The Post Family and Spudnik Press Open House
Good afternoon, friends. Yes, am finally awake after parties last night. Excellent evening -- the giant loftish building housing The Post Family and Spudnik was packed. Didn't bring my camera. Darn.

I've written about Spudnik in the past, so will concentrate on the Post Family today. In addition to their other art, several are typographers. One room -- the small gallery you might remember from when Western Exhibitions had the space (they've moved over to West Loop Gate, on Peoria) -- is completely filled with typecases for their letterpress. Another typecase stands in the hallway. All this lead type -- I have no idea how they got it all in there. You can't imagine how heavy just a single drawer is, and they must have had 50.

They're a collective of six or seven artists -- one of them the son of artist Nancy Rosen, who has taught at the Evanston Art Center and elsewhere, does multilayered figurative and portrait art using a lot of paint and pigment sticks -- very graphic, almost Guston-like at times, sometimes quite hideous in a good way.

This group is definitely one to watch. The walls and rooms are filled with art and loungey furniture. A DJ was hitting the tunes all night and a really interesting video played on a large screen -- mesmerizing shots of landscapes and railroad tracks, zooming in, then pulling back, then focussing on one thing, then moving on again. I'm not usually into video, but was drawn in even without drugs.

One room was devoted to a table with Barack Obama posters spread on it -- my favorite with phrase, "I make 2 gallons of gas an hour."
Being an opening, there was, of course, beer and food -- and empanadas -- an art opening first. One of the members or friends made a big cake the size of a wedding cake (at least 6 or 7 layers) with shocking pink frosting -- it was flavored with jasmine tea.

So much was going on, and so many people were there (and up at Spudnik too) that it was hard to see everything or do more than grind up against folks as you passed by in the hallway (not altogether bad...).

Definitely suggest getting on their mailing list for whatever new events they have scheduled. Sam Rosen (one of the group) said they don't have actual gallery hours at the moment. I think they think of this as a working space more than a traditional gallery. But he said that if you want to see the place, just get in touch with them and they'll show you around. You can hear more in this Bad at Sports interview.

Labels: art, printmaking

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:40 PM | | | Link |