Robert Hewitt, Katie Jarman Law, Mykl Ruffino, and Lucy E. Slivinski.
Featured Artists
Curated by G. Jesse Sadia, Jr., this show featured the works of four up and coming artists from Chicago. The exhibition illustrated the dialogue that existed between the artists and their work during the creative process and shared the vision of these four artists through the various materials they used. Both Katie Jarman Law and Lucy E. Slivinski work explored issues concerning humans and their relationship to nature. Law probed the human interpretation of the environment through reactions to nature, as seen in symbols existent in garden topiaries and architecture. Slivinski created forms based on plants. These forms became metaphors for her affinity to the natural world. She constructed her organic forms from commercial construction and man made materials. Both artists’ personal interpretation of natural growth was directed by their individual sensibilities for material.
Mykl Ruffino‘s two dimensional wood constructions presented an approach to working that was idiosyncratic in nature. Ruffino’s work was constructed from both paper and wood. The work in both mediums began with two modules which were cut or torn simultaneously. The wooden pieces were then cut and rearranged in a new pattern, while the paper works were torn, rearranged, and reglued on the common torn line. The constructions formed tandem images that became expanded versions of their former independence allowing for a literal and conceptual cross-reference of the objects and processes. Using selected cultural icons as language and different cultural ecosystems as form, artist Robert S. Hewitt‘s work in this exhibition examined the female-male, nature-culture duality. Using the process of walking as a basis for his work, he selected “cultural icons” from his path and used them as his visual and conceptual language.
Both Katie Jarman Law and Mykl Ruffino received their formal training from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Lucy Slivinski received her graduate studies from Cranbrook University and Robert Hewitt attended Michigan State University.
