Junko YamamotoIn between, You and I, there is space all around us

Junko Yamamoto

In between, You and I, there is space all around us

May 14 - June 19, 2010

Opening reception with artist: Friday, May 14, 6-8 pm

Junko Yamamoto, I choose this way, 2010, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

(Chicago) The EC Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Junko Yamamoto "In between, You and I, there is space all around us". An opening night reception will be held at the EC Gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen, Friday, May 14, 2010, 6-8 pm.

Junko Yamamoto’s abstract paintings are based on the idea of Shunyata - a Sanskrit word for “emptiness.” The Shunyata Series represents ongoing memories of texture, color and space. These are meditative, dreamlike explorations of consciousness, colored by the contradiction of fullness and emptiness.

Yamamoto continues to explore her on going theme about space between all of the atoms, spaces between people, objects, air between this room and that room; the glue and energy of the entire universe which is holding us together. She likes to push and pull two dimensional spaces with paint, ink and visual motion to make them with three dimensional depth and extension.

Yamamoto’s abstract art straddles Japanese pop culture while remaining distinctly separated from the crowd. Her Shunyata series, which may become her life’s work, is a beautiful collection that revels in opulent decorative detail.

Junko Yamamoto was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, now lives and works in Seattle. She received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle in 1999.
Yamamoto’s work has been exhibited world-wide. Her works has been shown at numerous places such as: Gallery IMA, Wright Now at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Westcott House, King County Art Gallery aka 4 Culture, Bel- levue Art Museum, SAM Gallery, Kirkland Arts Center, Poncho Foundation, Henry Art Gallery, Gas Gallery (Torino, Italy), Fresh Paint Art Gallery (Culver City, CA), Andrea Schwalts Gallery (San Francisco), Lotus Roots Gallery (Osaka, Japan), J Trip Gallery (Tokyo, Japan), Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho. Her works are included in the collections of Swedish Cancer Institute, Harborview Medical Center, Aspen Hotel Group and Mulvanny G2 Architecture.

Yamamoto has been featured in publications such as The Art in America Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Conde Nast Traveler, Studio Visit Magazine and Art Ltd. Magazine.

Review: Justyna Adamczyk/EC Gallery

Justyna’a Adamczyk’s “New Paintings” is a taut, elegant show of eight roughly similar paintings from 2009. They are all the same size, 23.5 by 27.5 inches, and the same material, washed-out acrylic on linen. They all embrace white space and, at their best, simplicity. They also seem to represent a journey, taken clockwise around the gallery, of an artist discovering and developing her strength. “Sztukas” is the title of the first work, which is an apparently untranslatable Polish word meaning… “something untranslatable.” An opaque white cloud—noteworthy for the absence of opaque forms—rains down a tangle of vines that might festoon a ceramic tile or a teapot, engendering an initial fear that the work is too decorative, too crafty; a fear that is then gradually dismissed. By painting the final painting, “Seriously…,” any sign of the stiff knick-knackery is gone, replaced by two dark washes of varying opacity. A large blob reads as a torso. A second, thicker blob is an ominous, even brutal shape, like a bird pecking out the eyes of a dead man or thoughts forcibly escaping the brain and turning into a comic thought-bubble, mocking and cruel. In between these two extremes is the transition, with each work selectively adding and subtracting elements, searching for the best fit. Cutesy lipstick puckers and seashells are first allowed to exist alone, before being met with threats of violence. The tchotchkes then disappear altogether, but for the remnant bloody splash, and finally a vague remembrance. Adamczyk’s process hones the work to its finest point of expression, leaving me with hopes of the next works to come. (Erik Wennermark)

Through February 13 at EC Gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen

Views of America, views from Poland

Justyna Adamczyk at EC Gallery

By Lauren Viera, Tribune reporter

February 5, 2010

There's nothing quite as refreshing as stumbling upon the work of a bright, young artist who's never before been exhibited in the U.S., especially with perfectly cheery images that offer an instant antidote to a subfreezing, snow-blistered afternoon.

