WE’RE MOVING

Logan Square welcomed Galerie F to Milwaukee Ave in July of 2012. We’ve spent the last four years with open doors providing accessible artwork thanks to our supportive and art-hungry community. It is really with perfect timing that we relocate to this new space — only a block away— with new goals in mind in time for the new year. If you have any questions, you can always reach us by email (hello@galerief.com) — our phone will be down for a couple of days. We really appreciate your patience during this hectic time! Below you will find our Holiday and moving hours as well as a bit about the gallery’s move.

OUR HOLIDAY AND MOVING HOURS

We will remain at 2381 N Milwaukee Ave until our current Exhibition, Familiar Faces, closes on December 24, 2016.

“OLD” SPACE HOURS
Until December 23: Tuesday – Sunday | 11A – 6PM
December 24: Saturday | 11A – 3PM

MOVING CLOSURE NOTICE
December 25 – January 6
During this time, we will be having an online sale of 30% our entire inventory, excluding frames!

“NEW” SPACE HOURS
Soft open on January 6: Tuesday – Sunday | 11A – 6PM | Regular Business Hours
First Exhibition Opening: “7” on Friday, January 13 | 6PM – 10PM
Details about this exhibition are on our Facebook Event Page. Stop by on the 13th and check out our new space with some complementary beverages from Revolution Brewery!

ABOUT THE GALLERY

The team at Galerie F is working on refocusing the mission to the dreams the gallery was founded on at its inception. Determined to nurture and develop emerging artists, you’ll be sure to see more intimate and meaningful solo shows as well as a myriad of new Galerie F curated murals not just in Logan Square but all over our fine city of Chicago. We’ve had the pleasure of working with local legends like JC Rivera and Mosher and we’re so thrilled to officially welcome Sentrock to our gallery in 2017 as one of our featured artists.

The success of this space is owed to our supportive community, both for the beloved street artists who bring color to our everyday as well as print-makers, whether they are our neighbors or international icons hailing from the far and wide. Printmaking as an art form has truly built the reputation of Galerie F as a Logan Square go-to for uniquely delightful yet affordable artwork. With the new year, we intend to expand our printmaking network in order to better support the diverse array of makers that fill our gallery. In the past couple of months, we’ve enjoyed the talents and successes of new local printer relationships including working with Delicious Design League and Arghrist Prints.

Keep up with our move and the new face of Galerie F on our Facebook and our Instagram. For the curious, below are some shots of our new space pre-move in. If you check out the space in person right now, you’ll see a glorious Mosher mural! This piece is coming down as soon as we open, so don’t miss it!

September 23, 2016 - Tonight we open the most intimate show of the year here at Galerie F. Our last encounter with Jim Pollock’s iconic art wasn’t too long ago. Back in June we hosted his 30-Year Retrospective that resulted in an extraordinary turn out. No one could have anticipated the excitement felt as collectors and fans lined up down the block the night before the exhibition opening. It was truly astonishing to see so much work from 30 years worth of archival material in our space. We were positively overwhelmed with the turnout and have only just begun recovering from the many orders and inquiries following the show.

Pollock has often been referred to as one of the most quirky, influential, and highly collectible rock poster artists of the past thirty years. He is well known for creating artwork for bands such as Phish, Umphrey’s McGee, The Disco Biscuits, and more. As his 30 Year Retrospective exhibition has proven, Pollock has achieved tremendous success with this body of work.

The work included in HIGH PHI represents the beginning of a new phase of Pollock’s career by focusing on a set of issues very dear to the artist. Pollock has long been deeply committed to the legalization of marijuana as well as hemp as a valuable commodity. HIGH PHI, as an exhibition, highlights this aspect of Pollock’s artistic activism.

Importantly, HIGH PHI is a starting point for a much bigger project. Pollock is asking those who view his work to reconsider their presuppositions regarding marijuana and its connection to visual art. His aim is to aid viewers in rethinking their approach to a commodity that is often considered in purely illegal and unethical terms. Part of this process is to reframe the experience of buying marijuana at a dispensary. Pollock hopes that HIGH PHI can continue to evolve and be shown in more locations around the United States with the goal being that these artworks will make their way to both the homes of those behind the movement as well as the walls of dispensaries for a much larger public.

The work featured in the exhibition is also invested in an exploratory look at the beautiful and intellectual intricacies of the controversial plant. The artist incorporates the ever complex theme of the elusive golden mean into his prints by thinking about the relationship between math and marijuana. Pollock remarks, “I was trying to incorporate the ratio of phi into every rendering. You can see it in the number of leaves, the angles at which the leaves protrude.”

