Chicago Artists Coalition is pleased to present ORWELLIAN OFFSPRING, a group exhibition featuring works by Marie Baldwin, Mitsu Salmon, and Jacqueline Surdell.

In recent years, stories about dystopian futures have become mass media obsessions, such as Black Mirror, The Hunger Games, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Although the genre is not new, a recent New Yorker article states that we are living through "A Golden Age for Dystopian Fiction". Is it possible that its current prevalence speaks to more than just a passing trend?

While oppressive systems in the U.S. continue to be exposed, people en masse are turning to dystopian narratives for answers and the ability to play out mounting fears. As a means of unpacking their own inheritance of oppressive systems, the artists in this show mine their personal histories, dealing with labor, body, memory, and ancestral ties across time and place. Together, the artworks create an avenue where reality and fiction converge--illuminating an opportunity for critical reflection on the current socio-political moment and perhaps even action.

ORWELLIAN OFFSPRING is curated by Courtney Cintron.

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Please note that the exhibition will open in CAC's new location at 2130 W. Fulton St.

Artist Bios

Mitsu Salmon creates performance and visual works that fuse multiple disciplines. She was born in Los Angeles to a Japanese mother and American father. Creating in differing mediums—translating one medium to another—is connected to the translation of differing cultures and languages. Her work draws from familial and personal narratives and then abstracts, expands and contradicts them. Her current project investigates botany, familial histories, colonization, and archives.

Salmon received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014 and her undergrad degree from NYU. She has presented work at places such as the Chicago Cultural Center, Julius Caesar, Comfort Station and internationally at Hebbel Am Uffer in Berlin, Made Budhiana Gallery in Bali and Urbanguild in Kyoto, Japan. She was awarded artist residencies at Taipei Artist Village Taiwan, Villa Pandan Harum in Bali, High Concept Lab, Links Hall, the Chicago Cultural Center and Oxbow. She was awarded best collaborative multi-disciplinary performance by Newcity in 2015, DCASE IAP, and a touring grant through Midwest Nexus in 2018.

Jacqueline Surdell is an interdisciplinary artist and former collegiate athlete. Surdell's practice draws from an ideology of rigorous discipline and directed stamina defining her athletic career as a lens for translation, interpretation and abstraction of the contemporary body. Through sculpture, performance, video, photography, and installation, Surdell's work examines the friction between wide-reaching cultural and socio-political narratives defined and complicated by intimate personal histories and encounters.

Surdell’s work has been shown at South Bend Museum of Art, Chicago Artist Coalition, Western Exhibitions, Chicago; Union League Club, Chicago; Lithium Gallery, Chicago; Sullivan Galleries, Chicago; Cleve Carney Art Gallery, Glen Ellyn; Boardwalk Gallery, Los Angeles; Weingart Gallery, Los Angeles; and Galerie LeRoyer, Montreal. Surdell was awarded residencies at Ragdale, Lake Forest, IL, Acre Projects, Steuben, Wisconsin, and is currently a Hatch Projects Artist in Residence at Chicago Artists Coalition. Surdell earned her BFA with cum laude honors from Occidental College and her MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in Chicago, IL.

Marie Baldwin (b. 1994) is a Chicago-based artist best known for her large-scale fabric piecework collages. She graduated with a BFA from The School of The Art institute in 2017, and has shown work at The Sullivan Galleries, dfbrl8r Gallery, and TCC Gallery, among others. Baldwin dissects visual and linguistic moments in pop culture, and seeks to create idiosyncratic spaces through print, sculpture, and installation. Her practice navigates the intersection of familiar and foreign spaces through reworked examinations of fragmented artifacts that hold social significance, displaced from their original period and meaning. Predominately working with cloth, plaster, and reclaimed materials, her work explores themes of sexuality, personal history, and the body. She is currently a HATCH Resident with the Chicago Artist Coalition, and is looking forward to shows at LVL3 Gallery and Comfort Station in the upcoming months.

Curator Bio

Courtney Cintron is a Chicago-based arts and cultural administrator, curator, and performing artist. She is a 2017 MA Graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Arts Administration and Policy and a graduate of the Institute of Curatorial Research and Practice at SAIC. As a versatile individual, she has had the pleasure of managing an array of artistic projects for arts organizations, from youth art education, art exhibitions, and interdisciplinary artist showcases, to poetry, theater, and music programs. Her dedication to tackling complex social issues and promoting deep learning and critical thinking through the arts has illuminated her path. Courtney currently holds a position with ProjectArt as Chicago Program Director.