Abandoned Demolition: New Painting by Andy Paczos

Curated by Chuck Thurow and Pat Swanson, Abandoned Demolition is a solo exhibition featuring recent oil paintings by Andy Paczos. The paintings in this exhibition are the product of three years of the artist’s continued focus on one particular neglected industrial site in Chicago culminating in an exhibition both contemplative and powerful. In this series of fourteen works, Paczos examines the relationship between human productivity and natural growth through exploring how sites of abandonment are being re-inhabited in unexpected ways. p(callout). Paczos’ urban landscapes break from the popular depictions of civic landmarks, and document Chicago’s marginalized industrial wastelands. Paczos’ urban landscapes break from the popular depictions of civic landmarks, and document Chicago’s marginalized industrial wastelands. Working directly on-site, Paczos negotiates conventional boundaries in order to intimately contemplate his subject. In Abandoned Demolition, Paczo’s paintings consider a single location-the deserted 15 acre plot previously home to the Chicago Paperboard Company-and capture a range of temporal and climactic conditions. As nature slowly reclaims previous places of human production, the notion of atrophy is called into question. Often criticized as industrial decay, these neglected sites experience a new kind of growth as they transform into organic environments.