Foundation is the third community-hosted collection created by Roman Susan Art Foundation, introduced on the occasion of Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at Hyde Park Art Center in September 2020, with works by Rebecca Beachy and Christine Wallers, Paté Conaway, Meg Duguid, J. Kent, Thomas Kong, Joelle Mercedes and Amina Ross, Ruby T, and Chanel Chiffon Thomas, representing artist projects from Roman Susan programming, 2012 to present.
Ruby T | Altar for levitating | Ink and beads on paper, wood | 22’’ x 24’’ x 3’’ | 2020 | FN–2012
This work was created by Ruby T for Artists Run Chicago 2.0 as a proxy and sketch for a future community-hosted Mansion Rug Liberation Network floorwork. Ruby T is an artist and educator who holds an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fiber and Material Studies, and a BA from New York University. Ruby previously shared work with Roman Susan Art Foundation for Anatomy of a Shrine (2012); Surrounded (2013); Objects (2014); Club (2016); Blueprints (2016); twinskin (2016); and as part of the artist residency program Anette (2016-2017). Ruby T has exhibited work in Chicago at ACRE Projects, The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food, Iceberg Projects, Occasional Gallery, Randy Alexander, Roots & Culture, Weinberg/Newton, and Western Exhibitions. For more information, please visit rubyt.net.
This work requires wall mounting.
J. Kent | I AM WITHIN MYSELF POETRY | Pencil, edition of 100 | 7.5’’ x .25’’ x .25’’ | 2014 | FN–2013
J. Kent works within the intersections of writing, performance, and sculpture. This work was initially shared and distributed as a part of On the impossibility of a singular hand at Roman Susan in 2014. Kent also shared work with Roman Susan Art Foundation for Saints (2013); Starkfield, Massachusetts (2015); Wild is the Wind (2016); Blueprints (2016); and Prismisms (2018). Kent has exhibited work in Chicago at ACRE Projects, The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food, DFBRL8R, Links Hall, the Museum of Contemorary Art Chicago, Out of Site Chicago, Roots & Culture, Sector 2337, and other locations. For more information, please visit joshuajjkent.com.
This work is available to individuals until the initial edition is disbursed.
Paté Conaway | The Winter Clef | Guitar and woven cording | 38’’ x 12’’ x 5’’ | 2019 | FN–2014
Paté Conaway is textile artist who practices a self-taught version of crochet to weave sculptural forms with everyday objects, rope, wire and rubber. Paté previously shared work with Roman Susan Art Foundation for Weave! (2014) and Community Area One (2014). Conaway has exhibited work with 6018North, Columbia College, DFBRL8R, Greenleaf Art Center, the Museum of Contemorary Art Chicago, Preston Bradley Center, and Terrain, as well as the Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina, the Isles Arts Initiative in Massachusetts, other locations. For more information, please visit artiststatement.weebly.com.
This work requires a standard outlet plugin, and may be mounted on a wall or positioned as a free-standing sculpture.
Thomas Kong | Untitled | Found materials, sticker | 8’’ x 10’’ x 1’’ | 2019 | FN–2015
Thomas Kong is an artist working in collage and assemblage, using advertising, packaging and other surplus material from his convenience store, Kim's Corner Food, located in the Rogers Park, which housed and art space The Back Room from 2015-2019. Thomas previously shared work with Roman Susan Art Foundation for The Wide Open (2014); Be Happy (2015-2017); Wild is the Wind (2016); Be Happy (A Proposal) (2016); Blueprints (2016); Property (2017); 2015.07.15 - 2015.07.27 (2017); Be Happy (Street Fair) (2017); and 777 (2018). Kong has exhibited work in Chicago at 062, Circle Contemporary, Night Club, as well as Coco Hunday in Tampa, th Counterpublic Triennial in St. Louis, Delmes & Zander in Köln, TBC Art Inc in Melbourne, Utrecht in Tokyo, and elsewhere. For more information, please visit thomaskong.biz.
This work may be mounted on a wall or positioned as a free-standing sculpture.
Joelle Mercedes and Amina Ross | Work from twinskin | 2016 | FN–2016
Work to be announced from the exhibition twinskin at Roman Susan in Fall 2016. twinskin – a collaborative project by Joelle Mercedes and Amina Ross – has performed across Chicago and the internet, making magic in DIY punk spaces, dance studios, and gay nightclubs.
