Surabhi Ghosh: Tiled & Looped
Tiled & Looped, a solo exhibition by Surabhi Ghosh, opens Friday October 3rd, 6-9pm at Manifold. Surabhi Ghosh creates complex compositions through the accumulation of simple decorative motifs, revealing intersections among abstraction, minimalism, and ornamentation. In Tiled & Looped, Ghosh will show work from two ongoing series. In these series, she uses hand-cutting techniques to negate the function of a utilitarian material (upholstery vinyl), while expanding her speculative understanding of the relationships between pattern, repetition, and decoration. On view and open to the public October 4 – November 7, 2014 on Fridays, 12-6pm at Manifold, 4426 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago IL.
Website: www.manifoldchicago.com/manifold/on-exhibit-1/
Posted in Openings and Events	Tagged Manifold, Surabhi Ghosh
Manifold presents POST INDUSTRIOUS
Exhibition title: Post Industrious
Artists: WM FitzPatrick and Barry Phipps
Dates: 16 November 2013 through 21 December 2013
Venue: Manifold, 4426 N. Ravenswood Avenue, Chicago, 60640
Hours: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 1 to 6 pm—or by appointment
Opening reception: Saturday, 16 November 2013, 7 to 10 pm
The Exhibition:
Opening Saturday, 16 November 2013, Manifold presents "Post Industrious" a two-man show featuring the works of Chicago-based artist and designer WM FitzPatrick and Iowa City-based photographer Barry Phipps. Organized by independent curator, Franck Mercurio, the exhibition addresses how current economic realities, environmental concerns, and an awareness of recent history influence design and art making in the post-industrial Midwest.
WM FitzPatrick's pieces blur the line between sculpture and furniture. He eschews new materials and mass production in favor of one-offs fabricated from salvaged materials. Created from the detritus of the past, FitzPatrick's pieces are new constructs, yet retain the history of the original objects from which they were made.
The photographs of Barry Phipps' "Iowa Series" reflect the architectural and typographic forms of small town America. Rather than take pictures of Iowa, Phipps mines Iowa for material to make images. His rigorous compositions employ line, texture, and color to reveal underlying formal structures.
Together, FitzPatrick's sculptures and Phipps' photographs create a dialogue of thought-provoking dichotomies: urban/rural, object/image, and design/art. Their work reflects something of what it means to make art—to be "industrious"—in our contemporary, post-industrial moment.
Manifold will hold an opening reception—free to the public—on Saturday, 16 November 2013 from 7 to 10 pm.
WM FitzPatrick:
WM FitzPatrick's sculpture and furniture reflects his education at the Illinois Institute of Technology, whose design school is grounded in the Bauhaus principles of Mies van der Rohe and László Moholy-Nagy. Straddling the line between art and design, FitzPatrick describes his works as "performing a kind of balancing act: is it furniture or is it sculpture?" His pieces are unique one-offs made from salvaged materials that are often left "as is" to better retain the history of the original artifact.
Barry Phipps:
Barry Phipps studied photography, video, and painting at the Kansas City Art Institute, from which he graduated with a B.F.A. in 1990. "The images I present are rare moments when the past, the present, man-made landscapes, and natural elements collide into a cohesive, simplified, and mostly minimal composition…I'm always ready to frame-in what's important and filter-out the rest to create something new and engaging from a momentary experience."
Franck Mercurio:
Franck Mercurio is an independent exhibition consultant, curator, writer, and editor based in Chicago with degrees from the University of Cincinnati in architecture and Northwestern University in art history. Mercurio worked for eight years in the Exhibitions Department of the Field Museum before starting his own consulting business, Mercurio-Exhibits. He is a frequent contributor to Time Out Chicago and has served as a guest editor for the magazine's Art & Design section.
Manifold:
Manifold was conceived by Ross and Elizabeth Fiersten to engage in the ongoing conversation occurring in Chicago between art and design, makers and manufacturers.
Located at 4426 N Ravenswood Ave in Chicago, Manifold houses a storefront gallery and a manufacturing workshop. The direct connection between the gallery and the workshop reinforces Manifold's guiding mission: to overtly preserve the link from the object presented to the process of its crafting.
In addition to producing furniture and accessories on-site, Manifold features gallery exhibitions and events highlighting issues pertinent to contemporary artists and designers.
Posted in Openings and Events	Tagged art, Chicago, Design, Manifold
Manifold Holiday Show
In honor of the holiday season, Manifold is hosting a show and sale of locally designed and produced accessories. The title of the show, ACCESSIBLES, refers to a simple premise: to design, create, and present items for sale at $150 and under. This is a special opportunity to purchase work from some of Chicago's most talented artists and designers including:
Barry Newstat Furniture, Bridgette Buckley Studio, Ethan Rose, GlickBuilt, Heather Mullins, Karma Neutral Ceramics, Manifold, Merkled Studio, Starshaped Press, Stephanie Cobb, Strand Design, Studio 1a.m., and Winter Session.
Accessibles opens Saturday December 8th, 2012 with a reception open to the public from 3 to 8pm. Located in the gallery at 4426 N Ravenswood Avenue, the show will run through December 21st. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 12 to 6pm and Saturday 12 to 4pm.
Website: www.manifoldchicago.com/manifold/on-exhibit/upcoming/
TIME and MATERIALS
James Jankowiak, 'In Limbo', acrylic on wood, 12″ x 12″
New Work by Bridgette Buckley Studio, Manifold, and Merkled Studio with Site-Specific Installation and Artwork by James Jankowiak
Show Duration: July 13 – October 5, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday July 13, 6 – 9 PM
Chicago, IL: Manifold is proud to present its upcoming group exhibition, TIME and MATERIALS, opening Friday July 13th with a reception open to the public from 6 to 9 PM, located in the gallery at 4426 North Ravenswood Ave. This exhibition will run through October 5th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 12 to 6 PM and Saturday 12 to 4 PM.
Drawing from the traditonal use of the term among craftspeople as a quantifiable measure for projects with uncertain outcomes, TIME and MATERIALS is a point of departure and a guiding principal for the works of art and design in this group exhibition.
Chicago furniture designer Bridgette Buckley departs from developing furniture and lighting for production in order to embrace craft and explore the relationships people establish with inanimate objects. Structures of fabric playing against wood are transformed and illuminated by the intimate contexts of people interacting with them.
Through painstaking effort and humble materials, artist James Jankowiak creates a site-specific installation, further delving into his fascination with mutation through repetition. This work, along with his paintings, questions the primacy of foreground to background, architecture to object, contrast to dissolution.
From the metal workshop and design studio adjoining the gallery, Manifold puts forth a new series of tables and a bench. The contrast between the crisp edges of steel, the soft textures of wood, and the delicacy of brass wire focuses attention on furniture as form beyond function.
Designer and fabricator, Kari Merkl of Merkled Studio, presents the latest iterations in her furniture line. These pieces strike a refined balance between technology and hand-craft with their inventive combinations of precision fabricated steel, leather, and hand-dyed felt.
Contact: Elizabeth Fiersten at info@manifoldchicago.com or 773.754.7186
Posted in Openings and Events	Tagged art, Chicago, James Jankowiak, Kari Merkl, Manifold