In addition to this, Pollock remarks that this collection of work is aimed at pushing his audience to remember that struggle for the legalization of marijuana continues:“I wanted to create art that pushes into the forefront something that should have been legalized years ago.”

Also included in HIGH PHI are three Phish Hampton posters from Januray 2,3 & 4, 2003. These three diamond-shaped posters are very important to Pollock. They have lived in his studio space for over a decade witnessing his creative process and ever evolving work. The print set represents the turning point that HIGH PHI as a whole represents as Pollock continues to move towards a more emotional and activist centered artistic practice.

For press inquiries about HIGH PHI please contact Sarah Wheat: social@galerief.com

This might just be the most controversial show that Galerie F has ever put on. The day that we announced the official line-up we were confronted by concerned artist activists from the Chicago area who are unhappy with the large scope of the show, the predominately male line-up, a perceived contribution that the gallery makes to gentrification in Logan Square, and many other issues. We have begun conversations with those raising concerns and are excited for the gallery space to become a space where we can all come together to discuss these topics that affect us all. This show is about understanding, about introducing our audience to artist voices and causes they might not have known about, and allowing meaningful work to resonate in the gallery.

These conversations have been difficult but ultimately productive and we hope that they will continue during the actual exhibition and long after. Due to this experience we decided to change the title of the exhibition to “LET’S TALK ABOUT IT.” We feel that this title better represents who we are as a gallery and our intentions with the show. This title also reflects our willingness to engage and talk with our neighbors. We want to productively support our artistic community and to provide a space where artists’ voices can be heard. The gallery is not attempting to spearhead or make a comment on any one particular movement. We hope to inspire conversation about the overwhelming amount of social issues currently relevant in our society and around the world.

Sometimes it’s the specific cause that inspires a street artist to make art connected to social issues, and sometimes it’s the place. For Nether, Baltimore is the city that drives his art-making: “I love Baltimore, my hometown, and working in Baltimore because of the incredible cultural fabric of the city. It’s a city that is beloved by its residents yet needs a lot of work. I have seen it as my lifetime goal to help the city through public art and creating dialogue about disdained urban issues. Although I love discovering other cities through artwork, I see Baltimore as my home base.”

Nether, “Baptized Into the Movement,” 2016.

Nether has become well known in Baltimore for his large scale murals, but originally it was smaller-scale and even more ephemeral pieces that brought him to the scene. It was in 2010 that he became inspired by TEFCON and GAIA’s wheatpastes. “I saw wheatpaste as a rouge beautification form that allowed my work to breathe past the gallery context.”

In terms of social activism, Nether is hesitant to define himself as an artist activist due to the tendency to set certain expectations for artwork defined as activist. “I generally see myself as a social and cultural documentarian. That being said, street art as a more tactical form of civil disobedience is something that has always entranced me. What drew me to public art was its ability to create conversations about urban issues as much as the art.”

Amberella, the first female street artist to join the line-up, uses her personal experiences as a woman to inform her work. The artist began her ongoing series entitled “Cat Call” in 2011 when she was inspired to create works that, as she describes, “are made to be just as public and uncomfortable as actual cat calling.” The female figure used for her wheat pastes is a screen print from when she was getting her BFA at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she is also based. At the same time that she rediscovered the screen print, she also found past cat calls that she had written down in her diaries and sketchbooks. “Damn Girl, You Thick” and “Yo Girl You Married? I Don’t Mind” are direct results of this discovery.

When asked about her stance on women participating in the male-dominated world of “street art” and graffiti, Amberella replied that she “feels honored and proud to be placing work into the streets that is a reality for me as a woman…I’m sharing things that are vulnerable on top of being viewed as a vulnerable woman. As a woman we are viewed as more emotionally driven than men which also works towards the mission of any and all of my work.” This can be seen in the artist’s more pop-art driven works that utilize the shape of candy hearts that are typically shared on Valentine’s Day with phrases such as “4Ever” but also “I Believe in You,” “Wake Up,” and “Try Harder.” When asked about her personal experience of breaking into street art she writes, “I think it’s incredibly hard for a woman to break into any male dominated field without having triple the judgments and expectations. You are scrutinized, compared, and judged, and that’s part of it.”

