News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Steve Christensen
LUMA
312.915.6164
schris6@luc.edu
Exhibition on Display in the Harlan J. Berk Ltd. Works on Paper Gallery
CHICAGO, June 4, 2010 - On Saturday, June 5, the Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) will open the exhibition Jessica Gondek: A Decade in Print, which will remain on view at the museum through Sunday, September 19, 2010. During its three-and-a-half-month run, the exhibition will hang in the Harlan J. Berk Ltd. Works on Paper Gallery.
Over the past decade, Jessica Gondek has concentrated on digital and traditional printmaking. Reflecting her fascination with the complicated relationship between technology and art, her aesthetic concerns can be traced to Leonardo da Vinci's inventions and war machines, the Italian Futurists' celebration of technology, and the proto-Dada works of Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia.
Like these earlier artists, Gondek's abstract objects often appear as multiple viewpoints of sculptural forms in movement where the qualities of the machine blend with human characteristics. The modeled forms, swirling coils, and sharp darts, which resemble intricate machine parts or mechanical toys, are created first by three-dimensional computer modeling. Gondek then creates the same form by hand printing. Together, the two types of images represent both the perfection of computer-generated imagery and the imperfection of the work of the human hand.
By using the computer, as well as intaglio print techniques (first developed in the 15th century), Gondek presents the tension between hand and machine. As she prints the computer-generated images on the same page as reduction woodcuts of the same imagery, Gondek merges traditional art forms and technological media in her printed works. This combination of the woodcut and the digital print contrast the earliest known printmaking form with the most current.
About the Artist
A Chicago artist and teacher, Gondek received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since 1996, Gondek has taught drawing and painting for Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts. Previously, she taught at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh) and Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos).
Gondek has received a number of prestigious awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant, a Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts Grant, and a Mid-America Arts Alliance National Endowment for the Arts Grant. She has also been recognized with a number of international artist residency awards, including at the Can Serrat International Art Center in Spain and the Frans Masereel Center in Belgium.
Gondek has exhibited widely and her work is represented in several public collections. Recent exhibitions of Gondek's work include the Butler Institute of American Art Beecher Center in Youngstown, Ohio; the Aurora Public Arts Commission in Aurora, Illinois; the Abdijhoeve Ten Bogaerde Cultural Art Center in Koksijde, Belgium; and the Northern Illinois University Art Museum in DeKalb.
Jessica Gondek: A Decade in Print is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Public Program
Meet the Artist
Tuesday, September 14
6 p.m.
LUMA, 820 N. Michigan Avenue
Join us for this lecture by Jessica Gondek, who will discuss her prints and how these works were affected by artist-in-residence programs at the Frans Masereel Center (Belgium) and Can Serrat International Art Center (Spain). The event is open to the public and is free.
About LUMA
Opened in 2005, the Loyola University Museum of Art is dedicated to exploring, promoting, and understanding art and artistic expression that illuminates the enduring spiritual questions of all cultures and societies. As a museum with an interest in education and educational programming, LUMA reflects the University’s Jesuit mission and is dedicated to helping people of all creeds explore the roots of their faith and spiritual quests. Located at Loyola University Chicago’s Water Tower Campus, the museum occupies the first three floors of the University’s historic Lewis Towers on Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue. For more information, visit the museum’s website at LUC.edu/luma.
Art illuminating the spirit!
-LUMA-
