Opening June 20: Mass Contemplation by Hydeon

Maxwell Colette Gallery is excited to announce Mass Contemplation, new work from celebrated Chicago-based illustrator Ian “Hydeon” Ferguson. The exhibition will open on Friday, June 20 with a reception from 6-10pm.

Ferguson’s work blends street art, fine art, and graphic design into surreal contemporary Americana, full of metaphor, and designed to intrigue and provoke. Mass Contemplation will showcase Ferguson’s new india ink drawings on paper. It will will also present a site specific installation titled ‘Terra Firma Shelter’, which will re-create one of his tiny shelters in human-scale. In addition, the gallery will be releasing Ferguson’s first book ‘Early Morning Contemplation Over Coffee’. This limited edition book features reproductions of the india ink drawings in the show and is signed and numbered.

Read the entire press release for Mass Contemplation here.

Find out more about Ian Ferguson on his website Hydeonart.com

Opening January 11, 2014: Peeta and Alecks Cruz solo shows

Maxwell Colette Gallery is excited to be starting 2014 with two stunning solo shows exploring the cutting edge of post-graffiti letter styles. White Out will feature new paintings from the renowned Italian graffiti artist Peeta (Manuel Di Rita) and Redemption will premier large-scale cardboard sculptures from Chicago-based artist Alecks Cruz.  Both shows will open on Saturday, January 11 with a reception from 6pm - 10pm.

White Out will present white-on-white canvases inspired by the aesthetics of crystalline water: ice and snow.  Peeta states that the paintings in White Out are an “attempt to render the most deceptive condition that snow can cause; in which visibility and contrast are so severely reduced that no reference point remains, and the individual experiences a distorted orientation.” Far from cold, the new paintings  exude a bright, sparkling, total whiteness and convey a painterly sophistication and sumptuous monochromatism that feels very at home in the moment.

Redemption will debut six new sculptures from Alecks Cruz. The three dimensional sculptures are meant to be viewed from all angles, and range in height from three to five feet tall. These pieces, fashioned out of discarded cardboard, are Cruz’s personal reaction to the co-opting of graffiti by external forces. Through the act of slicing the branding and the commercial typography on the cardboard, 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.

These two solo shows will run from January 11 - March 1 2014

Read the press release for peeta-white-out.

Read the press release for alecks-cruz-redemption.

Zore: Gettin' Down, Gettin' Up.

Check out this classic video by Brain Killer, of Mario Gonzalez Jr, (a.k.a. Zore) at work on a mural in his studio. Watching him create his signature hand styles with those broad strokes is just mesmerizing...

Artparasites has just published a fantastic interview with Zore that explores his history, his influences and his thoughts on how far graffiti has come in the past 20 years, and where it is headed. Read the interview and find out more about Zore here.

The Brazilian invasion begins...

The Brazilian invasion has begun with this killer mural collaboration by Brazilians Rodrigo Level and Gabriel Kieling! The mural is located in Chicago's Logan Square, and can be easily viewed from the CTA blue line, near the Milwaukee and Fullerton intersection. 

For the project, Level and Kieling sought to paint something that embodies the essence of their uniquely Brazilian street art. Utilizing a minimal palette and bold graphic sense, the two have created something that boldly stands out from the colorful characters and stylized lettering that fill the Logan Square neighborhood.

Detail shot of Rodrigo Level

Says Level of his work, "For each day a mask, for each day equilibrio (equilibrium). We all wear masks to mold ourselves to the world. I wear a mask, you wear a mask, we all do. This, is a mask." Kieling's says of his piece "We are all living our lives, with the constant weight of carrying the burden of death." 

Detail shot of Gabriel Kieling

Level and Kieling are in Chicago for the premier of their exhibition EQUILIBRIO at Maxwell Colette Gallery.  The show is co-curated by Holiday Exploits who will be releasing prints from the artists. Muito obrigado to Logan Square, Flash and the ABC Crew, and Zore for making this happen.