This small collection of new works of Polish painter Justyna Adamczyk is all light and breathy and free, achieved in both her straightforward use of simple materials (acrylic paints; ecru, thinly bound linen canvases) and the lightness of her hand. There is color — sometimes quite a bit, sometimes rather faint — but mostly, there is whitespace, and with it, room for the images to breathe.

Most of Adamczyk's paintings are fantastically abstract, but a handful look like ghostly portraits. "Pale" (2009) is all lipstick: the double-blot of candy-colored lips that practically float in the middle of the canvas look almost as if Adamczyk herself might have leaned forward and planted them there. "Sztukas" (2009) is the most illustrative of the eight on display here. Poufy clouds are painted on an aqua-blue sky just big enough to hold them; below is a lovely, jellyfish-like mess of neatly painted vines and curlicues.

There are visible pencil strokes on several of these canvases, which at first I wrote off to sloppiness, but they come into play in works like "Seriously …" (2009), the starkest of the lot. There's a bare silhouette of gray with a thought-bubble burst of black above, seeping into this ghost-figure's brain. Below, hundreds of tiny, penciled-in exes begin to form the torso. It's intriguing, to be sure, and beautiful.

Justyna Adamczyk at EC Gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen St., 312-850-0924; ec-gallery.com; through Feb. 13

lviera@tribune.com

Justyna Adamczyk : New Works at EC Gallery

By Chicago Art Magazine on Jan 25, 2010 in Featured, Reviews

by jeffery mcnary

“I don’t want to communicate directly with the thoughts of people seeing my art. I’d like to provide a road show which allows for personal reflection”, notes Justyna Adamczyk. Her current exhibition, New Paintings at the EC Gallery is a challenging row toward that ambition.

“In my work, for many years, I have tried many media, but over time I realized that I speak sincerely in the media which is painting. Painting gives me the opportunity to comment on my subjective reality. The work connected with the fatigue of everyday life, trivial but inevitable problems.” Theoretically, at least, she holds that in a highly structured world, there is need to experience spiritual growth. “Painting is my valve, which allows escape and turns them into tame pictures.”

“Cannibal”, acrylic on linen, as in her other pieces,appears spontaneous, with the artist being there, not just copying it. Here her pinks and orange are staggering, as if a silhouette’s hair has been set ablaze. The untreated, grayish brown linen hands the paint over to the viewer. It’s a new romanticism.

Determinately, her shades and stain on the fabric, the pastel rose, browns, yellows of varying tones, read aloud from the cloth, as if having been about for ages. It could be dry blood. It could be cancerous blobs. “I have always been attracted to the works of artists who pass themselves and their subjective view of punk”, she says.

One questions, has the artist returned to adolescence in, “Range of Flavors”, acrylic on linen. Not stating its inspiration directly, rather it plays with color, with shapes, and sometimes brushes about aesthetic presence with thorny figures, rained upon by Jungian dreams and complexes in the form of a lab experiment run wild upon the work. There is a special, different kind of authenticity in this experience.

In these images the viewer finds autonomy and color associations, visions and insinuations. Some appear soiled, and wander off, but hardly into the mundane. There cycles are short, but in there shortness form narratives.

Adamczyk touts Frida, Mark Ryden, Matthew Barney, and Kim Sooja as influences on her work. “These are characters from whom I have learned a lot. They are completely different, in views of reality”, she says. “In addition to this they differ personally and intimately. An important issue for me is the impact on the viewer. I’m looking for language that allows the viewer to feel my idea.”

It is difficult to find excess in the paintings. They’re almost involuntary. Adamczyk’s provocation is at the heart of artistic exhibitionism. “Any idea seems to be perfect when I got it in my mind or on a sketch”, she says, “but the battle begins at the time of transfer…the move to the real picture. I try to be as close as possible to what arises from the first thought or impression.” That, she maintains, is the impulse to the creation of the image.

With her, works are created and driven by a very personal inspiration. They are offerings…to us…and to what remains in each of us individually. This should be appreciated.

