*QUirk*
November 15 — December 31, 2010
An exhibition exploring the offbeat, the funny, and the grotesquely twisted work of Nicole Syrquin,Jeff Strong, Katina Petsas and Gabe Patti.
Nicole Syrquin | etsy
Jeff Strong | strong-ideas.com
Gabe Patti | yessy.com/gabepatti
Katina Petsas | landofkatina.blogspot.com
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
AnyPlace: Part of LIP (Life in Progress)
an Art Series Examing ideas of “progress.”
October 17—November 7, 2010
LIP was selected to be one of 12 Featured Program Series highlighted for Chicago Artists Month. AnyPlace interprets and explores definitions of “progress” as well as work that critiques or represents thoughts, ideas and visions that reference “progress.”
Artists: Matthew Avignone, Becca Brown, Alicia Forestall Boehm, Alison Green, Larry Green, Robert Harrison, CJ Hungerman, Tracy Kostenbader, Paul Kulon, Lewis Lain, Kevin G. Malella, Monica Lynn Manoski, Lucy Mueller, Kasia Ozga, Gabe Patti, Francisco Rosado, Julie Sulzen, Dan Zamudio
AnyPlace Exhibition Opening Photos and Benefit For Artist Larry Green
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
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Kidney Donor Benefit for Local Artist Larry Green (4-8pm at Cole’s)
Couldn’t make it to the benefit? You can still help!
A fund has been set up and donations can be sent to:
Larry Green Benefit Fund, c/o Fifth Third Bank,
233 S. Wacker Drive 1st Floor, Chicago, IL 60606.
If you are interested in being a donor,
please call Alexia Davis, Transplant Coordinator
University of Illinois Chicago Medical: 312 996 7308.
Support and Information for Kidney Transplant Awareness for Larry Green
FRESKO: An Exhibition to Benefit Haitian Artists
Paintings from Haitian artists from coastal town of Jacmel
September 4 – October 2, 2010
Exhibiting Artists
Jean Marie Charles | Download Bio (pdf)
Rose Marie Lamour | Download Bio (pdf)
Prince Luc | Download Bio (pdf) | video
Long held as an artistic epicenter in Haiti, Jacmel was broadly devastated by the January 12th earthquake. Each artist has their own story of having lost their home, family members, and their studios along with much of their work. In addition to the paintings on display, artisan crafts from one artist will be on display and portions from all drink purchases will go towards the artists as they continue to rebuild their lives in Haiti. The paintings on display, while drawing from a common cultural cache of images and motifs, highlight the dysfunction and turmoil of the artists’ experiences, which often subverts the typical pastoral naiveté common to Haitian folk art. Rose Marie Lamour and Prince Luc are members of the art school and collective FOSAJ located in the city, while Jean Marie Charles resides in the rural area surrounding Jacmel.
Fresko is sponsored in part by The Carrefour Collaborative, a 501©3 charitable organization aimed at fostering development through creative collaboration. www.carrefourcollaborative.org
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
Old Stuff by Tracy Kostenbader
August 22–September 3, 2010
Part of the Anysquared Projects Crew, Tracy Kostenbader displays old works from the back racks of Anywhere Space Studio.
Tracy Kostenbader | tracykostenbader.com | A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she is an artist who also has been an activist, a book conservator, a worker-bee, small time publisher, designer, occasional thinker and so many other things. But, the things that compel her are making art, organizing events, working with people, and supporting the issues she cares about. She’s made Logan Square her home for over 20 years and is actively involved in creating venue and space for area artists. Work, home, community, and politics inspire her to make images, both electronic and through prints, drawings and paintings. Her interest in a more humane world has played a part in what she chooses to make work about. Elevating the ordinary with an occasional bit of humor, her work is also often a celebration of the everyday. She’s spent a couple decades dedicated to supporting social justice campaigns through utilizing her visual and technical skills to contribute solid assistance to a variety projects. Tracy also has helped launch and promote different artists organizations and events and, for the last 3 years, she has been one of the key organizers of art galleries at the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival. She is an active AnySquared member and continues to collaborate with other artists.
