Continuing through July 13, 2019
Marian Carow and Deirdre Fox consider drawing to be at the core of their practices. In “Spatial Rendering” both artists present works that address architecture, space and material. This exhibition, curated by Chicago-based artist Yoonshin Park, is about artistic transformation: turning a flat line into voluminous space, turning cast-off objects into fine ones. That transformation does take place in just about any artist’s studio, but it is not taken for granted in “Spatial Rendering.” Carow and Fox create works that underscore an artist’s ability to alter the essential characteristics of a thing.
For artists with much in common conceptually, their works are quite different in form. Fox has spun plastic bags, discarded paper and fabric scraps into cords that are pulled around corners and swoop dramatically off the walls. The lines of Carow’s geometrical drawings are translated into the edges and creases of painted, corrugated cardboard constructions. Each artist retains the familiar, recognizable attributes of their materials, drawing our attention to formal elements — the textures, the solidity the ephemerality — we normally wouldn't bother to think much about. The works here also do something similar to the exhibition space itself. Fox’s “Change like gravity” mirrors the bisecting line that separates two sections of the gallery’s tiled floor; and Carow’s “Untitled (Q2)” is nestled into the crook of drywalled ductwork. Both make us aware of the space’s unique attributes that we would otherwise ignore, which in turn alerts us to attributes and connections among other works throughout the exhibition.
