
Inigo Manglano-Ovalle

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justin cooper, performance still, 2007
   

 

 


 

STATE & LAKE

Curator: Annie Morse

State and Lake can be understood literally in terms of intersecting streets and an elevated/ subway interchange, and figuratively (for example) as power and contemplation, identity and landscape, law and resources, bureaucracy and waves. State and Lake is a transitive place; only a place because of the energies extending it in four directions and the intersections that happen there - not necessarily fast, but with enough motion to avoid arrest.

Matt Binns
C.C. Ann Chen
Connor Kalista
Fred Lonberg-Holm
Pam C Nogales C
Georgina Valverde
Mike Wolf

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THINGS FALL FROM THE SKY

Curators: Ken Fandell, Ciara Ennis

The present is a hard place to live, often lacking magic and providing little excitement or opportunity to reimagine the world….Theses magical moments are so rare that more often than not we find ourselves trapped somewhere between nostalgic yearning for the past and optimistic anticipation for an unknown future where limitless possibilities abound.

Chad Gerth
Angelina Gualdoni
Brian Kapernekas
Janice Kerbel
Amy Jean Porter
Corey Postiglione
Scott Roberts
Cristi�n Silva
Joe Sola
Christine Tarkowski

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THE NEW COLLUSION

Curators: Kathryn Hixon and Sandra Dillon

Instead of rejecting the forces of corporate branding, fashionable commodity excesses, and spectacular displays of power, today, artists are taking full advantage of the ‘devouring machine.’ Stealing back the spectacles created by commerce, from painting to direct stream Internet feeds, artists impose their own will and add new critical meanings to these forms.

Lisa Boumstein-Smalley
Henrik Plenge Jakobsen
Rich Mansfield
Conor McGrady
Bjorn Melhus
Timothy Ripley
Nevin Tomlinson
Siebren Versteeg
Sonia Yoon

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OPERATION: HUMAN INTELLIGENCE

Curator: Matthew Girson

1960’s: Political upheaval, assassinations, and riots establish widespread counter-cultural activity. Avant-garde critique begins to erode the hegemony of Abstract Expressionist universalism as artists slowly turn toward specific real-world content.

Phyllis Bramson
Mary Jane Duffy
Jennifer Ramsey
Marc Fischer
Scott Stack
Shane Huffman
Andy Hall
Suzy Giles
Peter Power
Steve Harp
Adelheid Mers
Joel Ross
Brad Killam
HaHa
Michael Kresse
Mary Patten
Asian American Artists Collective-Chicago

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ARRANGED MARRIAGE: outer space(s)

Curator: Marjorie Vecchio

The friction of inner and outer spaces causes creation in those that experience it.

Collaboration challenges two people to reveal and expand their work process for the benefit of the project. The point of departure is curiosity and mystery; success depends on how the pair responds to that risk and anxiety. To collaborate, one must generously communicate, and sometimes sacrifice ego or a great idea.

Ayana Evans and Chi-Jang Yin
Mahendra Sambandan and Anjelika Krishna
Jennifer Riley and Taylor Davis
Joan Goldin and Robert Kalka
Laura Nash and Joel Felix
Eleanor Wallace and Jim Trainor
Kristine Thompson and Shawn Decker
Joe Walker and Pat Walker
Jason Gozy and Trevor Paglen
Hiroshi Tachibana and Trevor Stafford
Edyta Stepien and Chuck Przybyl

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FIELD PHENOMENA

Curator: Douglas Garofalo

While our society faces a growing fragmentation and specialization that seems at times to alienate us, we have also started to view our world as a series of integrated, even entangled networks. One way we can begin to understand this contradictory state is as a matrix of field phenomena -- repetitive patterns of texture, growth, turbulence, sound, light, etc., within a given system or space. Field Phenomena merges together a group of artists whose work conveys an affinity with such active effects. The hybrid quality of this exhibit -- semi-natural, quasi-architectural and multi-dimensional -- underscores the idea that practices of art actively engage and define space.

Kathleen McCarthy
Laura Foster Nicholson
Christine Tarkowski
Robbie Hunsinger
Mark Haywa

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LIBIDINAL

Curator: Susan Sensemann

“In the encounter, I marvel that I have found someone who, by successive touches, each one successful, unfailing, completes the painting of my hallucination…the puzzle of my desire.” - Roland Barthes in A Lover’s Discourse


Joell Baxter
Nina Bovasso
Jeremy Boyle
Patty Carroll
Megan Cump
Nancy Davidson
Mark Diaz
David Hodges
Jo Hormuth
Gary Justis
Julie Laffin
Michael, McCafferey
Louise McKissick
Rosalyn Schwartz
Kirsten Stoltmann
Maria Tomasula
Marji Vecchio
Eugene von Bruenchenhein

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STUFF

Curators: Jeanne Dunning, James Yood

The stuff of garbage and dirt, the stuff of excess, the stuff of domesticity, the stuff of the body, the stuff of art…Stuff is omnipresent, asserting itself, insisting on our notice, and of course, taking up space.

Michelle Fierro
Sarah Gjertson
Tom Friedman
Teo Griscom
Davis Kaiser
Danielle Gustafson-Sundell
Jeanne Dunning
Paul McCarthy
John Kramer
Andrew Moore
Patrick Miceli
Carl Ostendarp
Laurie Palmer
Joe Scanlon
Sam Reveles
Shirley Tse
Anne Wilson
Shuko Wada

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THE CONSTRUCTED SELF: WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Curator: Patty Carroll

“The history of photography offers, among other things, the history of identity. The photograph has been a mirror on paper that has shown our true and often false selves to each other….The lies of photography are part of the fun.”

Suky Best
Lynne Brown
Maria Magdelena Campos-Pons
Barbara DeGenevieve
Christine Duke
Susan Fenton
Ben Fink
Robert Heinecken,
Stephen Marc
Willie Middlebrooke
Missy Moore
Sungmi Naylor
Joyce Neimanas
Jocelyn Nevel
Kate Schutta
Susan Sensemann
Suzanne Szucs
Lewis Toby
Eric Wielo

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DISTRACTION

Curators: Edward Maldonado, Nadine Wasserman, and Tina Wasserman

Common obsessive intrusive thoughts

“The two facing mirrors of virtual and real reality have become as disorienting as a funhouse maze of mirrors.”

Tom Denlinger
Sara Peak
Stephanie Brooks
Alison Ruttan
David Wells
Aviv Kruglanski
Brian Reeves
Shawn Calvert
Ken Fandell
Michelle Grabner
Amy Sillman
Eliot Joslin

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SUPERCONCENTRATED

Curators: Hamza Walker, Mike Lash, and Fitz Gerald

“Bordeaux raised its head evoking the muse and finding the resonance”

Gaylen Gerber
Adam Brooks
Corey McCorkle
Audrius V. Plioplys
Jim Chlopecki
Charles Ray
Sean A. Kennan
D’nell Larson

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YOUTH CULTURE KILLED MY DOG (but I don’t really mind)

Curators: Kathryn Hixson, Irene Tsatsos, and Joe Scanlon

“It is not about cultures, or despair, desperation, or dogs, and certainly not about youth or Generation X…It is not about apathy, or objectivity. It is about indifference or perhaps impartiality. Not passively or objectively impartial, but powerfully, independently, in a self-possessed manner.”

Charlie Cho
Keith Cottingham
John Darmour
Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg
Richard Hawkins
Marc Alan Jacobs
Helen Mirra
Henry Rox
John Spear
Suzie Silver
Pae White
Lisa Yuskavage

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MISSION /



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CONTACT /

jchapman215@sbcglobal.net - Jane Chapman

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