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
*Gutter* part of the South End Featured Exhibitions for the 2010 Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival
July 17–August 20, 2010
A group exhibition of works that are the visual embodiment of the physical and mental gutter. Gutter is a multiple media exhibition that will encompass drawing, painting, printmaking, video, sound, djs and bands. Curated by Cheri Basak, Anne-Katrin Elliot,and Rebekah Brown.
Image Above by Jennifer Cronin
Exhibiting Artists | Kern Street Gallery/Chad Allen, Cheri Basak, Wayne Bertola, Max Brown, Mio Brown, Stephanie Christian, Alexandria Cmaylo, Jennifer Cronin, Ben Diaz, Anne-Katrin Elliot, Elisa Harkins, Alan Hobscheid, Tracy Kostenbader, Hanna Mutsch, Beth Otero, Gabe Patti, Katina Petsas, Mark Porter
The South End Galleries of the 2010 Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival and the 2011 MAAF Galleries and arts activities were organized by AnySquared Projects.
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
*Star Sisters*
June 7–July 11, 2010
Mendy Newman, Iris Iris Pasic and Julia Rochholz explore ethereal spaces, grotesque beauty and higher paths through a cosmic dance of painting, drawing and assemblage.
June 15, 2010 Reception Photos >
Julia Rochholz | juliarochholz.com | Statement | I like to think of my recent works as portals: thresholds to a new wave of thought surrounding the beloved wall hanging. Negative spaces moving us through, beyond and back home again. I have found a great joy in the assemblage of these pieces. Sewing worn scraps of fabric and findings together makes a new, more dimensional surface, one with seams pulled taut and textures varying. Here the surfaces seem to feel anguish and joy simultaneously. All these pieces represent my realities, my struggles and epiphanies, doubts, truths and facades. Each piece is the result of a long process of thought, layering and experimentation. In this way they truly represent personal exploration on many levels. I like things a little grungy and disorderly. I think this adds to the complexity, balance & intrigue of each piece. My hope is to create a highly captivating body of work that shows care, complexity, mystery and a grotesque beauty, reflecting the varying facets of the world itself. | Bio | Julia Rocholz is a local artist who is also involved in organizing art events around the Logan Square neighborhood and beyond. She studied studio arts at UW-Madison and currently curates exhibitions at New Wave Coffee.
Iris Iris Pasic | myspace.com/irisirisis | Bio | Iris Iris Pasic born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, former Yugoslavia on June Second 1978. She began to draw shortly thereafter, as soon as she was able to functionally grip a pencil. | Statement | My childhood was filled with innumerable wonders and adventures and places and volumes of strange fairytales. I was privileged with lots of games of all sorts, sometimes with toys and sometimes with mud and rocks and my mother’s clothes, with lots of friends of course. I came to the United States in 1991 with my parents and brother for a visit. One day I saw my school on the news with grenade holes in its sides…so by grace we have resided in Glenview ever since. The American way was a shock to my being, everything about my new home was strange and not anything like what I saw on “The Goonies”. Junior high and high school were experiences of a very different kind of education, ones that drove me into the loving arms of punk rock and the like… Art school, on the other hand, was a very conducive and productive experience that opened me to worlds of possibilities and new ways of thinking and making art. I attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received my BFA in 2002. While at SAIC, I studied printmaking, photography, and video among other media and subjects. I also became very interested in and involved with various social and political justice issues which greatly influenced the content of my art at that time. But some things cannot be learned in school so I hit the road via freight train in search of adventure and other creative and passionate folk with whom to change the world, making lots of art along the way and leaving it there. My travels took me along many paths and to many places where my mind was expanded in unimaginable ways and where I met some of those people. And then the winds of change blew me back home to Illinois where I’ve been inspired to seek my lessons along higher paths and by which I intend to find my way. So here I find myself constantly compelled to arrange and rearrange pieces of a puzzle that just keeps getting bigger in every possible direction, and to make lots of pictures.
