@ PLAQUE: Cass Davis, Heartland
A view of the factory, an American flag at half-staff. The landscape, an infinite expanse of field. The revival. The harvest. A death, a resurrection— a haunting, no doubt. In Heartland, we are asked to consider the landscape as embodying both felt and unknown trauma. We are prompted to take a closer look at an identity so close and familiar that we don’t stop to listen to the ghosts trapped inside.
Heartland examines the artist’s own Midwestern Evangelical upbringing. Their sculptures investigate relationships between redemption, resurrection, embodied trauma, and the failure of the American dream. Locating these sculptures within the very landscape to which they point presents a new kind of context for the work. What relationships develop when the landscape is reflected back at itself? What stories does it tell? Does the material allow for embodied trauma to speak?
@ INSURANCE, AMERICAN COLORS
Featuring work from: Jason Lee, Sam Prekop, Adam Newsham, Bob Price, Sara Murphy, Amy Blessing and Chris Dunn
@ GREASE: Chris Scott, Both and Neither or I Love You Lou Reed
@ IN/OUT: Alejandro Franco & Kelly Jimenez, Throwaway World
Feat.: DJ CRIM DOLLA CRAY
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Cass Davis
Cass Davis is a Chicago-based artist with an MFA (2017) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fiber and Material Studies. Through performance, video, installation and sculpture, Cassandra Davis’ work examines their own Midwestern Evangelical upbringing. Davis is interested in understanding relationships between redemption, resurrection, embodied trauma, and the failure of the American dream. They are enchanted by the power of spiritual ecstasy and how the reclamation of ritual might offer the queer and marginalized body a transcendent experience. Davis’ work also reimagines rural materials like corn and hay, and spaces like the revival or parade —and expands the archival and photographic into embodied form. Through the hand-sewn, hand-woven, and hand-printed, Davis’ process embodies the obsessive devotion of the Believer.
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Jason Lee
A native of Southern California, Jason Lee is a film photographer, actor, producer, and director. Having established a successful career as a professional skateboarder during skateboarding's pivotal late 80s and early 90s period, Lee would go on to pursue acting in 1994, which would lead to working in film, television, and voiceover. Despite retiring from skateboarding in 1995, Lee continued co-managing Stereo Skateboards with co-founder and former professional skateboarder Chris Pastras. In 2002, Lee developed a passion for photography and dedicated himself to pursuing the medium as a creative profession. His photographic works have since been featured in multiple group and solo exhibitions, magazines, and two sold-out books..
Sam Prekop
Sam Prekop is a member of the Chicago based band, Sea and Cake, and is a self-trained photographer.
Adam Newsham
Based in St. Louis, MO, Adam Newsham is a co-founder of Photo Filmy.
Bob Price
Based in Northern California, Bob Price is a co-founder of Photo Filmy.
Amy Blessing
Amy is a film photographer, alternative process artist, and social justice advocate living in Iowa City, IA.
Sara Murphy
Sara Murphy is a hobbyist photographer based in Chicago, Illinois. She's been shooting on film since 1994 and gravitates towards Americana and puns.
Chris Dunn
Chris Dunn is a St.Louis based photographer showcasing photos from around the city and the Midwest.
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Chris Scott
Chris Scott hails from the imitable midwestern town of Springfield, Illinois. Growing up he was
engaged in all the typical meanderings of a middle class, midwestern lifestyle, including but not
limited to: loitering in parking lots, trespassing, driving aimlessly and smoking weed in
basements. Scott’s practice is nurtured by his interest in outsider art, memes, cowboys and
sadboy music. Scott received his BFA from the University of Iowa in 2017 and is a current MFA
candidate at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Alejandro Franco and Kelly Jimenez
My work is a quest to find a new function for discarded objects, to give them a new role, a new life. In an industrial landscape where made objects and information flows overwhelm us, I find fulfillment in building characters out of various objects that were previously resting without purpose. Seeking hidden similarities between objects and in parallel striving to interpret thoughts are my great passions. I feel a need to intervene with these forgotten elements, to work with their poetic potential and create a convergence engaging people with their new existence. A seamless search for beauty, sifting through the detritus of everyday life.