1431 W. Hubbard St., Ste. 201, Chicago, IL 60642
By advance appointment only. Please email contact@chicagoartistscoalition.org
06.18
Jairo Granados-Cardenas, Maryam Faridani, Martha Osornio Ruiz
Friday, May 1 2025 from 5-8pm
Jairo Granados-Cardenas Maryam Faridani Martha Osornio Ruiz
Gordon Fung
Chicago Artists Coalition presents a three-person exhibition by 2024-26 Artist Residents Jairo Granados-Cardenas, Maryam Faridani, and Martha Osornio Ruiz, curated by 2024-26 Curatorial Resident Gordon Dic Lun Fung.
The opening reception will be on May 1 from 5-8pm.
About Curators
Gordon Fung (b. 1988, San Francisco, CA; lives in Chicago, IL) is a transdisciplinary artist-curator who works with large-scale curatorial/collaborative practices, experimental audiovisual performances, new media installations, noise music, experimental film/video, media archaeology, participatory works, and happenings.
Expanding the traditional caretaking role of the curator, he applies stewardship to artworks, artists, history, culture, and the community at large to ensure constructive dialogue between them. Recognizing the cultural significance of media and technology, his curations bring equilibrium to art scenes where media arts are underrepresented. Serving as a mediator and facilitator, he builds a heteroglossic bridge to foster a more supportive environment that elevates both institutions and independent DIY scenes.
Inspired by the unique Chicago video/media arts lineage and collectivity in Fluxus, Gordon forms and directs the experimental time-based arts collective //sense to showcase large-scale experimental community theater performances, exhibitions, and screenings. Counteracting the marginalization of experimental time-based arts, he curates and fosters a collaborative common ground for sound, video, performance, and media artists to create gesamtkunstwerk through synergy. By democratizing media tools, he empowers and mobilizes the community to rectify media injustice imposed by corporations.
As a firm believer in collectivism, his large-scale curation cultivates two maxims: “making good communities better” and “finding arts in all things.” Referencing Fluxus and happenings, he creates brave spaces for participants to unleash their imagination in artmaking through deskilling and unlearning.
Gordon has presented experimental community theaters at the International Museum of Surgical Science (2024), No Nation Art Lab (2023), Comfort Station (2023), and MacLean Ballroom (2023). His curated exhibitions include: (re)understanding media: extension of agency in the global village (Ars Electronica Campus Exhibition 2024 in Austria), prismatic (re)ality (2024), and //show what you can (2023). He launches neomediapolis, an experimental and community space in Chicago, to support video, media, and performance arts.
Image: Gordon Fung, and the home of the [placeholder]—S1E1_pilotComfortStation (2023), experimental community theater, duration varies - Photo by Alex Teng-feng Kuo
About Artists
Jairo Granados-Cardenas (b. Michoacán, Mexico) is a self-taught film photographer whose captivating work reflects a profound connection to both his Mexican roots and the vibrant cultural tapestry of his current home in Chicago, IL. Jairo spent his formative years immersed in the dynamic fusion of his Mexican heritage and the distinctive atmosphere of a Mexican-American household in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
Despite lacking formal training, Jairo's artistic journey has been defined by an innate ability to capture the essence of human experiences through the lens of his camera. His evolving perspective is shaped by a keen understanding of composition, an astute mastery of color, and a unique flair for storytelling. These elements converge seamlessly in his photographs, creating a visual language that transcends cultural boundaries and resonates with viewers on a profound level.
Currently based in Chicago, Jairo Granados-Cardenas draws inspiration from the bustling urban landscape and the diverse tapestry of people that populate the city. His work is a testament to his intuitive response to human actions and gestures, a skill that has become instrumental in capturing moments of cultural intimacy and visual surrealism. Each photograph tells a story, weaving together the threads of daily life with an artistic vision that invites viewers to engage with the complexities of the human experience.
Image: Jairo Granados-Cardenas, Wrench Cross, 2023, Canson Rag Photographique 310gsm (Mounted by D-rings + Wire), 22.5" x 34"
Headshot: Felton Kizer
Maryam Faridani is an Iranian artist currently living in Chicago. By using moving images, installations and performance, she tries to explore how the given technical systems today leads to creation and maintenance of a particular set of social conditions as the environment of that system. Humor is an important aspect of her work as she finds it to be an effective way to talk about matters that are usually dark and bitter.
Faridani received the MacDowell Fellowship in 2023 and the Define American Fellowship in 2020. She was named as one of the Chicago Breakout Artists in NewCity Magazine in 2022. She has shown her work at Currents NewMedia Festival, Everson Museum of Art, and Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts among many others. She received her M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019 and holds a B.F.A. in Theater from the Art University of Tehran.
Image: Maryam Faridani, Give me a minute and I will be out, 2022, 9 minutes
Headshot: Elnaz Javani
(updated 2025)
Martha Osornio Ruiz is an interdisciplinary artist born in Veracruz, Mexico, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Osornio Ruiz started her art career after graduating with her MFA in Sculpture from the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, collaborating on various community projects, installations, and video performances. Her current work focuses on her first-generation immigrant experience and her DACAmented status.
Image: Martha Osornio Ruiz, La Casa de mi Abuelo, 2023, Projection, windows, 19ft x 20ft, Amount varies
Headshot: José Ibarra Rizo
