Jun 26th 2015

Dont Fret: Signs of the Times

@ Johalla Projects

1821 W Hubbard St., Ste 209, Chicago, IL 60622

Opening Friday, June 26th, from 6PM - 10PM

On view through Friday, July 31st

 

Johalla Projects is very excited to present Signs of the Times, a new exhibition of original works by artist Dont Fret. This presentation is the second show of his work in the gallery and marks his first major project with Johalla Projects since the successful, sprawling installation in the former Chicago Wholesale Hardware Store in August 2014. The exhibition will run from June 26 through July 31, 2015. An opening reception will be held on Friday, June 26 from 7-10pm.

The consummate wise guy, Dont Fret is best known for his wheat paste characters and musings that he places on streets in cities around the world. Stylized and distinct, these figures are simultaneously witty, sardonic, and oddly charming. They generally “belong” with the street or neighborhood where they reside and unapologetically point to larger themes of the locale or culture. The humor and bluntness of the characters’ thoughts or the artist’s standalone texts reconsider the obvious and invite the viewer to laugh, feel uncomfortable, or think twice. In this same sense, Signs of the Times tackles the tropes of living in 2015. The exhibition will feature works on paper and panel and includes a new selection of the artist’s own observations, truisms, and prescriptions that consider today’s own societal and social ails.

Dont Fret is an artist born, raised, and currently working in Chicago. In addition to his wheat pasting, his practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, performance and installation-based work both on the street and in the gallery space. He has produced large-scale public murals in a number of American cities including New York, Miami, Grand Rapids, and Denver as well as internationally in cities like São Paulo and Berlin. His work has been in a number of gallery exhibitions nationally and internationally, with shows in Chicago, New York, London, and Oakland. In 2014, he was included Paint Paste Sticker — the large Chicago street art survey at the Chicago Cultural Center. Dont Fret was voted “Best Visual Artist” in the 2013 iteration of Chicago Reader’s “Best of Chicago” list and was also a featured artist at the SCOPE Art Show Miami Beach.

For more information, please contact info@johallaprojects.com

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