EQUILÍBRIO opens on Friday, August 09 with a reception from 6pm - 10pm. The exhibition will remain on view through September 14, 2013. 

Hense: New Paintings at Maxwell Colette

HENSE: New Paintings is on view through July 20, 2013 at Maxwell Colette Gallery, featuring a body of large-scale paintings on wood and smaller works on canvas from the internationally lauded muralist, Alex HENSE Brewer.

HENSE’s work is fluid and playful. It is a delicate interplay of geometric shapes, organic forms, abstract lines and frenetic squiggles executed in a furious effusion of saturated pastel hues. His massive, free-form paintings and epic public mural installations are not what you would expect from someone with HENSE’s Graffiti pedigree. His work is a natural extension of the radical visual legacy of Abstract Expressionism, but it is imbued with a palette purloined from some tropical paradise and a swagger that places it firmly in the current Post-Street Art age. HENSE says he is “combining the language and techniques of graffiti art with the formal language of painting in [the] studio,” and that his paintings “are invigorated by the quick pace and commentary of street culture.”  

Alex HENSE Brewer’s nearly two decades working in the realm of public art grants and commissions has produced exterior works across the U.S, and abroad in Spain, France, Japan, Taiwan, Peru and Mexico. In April 2013 he completed a  massive commissioned wall in the heart of Lima, Peru. In the fall of 2012 he garnered national attention for his treatment of the entire exterior of a historic church in Washington, DC.  His work is held in numerous collections including The High Museum of Art in Atlanta.  Complete information about HENSE may be found on his site.

7 Questions: Zore

Chicago-based graff writer-turned fine artist Mario Gonzalez Jr., also known as Zore, has been keeping busy this summer. He just had a killer solo show at the Museo Internazionale Italia Arte, and represented the US in the International Meeting of Styles in Wiesbaden, Germany, before heading back to the states to prepare for MoS Chi and a solo show this fall at Maxwell Colette. 

We caught up with him before his European tour, while he was painting the Violet Hour mural. 



How did you first get into graffiti and painting? Believe or not my exposure to graffiti was since birth. My parents and family members wrote on buildings and subway stations here in Chicago since the early 60s. Later on in my youth I grew up in the 70s where muralist and activist took over the streets of Chicago. 

Do you remember your first tag? My first "tag" was JR/JUNIOR in tall simple blockish letters when I was like 9 or 10.

Any good close call stories you can share with us? Lots of "close call" stories...but the best were subway stories... Like the times we would get caught right outside the subway yards with a car full of young mixed race kids with bags of paint and the cops are like "wtf is going on here," and I would tell everyone the same story, "I'm an artist at SAIC! And these are my students and we've been painting all night and I'm dropping them off at the train station," hearts racing knowing damn well half the crew was in the train yards painting already...probably even watching us from the yards talking to the cops, only to be let loose half hour later.

Have you bombed anything you later regretted? One of my biggest regrets came early in life..I must have been 15 and I would keep tagging the same wall on 35 st day after day only to see it had been cleaned the next day. Till one day I was on the 35 st bus and saw this old ass man that walked slower than a snail scrubbing and scrubbing away and it was then I vowed to keep my bombing to public property...which in the end was a good thing. 

 Where do you draw your inspiration? My studio work comes from hanging out at museums and walking the streets my whole life observing the urban grime. My tags are inspired by old Chicago hand styles. My full on burners have more of a Trixter/Orko feel. Two writers that influenced the crap out of true Chicago pieces.

How do you feel about graffiti moving into galleries? Graffiti in museums and Galleries have occurred longer than 90% of us been writing.. One of the first graffiti exhibits in the world was here in Chicago at the museum of science and industry in 1973! I was 3 yrs old..lol! 

I've been showing in galleries and museums since the mid 80s and it changes nothing. I believe that knowing our place in art history is important seeing that most artists have no place in history. Makes me feel proud for never quitting or giving up.

