In Microtecture, Huong Ngo and Rob Allen use the architectural model as a starting point for creating objects and animations. With no pretense of being to scale or the hope of someday becoming lifesize, the inhabitants of their models can explore lively narratives and surreal dramas in their isolated environments. Two men rolling across topographies made out of discarded books seem to be unaware that they are too large for their environments, and instead go about their business, only gradually acknowledging each another’s presence. A tiny town, displayed in the gallery in toy machine bubbles, is engulfed by vegetation. To make matters worse, full sets of teeth sprout of the ground like kudzu. Microtecture is the first collaboration between Huong and Rob.

Huong Ngo and Rob Allen met sometime in middle school. Their devotion to all things XS was sealed after seeing the stunning photos that Lewis Carroll took of Xie Kitchen and his Lilliputian letters written to the Liddel sisters.

Huong Ngo has a MFA from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has recently exhibited in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the National Gallery Prague. She lives and works in New York, NY.

Rob Allen has a B. Arch. from North Carolina State University. He works at the Raleigh, NC architecture firm of Cannon Architects and plays in the band Goldteeth.

Alongside this exhibit we will show works on paper created for an art exchange between functionvariable, a collective in Barcelona, Spain and Polvo in Chicago. The artists include: CarianaCarianne, Elke Claus, Edra Soto, Harold Mendez, Kimberly Aubuchon, Maria Bouquet, Gisela Insuaste, Ayanna j. Mccloud, Miguel Cortez, Hannelore Lott, Jaime Mendoza, Allison Rentz, Hugo Michel Hernandez.

Opening Friday November 4 from 6pm-10pm
November 4 - Nov 26, 2005

Polvo
1458 W 18th Street 1R
Chicago, IL 60608
773-344-1940
hours: saturdays from noon-5pm or by appointment