12 Openings/Part 7

Elnaz Javani & Maryam Faridani
“When a broken bone has been healed…”

Shanna Zetner
“The Flood Shines Its Light Underneath Your Hair”

Opening reception: Saturday, February 9th, 3 pm to 6pm

We are excited to invite you to the seventh installment of an exhibition titled 12 Openings, a yearlong experiment in collaborative curation with unpredictable results. Over the course of the year there will be 12 shows, each having its own two titles, culminating in a group show of 24 artists. Each month two artists are invited to install an artwork in or around the home of Laura Shaeffer, Andrew Nord, and their sons Sebastian and Jasper, making the private public and extending our understanding of home, family, and community. Both artists are then asked to extend the invitation to one more artist to do the same, thus adding two more works, and two more show titles each month. Each new artwork multiplies the connections between the existing artworks and, overall, constructs a cumulative exhibition that subverts the traditional top-down nature of curating exhibitions, replacing it with a model of artist-driven co-curation. The narrative arc of the show is not predetermined, but rather built upon the robust and crisscrossing networks of artists in this collaborative city. 12 Openings showcases the artists that other artists are curious about and allows these connections to shine as the exhibition grows. At the end of the run, the 12th opening, viewers will be able to see 24 original works by 24 artists, selected and inspired by their peers.

We are thrilled to announce our seventh participating artists and their titles:

Elnaz Javani & Maryam Faridani

“When a broken bone has been healed…”

“When a broken bone has been healed…” is an experimental video installation explores body movements and space.

You love but never get too close, you look, glimpse and maybe even spy but never touch. There are no mathematical rules to find the right distance between the need of engagement and the need to be and stay reserved. You would heal once you find the right distance.

Bios:

Elnaz Javani is an Iranian artist and researcher who creates sculpture, drawing, installation, and time-based mediums that explore themes of gender and violence, body and cultural identity. Her practice embraces conceptual strategies and handwork using everyday materials mostly fabric and cloth. She received her BFA from the Tehran Art University of Iran in 2009, and her MFA from the School of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015. Her work has been exhibited internationally in the USA, Spain, Iran, France, Colombia, Turkey, UAE, Germany and Switzerland, such as at the CAC Ses Voltes International Residency Program (Spain), the Luminas’ Cultural Foundation of Visual Arts (Chicago), the Mottahedan Projects (Dubai), the Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal USA Presidential Award Exhibitions (Chicago), The Munich cultural center at Pasinger Fabrik (Germany) , “Le Commun”, Bâtiment d’Art Contemporain (Geneva), San Telmo Museum (Spain) Arts Santa Mónica Barcelona (Spain), and at Espacio El Dorado Bogotá (Colombia).

Maryam Faridani is an Iranian media artist. She examines identity construction in the age of social media and its contemporary problematization. Her work focuses on issues of identity, online culture, and social media as an extension of the self. By using her own life narratives and experiences through experimental moving image and video installations. She is a MFA candidate at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and she holds a BFA in Film & Theater from the Art University of Tehran. Her work has been presented in various events and screenings such as, Chicago Filmmakers Open Screening, Cabaret Cabaret Performance event in Chicago, Nobody Comes, Nobody goes Late night performances event in Chicago, PAOP at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Chords International University Festival of Theater in Tehran, and Looyeh International University Festival of Theater in Tehran.

Shanna Zetner

“The Flood Shines Its Light Underneath Your Hair”

Acrylic on Canvas, 2019, approximately 48” diameter
Through a process of staining, bleaching, cutting, and collage, Shanna Zentner has created a painting for the lawn at Compound Yellow. The painting, portraying two figures
enduring a flood between them, will weather the snow, rain, sun, and footprints of half a year laying on the ground.

Bio

Shanna Zentner is a Chicago based artist who earned an M.F.A. from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago and a B.F.A. from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. She works primarily with painting and drawing,
combining material experimentation with narrative fiction to address questions about fear, trust, and the unknown. Zentner is currently a lecturer at Purdue University Northwest and a writer for the New Art Examiner. She has a background in scientific llustration and has work in the collection of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. She is currently writing and illustrating her first graphic novel about journalism,
conspiracy, and inter-dimensional travel, titled Chrono-logical. Zentner is a 2019 participant in The Center Program at the Hyde Park Art Center

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Tags: 12 Openings, Compound Yellow, Elnaz Javani, Maryam Faridani, Oak Park, Shanna Zetner