Mendy Newman | mendynewman@yahoo.com | Bio | Mendy Newman, educator, painter and illustrator of Dallas, Texas origin, now resides in Chicago. She is collaborating together with artist Iris Iris Pasic on two summer community mural projects in Logan Square and Avondale. She graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 with a BFA emphasis in fiber and material studies and painting. She studied landscape painting and figure drawing with Graham Nickson at the New York Studio School in the summer of 2008. She uses line, pattern and color to describe rhythmic dance in wonder and awe of the greater cosmic dance. Mendy Newman is a high school field hockey and soccer coach, and elementary bilingual art educator.
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
THE LIGHT YEARS with JUSTUS & ANDRE
April 25–May 29, 2010
Justus Roe | http://justusroe.com | Statement | City space is a pervasive influence. It is a constant motivation in producing art; a center reference of my ideology. This ideology interplays between self-imposed urban myths, while being encompassed by a simultaneous nostalgia and distain for historical Chicago. The interest is in continuing to translate ideas about this evolving environment. To invent representations of shifting physical urban landscapes and the psychological environments they create through audio, video and painting. | Bio | Chicago native Justus Roe approaches life and art as a renaissance man. Coming of age in Uptown, Justus was very involved in graffiti and DJ’ing. Although retired early from graffiti, Justus continued to purse visual arts studying at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Syracuse University in Florence Italy receiving his BFA in 1999 and MFA in Arts and Media from Columbia. From1999- 2006 Justus was commissioned to paint the massive alley entranceway to Chicago’s Club Neo. His extensive international travel through Europe, South America and Japan has inspired artwork capturing the ever-evolving physical and psychological metropolitan landscapes. He is a founding member of the group Royce and DJ’s under the name DJ White Lightning. Justus is also a co- founder of one the world’s most innovative record labels out of Chicago, Galapagos4. He has been involved in engineering, producing and art direction for the labels forty plus releases including Typical Cats, Qwel, Mestizo, Robust, Royce and Denizen Kane. He has also been a part of several world tours with Galapagos4. In addition to his work with Galapagos4, he currently works as an arts administrator for the Chicago Public Schools Gallery37 Advanced Arts Education Program, providing advanced arts training for CPS juniors and seniors.
Andre’ Corbin | http://andreprime.com | Bio | Andre’ Corbin was born and raised in Chicago, yet the majority of his free time as a child was spent in nature. There was an empty lot across the street from his house and he would go there everyday to play and explore. He would look under rocks for insects and watch them for hours everyday. Andre’ also grew plants and raised animals. He always attempted to recreate the world outside in a fish tank filled with dirt, plants, and small creatures. Whenever He wasn’t playing with bugs or growing plants, Andre’ was playing videogames, watching cartoons, or playing with action figures. He pretty much continued those hobbies until college. Then he was introduced to the world of Japanese animation. He also began reading fables and folklore from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Japan. The music Andre’ listens to greatly influences the course of his creations. It always tends to be circular, digital, and very obscure. Andre’s works are a culmination of music, emotion, nature, machinery, technology, animation, architecture, sacred symbols, old folklore, and ancient magic. But at the end of the day he just likes to draw what he thinks looks cool.
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
Art @ Coles #1 Full album of artists
Group Show
March 14—April 24, 2010
40 diverse works from 24 eclectic artists.
Organized by AnySquared Projects
Exhibiting Artists: Karen Becker • Wayne Bertola • Daniel Figatner • Robert Andre Gregorio • Jennifer Hines • Sharon Hoogstraten • Susie Inverso • Annette Jackson • Anna Karewicz • Tracy Kostenbader* • lewis lain • Jeff Libersher • Natasha Mark • Keelan McMorrow • Iris Iris Pasic* • Gabriel Patti • Katina Petsas • Thomas Plum • Julia Rochholz* • Chris Roberts • Vanessa Shinmoto • Lauren Strehlow • Brett Swinney* • Alex Uribe *Art at Cole’s AnySquared hanging crew
Art@Coles is an AnySquared Project.
