01/11/2014
11 January–16 February 2014
Wednesday–Sunday 12–6pm
TODD CHILTON
Stairs and Ramps
Upfront
ROBERT FONTANELLI
Feature Inc. welcomes 2014 with "tairs and Ramps", an exhibition of geometric abstract paintings by Todd Chilton, and a humorous Upfront project by Robert Fontanelli, two works from his "Afterlife" series. The exhibitions opens on Saturday 11 January with a reception from 6-8 pm, and continues Wednesday-Sunday 11-6 pm, through 16 February.
Todd Chilton’s relatively small and intensely colored abstract paintings layer patterns that are bounded by the edge of the canvas, leading you to believe these paintings are easily graspable. The exhibition title, "Stairs and Ramps", references the flat and manipulated space of computer games and, as well, ways to move by foot or wheelchair through architectural space. At the same time, it is also just two ways to graphically read a triangle, the shape that is the basis of the patterns in most of these paintings. Titles of the paintings point to alternate readings of what may be initially perceived. Geometry is undermined by handedness. As the artist has noted, all these things “serve to create a situation in which the viewer becomes aware of the experience of looking. I want to create images that convey at once a sense of ambiguity, purposefulness, and humor. At times they have a sense of openness on one hand and resistance on the other. I am interested in what happens in the middle. Meaning comes through determined imprecision, broken or sagging structures, and the obvious hand that created the painting. This underscores the physical experience that takes place between a viewer and my work through surface, scale, and optical qualities, which subvert, or sustain, a sense of balance.”
Todd Chilton lives and works in Chicago. "Stairs and Ramps" is his second solo exhibition with Feature Inc. Previous solo exhibitions include "Angled", Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL; "Evens", Central Utah Art Center, Ephraim, UT; "For January", Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago, IL; Lawrence University, Appleton, WI; Raw & Co., Cleveland, OH; and The Suburban, Oak Park, IL. Recent group exhibitions include "Self-referral Nonobjective" at Feature Inc., New York; "bodybraingame" at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; "Big Youth II", Bourouina Gallery, Berlin; Devening Projects + Editions, Chicago; Bellstreet Projects, Vienna; 65 Grand, Chicago; and Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Todd received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005, and a BFA from Brigham Young University in 2002.
Robert Fontanelli hangs in the Feature Upfront with two pieces from his "Afterlife" series, a body of work that explores sexuality, taste, and status by amusingly conflating furniture, fashion, and the body. Robert received his BFA from Pratt Institute, and since the ’80s he has worked extensively as an art director for fashion and beauty campaigns.