Katie Neece: Haunted Nostalgia: the mall with be closing in 10 minutes…
@ Middle Child Gallery
2233 S. Throop St, #950, Chicago, IL 60608
Opening Friday, April 14th, from 6PM - 9PM
On view through Sunday, May 28th
Middle Child Gallery is pleased to present our inaugural exhibition, “Haunted Nostalgia: the mall will be closing in 10 minutes…”, a solo show by Katie Neece that explores the hazy vision of our failed capitalist aspirations. Her paintings build on our nostalgia for the future we thought was coming but has instead decayed within and alongside the American mall.
Inspired by 80s and 90s graphic design and visual culture, there is familiarity that hides within Neece’s works. But something doesn’t feel right—the vision is skewed. Through looming digital-esque forms and deep drop shadows, the artist offers a nod to the failure of the capitalistic ventures in which we often found such aesthetics. As the artist explains, her works “illustrate that the past continually reminds us of the future’s failure in the form of haunting.”
Neece’s paintings sit in between the virtual and the real; digital playgrounds that revel in the glitch. This liminal space is both eerie and comforting, built on the post-modern optimism present in pre-Y2K design. But where is this aesthetic now? It is abandoned and forgotten, leaving us with conflicting memories of what was. It is something we can almost recall—a moment of deja vu that leaves us wanting to remember. When these aspirational forms are churned and regurgitated, what is left is almost unrecognizable, giving us a haunted nostalgia that lulls us into a state of false content.
About the Artist: Katie Neece (b. 1989) lives and works in South Bend, Indiana. She received her MFA in Painting at the University of Notre Dame and her BFA from Indiana University- South Bend. Her work has been published in I Like Your Work Podcast, Friend of the Artist, Create! Magazine and RUNG Magazine in Bristol, UK. Her work has also been published in the University of Iowa’s Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation. Neece has most recently exhibited her work in FUTURE PERFECT and Summer Idylle at 550 Gallery in Queens, NY, and most recently Screenic Paradigms at the Neon Heater in Findlay, OH.
Middle Child Gallery is an emerging art space in Chicago that connects and supports Midwest-based artists through exhibitions and programming. Our member-based model ensures continued and sustainable support of the gallery and regional arts community as a whole.
Located in room #950 on the 9th floor of Mana Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop St. Chicago, IL.
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Tags: Chicago, Haunted Nostalgia: the mall with be closing in 10 minutes…, Katie Neece, Lower West Side, Mana Contemporary, Middle Child Gallery
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