Embodiment
Scheduled November 7 through November 29, 2008
Reception for the artists: November 14, 7 to 10 pm
CHICAGO ILLINOIS
Vespine is proud to present Embodiment, featuring visual artists Kenneth Gerleve and Aya Rosen. The exhibition opens on November 7, 2008 and continues through November 29, 2008, with a reception for the artists on November 14, from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Gallery hours are: Monday through Thursday, by appointment only, 5-8 pm Fridays, and 12-5 Saturdays. Please email vespinegallery@yahoo.com or visit www.vespine.org for more information.
For Vespine’s sixth annual invitational exhibition, Embodiment, two divergent artists were chosen: Kenneth Gerleve, of Chicago, creates interactive sculptures, and Aya Rosen, of New York City, explores the idea of ‘womanhood,’ through drawing.
Kenneth Gerleve is first and foremost a storyteller who strives to communicate a narrative that is often darkly humorous and engaging to an audience. By combining elements of the Gothic with the campy 1980's pop-culture of his youth, Gerleve examines the themes of childhood, gender, gay sexuality, death and the supernatural. It is only after investigating the details of the work that a broader agenda is revealed to the viewer.
Kenneth Gerleve’s interests include felt puppets, synthesizers, Freemasons and Ouija boards. A graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Arts masters program at Columbia College Chicago, Gerleve is currently working on several projects. including a gothic mystery novel. His illustration and design work has been featured in Pistil Magazine, the Journal of Artists' Books, and Little Bang. His work has been shown in Chicago and around the United States.
The predominant theme Aya Rosen explores in her work is womanhood. Through drawing, she investigates how she sees herself as a woman and as a sexual being, how being married affects her perception of self and how she sees herself compared to other women in her life. Rosen’s work also questions the media’s perception of women. In Embodiment, Rosen is exhibiting two different series of drawings: Talking About Sex (images of women from vintage pornographic magazines combined with contemporary texts from an online sex advice forum), and Queen Bee (regarding the fragility of nature and of human life).
After Aya Rosen graduated in 1999 from the Betzalel Academy for Art and Design, she worked as a designer in several design firms and advertising agencies. During those professional years, fine art started taking more of her time and creative energies, and in the past few years, she has been primarily producing fine art. Rosen’s main means of expression is drawing. She also paints, and has become more serious about photography, inspired by her photographer husband Ned Rosen’s work. Her work has been exhibited in New York, Tel Aviv, Berlin, and Minneapolis. Embodiment is her first Chicago show.
Vespine, an artist-run independent gallery in the Chicago Arts District, provides intimate exhibition space for emerging artists.
Vespine now has two gallery rooms. Be one of the first to show in our new (budget-friendly) Back Gallery. Submit a proposal today!
1907 S. Halsted 1st Floor, Chicago, IL
312.962.5850 www.vespine.org