FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2013
MEDIA CONTACT: Paula Danoff, (email Paula)
(847) 475-5300, ext.206
EVANSTON ART CENTER RETROSPECTIVE SERIES CONTINUES WITH A SURVEY OF ARTWORKS BY LINDA KRAMER
On Sunday June 2, EAC opens “Unstable Variations 2013,” an exhibition of Chicago artist Linda Kramer’s paintings, drawings, and installations
EXHIBITION: Evanston Art Center Retrospective Series: “Unstable Variations 2013”
DATES: June 2-July 21, 2013
CURATORS: Norah Diedrich and Joan Evanich
OPENING RECEPTION: Sunday June 2, 1-4 pm (artist will be present)
GALLERY HOURS: 10 am-9 pm Monday-Thursday, 10 am-4 pm Friday & Saturday, 1-4 pm Sunday
This exhibition presents a survey of longtime Chicago artist Linda Kramer’s aesthetic and conceptual choices made over a period of forty years. The title of the show, “Unstable Variations 2013,” alludes to this artist’s insistence on remaining open to inquiry and possibilities over time and through various mediums. Her art addresses the ways in which we attempt to measure the unquantifiable: the concepts of Being, sorrow, and evanescence. This retrospective showcases artwork that spans several decades and, in spite of the variety of media and metaphors employed, reveals a strong and singular voice.
Few contemporary artists have been as prolific in making their own work, and, at the same time, as active at championing the work of others in the Chicago artists’ community as Linda Kramer. Kramer has exhibited widely and has artworks in the permanent collections of the Smart Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, and the State of Illinois Museum, to mention a few. Moreover, Linda has consistently been a powerful and positive influence on other artists, collectors and curators in the Chicago community.
Evanston Art Center Executive Director Norah Diedrich describes Kramer’s work as, “…simultaneously outward looking, evoking an empathy for the human condition and an occasional metaphoric poke at popular culture, and at the same time, introspective, as evidenced in the slightly unsettling self-portraits.”
Over the course of her career, Linda Kramer’s work has brought new energy and insight to the varied subjects she explores. In 1972, Kramer satirized the Playboy Bunny Playmates in her “Plateboy Bunny” series, addressing the trials of the proscribed roles of women. Her China Series images from 2002 evoke the bright silks, strength, and athletic prowess of Chinese acrobats. Doug Stapleton, Assistant Curator of Art at the Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery, says “Linda Kramer stands between the realm of the tangible world and the realm of the unseen. I think of her as part alchemist and part commentator—deftly manifesting and mapping the terrain of emotional flux and volatile transmutation of substance.”
All the exhibits are free and open to public. There will be a color, 48-page catalogue with essays by Douglas Stapleton and Norah Diedrich available for $10.
Exhibition funding provided by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the EAC’s general membership. This project is partially funded by the Evanston Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Evanston and Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Gallery Hours: Mon. – Thurs. 10 am – 9 pm; Fri. – Sat. 10 am – 4 pm; Sun. 1 – 4 pm
First floor galleries are handicapped accessible. Limited free parking is available
The Evanston Art Center is located at 2603 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL. For more information please visit us online at www.evanstonartcenter.org or contact Paula Danoff, Director of Communications, at (847) 475-5300 ext. 206. Visit the Evanston Art Center on Facebook: www.facebook.com/evanston.art or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/evartcenter.
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