Su Kaiden Cho – Dede Decker – Samantha Degucz – Lya Finston – Cole Fox – Nik heusman – Katrina Jackson – Xiaoyi Jiang – Aubrey LaDuke – Anna Lentz – Travis Morehead – Siena Peterson – Cole Pierce – Kelly Reaves – Brian Reed – Lamine Richards – Mina Romero – Charlotte Saylor – Vicente Siso – Anne Skaug – Andrew Sloan – Nanako Kono – Olivia Tousius – Arin Whitmore – Araceli Zuniga

We are excited to announce the return of our beloved open call exhibition, now in its third year, Perennial Hug 3 Chicago and Vicinity!!!

Perennial Hug is an annually occurring open call and guest juried exhibition that will feature artists of all demographics and abilities. Through the deployment of various formal and material strategies, the work selected for Perennial Hug functions as an assembly of outstretched arms awaiting the warm embrace of the viewer.

Generally speaking, artists use their hands to make things. The hands are connected to arms which are connected to the torso….the same bodily elements that allow us to hug one another. Many have been moved beyond words when viewing particularly resonant works of art. What is it that touches us? Do the hands and arms of the artist remain concretized within an object?

Works of art operate prismatically, illuminating the economic and sociopolitical conditions in which they are made. And as viewers, we can understand artworks not only as indicators of these systems, but as analog recordings of the thoughts and feelings of the maker. Encoding the emotions and decision-making processes into the various materials that are used. We can observe the sensitive touch, attenuation to color and surface held within a painting, sculpture or photograph. And these elements indicate the presence of the maker through the trace of their thoughts. This exhibition is a group hug, gathering together a cross-section of generous makers and thinkers in order to highlight the ways in which visual forms of expression reach out to the viewer, embodying the act of communal meaning-making.

About the Jurors:
Charlotte Grüssing is a curator and gallerist based in New York. She is currently a Director at The Hole (New York and Los Angeles) and is the founder and curator of Tombolo’s artist residency program. Prior to this, she ran The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn and Chicago, following her early work in Museum Programming at the Hood Museum of Art. Dedicated to championing outsider artists and artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, she has worked with and collaborated on initiatives with organizations including Autistica and the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (UK), Art Tech Collective (New York), and the wonderful Arts of Life (Chicago) as a fair partner. Originally from London, she holds a degree in Art and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies from Dartmouth College.

Arthur Peña is a Bronx-based artist, curator, and writer. While living in Dallas, he founded warehouse gallery WARE:WOLF:HAUS, grant funded roving venue and music label, Vice Palace, and his curatorial project, One Night Only, which presented solo exhibitions featuring Nicole Eisenman, Carrie Moyer, and Ellen Berkenblit in a historically landmarked home. Past collaborations include his experimental musical Endless/Nameless as well as an ad campaign of his work with Coach, curated by Justine Ludwig, current director of Creative Time. As a contributing writer, Peña has a storied archive of artist interviews including Stanley Whitney, Joyce Pensato, Sterling Ruby, and most recently, Hugh Hayden. Peña has exhibited throughout Texas, including Oliver Francis Gallery, Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas Museum of Art, and a solo museum exhibition at Dallas Contemporary. Additional exhibition venues in New York include Anton Kern Gallery, Magenta Plains, and Selenas Mountain. Solo art fair presentations include EXPO Chicago with Pushkin & Gogol, Berlin; Spring/Break Art Show curated by Brigitte Mulholland; and Independent Art Fair with Harlesden High Street, London. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Art in America, Vice, ARTnews, and Artnet, among others. Peña received his Post- Post-Baccalaureate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design. He is currently a curatorial partner in Lower East Side gallery Below Grand and works with ARTnews/Art in America as a Senior Account Manager and Gallery Liaison.

Roger Buttles (b. 1977, Rockville Centre NY) received his BA in Anthropology from Harvard University in 2001 and his MFA in Painting & Drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014, where he was awarded The SAIC Dean Scholarship, The SAIC Rosaline Cohn Scholarship, and The SAIC Laurel Mackie Memorial Scholarship. There he worked as a teaching assistant to Candida Alvarez, Painting & Ephemera and Riva Lehrer, Figure Drawing & Anatomy. He has had solo exhibitions at The Carl and Site Red, both in Chicago; a two person exhibit with Ross Normandin at The Lens Gallery in Boston, and group exhibitions at The Condo Association in Chicago and McMillian, Wisconsin. He completed a residency at Alternative Worksite in Roanoke Virginia, and currently works in Concord NH, where in 2023 he founded Outer Space, an artist-run gallery that exhibits both emerging and established artists in joint exhibitions. He currently is exhibiting works by artists from the San Francisco based non-profit Creativity Explored.

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Tags: Andrew Sloan, Anna Lentz, Anne Skaug, Araceli Zuniga, Arin Whitmore, Arthur Peña, Aubrey LaDuke, Brian Reed, Charlotte Grüssing, Charlotte Saylor, Circle Contemporary, Cole Fox, Cole Pierce, Dede Decker, Katrina Jackson, Kelly Reaves, Lamine Richards, Lya Finston, Mina Romero, Nanako Kono, Nik Heusman, Olivia Tousius, Perennial Hug 3 Chicago and Vicinity, Roger Buttles, Samantha Degucz, Siena Peterson, Su Kaiden Cho, Travis Morehead, Vicente Siso, Xiaoyi Jiang