Joelle Mercedes is an artist and educator who amalgamates text, time-based media and objects to speculate on partial, unstable, and contested histories. Joelle has presented work nationally and internationally at venues including: TrueQué Residencia Artística (Ayampe, Ecuador), Links Hall, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Threewalls, Sullivan Galleries (Chicago), Lynden Sculpture Garden (Milwaukee) and California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA). Joelle participated in Strange Attractors, a book project curated by Nomaduma Rosa Masilela for the 10th Berlin Biennale: We Don't Need Another Hero. For more information, please visit soundcloud.com/alejaaleja.
Amina Ross creates boundary-crossing works that embrace embodiment, imaging technologies, intimacy and collectivity in physical and digital spaces. Amina has exhibited work, spoken on panels, and taught workshops at venues throughout the United States and abroad. Amina founded and co-organized ECLIPSING, a multi-media festival celebrating darkness, the participatory performance series Beauty Breaks, and the venue F4F. Amina was a 2018-2019 Artist-in-Residence at Arts & Public Life and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago. Ross is currently an MFA candidate at Yale School of Art within the sculpture department. For more information, please visit aminaross.com.
Details for this work will be announced shortly.
Meg Duguid | Production of Propaganda (If You Don't Need It, Don't Buy It) | Marker, paper, performer | 25’’ x 20’’ | 2017 | FN–2017
This poster was created as a part of Production of an escalating crisis, a solo exhibition by Meg Duguid at Roman Susan in Spring 2017. Production of an escalating crisis was part of an ongoing Tramp Project – Duguid optioned the rights to and is adapting James Agee’s script The Tramp’s New World, originally written for Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp character, into a project that addresses her interest in the congruity of performance and its documentation as an intersection for aesthetic practice. Duguid is an artist and curator with an MFA in sculpture from Bard College. Meg previously shared work with Roman Susan Art Foundation for Production of Audience Reaction (2016). Duguid has exhibited work in Chicago at The Back Room at Kim’s Corner Food, boundary, Chicago Cultural Center, Contemporary Art Workshop, Co-prosperity Sphere, DFBRL8R, Fifty50, Green Lantern, Hairpin Center for the Arts, Kitchen Space, Joymore, Mission, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Out of Site Chicago, Slow, The Suburban, Terrian, and many other locations throughout the United States. Ongoing curatorial projects include Clutch Gallery, Tiger Strikes Asteroid Chicago, and as director of exhibitions for Columbia College. For more information, please visit megduguid.com.
This work requires wall mounting.
Chanel Chiffon Thomas | Video Tapes and Cassettes | Felt and thread | Dimensions and configurations variable | 2018 | FN–2018
These multi-piece sculptures were initial shared as a part of Soft Show, a solo exhibition by Chanel Chiffon Thomas at Roman Susan in Summer 2018. Chanel holds an MFA in painting and print making from Yale University. Thomas has exhibited work in Chicago at Goldfinch, South Side Community Art Center, and Throop Studios, in New York at Lehman College, Osilas Gallery, Patrick Perish Gallery, Theirry Goldberg Gallery, with forthcoming exhibitions at Monique Meloche in Chicago, Jenkins Johnson in New York, and Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles. For more information, please visit chanelcthomas.com.
Work is a multi-piece sculpture which may include a found milk crate and repurposed TV to serve as a pedestal.
Rebecca Beachy and Christine Wallers | bone ash paint | gum arabic, talc, water, grey bone ash, Amish horse leg bones, cow skull (Chesterhill, OH) | Dimensions and configurations variable | 2018-2020 | FN–2019
This wall work originated as collaboration between Rebecca Beachy and Christine Wallers as a part of their 2018-2019 exhibition In no time at Ralph Arnold Annex, organized by Roman Susan.
Rebecca Beachy is an artist, writer, and educator in Chicago whose practice involves deepening attention to the materialities inherent in urban and natural orbits. She holds an MFA in Studio Arts and an MA in Art History from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Beachy has exhibited work in Chicago at 6018North, Iceberg Projects, New Capital Projects, and Sector 2337, as well as FRISE in Hamburg. Beachy’s work has been featured in publications such as Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, UK; Æther Sofia/Haga, Bulgaria, Netherlands; City Creatures, University of Chicago Press, New New Corpse, Green Lantern Press. For more information, please visit rebecca-beachy.com.
Christine Wallers is a cross-disciplinary artist from Chicago, working in installation, paper, photography and sound. Relationships between material, space, time and light are the fundamental elements of her creative process as she uses formal procedures of minimal and post-minimal art to create temporal works often inspired by natural phenomena. Wallers has exhibited work in Chicago at Experimental Sound Studio, High Concept Labs, Links Hall, and TC3. Wallers has lived and exhibited in Seattle, Portland, New Mexico, India, Germany, and France, and was a visiting artist at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. For more information, please visit christinewallers.com.
bone ash paint is applied directly onto a wall or other architectural structure.