In addition to the sometimes uncomfortable and blatant messaging in most of her street art work, the artist also attests to a tension that happens during her design process as well as when the artwork is finished and belongs to the public. “I feel that the work is really strong when it can speak to opposing viewpoints. That means it can speak to most people, and affecting people that have opposite opinions with the same piece of work feels like a success to me.” This also means that her work sometimes results in opposing or unexpected emotions within a single individual: “If women get a laugh [from these works], great… to sometimes realize how ridiculous the things men say to us is OKAY. I think that obnoxious lady out on the street with a post up of what we hear feels empowering. She is out there plastering the walls looking over us.”

Biafra, “State of the Union”

When it comes to critically examining social issues, sometimes the best place to start is with your own cultural experience. Biafra, an artist living and working in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and from northeast Wisconsin, uses comic book-like characters as a way of critiquing “white culture.” When asked to elaborate on this, the artist told the gallery that, “seeing those characters takes you back to another generation and the goal of my art is to take a critical look at the people that put us where we are now.” The characters began as a series of prints that the artist created to investigate problems that “were falling on the shoulders of my generation, like oil, space, etc. Things that were, in a way, wastefully considered in previous generations that are now big concerns that my generation and future generations will inevitably have to solve. All of it feels a little overwhelming.”

Biafra’s work can be seen in places all over the world, and for him, this is an important aspect of being a street artist. We asked the artist what it is about street art and drives him to travel. “Of course I love watching how people interact with art that is free on the street, but I think what really winds up driving it is the romantic notion that if my friends or family were somewhere new there would already be a little piece of me there even if I couldn’t physically be there. It’s happened with stickers and trains. When you get that picture the feeling is magical.”

For the past two years Biafra has travelled to the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota for the annual Red Can Graffiti Jam. There he teaches stenciling as part of Daesk’s “Sprayfinger” graffiti classes. Julie Garreau (Cheyenne River Youth Project) was behind the creation of an art park on the reservation where youth are encouraged to express themselves through graffiti. During the week-long Graffiti Jam Biafra collaborated with street artists and youth in the park and around the city. “we painted in the park and around the community, adding color and Lakota themed murals all over the city of Eagle Butte…The line up of artists was also spectacular (Scribe, Serval, East, Daesk, Wundr, Cyfi, Kazilla, ER and me). Every time I go out there I love it, but this time was particularly special and I will remember it forever.”

“LET’S TALK ABOUT IT” is an important show for Galerie F. Not only does it point to the gallery’s tremendous growth as a community space over the past four years, but the exhibition is also sparking important conversations about how we intend for the gallery to continue to grow in tandem with our neighbors in Logan Square and Chicago more widely. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by this Friday, August 26th 6-10 p.m. for the exhibition opening and artist reception. We look forward to continuing the conversation throughout the show and after it closes on September 18th.

OFFICIAL LINE-UP:

Amberella
Anthony Lewellen
Beoptimisticchi
Biafra
Carlos Barberena
CERA
CHema Skandal!
Colin Matthes
Danny Sobor
Deuce Seven
Don’t Fret
Eric Garcia
Fleurs De Geurre
Guache
ICY and SOT
Ivan Vazquez
Jacob Thomas
Jeff Zimmerman
JH Jones
Kelly Schmader
Morgan
NACO
Nether
Pablo Machioli
Pete Railand
Scout
Sentrock

Photo Courtesy of @ashley.galloway on Instagram

Most of us are very familiar with these playful geese that can be seen on walls all over the north-side of Chicago, but very little has been written about the artist himself. Going by the name Goosenek, this Logan Square native was inspired to create street art after seeing works by Snacki and Noteef while riding the Red Line.

When asked what drove Goosenek to finally start creating street art, and particularly his trademark goose on a regular basis, he answered, “A delivery driver at a pizza place I worked at told me to come “bombing” with him after he saw some of my illustrations, so I did that. I painted the first ever goose on Division and Ashland on a rooftop that you could see from the window of my first studio across the street.”

“Socks and Chanclas” by Goosenek

Goosenek is an artist that works both on the street, but also in more “fine art” or permanent contexts such as painting and illustration that can be seen at Galerie F. He has even created a comic book about the goose, which he hints might appear in the future. What Goosenek appreciates so much about these modes of making is their accessibility: “I think any and all forms of art should be made for people to see, hear, feel, eat, etc.”

Speaking of art that you can eat, Goosenek is also a huge fan of cooking. In addition to working at a pizza place (which ultimately inspired him to become a street artist!), he has also worked as a line cook. If you’re looking for food in Chicago, he suggests that we head to Freddy’s in Cicero and order the seafood salad and pistachio gelato!

