The Condo Association presents two one-night pop-up shows by Chicago artists Lamar Gayles Jr. and Richard Medina. Drinks and snacks provided.

Open Encounters – Richard Medina
Open Encounters is a pop-up exhibition of new paintings by Richard Medina partially inspired by Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Using the movie as a jumping-off point, the paintings in Open Encounters introduce elements of wordplay and visual games to suggest the puzzling and colorful possibilities of an alien visitation.

A Showroom of Power Jewels
From pop culture to history we see references to jewelry objects that hold powers which exists in magic, myth, and religion. This exhibition is a pop-up shop styled jewelry gallery with more than forty pieces of power necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and pins. These objects are made using different semi precious stones to connect the wearer to natural objects with spiritual vibrations. They are also made with brass and copper exclusively as a means of referencing jewelry made in the Black Diaspora which focuses on warm toned metals. In the showroom person will have the opportunity to request and purchase custom pieces of jewelry which will be completed before the end of August, 2018.

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Richard Medina is an artist, curator, and filmmaker based in Chicago, IL. His work focuses on identifying and inhabiting archetypes, genres, and mythologies associated with American culture. He has exhibited at Project 1612, Roman Susan, The Condo Association, Corner, 2nd Floor Rear, and the Terrain Biennial. In 2016 Richard was awarded the Jeffrey Ahn, Jr. Fellowship. Richard curates Box Gallery, an experimental gallery space that takes the form of a 6″ x 6″ x 6″ cardboard box. He is currently seeking his BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2021).

Artist, art historian, and jeweler, LaMar Gayles Jr. was born in Chicago, IL to tailor Lamar Gayles Sr. and Charlene Gayles in 1997 with one older brother D. Cannon. He went on to receive the Posse Foundation full tuition scholarship at St. Olaf College where he triple majors in Art History, Ethno-Aesthetics, and Race and Ethnic Studies. His work combines a deep exploration into the social-perception of race and cultural materiality. He focuses on studying aesthetic objects from West Africa and the Black Diaspora in the Americas and Europe. Jewelry and Metalwork from these contexts are of a particular focus as Gayles explores how these works now viewed as artistic expression in certain contexts represent cultural, social, and religious values that show many parallels, but depart from each other in many ways due to different cultural interactions with the West, Indigenous persons in these areas, and other intercultural contacts. He also, studies the significance and meaning of materials such as metal and gemstones in these context to understand how the works were values or viewed in their cultural lens.

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*FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC**

The Condo Association is an art collective comprised of sex positive, anti-fascist, and anti-capitalistic humans seeking to empower and support the creativity and productivity of queer people, people of color, women, and other marginalized bodies.

Unfortunately, the Condo is only accessible via two flights of stairs. The Condo contains two cats.

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Tags: A Showroom of Power Jewels, John Harness, Lamar Gayles Jr, Open Encounters, Richard Medina, THE CONDO ASSOCIATION