control | New works on display @ the Chicago Art Department | April 10, 2009

Ok, so here it is. Two weeks until my show at the Chicago Art Department and I feel like I may burst with anticipation. There's still a million things to do, but I hope you'll join me Friday, April 10th for the opening. Here's a little blurb about the work. I hope you dig it...

control
New works by Jen Rosenthal
April 10 - 24, 2009

Opening reception Friday, April 10, 6-10pm
Closing reception Friday, April 24, 7-11pm
Chicago Art Department
1837 S. Halsted

Jen Rosenthal’s collection of new works explore the inky middle ground between control and entropy. In this new series, the artist lives and breathes, on grassy knolls between bailouts and bankrolls, empathy and apathy, pulled between the expanding universe and the collapsing consciousness of America. Jen’s delicate line work and hand stitched thread, paired with aggressive splatters and drips of ink evoke messages of optimism and stability in times of crisis and uncertainty. As she meticulously works the lines around the mess of chaos, she strives to find a new path amongst today’s weighty obstacles. While the world seems to be tearing apart at the seams, Jen looks to the silver lining, letting the struggle inspire creative momentum and a renewed sense of direction.

control.

Three years ago, I found myself going through major growing pains. My dad’s death had sent me into a tailspin. His unfulfilled life was staring me in the face. My career was sucking the life outta me, and I owned a condo that kept me tethered in place. To counter my father’s lack of responsibility I swung my pendulum into self-imposed hyper-control that left me feeling rigid, and abrasive in the eyes of others. I felt trapped by convention. I wanted something else. I wanted to travel. I wanted to try new things. I wanted to be weightless. I was miserable in my complacency and was sleepwalking through life. I was a zombie and longed for a change, but was scared to death.

In my past, change always went hand and hand with family chaos. Change was not a healthy process or an exciting endeavor. Change was forced upon me at every crossroads. My entire life, I’d been searching for stability in an unstable home. Why would I purposely blow up my whole world when I finally had a steady footing?

“I know I can do this…I’m just scared.”

He asked what did I have to lose?

I said, “control.”

He said, “What control? You allow everything and everyone to dictate your life.”

...

He was right. I would only react when provoked. I allowed my life to flow by the decisions made around me. I waited until change came to me.

This would be the first time I took control.

Kaboom!

...The Winter of our Discontent

From my windowsill I see...



music: "Rhodes Two" by My Were They

Three Things

Just finished my new piece for the CMYK Show...

Three Things
19.75" x 9"
thread, ink, marker on paper
2009

Meet-the-Artists-After-Work Viewing:
Mon, February 16, 5:30pm–8:30pm

Closing Artists’ Reception:
Sun, March 15, 6–9pm

New Wave Coffee
3103 W Logan / 2557 N Milwaukee, Chicago
Hours: open Mon–Fri 7am–11pm, Sat–Sun 8am–11pm

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

Here's a look at my new piece for the 200 Lincolns exhibition opening Friday, February 13th at the Chicago Art Department. It's made from 400 pennies, all of which were found at home in various jars and cans of accumulating coins.

UPDATES!

News, Shows, & Work

NEWS
Ok, very exciting news.... My bestest fwiends in the whole world Jason & Billy from Delicious Design League have agreed to help me get my website up and running once and for all. Finally, everything in one place! Coming soon...

SHOWS
I'll have new work in the following shows...
200 LINCOLNS
Art celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s 200th Birthday
February 13 - February 27, 2009

Opening Reception
Friday, February 13th | 6-10PM
Chicago Art Department
1837 S. Halsted | Chicago, IL 60608
{Gallery Hours By Appointment}
chicagoartdepartment.org

200 LINCOLNS
In honor of Abraham Lincoln's 200th Birthday this February, the Chicago Art Department will be opening a new group exhibition appropriately titled, "200 Lincolns" which will feature 200 portraits of Honest Abe in a variety of mediums. In Lincoln's spirit of equality and diversity this exhibition is about participation. An open call was made to artists and non-artists alike to submit their portraits of Abraham Lincoln. Although the exhibition opens a day after Lincoln’s birthday (Friday, February 13th), the opening promises to be a Lincoln birthday party - with cake!

N.A.I.L.S. presents The CMYK Show
February 16 - March 15, 2009

Meet-the-Artists-After-Work Viewing
Mon, February 16, 5:30pm–8:30pm

Closing Artists’ Reception
Sun, March 15, 6–9pm

New Wave Coffee
3103 W Logan / 2557 N Milwaukee, Chicago
Hours: Mon–Fri 7am–11pm, Sat–Sun 8am–11pm

Brightening up the bleak winter with some color, Neighborhood Artists In Logan Square (N.A.I.L.S.) presents it’s first exhibition with 25 member-artists at Logan Square’s newest café, New Wave Coffee, 3103 W Logan/2557 N Milwaukee, in Chicago. The CMYK Show provides an eclectic mix of works inspired by cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK in printer’s terms).

On display February 16 through March 15, the exhibition opens with an informal Meet-the-Artists-After-Work Viewing on Monday, February 16, 5:30pm–8:30pm, and winds down it’s month-long run with a Closing Artist Reception event on Sunday, March 15, 6–9pm. C = cyan M = magenta Y = yellow K = black

SAVE THE DATE | Friday, April 10, 2009 | Solo show @ Chicago Art Department

WORK
...in progress

Some fairly recent work & perhaps more current reflection...

where's the exit? no. 1

This series was created in the fall of '08 as a way to channel the overwhelming feeling of doom & gloom that seemed to be crashing down all around us. I myself was feeling particularly engulfed with the daily assault of news coverage, financial uncertainty, election madness, joblessness, war, famine, mother nature's wrath, etc., etc., etc.

Looking back, the thread work was a new direction, but now seems to represent a larger motif -- the common threads that tie mankind together. People talk of the world's collective consciousness, and right now these common threads are tugging at all of us. As we've learned, what happens here, does have a tangible impact all the way across the globe. So we pull, and they pull, and someone else is pushing, and everyone's confused and before you know it, all of mankind has become completely intertwined. Like being tangled in a web, I personally was searching for the light at the end of a seemingly longer and darker tunnel than I'm used to. I'm no stranger to ups & downs, but the past couple months have proven to be particularly unnerving and difficult.

But like most of my work, it's the process that's helps shed light on life's troubling conundrums. The stitching became a cathartic meditation and helped release my feelings of hopelessness and disillusion, if only temporarily. Though feeling hopeful and re-energized by the promise of a new year, new leaders, new opportunities, I can't help but still dwell on that nagging question.

...If these common threads have tethered us all together, how do we really begin to untangle ourselves from this mess?