Hundreds of beer cans and grocery bags usually signal one large party or too many trips to Jewel-Osco. But for Jeffrey Grauel, they were building blocks for unique pieces of art.
Grauel’s art is part of a new exhibit, “Politic of a Moment,” which is on display at Evanston Art Center, 2603 Sheridan Rd., that showcases a variety of work from four artists: Jeffrey Grauel, Larry Lee, Lucy Mueller and Sarah Wild. The exhibit opened with a reception and panel discussion Sunday afternoon attended by about 30 area residents.
Curator Marjorie Vecchio organized the collection, hoping to create an exhibit commenting on politics with a greater artistic focus and wider interpretation of what should be considered political.
“Politic is an existence of a large society and its relationship to the individual, and how the individual sees themselves,” Vecchio said.
Each artist takes a unique approach in portraying this larger cultural politic by reflecting on different snapshots of life.
“It’s the idea that the moment changes you and then the world,” Wild said.
Mueller’s photos range from a picture of a cat staring into space to a picture of a pool taken as the sun begins to set. Grauel draws from influences from his childhood, using hundreds of beer cans to spell out “Fontana,” a town in California where he spent time as a child. In another work he uses quilted grocery bags to make a tent like those he used as a child.
“You pull from your memories and then they become part of these projects,” Grauel said.
Wild recreates a typical American living room containing a small chair, family photos and small toy dog — with an enormous mass of foam in the middle. Upstairs, Lee takes on an ancient form of Chinese water torture in “The Manchurian Candidate,” a piece that uses water faucets dripping onto two empty chairs from a fish tank on the side.
The artists also use humor throughout the collection.
“I think it’s definitely an active part of the work,” Chicago resident Susannah Papish Horner said.
“Humor has been looked down upon in the art world,” Vecchio added.
“It’s almost a faux-pas,” she said. “Everyone wants to be ‘smart.'”
At the reception, Wild commented on a collaboration she did with Grauel that investigated the paranormal. With the use of modern technology, the two investigated ghosts and other possible paranormal entities at the Evanston Art Center, which used to be a mansion and then a converted fraternity headquarters. No formal conclusion or artistic interpretation of any findings are planned for the future, Wild said.
Water filled in two large rectangular bins sways with images from Cuba in Sandra Binion’s multi-media installation “Mirage,” a separate exhibit looking at the forbidden love between Cuba and the United States, which also opened Sunday afternoon. Binion traveled to Havana in March 2002, filming ordinary life in the communist country, which she said is still widely misunderstood by many Americans. At the reception, Binion spoke of the reciprocal curiosity between the two countries that lingers today.
“That idea for longing for a place that is hard to get to heightens the desire,” Binion said.
Chicago resident Kemery Bloom enjoyed Binion’s creative use of film.
“I really like the conceptual work with video and audio,” Bloom said. “It really penetrates your body — it’s almost physical.”
Reach Lensay Abadula at [email protected].