Mario VS Zore? Well that is an interesting subject right there... I believe that both of my alter egos have a place in this world and the man/child inside of me must harvest this energy and make them both function on a level that won't end up killing me, lol. I've been working my whole life developing both souls and staying clear from negative energy from both the art world and graff world, as well and have come to the conclusion that life is about living the best case scenario.

As I sit here in a hallway for better reception in a bed and breakfast from across the world knowing where I came from and where I am now having solo shows in museums and galleries while painting in the streets and packing bags of paint at night fully sponsored as well as self funded from sales and commissions I would say that I am right where I need to be Right Now! 

Would like to say thanks to my familia! Sergio Gomez! The Zhou Family! Liz Lazdins and MAYA for everything that I am doing today. Stay Bold Chicago!

Stuck-Up Spotlight: The Work of Chris Mendoza

On The Air (2011) by Chris Mendoza.  Ink, Collage, Stickers on Paper.

" ... By drawing, visualizing, and composing abstract concepts in my mind, and on paper I am reminded of my daily habits, a common thread of the human condition."

New York-based artist Chris Mendoza's is fascinated with architecture and physical structures. If you are an art history guru you'll notice strong influences by artists such as Kandinsky, Miro and Frank Lloyd Wright. Mendoza's sticker collages are on display at Maxwell Colette Gallery and are part of the current exhibition entitled, STUCK UP: A Selected History of Alternative and Popular Culture Told Though Stickers. Curated by DB Burkeman.

Hot Pink (detail) (2012) by Chris Mendoza.  Ink, Collage, Stickers on Paper.

Mendoza's collage-work repurposes stickers that are cut up, fragmented and placed into layers. They layer work looks almost mosaic-like and each panel is arranged slightly different with subtle references to landscape and unknown figuration. Rich color and texture is incorporated into his work through the use of materials including everything from mixed media, acrylic paint, sumi inks, enamel, watercolor paints and other various inks.

He incorporates such a graceful progression of movement with each layer of fragmented sticker and this alone allows your imagination to run wild – you could spend hours pondering the abstraction. But the biggest take away from Chris Mendoza's collage-work is that there is an underlying history being preserved. Between the vintage-like quality of the paper and the reverence that Mendoza gives to his own cultural influences, these works have a seemingly righteous nature about them.

Time Changes (2012)  by Chris Mendoza.  Ink, Collage, Stickers on Paper.

View more of Mendoza's art on his website: chrismendoza.carbonmade.com 

Go to maxwellcolette.com to view these and other sticker collage works by Chris Mendoza, or to inquire about pricing and availability.

New Work From Banksy + FAQ's

There has been much speculation about whether or not new work from Banksy has been popping up in Britain over the last few weeks.  Starting back in November there were the monopoly themed 'Occupy' installation and the 'shop till you drop' wall piece, among others.  Over the last week we have seen pictures of two very similar miniature crop duster planes spraying hearts (or doing crazy loops?) painted in London and Liverpool.  Over the weekend the signage above was spotted in London as well.

Now we have confirmation of the authenticity of at least some of these works in the form of pictures posted in the newly updated 'outside' section on Banksy's website.  Also posted on the site are the following FAQ's with Mr. B's informative responses.  Who knew that he liked Käthe Kollwitz and copied 3D from Massive Attack?!!


Frequently asked questions


Is it cheating to use stencils?
Stencils are good for two reasons;
One - they’re quick ; two - they annoy idiots.


Why are you such a sell out?
I wish I had a pound for every time someone asked me that. 


Is Banksy just a big brand these days? Do you even paint your own pictures?
It’s not supposed to be a brand, which is why people in advertising think it’s such a good one. I paint it all myself unless its illegal, in which case I’ve never seen any of it before, your honour. 


Is Exit Through the Gift Shop real?
Yes. 


