For Immediate Release
Alecks Cruz : Redemption
Alecks Cruz : Redemption
January 11 - March 1, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 11, from 6pm - 10pm.
Chicago, IL [December 16, 2013]- Maxwell Colette Gallery is pleased to present Redemption, new sculptures from the Chicago-based artist Alecks Cruz. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
Alecks Cruz is, at his core, a lettersmith. He explores the composition of individual letters and the unique beauty that each character has to offer. For his large-scale letterform sculptures, Cruz utilizes discarded cardboard shipping boxes as his materials. He focuses on the structural form of individual graffiti style letters, creating a framework for finer detail; embellishment with marquetry-style geometric panels fashioned from sections of the box’s printing. The three dimensional sculptures are meant to be viewed from all angles, and range in height up to three feet tall.
Redemption will feature the debut of six new sculptures. With regard to the title of this body of work, Cruz states “just as graffiti art was forged out of penury into an eloquent art, I chose to redeem abandoned materials.” The fusion of classic style lettering and repurposed materials creates works that, in this case, are not merely crafty updates of throw-back visuals.These pieces, fashioned out of redeemed cardboard, are Cruz’s personal reaction to the co-opting of graffiti by external forces. Through the act of slicing the cardboard's printed branding and commercial typography, destroying it, and ultimately reconfiguring it into a graffiti based form, Cruz is able to exact a measure of revenge for the distasteful marketing that threatens to reduce graffiti to cliche.
About the Artist: Alecks Cruz was born in Chicago, IL in 1984 and currently lives in Berwyn, IL. Alecks works within the realm of graffiti art, creating pieces that are unbound by a single dimension. Although he started with a spray can as most graffiti artists do, Alecks now focuses on creating three-dimensional graffiti letters that extend outside the traditional application of the art but retain the stylistic essence of the art form. Alecks is a self-taught artist and graphic designer who was the winner of the Chicago Cut & Paste Characterized competition in 2013 and Chicago's 2011 Fringe Festival design contest.
About the Gallery: Maxwell Colette Gallery specializes in post-street contemporary art. The gallery was founded in 2010 with a commitment to erasing the distinctions between fine art, street art and graffiti. All programming at the gallery is free and open to the public.
Exhibition Location: 908 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL
Open hours: noon until 6pm, Wednesday through Saturday
Maxwell Colette Gallery
908 N. Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
T: 312 496 3153
Twitter: @maxwellcolette
Facebook: facebook.com/maxwellcolette
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