Let Me Be No Nearer

When body is referenced in this exhibition it is in the context of existing within a singular form. A specific corpse that is the courier of perception, the thing that metes brutality and receives it, caressses and is caressed; a life vessel. This interpretation of body is broadly universal and unifying, we all have bodies and we all are bodies. It allows us to sympathetically indulge in the sensual pleasure and discomfort of others, creating interstices that transport us into the lived experiences that exist outside of ourselves. We do it every time we look at art. However, the vicarious arousal of dropping into an artist’s experience is intrinsically colonizing. It is unavoidably mediated by our own bodies, histories and emotions. We can never authentically understand one another’s experiences because the multiplicity of perception is infinite and inimitable.

Let Me Be No Nearer enlists the work of four artists to explore this fissure between body and experience, vessel and perception. Andrew Bearnot, Brian Jucas, Hai-Wen Lin, Jonathan Lanier employ body in ways that stimulate a distinct and intense response from viewers. Their artwork is haptic, intimate, exultant, isolating and vulnerable. Most of all, their work reflects the indexicality of body and consciousness, and spans the unfathomable fault that divides us all.

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Andrew Bearnot (MFA, University of Chicago) is a self described “materialist”: he thinks with and through the substance of things. Informed by a background in materials science (ScB, Brown University) and glass (BFA, Rhode Island School of Design), Bearnot explores moments of transcendence in the everyday. He was awarded fellowships from Fulbright and the American-Scandinavian Foundation for research on glass-making traditions in Sweden and Denmark and has been an artist-in-residence at the Hyde Park Arts Center (Chicago, IL), Museum of Arts and Design (New York, NY), Marble House Project (Dorset, VT), and Creative Glass Center of America (Millville, NJ).

Brian Jucas is an IT professional and painter originally from Chicago, IL. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fordham University (Bronx, NY) in 2011 and a dual Masters degree in Global Management from Fordham University (NY, NY) and Antwerp Management School (Antwerp, BE) in 2012. Brian received a Master of Fine Art in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 2022. Brian has participated in group shows in the Chicago area and is the founder and director of the artist-run space Patient Info in the Ukrainian Village/East Humboldt Park neighborhood.

Jonathan Lanier is an artist from Montgomery, Alabama. He practiced photorealistic drawing and painting extensively until he was introduced to the world of sculpture at The University of Alabama (BFA 2019). Lanier’s interest in how things grow is the foundation of his sculptural practice. He employs techniques like carving, metal fabrication/casting and hand-building to create abstract works inspired by the formal qualities of organisms found in nature. These organisms include plants, insects, fungal growths and more. Most recent works employ modular and systematic strategies; in this way, they suggest that a kind of evolution is happening. Rather than aiming to make a representation of nature, these works illustrate growth as an idea. Lanier is currently studying to earn his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Hai-Wen Lin is an artist whose work explores constructions of the body and its surrounding environment. They were a LeRoy Neiman Fellow at the Ox-Bow School of Art and are currently a M.Des Candidate in Fashion, Body and Garment at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where they are a recipient of the New Artist Society Scholarship. They’ve exhibited work at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, the Mosesian Center for the Arts, the walls of their home, their friend’s

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Tags: Andrew Bearnot, Brian Jucas, Chicago, East Garfiel Park, Esther Espino, Hai-Wen Lin, Humboldt Park, Jonathan Lanier, Jonathan Worcester, Let Me Be No Nearer, the PLAN