Are you still friends with Mr. Brainwash?
I like to think so. When I asked him what he thought about the film he said “This is a cult movie, this is a classic movie, this movie stands alone – like The Godfather.” 


Did you paint over Robbo’s piece and have him beaten up?
His piece in Camden had been dogged for more than five years by the time I painted that spot. It’s a real shame about his accident and I hope he fully recovers. I would never deliberately cuss Robbo – he’s a graffiti legend.
And he’s bigger than me. Click Here


Did you rip off Blek le Rat?
No, I copied 3D from Massive Attack. He can actually draw. 


Do you need an intern?
No thanks. 


Why are you so annoying?
It’s not all my fault, sometimes they make it up - I’ve never vandalized a war memorial, painted Kate Moss’s kitchen or visited the Playboy club with Ashley Cole wearing a skull mask. 


What artists do you rate?
Käthe Kollwitz is my favourite. Partly because her drawing style is so beautiful, and partly because she thought being an artist was self-indulgent crap and became a doctor in an orphanage instead. 


Can you donate a picture for my charity auction?
What are you? Blind? In which case maybe. I mostly support projects working to restore sight and prevent eye disease. Or as I like to call it ‘expanding the market’. 

Keep an eye on Banksy's site and The Lonely Villein's Flickr for further developments.

Welcome to Miami

Don't Fret sent us some visual postcards from his recent trip down to Miami...

While in The Sunshine State, he collaborated on a wall with another of our favorites, Hebru Brantley, who is part of our current 'Text and Drugs and Rock & Roll' show and who faced some unexpected drama of his own (as captured by local news) .  Absolutely crazy!

You can read more about Don't Fret's recent solo show on Fatcap and on Flavorpill, and view available work on maxwellcolette.com.

opening December 2nd: Text and Drugs and Rock & Roll

Maxwell Colette Gallery's next show, Text and Drugs and Rock & Roll, runs from December 2nd until January 7th, 2012.  The show is will feature work from an international group of over forty artists who work in a variety of different media.  "Don't expect a dry, academic exploration of text driven art that requires a lot of reading," cautions Gallery Director Oliver Hild.  "TDRR is going to be the opposite...  It's visceral, full of equal parts swagger and stagger."

The opening reception for Text and Drugs and Rock & Roll will take place on Friday, December 2nd from 6pm - 9pm.  Many of the artists will be present at the opening which Hild promises will feature "compelling art, cascading beverages and copious swag."

The list of participating artists includes: Abe Lincoln Jr, Antonio Martinez, Bask, Bill Connors, Brian Knowles, Brooks Golden, Chad Davis, Clown Soldier, Colt Bowden, Dain, Derek Erdman, Don't Fret, El Celso, Elik, Emily Cunningham, Faust, Fred Litch, Glenn Wexler, Goons, Greg Mike, Hebru Brantley, Infinity, Instigator, Joe Padilla, Klepto, Lloyd Patterson, Mark O'Brien, Mike Murdock, Mike Perry, Nice-One, Posterboy, Priest, Ron Copeland, RP Reeson, Ryan Duggan, Scott Albrecht, Sebastian Napoli, Stikman, Telepath UK, TEWZ, Thomas Billings, Tim Pigott, Victor Kaifas, Weed Wolf, Zero, and Zissou Tasseff-Elenkoff.

Billy Craven has been posting sneak peeks of the work on his Flickr and BLAH+BLAH+BLOG.  Check out the amazing life-sized Les Paul style guitar crafted entirely from corrugated cardboard and beer cases that Mark O'Brien is sending.  It's amazing!

Peep the TDR&R event page on Facebook.

SLAP HAPPY: a sticker invitational

Set to debut November 29th in Miami at the Wynwood Walls is Slap Happy, a charity sticker invitational curated by Paul Weston and DB Burkeman.  The project includes designs from 75 visual communicators from around the globe who have each created an intimate, same size, black and white sticker.  The stickers include original designs from well known artists and are printed in a small, limited edition.