 | Karen Becker Mariah, 2009, Charcoal/Pastel/White chalk, 18.5” x 25.5” |
 | Wayne Bertola Untitled, 2009. “Cut & Paste” paper collage, 16” X 20” |
 | Daniel Figatner Collision 4, 2008, Ink on paper, 8” x 12” My drawings explore the idea of capturing motion in a still image. |
 | Robert Andre Gregorio Goliath, August 2009, Oil on canvas, 16” x 20” “Goliath” is the name of a boat, made from a cutout of a plastic container lid. My childhood’s most prized possession |
 | Jennifer Hines honeysuckle, part of the Flower series, 2006, Digital printout, collage with tea-dyed paper, Xerox transfer, 13.5” x 16.5” A series of works that explore memory and how plant growth is symbolic of all forms of personal growth, from physical to mental growth. |
 | Sharon Hoogstraten Flamingo, 2005, Photography, 44” x 54” |
 | Susie Inverso Keys, June 2009, Digital Fine Art, 11” x 17” |
 | Annette Jackson Moon Lighting – triptych, 2008, Copper, Plastic Face Shield, Phenolic Plastic, electric wiring, 40 watt candelabra bulbs, 8″ Diameter and 12″ Diameter |
 | Anna Karewicz Danielle: Lips, cyanotype on canvas, 12” x 16” Surreal images, mostly film but also uses digital, old photographic techniques (cyanotypes, tintypes), sandwiched or scratched negatives. |
 | Tracy Kostenbader Objects (Suspend, Scrub, Dispense, Sit, Roll, Lighten, Whistle and Clean), 2010, Acrylic on masonite panels |
 | lewis lain the key to the golden path, 2010, acrylic and cardboard on window, 32” x 37” lewis lain utilizes ‘resonant’ materials such as glass (rehab windows) and cardboard to paint a multi-layered story he observes through old windows—textural artistic urban recycling. |
 | Jeff Libersher Fathers, 2007, Oil on canvas, 24” x 20” Surrealistic, visceral oil paintings that depict the artist’s inner-most fears, idiosyncrasies, and childhood monsters. |
 | Natasha Mark Emma, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20” |
 | Keelan McMorrow Domestication, 2009, Acrylic on panel, 18” x 24”“ Squaring meticulous executions of figurative subjects within a juxtaposition of abstract yet balanced landscapes, McMorrow’s artwork cultivates a timely and fresh reconciliation of conceptual insights, contemporary design, and classical integrity.” |
 | Iris Iris Pasic Defaceted Double, 2010 , Sumi ink on macau rice paper, four 9” X 12” frames |
 | Gabriel Patti Wanton Wunch, 2009, Oil & marker on canvas, 36” x 24” What if c.e.o. Bankers had to live in their failed real-estate ventures? |
 | Katina Petsas Being & Nothingness (Existentialism and the Big Bad Wolf), Spring 2008, India Ink, Watercolor & Gouache on Arches Hot Press Paper, 11” x 14” Illustrative Narrative Artwork – revisionist folklore |
 | Thomas Plum Hey, Charlie!, 2009, Inkjet Print, 32” x 46” How do cartoon characters function as symbols? |
 | Chris Roberts Conceptual Art…, 2008, Conceptual Art. Acrylic and enamel on canvas, 20” x 20” |
 | Julia Rochholz Slowburn, Mixed media, 36” x 41” |
 | Vanessa Shinmoto Islands 1, Mixed media oil on canvas/collage, 11” x 14” Practicing transformation with line and pigment |
 | Lauren Strehlow Messo, Oil on Canvas, 32” x 32” Abstract Oil on Canvas, music and emotion are my inspiration, working with light and texture to create each piece and make it unique.l |
 | Brett Swinney Lincoln Ave, 3:30 am, Photograph, 20” x 24” brettswinney@gmail.com |
 | Alex Uribe The Morning After, 2005, Oil on canvas, 18” x 24” Inspired by Magical Realism and Pop Surrealism and working mostly with oil paint, I create a disjointed world, part fairy tale, part nightmare, where it’s inhabitants are damaged yet hopeful. |