WIPE OUT
a multimedia group exhibition featuring:
Andrea Jablonski
Chris Hodge
Erik Peterson
Mary Porterfield
Otto Splotch
Merje Veski

Peanut Gallery
1000 N. California Ave, Chicago
January 8 – January 24, 2012
Opening reception: Sunday January 8, 5 – 9pm
otherwise open by appointment

WIPE OUT features six artists’ imaginings and perceptions of annihilation. As we begin 2012, the year that some believe will be our last on earth, The End is in the air.

The artists in WIPE OUT were selected because of their ability to imagine, digest and embrace the possibility of humanity’s demise. If we are doomed, at least we should enjoy it. Consider the opening reception Peanut Gallery’s answer to Sunday School – the work in WIPEOUT conveys the essence of a Baptist preacher’s apocalyptic vision filtered through the hyperactive, slightly deranged and certainly dangerous mind of a visionary anarchist.

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Peanut Gallery is a space for creative collaboration, experimentation, exhibition and good, old-fashioned mingling. Their goal is to connect creative people with one another and nurture a vibrant, inclusive community of artists and intellectuals.

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Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want:
The Epistemology of Fine Art in Popular Culture
New work by Jim Ricks

November 20th – December 18th, 2011
Opening reception: Sunday 20th November, 5 – 8pm

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by Jim Ricks considers the unique context of Chicago through a new body of work that is a playful visualization of a well-known scene from a Hollywood film. Working in a variety of new medias, the selection of pieces is produced specifically for Peanut Gallery’s new venue.

Essentially Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want begins with the question ‘How do we know?’, paying particular regard to popular knowledge of fine art and its representation in mainstream culture. This is also a continuation of an ongoing strand of Ricks’s practice involving re-producing or knocking-off life sized versions of well known artworks. In this case, the reproductions are pulled from film stills depicting one of Chicago’s best-known museums in one of its best-loved films. Because of the limited data due to the film’s editing, cropping, zooming, obstructing, etc. of the artworks the reproductions become distorted. As the audience we have received sparse and inconsistent information; there is more data in some areas than others, yet we believe we know the famous artworks. In this context are the artworks holding their own individual value or meaning? Or are they merely serving as signification of ‘culture’ and ‘contemplation’?

Ricks has an interest in property rights, borders, ownership, commodity, institutions and public engagement. He uses imitation and appropriation as a vehicle to explore these ideas. As such, he openly imitates art and life through available means and materials. This process embraces creativity through divergence and welcomes the accidents that occur in the ‘knock off’ process. The work also frequently explores the grey area between flattery and theft. Ricks’ work is influenced by his background as a prolific graffiti artist and a political activist.

Jim Ricks was born in California and currently lives in Dublin, Ireland. He earned his MFA from the National University of Ireland, Galway and Burren College of Art program. He received his BFA from the California College of the Arts. Ricks has exhibited internationally and is currently working on the touring public collaboration In Search of the Truth (The Truth Booth) with Cause Collective and is curating Death and Sensuality, a group show of Irish artists in San Francisco. He has also recently presented the touring public work Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen; had solo shows at Artlink (for the New Art Award) (Co. Donegal), Occupy Space (Limerick) and Pallas Contemporary Projects (Dublin); took part in group shows with Royal Hibernian Academy (Dublin), Dock Discourse (Galway), The Galway Arts Festival (Galway), Monster Truck Temple Bar (Dublin), Pallas Contemporary Projects (Dublin), Galway Arts Centre (Galway), Monster Truck Gallery (Dublin), IMOCA (Dublin), The Niland Gallery (Galway) and The Black Mariah (Cork).

Come on out this Sunday, 9/9 from 5 to 9pm for the first opening reception in our new space. Locals Only features work by two emerging artists: Justin Nalley and Erik Lundquist. If you miss the opening, come check out the show sometime over the next few weeks. Gallery hours by appointment, but we’re there most nights, so if the lights are on, bang on the door. xoxo.