Drag City b/w Canada, Sep 1 – Oct 18, 2019

Past: Offsite Exhibition at Soccer Club Club (2923 North Cicero Avenue, Chicago, Illinois)

Installation view, *Drag City b/w Canada*, Chicago, 2019

Artworks

Elisabeth Kley,
Untitled,
2019,
6 × 6 in (15.24 × 15.24 cm) each
Glazed earthenware

Matt Connors,
Received Mural Motif (Gay Household),
2019,
35 × 27 ½ in (88.90 × 69.85 cm)
Oil, Acrylic, Crayon and pencil on canvas

Michael Mahalchick,
13 Masks,
2019,
Dimensions variable
Latex

Daniel Hesidence,
Untitled (Doppelgangers),
2019,
28 × 38 in (71.12 × 96.52 cm)
Oil on canvas

Sarah Braman,
Blue Round with Spoons,
2019,
50 ½ × 22 × 21 ½ in (128.27 × 55.88 × 54.61 cm)
Found chair, maple wood, spoons and paint

Xylor Jane,
Magic Square for more time,
2018,
24 × 18 in (60.96 × 45.72 cm)
Oil and ink on panel

Elisabeth Kley,
Egyptian Theater Mailbox Bottle,
2019,
20 × 12 ½ × 13 ¼ in (50.80 × 31.75 × 33.66 cm)
Glazed earthenware

Elisabeth Kley,
Hyoutan Bottle with Intertwined Flowers,
2019,
20 ½ × 12 × 12 in (52.07 × 30.48 × 30.48 cm)
Glazed earthenware

Joe Bradley,
School,
2017,
31 × 40 in (78.74 × 101.60 cm)
Silkscreen ink on canvas

Tyson Reeder,
Styx,
2019,
34 × 44 in (86.36 × 111.76 cm)
Acrylic on linen

Wallace Whitney,
Clay Pidgeon,
2019,
23 ½ × 24 ¾ in (59.69 × 62.86 cm)
Oil on wood panel

Katherine Bradford,
Fire Tender,
2019,
40 × 30 in (101.60 × 76.20 cm)
Acrylic on canvas

Sadie Laska,
Attractive Witness,
2019,
34 × 30 in (86.36 × 76.20 cm)
Acrylic and collage on canvas

Marc Hundley,
I JUST WANNA SAY THANKS,
2019,
31 × 24 in (78.74 × 60.96 cm)
Acrylic on cardboard

Luke Murphy,
West Wind Sparks,
2019,
28 × 34 × 34 in (71.12 × 86.36 × 86.36 cm)
LED matrix panels, wood armature, custom and open-source software, display hardware, wiring and power supplies

Scott Reeder,
Untitled,
2019,
dimensions variable
Glazed earthenware

Press Release

Come September, the lights of venerable Navy Pier will be burning bright, when the annual EXPO Chicago runs there from Thursday the 19th through Sunday the 22nd. Sure, it's a big international exhibit that everyone wants to attend - but the parking around Navy Pier is hellish, and frankly, it's a bit of a tourist trap over there. That's no way to get your art on! Why not go to CANADA instead? CANADA gallery, that is - in a once-a-millennium popup appearance at the Soccer Club Club, kicking off on September 20th (TIMES) with beer on tap and what might be characterized as a “jam.” Art meets music on the semi-mean streets of Chicago's west side at "Canada b/w Drag City" - the best matchup since you got YOUR chocolate in OUR peanut butter!

It's a wonder it hasn't happened already. The iconoclasts at CANADA do it their way, with their own tribe of talents that, for better or worse, do for art what SCC's next-door neighbors/alter-egos, the freaks of Drag City do for music. For this exhibit, curator Dan Nadel has brought a generous slice of the Canada pie from their Manhattan hideaway, featuring a brace of their veteran names and a few up-and-comers: Katherine Bernhardt, Katherine Bradford, Joe Bradley, Sarah Braman, Matt Connors, Jason Fox, Daniel Hesidence, Marc Hundley, Xylor Jane, Elisabeth Kley, Sadie Laska, Michael Mahalchick, Luke Murphy, Scott Reeder, Tyson Reeder and Wallace Whitney. It's a meeting of post-DIY, quasi-socialist mindsets wherein no organization is more than the sum of the work of its artists - clearly a priority for both CANADA and Drag City in their short-but-impact-filled lifetimes. As the show's title hints, there are music undercurrents in the art being showed - but as rules were made to broken, this isn't a hardline stance. More like a soft slide into the wonders of the visual. Mostly, it's about the freedom of expression that we extend to our esteemed peers when we know and trust that whatever they dare to do, it will have a place in the world - with us! So come on out and don't bring your guns - this is just a humble little knife fight. Plus, the parking's cheap!