Consonance
September 1 - December 21, 2021
What was Consonance?
Consonance was a set of wheat-pasted street posters that populated different parts of Chicago. It was done during the pandemic. I made them as sculptures to be photographed so they were never meant to be sculptures that you encounter in person.
They were sculptures that were made for the lens. Showing them as street posters was a key part of how I conceptualized that work. I think Kristin made the wheat paste. Before they put everything on site, Nathan and I met up and had some mock-up posters. We scoured for locations that were near Roman Susan. He was very keen on the posters' relationship to the Rogers Park area and its community, which, I believe, is one of Roman Susan's missions.
How is language a tool for collective action?
I was thinking about public speech during the pandemic because people couldn't congregate. There is that question about voices being amplified in ways that people can feel which is different from just reading language posted in public domains. I was thinking about that.
There's a work by the sculptor Robert Smithson called A Heap of Language from 1966. It's both a drawing and a piece of writing. It looks like a pyramid, but it's all words that he had written like a poem. Craig Dworkin wrote about Smithson's practice for the Holt Smithson Foundation. There are a few things that he said that really resonated with me. He was talking about heaps, this work that is drawn and written by hand, but it's presented as a heap. There is this sort of physicality of language that is implied by the work. The words are like bricks and stones; you can build something with them.
With Consonance, I was thinking about the relationship between language that is spoken and objects that are physical and tangible. I work between that relationship. So I think that Dworkin was saying something about when Smithson made that work, I think it was in the 60s, when there were a lot of public protests going on in the country. He saw that connection, and we are in a time that, you know, politically and socially, echoes other times in history.
Why were these images rather than sculptures?
The project was developed during the pandemic. I was reacting to the new reality of the lack of social interaction. And so making these objects as photographs allowed the work to be out there in public space for the public to view.
Where does this project sit in the context of your body of work?
In hindsight, I think the project was a pivot for me. I had done sculptural objects, and I had done a lot of projects that were text-based, where I appropriated popular writing. I think after that work, I started to transition into focusing more on the wordless language of things rather than working with writing in my visual work. As I have always made sculptural objects, where the forms I made were language-like or linguistic n some ways, this project was a way to reconcile the two and then pivot away from just working with text primarily in my practice.
What is your understanding of the role Roman Susan plays in Chicago?
I think Chicago has a very vibrant, independent art scene with many opportunities to show work in venues that are independent. Roman Susan is one of the well-known spaces in Chicago that does that.
They really commit to an experimental spirit. They don't just organize regular exhibitions, but they keep growing what they do. They also make a point in remunerating artists, which I’m sure isn't easy to get the funding for that.
They've always put their money where their mouth is. It says a lot about their integrity. They have a strong connection with their neighborhood.
What is it like being an artist in Chicago right now?
Unlike places like New York, where I've lived for many years, I think Chicago is both fluid and close-knit. I think that everybody somehow knows almost everybody else. It feels like there's a lot of mutual support.
Chicago has many opportunities to experiment, more so than in places that may be dependent on the sale of works for things to get some time and attention.
A lot of new ideas come up through the schools in the area. Many of the alumni end up staying in Chicago and making their lives and careers here. I think that you see the sort of investment that people have put in over time. In my case, I'm not just an artist, I'm also an academic. It's hard for me to separate the two when I think about the art community. I feel like the local culture keeps being enriched.
Other artist histories: hiba ali // Tallulah Cartalucca // Kandis Friesen // Steven Husby // Juan Molina Hernández // Kevin Norris // Ruby Que // Olive Stefanski // Chiffon Thomas // Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson