Bill Woolf: The Lake Shore Drive Series. Artist's work conveys a narrative or imagined scene, often using a flat perspective that allows many layers of an idea to be expressed at once in the L.S.D. series, temporal and physical elements exist simultaneously. Mark Crisanti: Birdman. Artist's collage/paintings address evolution and an often-awry coexistence in our rapidly advancing world.
Bill Woolf, Mark Crisanti
We start our 14th season with a solo debut for the self-taught
septuagenarian artist, Bill Woolf, and in gallery two a second solo showing
for gallery favorite, Mark Crisanti. While there is always lots of press
competition this time of year we feel that the premiere exhibition of
Woolf's Lake Shore Drive mural warrants much deserved attention.
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Gallery 1: Bill Woolf, "The Lake Shore Drive Series" (and other paintings)
Bill Woolf's work conveys a narrative or imagined scene, often using a flat
perspective that allows many layers of an idea to be expressed at once‹in
the L.S.D. series, temporal and physical elements exist simultaneously.
Using details recalling classic folk artists like Grandma Moses or Ralph
Fasanella, his work fits into the larger tradition of memory painting.
Other paintings in the show explore socio-cultural, historical, and
environmental issues, such as the Civil War, various Balkan blood feud
conflicts, and man's intruding on nature.
Notes on the Lake Shore Drive Series.
There are four paintings in the series, each 54' x 72', which make the
complete mural. Each panel took almost a year to finish.
Lake Shore Drive as it is today runs through each of the paintings.
Lincoln Park is depicted in different time periods in each separate
painting, while the buildings at the top of each painting are contemporary.
Bill Woolf and numerous friends painted the windows in the buildings.
Painting 1. The past. Painting 2. The present. Painting 3.The future.
Painting 4. If civilization ends Lincoln Park would revert back to its
beginnings.
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Gallery Two: Mark Crisanti, "Birdman"
Mark Crisanti's collage/paintings address evolution and an often-awry
coexistence in our rapidly advancing world. Attaching a bird head to a
human body, Crisanti blurs our perception betw
een man and animal, yet
carefully avoids anthropomorphizing his portrayals. The blank stare of each
bird, amidst daily vices and activities confronts us with the irony of our
own human actions. Crisanti uses various ephemera as backgrounds
‹dictionary pages, S & H green stamps, gameboards, and manuals to enrich his
confrontations.
Opening Reception: Friday, September 9, 6-9 PM
Aron Packer Gallery
118 N. Peoria Chicago, IL 60607
Gallery Hours: Tuesday  Saturday 11:00AM  5:30PM