A two-person exhibition featuring
HATCH Projects’ artists
Debra Kayes & Steve Amos
Curated by Susan Aurinko
Opening Reception: August 17, 6-9pm
Exhibition Dates: August 17 – September 6

Debra Kayes, Shift, mixed media on canvas, 36" x 36"

Steve Amos, Molten Universe, oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2011

In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combinations.  The work of Debra Kayes and Steve Amos both utilize color as a dynamic element, employing it in a conscious, concise manner to engage both formal and conceptual issues.

It is difficult to look at Amos’ paintings without affecting a certain nostalgia for multicolored psychedelic posters and the serpentine forms that swirl in lava lamps.  He creates his fluid compositions by sourcing literary and sociopolitical information, subsequently transforming and recontextualizing the original material through a variety of digital and painterly layering processes.  While Amos’ works can be read as a formalist spectacle of intermingling colors and webbed lines, in many cases, the paintings are also redolent with heavy political symbols and insinuations that belie a playful first impression.

Kayes’ recent work explores texture-based installation, taking a quantum leap to distance itself from her earlier practice; Scandinavian textile themes have been replaced by subtly tinted and naturally colored textural elements that float across the wall like underwater plants.  Kayes’ creation of simple organic forms explores the ways in which creatures large and small group to gain safety in numbers, with layered and repeated elements allowing individuals to act as one.  One might immediately be stimulated by the bright shapes, but it is equally important to consider the possibilities for underlying narratives.

Through the marriage of primary, secondary and tertiary colors, Kayes and Amos create work reminiscent of vintage clothing, wall coverings, and textiles.  The forms used in much of the artists’ work channel retro modes and models, and yet, the work is fresh and new, somehow outrunning its mid-century roots to breathe excitement into the environment.  Perhaps it is true that everything old is new again.

Debra Kayes spends her time working on an assortment of mixed media projects. In addition to her studio art, she runs Pattern+Source, an online archive of multi-media surface design, and is an art editor for MUZZLE Magazine, an art and literary journal. Debra has been a dedicated teacher of art and design for ten years. She currently teaches at Columbia College Chicago, and taught previously at Hastings College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Steve Amos is an artist based in Chicago, IL. He holds a MFA from the University of Maryland, and a BFA from Southern Illinois University. Steve is currently an instructor at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago where he teaches drawing, painting, screen-printing and digital Art. Steve is also a participating artist in the Chicago Artists’ Coalition’s HATCH Projects. He maintains a studio in the Butcher Shop building in Chicago’s West Loop, and he is a recent recipient of a Chicago Artist’s Assistance Program Grant for 2012. Steve has had numerous exhibitions including shows at Park Schreck Gallery, the District of Columbia Art Center, Baltimore City Gallery, University of Illinois- Chicago, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Arlington Art Center, Augustana College and the Quad City Arts Center.

Susan Aurinko has curated over 200 exhibitions, both at FLATFILEgalleries, the gallery she founded and directed for 9 years, and in a variety of other venues, including exhibitions for both the Japanese and Danish governments. Aurinko studied Photography, Film and Design in various schools, including Layton School of Art and Design, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Arizona State University and Columbia College, Chicago, where she currently guest teaches in the photography department and the Portfolio Center. As a photographer, her work has been exhibited in France, Italy, India and across the United States, and is included in many private and public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography. In addition, she currently serves on the Board of Directors for Universe of Poetry, Chicago Photography Center, Chicago Artists’ Coalition, as well as on the Advisory Committee of the International Photography Awards (Lucie Awards).

Chicago Artists’ Coalition, 217 N. Carpenter Street, Chicago, IL 60607. 312-491-8888
Gallery Hours are Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:00pm, and Saturday by appointment
[312.491.8888/cortney@chicagoartistscoalition.org]