BELLWETHER

Saturday, July 5th - Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Curated by Shannon Stratton, Director and Chief Curator of ThreeWalls Gallery, Chicago

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

A bellwether is a herald or a harbinger. ThreeWalls brought together a group of artists, all based in or formerly based in Chicago, whose work imparts a kind of warning or predication. Riding the line of disaster prophesy, the work suggests both decline culturally and environmentally, as well as simultaneously deconstructing the meaning of art or the avant-garde as a pilaster of faith in the abstract. Positioning a group of artists whose work creates disruption within the accepted narrative of modern art alongside work that proposes a menacing or hesitant narrative. Bellwether featured work by Josh Mannis (Los Angeles), Jenny Walters (Los Angeles), Joseph Kohnke (Los Angeles), Bill O'Brien (Chicago), Lisa Boumstein-Smalley (Chicago), Chelsea Tonelli Knight (Chicago), Duncan McKenzie (Chicago) with Christian Kuras (London), Daniel Anhorn (Chicago), David Coyle (New York), Ann Toebbe (Chicago), Caleb Jones Lyons (Chicago) and Heather Mekkelson (Chicago).

Shannon Stratton is a co-founder and Director of Programming as ThreeWalls, Chicago. Stratton teaches art history at the Chicago Art Institute, and textiles at the Harrington School of Design. She holds an MFA and an MAAH from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design. She is also an artist and writer.