Georgiana Nehl
"There exists a resonant energy within us and all around us.
It is while moving in the darkness that I see it."
Georgiana Nehl
Leona Gamble
"There’s something profoundly intimate about the connection between hope and grief, a space where we release what no longer serves us and let those “ghosts” fade. With Releasing Ghosts, I was drawn into that space between holding on and letting go—a practice of releasing good intentions that may have carried unintended harm, a way of letting the echoes of past connections quietly fall away. This tension, that veil between hope and grief, love and destruction, reminds us we carry both light and shadow. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, we unknowingly play the villain in another’s story; we hold the weapons in someone else’s wounds, even as we tend to our own. In releasing these ghosts, we find a strange peace—an acceptance of our complexity. It’s about embracing the lessons that linger and letting compassion guide what we carry forward, leaving only what heals and inspires."
Leona Gamble
Edie Overturf
"The image and text relationships in my work depict contemporary anxieties that likely resonate with viewers. I give voice to frustrations centered around uncertainty, inequity and deeply rooted political and social problems that appear too vast to be changed by the actions of individuals. Among the shared experiences I depict, I find myself compelled to grapple with imposter syndrome, burnout, and trying to survive the hellscape of late stage capitalism. The relationship of text and image, or bodies of text within a space, are critically important in my work. The forms and surfaces wherein text is placed greatly informs its meaning. Likewise, the arrangement of elements can create a collection of intrusive thoughts or desperately frustrated voices crying out in chorus. Brevity and efficiency is important to me, as I am often attracted to antiquated signage that typically displays fewer characters than a tweet. This abbreviation of opinions or observations can mirror the abrupt and meme-like way we currently communicate. I find gratification in the tension of joyful aesthetics paired with implied seriousness. It’s a method that I enjoy as a viewer, and a playfulness that I strive for in my work. This approach, paired with a satirical application of symbolism, are attempts to connect with viewers who might be reluctant to see my perspective. Recently I have been placing equal value on emotional connections with the viewer that I formerly applied solely to intellectual ones. I came to this conclusion when I allowed myself to be vulnerable in the work, albeit robed in the protection of poetry or sarcasm. Both the veil of humor, and confidence that my experiences and feelings are not isolated, gave me the courage to communicate more directly.
I will always be enamored with the form of the multiple; for its equitability, egalitarianism, and historical association with leftist political ideologies. I hope both the revolutionary and deeply personal quality of my work reflects the historical tradition of printmaking in political commentary."
Edie Overturf
Irene Rubin Gogan
"My work has always been an exploration of the truth that lies hidden from us.
In Dream Weaving I explore the idea that we are all creators of our own realities. Like a delicate spider’s web our minds create the illusion of a physical world.
I ask myself, ‘Is this all just a dream?’"
Irene Rubin Gogan
Matteo Neivert
“My work is a vision of the world inside my head…
Living through the environmental destruction of hurricane Katrina and then the forest fires of the Pacific Northwest gave me a new perspective on the power and forces of the natural world and my relationship to it. The cycle of life reminds me of the way a painting can form and evolve -the raw materials and elements of water, dirt (pigments), and rocks - a dispersion of seeming decay -and growth from that -the birth of a new life and newly evolved forms."
Matteo Neivert
Britt Block
Red Poppy Meditation
Deep in the center of things, in darkness, lies a luminous mystery.
Deep in the darkness a night-alchemy occurs, where shapes transform, and one thing becomes another in an unseen realm through an unknown process.
The dark center is a magnet for our souls. We are attracted. The red petals wake us up on our inward journey. We approach with aliveness and joy. We fall in. We become the darkness and the depth. We touch the luminous world and are transformed.
Britt Block
Daria Loi
"Art helps me unfold, recognize, embrace and accept what surrounds me. By shaping the darkness through my work, for example, I get to understand it and, in the process, heal and better uncover who I am."
Daria Loi
Mona Monroe
"I’ve always been attracted to the spiritual as a way to escape reality that is sometimes uncomfortable for me to live in. The work explores themes of loss, searching, survival, endurance and adaptation. The personal symbolism reflects my subconscious recollections of past memories. A sense that everything cannot always be explained emerges as playfulness."
Mona Monroe
Richard Cutshall
"My process is driven by a need to explore the unconscious. Archetypal images seem to emerge to reveal the complexity of the human condition."
Richard Cutshall
Janet McIntyre
Memories can be like a bar of soap, too slight or too slippery to hold onto.
Other times they can be like bullets leaving a wound.
My mother died when I was 18. She was young and I was too young. Her loss shaped my life.
Sometimes when I’m painting, I feel like she’s right here, with me. She’s watching and dancing.
In some safe place.
Janet McIntyre
NOTE FROM THE ARTIST:
For so many years after my mother's death I felt like I was drowning. In 2015 I directed, wrote and edited a short film inspired by my mother’s memory and the memories I no longer had of her. The film is entitled, Hers Is Where Yours Begin which in essence means all our stories begin with our mother’s stories. It was shot entirely underwater by Marcus Swanson with a dedicated cast of professional dancers.
"Hers Is Where Yours Begin" by Janet McIntyre,
may be viewed by cliking link below:
Dan Pillers
“A one legged man told me; "art should evoke as many questions as does one shoe found in the middle of the road."
For me art should be provocative, it should bring forth as many questions as it does answers.“
Dan Pillers
Peter Evan Costas
“The grayscale has always been more intriguing to me than the full range of the color wheel. Line, shape, texture, mood, and detail have dominated my eyesight from a young age, and thus the minute I discovered the Film Noir genre, my view of storytelling had forever changed. I began to think about life on a slower, more miniscule scale, focusing on details such as the repetitive sound of rain or the long pauses people take in the middle of one-on-one conversations. I began to write. I wrote for years and years, having no idea whether it was poetry or journaling, and I didn’t care, I only cared about those in-between moments in my head. I walked everywhere, pausing here and there to sit, observe, and write about my thoughts. Looking back, it was almost like street photography without the camera. I did all this well before I discovered photography. And as of recently, I am realizing that to maintain my drive and creativity, I need to merge the two.
I’ve been chasing storms and ghosts in Chicagoland.”
Peter Evan Costas
Leanne Trivett S.
“My photograph “Hiding Self Portrait” explores the fear and safety of hiding oneself during the pandemic and watching through a protective barrier...”
Leanne Trivett S.
Jennifer Gillia Cutshall
"Shadows serve to bring us closer to the source of light and there's a glimmer that floats like an orb through the selected works in this edition of Chasing Ghosts. Elements of light also echo in my own artwork with various materials like resin, flame, and gold leaf (in addition to my curatorial work)."
Jennifer Gillia Cutshall
Jennifer Gillia Cutshall's Ghost Bride sculptures are in the foreground of the above video, in addition to 2 of her large paintings in the background. Other work in the background include work by: Edie Overturf, Matteo Neivert, Richard Cutshall, and Theresa Redinger
There are 3 more full days to see Chasing Ghosts VIII:
Saturday, 11/16
Tuesday, 11/19
Wednesday 11/20
Hours those days are 11-5
(Thursday and Friday the 14th and 15th are by appointment only)