mountshang: Abstract Chicago Iii. :From Chicago to Gowanus

Has anything like a comprehensive exhibition of Chicago abstract artists ever been mounted in Chicago? None that I can recall, but now one is popping up in a gallery in Brooklyn. It's a not-for-profit, artist-run affair that is running out of money. This may be its final year.

Ortega y Gasset Projects came together as an artist-run space in April 2013 when a group of artists realized how much their practices were dictated by their circumstances. José Ortega y Gasset’s famous maxim “yo soy yo y mi circunstancia” (I’m myself and my circumstance) deeply resonated with the group, so they named the space as a nod to the philosopher’s pragmatism and realist phenomenology, that came to be known as the “philosophy of life.” Ortega y Gasset Projects celebrates 10 years in May, 2023.

OyG is entirely run by working artists, who recognize that exploration is key to artistic vitality. We embrace an exploratory model where artists take the role of curator, critic and promoter. Working without concern for commercial profit or an explicit curatorial ideology, the goal of OyG is to mount exhibitions that support under-represented, marginalized artists and emerging artists, provoke dialogue and bolster artistic community . In doing so, we participate within a wider forum to disseminate aesthetic experience and expand our roles, priorities and scope of influence within art culture.

Not sure how artists who have nothing in common but exhibition space can be much of a community. And why would they want to "expand their influence within art culture", when they may, or may not, agree about anything at all. Yet still we may note the use of the phrase "aesthetic experience" in their mission statement. "Art culture" and aesthetics have long since parted company - so, like me, they are at the margins of the artworld.

This exhibition invites viewers to consider the evolution of abstraction through a distinctly Chicagoan lens, one infused with an irreverence toward tradition and a deep connection to place. It is an invitation to think about abstraction not just as a visual form, but as a metaphor for the ongoing exploration of our relationship to the world, to nature, and to each other.

Metaphors be damned! It is the undoing of contemporary art whenever formal expression is finished as soon as sufficient metaphor has been recognized Or even worse - when visuality is intentionally kept from being the center of attention. This is the curse of conceptualism - and more than half of these artists suffer from it. It’s not especially a Chicago thing - except within its university art departments.

Below, I’ve listed all 26 of the artists - but some are figurative, some are photography, a few are traditional crafts, and many are primarily conceptual. Though, thankfully, none appear to be about gender/racial identity, or social justice.

I’ve only shown those that interest me as abstract art. Those pieces which appear in this show are marked as such.

Lynn Basa,

Looks fabulous.

She specializes in public commissions,

not gallery sales.

Leslie Baum (in the show)

This kinda-figurative work is atypical for her, though it does seem appropriate for the “Chicago” theme of this show

Phyllis Bramson, Figurative Imagist painter.

Jason Branscum, photographer

Judith Brotman, Conceptual

Robert Burnier

More clever than satisfying,

but clever nonetheless,

and skillful too.

Dee Clements, Basketry

William Conger

The world is closing in on this artist’s beautiful but ominous vision.

Laura Davis figurative, conceptual

David Ese Gagoh, Photography

Diana Guerrero-Maciá

Pattern play for the sake of pattern play.

Kinda fun, but not much Chicago here.

Steven Husby, 2021, 30 x 24 ( in this show)

My favorite in this show.

The turning wheels of existence.

Sam Jaffe

Just a bit too cheerful,

At the edge of scary.

Kelly Kaczynski

I’ve always liked isometric projection ever since I took a university class in mechanical drawing. It’s a happy, floating world enhanced here with color.

Michael Kaysen, Potter