As part of the project, a video, sticker packs, a book and 25 signed black books will be produced and sold through the Slap Happy store.  "Proceeds from the benefit will go to Acceptance House, a drug rehab facility in Miami.  This is our way of giving back to the locals who are ignored or exploited by the  decadence brought to Miami during Art Basel and the surrounding fairs."

The only way to see the artist lineup and all 75 designs before the exhibition in Miami is to check the Slap Happy Blog where sticker designs from three artists are posted each day.

left to right: Zevs, Kenny Scharf, Nice-One, The London Police, Shane Swank, Stickman

Inside and out...

With just two days until the show opens, the gallery is a hive of activity.  Things are coming together nicely, and we can't wait to open the door and invite you to explore the amazing environment that Don't Fret has created.

Evidently while we are sleeping, Don't Fret continues working outside the gallery as the recent street piece below illustrates.   We are constantly amazed at the broad appeal of his work.  People with little interest in street art (or art in general) all seem to respond with a smile to his engaging characters.  Something magical is going on there...

Man...The Times...Man

We thought you might like to get a peek at what's going on in our vicious new gallery space.  The show opens next Saturday, October 22nd, but we'll be dropping pics all next week on our tumbler and facebook.

Don't Fret's  Man...The Times...Man runs from October 22nd - November 26th at our new location (908 N. Ashland Ave).  The opening reception is Saturday October 22nd from 6pm - 9pm and is open to the public.  

Don't Fret solo show in our new space.

If we've been uncharacteristically quiet as of late, it's only because we've been super busy gearing up for a bunch of new shows and preparing to move the gallery to a new 1800 sq/ft storefront in Ukrainian Village.  We'll unveil our vicious new installation space on October 22nd, presenting the first-ever solo show from Chicago- native Donʼt Fret. With distinctive visual style and dry humor Donʼt Fret juxtaposes old and new, then and now, to create light-hearted space and time in which nothing really fits and everything seems absurd.

MAN...THE TIMES...MAN will showcase the hand painted, life-sized paste-up characters Donʼt Fret is best known for, and that have graced walls from Chicago to San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Berlin, Munich, Prague and Salzberg. In addition the show will feature seldom seen smaller scale works. Portraits, witticisms, musings and sentiments are all presented within the context of a hand-crafted, multi-cultural melange of detritus. Alongside these unique works, Donʼt Fret will be releasing a series of hand-finished, limited-edition prints.

Maxwell Colette Gallery will host an opening reception for MAN...THE TIMES...MAN on Saturday October 22nd, from 6pm - 9pm at our new space located at 908 N. Ashland Ave.  Come by for beverages and swag and peep the new joint.  See you there!

ROA in Chicago

New fauna have been spotted in Chicago courtesy of one of our favorite street artists, Roa.  Check out these ferrets in more detail on our Flickr.

GAIA: one last look at 'Resplendent Semblance'

As we wind down our Gaia show, we wanted to take a look back and share some of the more interesting pieces that were published about Gaia, his art, and the show at Maxwell Colette:

Fat Cap ran a two part in-depth interview with Gaia (pt.1 / pt.2) and hosts the time lapse video we made with Brock Brake of the installation process at State Street and Adams.  

Juxtapoz ran an interview with Gaia about his massive paste up on Cabrini Green.

Arrested Motion ran street shots and fantastic pics from the openings.

Wooster Collective hyped us as one not to miss.

Brooklyn Street Art, Curbs and Stoops, Sour Harvest, Fotoflow, Time Out Chicago, Flavor Pill, Gapers Block, Crackade, All City Street Art, and Aerosol Planet all showed support, and we thank them for their bon mots.

GAIA: Resplendent Semblance closes Saturday May 7th.  Your last chance to peep it in person is Friday and Saturday from 12 noon  - 5pm.  