Photo Courtesy of @BillyCraven on Instagram

When asked about his favorite place to hang out or thing to do in Chicago he answered, “I like riding my bicycle to the lake in the summer. I like when the lake is choppy and I jump in the water in between Oak and North along that bend of concrete where the water is deep. Its a real thrill.”

Throughout our interview, Goosenek expressed his strong passion for living and creating in Chicago. “Chicago people are my people, everywhere else is just not here.” His love for the city comes from the overwhelming amount of talent based here.

Photo Courtesy of Goosenek on Instagram

Make sure to keep up with Goosenek’s work by following him on Instagram (@goosenek) as well as Galerie F (@galerief). If you happen upon any of these geese in the streets of Chicago, tag us!

The Reader is hosting its “Best Of” voting right now for our favorite city. We all love showing off Chicago and how well we know it through and through by sharing our local haunts with friends and travelers. Take a couple moments to vote for your favorites with The Chicago Reader! There’s lots of ballots and categories but make sure to stop by the “Arts & Culture Ballot” to give Galerie F a vote in the “Best Established Gallery” slot — let’s make it four straight years running! We appreciate your support and our artists do, too! Below are a couple other areas where you can help us support the artists we admire and follow. Which are your picks?

Arts & Culture Ballot
Best Established Gallery : Galerie F
Best Exhibition: Lucid Dreamscapes or You Are Beautiful
Best Street Artist: Jc Rivera or Mosher Show or Sentrock
Best Established Visual Artist: Jc Rivera or Mosher Show or Matthew Hoffman
Best New Visual Artist: Danny Sobor or Steven Luros Holliday

VOTE HERE BEFORE JUNE 9th!

We chatted with Brin Levinson & David Welker about their upcoming show at GF, Lucid Dreamscapes.

Hey Brin, tell us about yourself and what you do.

I have a pretty simple life and try to avoid the rat race. The Pacific Northwest is rainy a lot the year so there’s a good excuse to get work done. If it’s a rare nice day, I might head to the coast or mountain. I never go anywhere without my camera and dog. I love looking at things in nature. Most of my time is making art. I’m an oil painter usually eight days a week.

Your work is crazy detailed and comes from an imagination and talent level I can’t even begin to understand, what is your process?

I usually start with looking at pictures and taking pictures. I use them as a jumping off point. Sometimes you go on a tangent with ideas that can become a series of pantings. Other times each piece is like a new experiment because you want to try something different. I usually don’t sketch, I just start painting with loose washes. The whole painting evolves with many layers of paint. It’s like focusing a lens. This technique takes a long time but it’s how I like to work, it’s very free, I don’t worry about “staying in the lines”. I tend to be a perfectionist and do a lot of analyzing. When nothing about the painting bothers me, I can call it finished.

Your work involves a lot of urban decay, is this what attracts you to Chicago?

Yes. When I visited Chicago the last time, I discovered the L and took a million pictures. I love the steel structures, water towers and tracks overhead.

Explain a little bit about Lucid Dreamscapes and what your vision is for the show?

David (Welker) and I talked about what we wanted to do for the show and what would be a good fit for the gallery. Galerie F is an amazing gig poster and screen print gallery. So, we wanted to have a good mix of small originals, screen prints and I wanted to revisit my idea to do a lenticular print series. There’s going to be a refreshing variety of work from us there. The common thread is the urban landscape aspect and surrealism in our work.

What excites you most about shows? Coming up with the work? Seeing it in the gallery? Working with other artists?

I love doing shows and having a body of work that is finished and unified. This show is especially exciting to me because I’ve been inspired by Davids work since I was a beginning artist. I met him for the first time by chance at a party on new years eve in New York when I was a teenager. I never thought we’d show together some day. It’s really an honor and a personal milestone to show with David.

You’ve worked with us before on an exclusive, what attracts you to the gallery system?

I like being involved in the art world. Having people come see what you’ve made is what makes what you do relevant and worthwhile. If there was no one else to see my paintings, I really don’t know if I’d make them. The interaction between the art and other people is the main point to me.

Do you have anything else coming up this year that you can talk about?

There are some nice group shows this summer and fall and I have another big two person show in October here in Portland. I’m looking forward to making some new work and expanding on some ideas.

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Hey David, how are you today?

I’m feeling good. In the zone.

It’s You Are beautiful 3.0 tomorrow evening (02/05/2016). It’s been a huge collaboration since we opened and our arms and minds are always open to whatever it’s custodian Matthew Hoffman is up for.

We thought it’d be a good idea to show you the man behind You Are Beautiful. He has a great story and is so inspiring to know. Hopefully it rubbed off on you reading this interview.

Photo by Paul Octavious