Futile Divide presents contrasting works by Cory Imig and Wolfie E. Rawk, placing them in dialogue with one another to examine the implications of personal, conceptual, and social structures. Pointing at existing systems, each artist explores various materials and processes to enhance the futility of these constructs and to break down established boundaries. Both Cory and Wolfie attempt, again and again, to apprehend seemingly inflexible divisions through observation, research, and material. The artists introduce new ways for us to engage with the dichotomies that we take for granted, and leave us wandering amidst a tense balance.

In her most recent work, Cory experiments with balloons as an approach to document and illustrate time. Her minimal installations have an intentionally flawed, yet concealed, design that uses everyday materials to attempt to control intangible factors like air, gravity, and space. Through investigative processes, Wolfie observes, documents, and researches the social rules and hierarchies that construct the expectations for body identification. Presented through video, experiential installation, and excerpts from their own research, they propose a new perspective on the world and raise questions that begin to confound the classifications set up by the prevailing world order.

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CORY IMIG is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and educator currently working in Kansas City, Missouri. She received her BFA at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2008, where she focused on Fibers and Sculpture. Cory has participated in residencies at Virginia Commonwealth University, the Vermont Studio Center, ACRE, and the Charlotte Street Foundation Urban Culture Project Studio Residency. She has exhibited her work in the Kansas City area at Charlotte Street Foundation Project Space, La Esquina, City Arts Project, and the Kansas City Library. In 2012, she was a fellow in the Oklahoma Art Writing and Curatorial Fellowship Program. Along with four of her collaborators, Cory was awarded a Rocket Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Art in 2011, to start a curatorial collaborative and exhibition space in the West Bottoms called Plug Projects.

More information about Cory Imig can be found at coryimig.com and plugprojects.com

WOLFIE E. RAWK is an interdisciplinary artist working with video, sculpture, multi-sensory and interactive experience. They have shown their work and lectured on Trans Identity, Social Inequality and the Horror Film Genre at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, EXPO Chicago, Fiber Philadelphia Biennial, and Chicago Artists Coalition. They obtained an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, and a BA in Art and Art History from Hampshire College in 2008.

More information about Wolfie E. Rawk can be found at wolfieerawk.com

LYNNETTE MIRANDA is an artist, curator, and educator from Miami, FL, currently working between New York City and Chicago. She received an MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University in 2014, and a BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2010. She has exhibited her visual work at Booklyn Artists Alliance, Peninsula Art Space, and Open Gallery at Lipscomb University. Lynnette is the founder and a co-Director of Make Space and is the Manager of Educational Initiatives at ART21.

More information about Lynnette Miranda can be found at lynnettemiranda.com

ETTA SANDRY is an artist, educator, and organizer currently living and working in Chicago, Illinois. Etta received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in Fiber and Material Studies. She has attended residencies at ACRE, Ox-Bow, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and has been included in duo exhibitions at ACRE Projects and Open Gallery. Etta is a co-Director of the contemporary art website Make Space and is an educator at Marwen and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

More information about Etta Sandry can be found at ettasandry.com

Futile Divide was collaboratively curated by MAKE SPACE, an artist-run initiative (and website) that promotes contemporary artists and makes artistic practice accessible to broader audiences. Make Space Co-Directors Lynnette Miranda, Etta Sandry, and Kathy Cho get inside the studio practice through studio visits, interviews, and other forms of investigation to reveal as well as archive the contemporary artistic practice. By working collaboratively with artists to produce exhibitions and public programming, Make Space places artists at the center as catalysts for innovative thinking and productive dialogue. They approach exhibitions as incubators for new ideas, processes, relations, and interactions. Previously, Make Space has curated exhibitions at MDW Fair 2012 at Mana Contemporary, ACRE Projects, and upcoming at Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space in New York.

More information about Make Space can be found at make-space.net

ACRE (Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibition) was founded in 2010 with the ambition to provide the arts community with an affordable, cooperative, and dialogue-oriented residency program. The residency itself takes place each summer in rural southwest Wisconsin and brings together artists from across disciplines and levels of experience to create a regenerative community of cultural producers. Over the course of the following year ACRE endeavors to further support its residents by providing venues for exhibitions, idea exchange, interdisciplinary collaboration, and experimental projects.

More information about ACRE can be found at acreresidency.org

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Tags: ACRE Projects, Cory Imig, Make Space, Wolfie E. Rawk