In Gallery I, Goldfinch is very pleased to present "Double-talk," a solo exhibition by Carris Adams and her first exhibition with the Gallery. The exhibition will open on Saturday, May 11 with a reception from 3-6pm, and will be on view through Saturday, June 22nd.
A conversation between Carris Adams and Jinn Bronwen-Lee held in conjunction with the exhibition will take place on Saturday, June 8th, at 2pm.
Inspired by silhouettes of missing or glowing signage she frequently observes across various landscapes, Carris Adams' new series of graphite drawings and paintings figure erasure, absence and projection as their primary subject. Adams is known for her text- and language-driven paintings of store signs, advertisements, and other forms of commercial imagery that serve to illuminate, mark and create readable landscapes. In this latest body of work, Adams employs graphite-a material typically used to convey subject matter in direct and legible ways- to not only illustrate disappearances or dilapidated signage, but also to highlight the il-legibility of signs and objects, thereby enabling viewers to project their own meanings and narratives onto the surface.
Adams says, "My work explores the language and objects that mark our local and national landscapes. Through the materiality of painting and drawing, I embody the experience of discovering and recognizing these markers as they make me aware of my identity and place simultaneously. My studio practice is peripatetic, allowing for any object that crosses my path to be source material for the studio. Through additive and subtractive processes that enhance or disrupt the legibility of the source images, my works become conceptually multi-layered. While I take a visual interest in found or appropriated objects, my translation of the material points to the enduring signifiers of shared space such as the residue of class, ownership, celebration, and our collective and personal histories. My paintings and drawings take on double or triple meanings as they seek to guide viewers through my experience while allowing them to recall their own."
Artist's Bio:
Carris Adams is a visual artist whose practice investigates markers of domesticated space. The conceptually multi-layered works seek to inform and position viewers to recognize their assumptions, recall an experience and perhaps note how societal markers materialize in the landscape. Adams received her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin (2013) and her MFA from the University of Chicago (2015). Adams' work has been exhibited at The Studio Museum in Harlem ( New York, NY) , The Logan Center Exhibitions at The University of Chicago (Chicago, IL), Produce Model Gallery (Chicago, IL) Tiger Strikes Asteroid Gallery (Chicago,IL) and The Courtyard Gallery at The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX).
Jinn Bronwen Lee lives and works in Chicago. Her work has been featured in series of three conceptually linked, unfolding exhibitions curated by the German painter, Andre Butzer in 2016-17. Respectively, these exhibitions were with Salon Dahlmann, Berlin; at 185 Grand an abandoned building in the Little Italy neighborhood of New York City; and at Meliksetian Briggs, Los Angeles. In 2015/16, Lee was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, where her paintings were shown in the Academy's annual exhibition, Cinque Mostre Curated by Ilaria Gianni. Her work has been reviewed in Flash Art Italia, Mousse, Contemporary Art Review, and most recently in CURA Magazine for her works in the exhibition curated by Davide Ferri, Moto Ondoso Stabile at Z20 Sara Zanin Gallery, Rome in 2018. She is currently an artist in residence at Theaster Gate's Rebuild Foundation, Chicago.
