coming soon
A Pop Up Loop Installation Mixed Media/Gelatin Transfer Prints April, 2013 210 N. Wells Chicago, Illinois
Bio: Gerry Santora Born 1965, Bellerose, NY BUS w/emphasis in painting, 1989, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque MFA program, 1991, University of Illinois, Chicago Exhibitions: ASA Gallery, Albuquerque NM, 1988 Group Show: Painting ASA Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, 1989 Featured Show: Painting Crown Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, 1990 Solo Show: Painting Pilsen East Art Walk, Chicago, IL 1990 Painting Pilsen East Art Walk, Chicago, IL 1991 Painting: Featured Second Street Galley, Charlottesville, VA, 1992 Primary show/Lecture: Painting Lorenzo Rodriguez Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1992 Featured Show One of A Kind Show; Chicago, IL 2012: Mixed Media Paintings Carbon: Water Street Studios; Batavia, IL; Group Show; April, 2013 Self: Coming Soon; 210 N. Wells; Chicago, IL; Solo Show; April 2013 Cornelia Arts Building: Chicago, IL; May 2013; Mixed Media Paintings; Featured Artist New Emerging Artists; Online Selection 2013; Featured Artist; Mixed Media Paintings Press: Daily Lobo, Featured Show Review, 1989 Chicago Tribune, Pilsen Art Walk Featured Artist, 1991 Chicago Tribune, Featured Article, 01/21/2011
Artist Statement: My work always resided in an area somewhere between photography and painting. I used photographs to render paintings that were luminous and scarce; isolated figures engulfed in space and light; personal allegories. These were back in the 1980’s when computers and digital images were still years away from becoming a reality. I worked with slides, projectors, and whatever else I could get my hands on to create images and paintings. This hybridization of process would become the cornerstone of my image making process as I moved forward.
The Myth of Perfection, Acrylic on Canvas, 1989
My current work still uses photography as a base, or starting point, substituting alternative printing methods such as gelatin transfers, and digital mixed media in lieu of straight painting alone. I like to think that I start with the photograph, in the same way that a painter starts with paint. The photo becomes raw material; something that can be explored and manipulated.
It is this notion of the photo as
raw material that links the newer images to painting. To me, a painting is much more about how I approach the image then it is about the raw execution or manipulation of paint on canvas. Allegory and memory form a framework for most of my work. Numbers, statistics, formulas, and language clues play a prominent role in the new work either through personal numerological references, or a formula based dialect that creates counterpoint or irony in many of the images. Layering and blurring of visual components helps to flatten and meld the overall spatial quality, and when paired with the abraded figures or objects, the effect is one of flux, not a moment captured in time. Ideally, the effect is a more contemplative one rather than striking an ultimatum or providing a static solution.
occupied then abandoned transformed and then stripped are you truly in a place or simply a placeholder no true history a shell of sorts skin that is shed a struggle for identity in a world that outpaces further and further until the cycle of self is repeated
self: discover mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: motivate mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: absorb mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: deny mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: doubt mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: reflect mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
self: perpetuate mixed media gelatin transfer print mdf/acrylic/pigment/chalk 39”w x 60”t x 3”d edition of 5 + 1 AP 2013
unpaintedworks@gmail.com
Special thanks to Tristan Hummel & Chicago Loop Alliance, along with Hammerschlag & Co. Inc., 210 N. Wells, for making this space and program possible. I would like to acknowledge Mathew Bowie and Rob Soltys for their assistance with the installation. Many thanks.
Installation photo credit Pages 16-22 Mathew Bowie
2013