The AJ Kane Gallery - Grand Opening Show

Home

The Grand Opening
Friday Sept. 11th 5pm-1am and Saturday Sept. 12th 9am-5pm then by appointment through September.

There are three artists being featured in the show. Peggy Skemp's conceptual jewelry about the disappearance of honey bees will be on display along with multimedia paintings by Robin Carlson and a painting by Evan Carrison.

Click Here To See A Catalog of this Show's Work
____________________________________________

Peggy Skemp is a quickly emerging artist in the Chicago. She has been featured in the Woman Made Gallery, the Workshop and is carried in several boutiques. Peggy's work uses biology and nature as both its aesthetic and conceptual inspiration.

Of her series on display she says: The Empty Hives Collection is inspired by the die offs of bee colonies all over the world, dubbed colony collapse disorder or vanishing bee syndrome. Entomologists can't agree on what is causing the bees to suddenly vanish. In Empty Hives I have sought to bring attention to this fascinating mystery while also commenting on the kinship in American culture. By using jewelry as a medium and through the intimacy of worn art, I sought to bring a personal quality to these questions: is the increasing tendency toward mediation of human relationships with technology and adaptive evolutionary shift? What do these shifts in social relationships mean for communities at large?

     Peggy's work can be seen on her websites, TrapezeArt.com and HeronAdronrment.com
                                         ____________________________________________

     Robin Carlson works full time as a photographer and graphic designer. After graduating with a degree in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, she pursued her interest in photography through community college classes and will continue her studies toward a Masters of Fine Art at Columbia College Chicago in the fall.

     Of her work she says: Stravinsky referred to the creative process as "Grubbing about" in his book The Poetics of Music. This searching rather than being struck by inspiration is the nature of my joy in creating these paintings. In plaster and string I find a very different place to "grub about" and a freeing creative experience. The nature of line and space are given wills of their own and I am left to mediate their relationship and observe.

     Robin's work can be seen on her website, RobinJCarlson.com

                                         ____________________________________________

     Evan Carrison is a young and talented artist. He says of his painting:

I paint the human face because it universal. It crosses all borders and cultures. As infants, it is one of the first things we encounter and remains the most natural device for conveying emotion throughout our lives.

By limiting myself to such a familiar subject, I am able to focus more purely on the technical aspects of painting as well as the creative decisions that go into a complete piece. I stylize the face, adding strong lines and shapes. A simple color scheme further emphasizes these forms.

Hopefully, by repetition, this process will become second nature and I will be able to come to a better understanding of what it is to be human.

Evan can be reached at paperbagproductions@mac.com