Jessica AikenHer urban living experiences (Chicago for 6 years and New York for 1 year) have probably had the largest influence on her as far as her interest in graffiti. She has used graffiti in her work as a storytelling device, as a depiction of itself, and as domestic signage. The pieces on display are some of her earlier works using graffiti.
She was first drawn to graffiti for it's storytelling abilities. Around the time that she started incorporating Graffiti into her paintings she was also heavily influenced by comic book art and cave paintings which also follow storytelling characteristics. The process of creating this work was both diaristic as well as formally exploratory.
Her later work begins to use graffiti for it's domestic meanings; taking her inspirations more specifically from Chicago garages, alleys, and abandoned buildings. She began to use messages she had seen spray painted such as "Keep Out" and "Private Property", replicating them in her paintings. Using graffiti in this way she was able to examine it as a way "marking territory" or making a "public" space into a "private" space.
Mike Genovese From the big city, Genovese left to travel with a carnival where his passion
for letter form developed further as a sign painter. Following his return to
Chicago in 2001, Mike put his experiences together and began creating truly
unique works of art. Cryptic letter forms, rich textures, samples of dialogue,
intricate abstractions, and found objects are all combined to form Genovese's
socially conscious communications of hope and despair.
Victor Lopez
Growing up on the Northwest side of Chicago, Logan Square, Lopez first began
to practice Graffiti in 1987.
It was during this time that Lopez began to develop his control of the spray can allowing him to create intricate designs and color schemes which resulted in a unique brand of Graffiti. His passion for Graffiti led him to further investigate the possibilities of reproducing his imagery with oils and acrylics.
Nino Rodriguez
Born in Michoacan, Mexico, Rodriguez first began painting Graffiti Art on the
North side of Chicago in 1984. His work has been displayed widely across America
and Europe. He is best known for his straight raw American graffiti which incorporates
the use of complex "wild style" typography and a distinct palette
of colors which makes each individual piece different from the last.
Rodriguez has reinvented Graffiti aesthetics to create new and complex art to reproduce the history of Meso-American and Latin American through the iconography of symbols for gods and warriors. His interests lie specifically within the Mexica culture, religion, art and ideology.
Mini-installationt: Marcela Chaidez de Nunez
Marcela Chaidez de Nunez’ work manifests her personal experience by utilizing
events in her relationship through Perforaismo, a technique in which pieces of
suggested words are punctured directly from the pages of a book with a circle
extractor.
Mini-exhibit: Elvia Rodriguez-Ochoa
co-sponsored by the Chicago ENLACE Partnership at Northeastern Illinois University
DOWNLOAD PDF BROCHURE
polvo
1458 W. 18th ST. 1R
Chicago, IL 60608
http://www.polvo.org
773.344.1940
hours: saturdays noon-5pm or by appointment