THIRD SHIFTERS
ART THAT COMES ALIVE AT NIGHT
#ThirdShiftersChi
ABOUT US
Christina Marquez, Daylight.
Third-Shifters: Art that Comes Alive at Night seeks to identify both the disparate and the shared characteristics of visual art created in and vivified by the twilight hours.
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Anyone who has spent much time traveling knows that walking through a new city at night is often a far more concise gauge of its character than traversing those same routes in daylight. The histories seem more present, the sounds and smells and sights are heightened by the unique light (or lack thereof).
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Much of the work presentation this exhibition is from Chicago, where any given night promises both the muffled (or perhaps not-muffled) symphony of perpetual foot traffic and the eery Dreamsickle-glow emitted by the high pressure sodium vapor lamps that have populated our sidewalks since 1969. It seemed a poignant moment to gather such works because this visual equalizer is in the process of being removed from the city block-by-block in favor of LED lighting.
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Artists all over the world, however, have noted the much broader shifts in their experiences after dark. While two pieces displayed together draw on the iconography of American Halloween, one speaks of darkness that can provide safety, while another engages viewers in a process by which they cause themselves to become metaphorically haunted. Others "come alive" at night because internal lighting is dramatized by surrounding darkness.
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THE ARTISTS
Multiple artists brought work which speaks of structures whose light is warm, almost inviting in the midst of darkness. Both pieces seem to share the conclusion that while light can seem to coax one closer, there are no residents to welcome them inside. The enticed viewer finds themselves rebuffed by absence.
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Still other pieces are more alive because they were created over a series of long, long nights. An experience shared by many artists whose finances demand that they do their real work while their peers rest. Such pieces could never have been made in the more social hours of daylight.
Problematized domesticity is one of the common threads that emerged from many of the pieces. Contemporary night-labor tends to either take place within the home, or create a very palpable absence. "Home" is represented as a space of gendered misconception, of almost-heedless authenticity, as inaccessible and as inescapable.
This exhibition aims to enrich viewers' experiences of the night, wherever they find themselves. Further writing and information about the exhibition will be available at The Martin between September 21st - September 23rd, and in an exhibition catalog that will be made available as a free PDF online in the weeks following the show.
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DAMN GLAD TO KNOW YOU
CHRIS WILLIFORD
WORK: Dark Sticky
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Chris is an interdisciplinary artist working in Chicago. His draped fabric installations explore the mystical power of symbolism and iconography where they intersect with youthful queer communities. His soft sculptures are insistently tactile, imbuing them with an almost looming quality. In May of 2018, he received an MFA in Printmedia from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chris is also a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art.
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LAUREN REA
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WORK: Ice Pillow
1 am or 1 pm
Pillows
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Lauren is currently working on her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Creative Arts in London. She uses her materially-rich practice to explore the relationships between vulnerability and the landscapes of the domestic spaces . The individual pieces are surprising, even misleading, intentionally subverting assumptions surrounding weakness and fragility.
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MARGIE CRINER
WORK: Passenger
Wishing Well
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Margie is an artist whose work is both mysterious and captivating. Her sculptures, constructed from the inside-out are reminiscent of bee hives or hawks nests: they are miniature fortifications, whose outer mass both obscures and invites . Inside, empty human terrains appear to wait for minuscule constituencies. By hiding the mundane from view, she encourages us to look at places that we might otherwise ignore. Margie's practice is based in Chicago, and she holds a BS in Textiles from Michigan State University.
CANDICE BLOCK
WORK: Redacted Memory
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Candice's paintings embody the often turbulent dualities unique to the human emotional pexperience. She employs a a combination of careful painterly technique and hazardous , uncontrollable "pours" to develop complex systems of color and pattern that seem to reach well beyond the surfaces of each painting. Candice is currently working towards an MA in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. She also holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BA from Mount Mary University.
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CRISTINA MARQUEZ
WORK: Daylight
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Cristina is a painter who focuses on depicting humans in the domestic spaces where they can most authentically be themselves. Her unflinching portraits illustrate people in moments that they might rather not be seen, doing things that might perhaps be embarrassing outside of their spheres of privacy. Cristina holds a BFA from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne.
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DARREN ELLIS
WORK: Remain Lit
Coupled
Drinking Lit
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Darren is a digital photographer who spends many of his nights taking long-exposure photos of the built environment. His work focuses on common structures that, once emptied of their diurnal inhabitants, become striking in their fluorescent loneliness. Darren lives in Seattle and has been featured in such online publications as Standby and Nightwalker Magazine.
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Instagram: @BACKWARDSDRIFTING
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KLAUS PINTER
WORK: Untitled
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Klaus Pinter is a mixed media artist working primarily in varied forms of conceptual sculpture. His creations draw on the uncanny qualities achievable with commonplace materials, often allowing visitors to handle the materials themselves, giving them a personal stake in transforming otherwise ordinary products into uncannily familiar phantoms. Klaus lives and works in Vienna, Austria.
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RACHEL AHAVA ROSENFELD
WORK: Ado, or If you're looking back then you might as well stare
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Rachel is the curator and originator of the Third-Shifters exhibition. She maintains active art and research practices at her River North studio. Her most recent paintings combine the eeriness of the city at night in shared spaces with fragmentary vignettes drawn from archival snapshots. Rachel holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA from Hollins University, and has studied at both the University of Chicago and the Jerusalem Studio School.
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