Omar Abulsheikh, Vani Aguilar, Earth Aengel, Renata Berdes, Daniel Champion, Caroline Chun, Maeve Coughlin, Danny Frownfelter, Kate Gross, Marcus Kennedy, Arnold Joseph Kemp, Aaron Kleeblatt, David Krueger, Rebecca Kubica, Bill Lilly, Grace Makuch, Christian Michael Filardo, Lawrence M., Ed Oh, Hubert Posey, Scott Reeder, Nick Schutzenhofer, CJ Shaw, Cameron Spratley, Christine Turner, Maria Vanik

******Guest curated by Liza Eilers

It was quiet,
Like a holy night.
I was frightened
With the crowds in sight,
They were noisy–

All the work
Of my lifetime,
Pushed into this one
And only moment.

Every tear I’ve shed,
Every laugh I’ve laughed,
Every insight into human
Every feeling of delight,
Everything! Holy God,
Almighty, This was opening night!1

Almost everyone is interested in theatricality—because almost everyone wants to be funny; almost everyone wants to be dramatic; almost everyone wants to be something, some idea, someone. People have to perform. There is a sense of theatricality in all of us and it can take us over—blurring the distinction between life and art. Through living and making, we learn how we can appear to be totally wrong or right on some little point, and that we never know what little point we are going to fight for. Divorces have been caused by little points, wars have been caused by little points, friendships have been broken on little points, and great successes have arrived on the basis of little things that don’t appear important to the masses, but they’re important to us.1 Creating something beyond words and gestures, predicated on the invention of a shared language so hyperbolic and specific and inexplicable—it becomes something greater than us and this is why we do it.

1. Carney, Raymond and Cassavetes, John. “Opening Night (1976-7).” Cassavetes on Cassavetes, Faber and Faber, London, 2001.

Liza Jo Eilers (b. 1993 St. Paul, MN) lives and works in Chicago, IL. Eilers holds a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in and a BA in Industrial Design from the University of Notre Dame. Her recent solo and two person exhibitions include, Don’t blow on the soup at Material Room (Richmond, VA); GLORY’S with Alessandra Norman at Yew Nork (Chicago, IL); The Care and Keeping of You at SULK CHICAGO (Chicago, IL); and SLUDGE at Rainbo Club presented by M. LeBlanc (Chicago, IL). Select recent group exhibitions of Eilers’ work include, de boer, Tchotchke Gallery, Julius Caesar, The Latent Space, Night Club Gallery, and Racecar Factory.

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Tags: Aaron Kleeblatt, Arnold Joseph Kemp, Bill Lilly, Cameron Spratley, Caroline Chun, Chicago, Christian Michael Filardo, Christine Turner, Circle Contemporary Chicago, CJ Shaw, Daniel Champion, Danny Frownfelter, David Krueger, Earth Aengel, Ed Oh, First Friday, Grace Makuch, Hubert Posey, Kate Gross, Lawrence M, Maeve Coughlin, Marcus Kennedy, Maria Vanik, Nick Schutzenhofer, Omar Abulsheikh, Rebecca Kubica, Renata Berdes, Scott Reeder, Vani Aguilar, West Town