Empty Shapes
@ The Plan
610 N Albany Ave, Chicago, IL 60612
Opening Friday, January 12th, from 6PM - 10PM
On view through Sunday, February 18th
In Empty Shapes, artists from UChicago, UIC, SAIC, and Columbia College exemplify the breadth of Chicago’ s diverse pedagogical community. Through photography, sculpture, drawing, and installation this exhibition investigates spatial connections and the fluidity of ever-changing forms. The five artists trace their surroundings and the edges of invisible objects, defining the boundaries of what is and is not there. They are interested in negative space, blank forms, and the contours of the communities that they live within.
One result of the global pandemic, that began in 2020, is that humanity has become more aware of the cycles of consumption and production that we had taken for granted. It is not only the movement of physical “stuff” that has been affected, but also our creative activities, our mental expressions, and our
non-physical expressions. Our instinct is to believe that the word “empty” is akin to nothingness, to a void in space or a place where objects or emotions cannot exist. On the other hand, if emptiness is a state of being, then how can we perceive it as nothing at all? The curator, artist Rio Usui, uses the
exhibition platform to collaborate with Chicago artists on projects that move between object and non-object, between the visible and the invisible, and explores the possibilities of formless shapes floating in space with outlines that connect and expand.
The exhibition highlights connections between the city of Chicago and its scattered institutions. As an international student from Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Germany, Rio focuses on the existence of various art communities in Chicago, the limited connections that can be made through art universities and their culture, and the possibility of expanding the “Shapes” that outline these communities.
Participating Artists: Sarah Isela Aguilar, Makayla Lindsay, Micah McCoy, Jan Tichy, Miao Wang
Curated by Rio Usui
Graphic design by Dahyun Hwang
Official Website
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Tags: Chicago, Dahyun Hwang, Empty Shapes, Humboldt Park, Jan Tichy, Makayla Lindsay, Miao Wang, Micah McCoy, Rio Usui, Sarah Isela Aguilar, the PLAN
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