Don't Fret get's up in Brazil

Recenly we heard from Don't Fret, who has been wintering south of the equator in Sao Paulo.  He says its been amazing, and he has been busy doing pasters in the streets and paintings at an abandoned cement factory complex whose sole full-time occupant is a ferrel horse.  

Check out more work from Don't Fret on his Flickr.  You can see the horse there too...

GAIA 'Tiger Rabbit' print release

Tiger Rabbit  (2011)

edition of 50

hand pulled, five color screen print, on 90 lb. Stonehenge paper

signed and numbered by the artist

By Rachel Schwerin

Gaia’s Tiger Rabbit is a postmodern yin yang, harmonizing the opposing forces of an aggressive animal and a submissive animal. Tiger Rabbit unites dark and light, cold and warm, strong and weak in order to deflate the strictures set forth by contemporary Western culture. Gaia is reminding us that no thing is definitively one thing, as Western materialism promotes, but rather that everything in the universe oscillates between polar opposites.

Reclaiming traditional visual iconography, Gaia’s image transcends cultural literacy and achieves significance on multiple levels. Tiger Rabbit reflects the dynamic ebb and flow that permeates life, in which nothing is stagnant. Seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and they give rise to each other in turn. Contemporary urban culture devalues nature, but Gaia’s Tiger Rabbit invades the city of glass, steel and concrete with a breathtaking reminder of earth and life. The confrontational, full-frontal depiction of the hybrid animal implicates each passerby in the destruction of the relationship mankind once shared with both the natural and mystical worlds.

While members of Eastern society identify the tiger and the rabbit as archetypal symbols of annual transition, members of Western society would more readily associate tigers and rabbits with manufactured brands. Gaia emasculates Tony the Tiger and demonizes the Easter bunny, usurping the power vested in our familiar brands and materialistic ideals. 

Tiger Rabbit is an animal in transition, seemingly changing before our eyes. But its original state and objective end are elusive. Is it a tiger transforming into a rabbit, or a rabbit transforming into a tiger? It is at once a tiger with bunny ears, a symbol of aggression turned benign, and a rabbit with the mug of a tiger, a symbol of submission turned fierce. Gaia’s ambiguity conflates multiple layers of meaning, presenting us with an image that seems familiar and simultaneously inexplicable, reflecting the inherent duality of our complex and ever-changing systems of political and social power.

'Tiger Rabbit' is available exclusively at maxwellcolette.com.

Maxwell Colette Gallery and Pawn Works have joined forces to bring internationally lauded contemporary artists to Chicago, who are known for their involvement in the Street Art movement. The first of these joint ventures, GAIA: Resplendent Semblance, launches this month with a series of projects showcasing the artist Gaia. The events will include a show of new, large scale paintings and decollage on wood art works at Maxwell Colette Gallery, a site specific installation and show featuring additional pieces at the Pawn Works space and a massive window installation at State Street and Adams presented in conjunction with The Chicago Loop Alliance's Pop Up Art Loop initiative.

Maxwell Colette Gallery and Pawn Works will co-host an opening reception for GAIA:Resplendent Semblance on Friday, March 25th from 6 - 9 pm in Maxwell Colette's space at 833 W. Chicago Ave, suite 200.  

Keep an eye on our Flickr and our Facebook page for further details and photos of the projects, the new work, and the installations.

SPACE: we plumb the final frontier

We're really enjoying our new space with all of it's ca. 1989 vintage amenities including the cephalopod-like phone system pictured above that we have named Paul.  It's endless bundles of blue data cables strung throughout the gallery make us feel like we're in a Terry Gilliam movie.

We also have a snack room...
(There will be more to come on this in the near future).

Our new space is located at 833 W. Chicago Avenue on the second floor and is open to the public Friday and Saturday from 12 - 5pm, and other days by appointment.  Come see for yourself how people used to live back at the beginning of the 1990s.  Oh yeah, and we have art hanging too.