The artist’s works has been exhibited in a host of venues including Biennale of Painting “Bielska Jesien 2009, Poland; 9 Contest Gepperta, BWA Awangarda Wrocław, Poland; Joung polisch Painters I-XII, Bestregarts Gallery – Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 30 Premio Internacional de Pintura de Caja de Extremadura; More or Less, Musemu da Ciencia e da Industria – Porto, Portugal and Aula de Cultura de Plasencia. She received her MFA from the The Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, Wroclaw in 2007. This is her first U.S. exhibition.

Justyna Adamczyk : New Works will be on display at EC Gallery from January 15th to February 13th. EC Gallery is located at 215 North Aberdeen Street Chicago, IL 60607.

New Paintings : Justyna Adamczyk

January 22 - February 13, 2010

Opening reception:

Friday, January 22, 6-9pm

Chicago) The EC Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of New Paintings by Polish contemporary artist Justyna Adamczyk in her first U.S. showing. An opening night reception will be held at the EC Gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen, Friday, January 22, 2010 from 6-9 PM.

Justyna Adamczyk: New Paintings will feature works from 2009, including eight oil paintings. In Adamczyk’s work, past lives in present as a memory re-imagined. Her complicated reveries unfold in her artwork, as they re-conceive the past, and expose the emotions as she remembers from her childhood and adolescence. The artist presents her memories in her individualistic style, producing a visual language. Adamczyk prompts the viewer to create their own version of the narrative.

The New Paintings on view retain little of the artist’s familiar imagery, but continue to evoke hope and confidence, signifying that the memories or the past are still fresh somewhere. Color, tone and organic spots of paint are the essence of her painting, holding psychological and symbolical meanings.

Distinct, organic spots of paint which create discreet physiological allusions, splash and splatter in various proportions on the unprimed, fine cotton canvas changing the work into a piece of art which becomes a place of nearly per formative action.

Justyna Adamczyk’s language can be gentle and full of allusions as well as literal. Her painting proves that art is not about building forms, but rather showing the forces which govern them.

In her composition, Adamczyk often chooses one dominant element which takes on most of the impact, drawing attention to itself. It is constructed and positioned among other elements, conveying a strong desire to explain all doubts.

There are many ‘dominating’ elements, but they do not compete with each other thanks to clear rules of hierarchy. Her works communicate a difficult range of topics such as feminism, sexuality, the existence of a relationship with herself and with the world.

Justyna Adamczyk (b. 1981 in Poland) lives and works in Wroclaw, Poland. Her work has been exhibited in European venues including Biennale of Painting "Bielska Jesien 2009, Poland; 9 Contest Gepperta, BWA Awangarda Wrocław, Poland; Joung polisch Painters I-XII, Bestregarts Gallery - Frankfurt am Main, Germany; 30 Premio Internacional de Pintura de Caja de Extremadura; More or Less, Musemu da Ciencia e da Industria - Porto, Portugal and Aula de Cultura de Plasencia. She received her MFA from the The Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, Wroclaw in 2007. Adamczyk was a board member of ArtTransparent Foundation (2006-2008).

For more information on Justyna Adamczyk: New Paintings please contact Ewa Czeremuszkin at info@ec-gallery.com or call 312.850.0924

Art Review: West Loop Trilogy — Part 1 (EC Gallery) by Jeffery McNary

West Loop Trilogy – Part 1
Contemporary Figuratively Themed Works
EC Gallery
Chicago
December 11, 2009 – January 9, 2010

It’s as if couriers have arrived, delivering storms of color and skillfully engineered works to the EC Gallery. With the current exhibition, “Contemporary Figurative Themed Works”, curator Ewa Czeremuszkin, has re-collected and filled full her right-size gallery with the art of both Tadeusz Bilecki and Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut. There’s a bright lawlessness in these handful of paintings, stimulating the senses, and suddenly enabling the visitor to exhale, and to glide from the everyday.

“The paintings, currently exhibited, belong to the ‘Pisz litery’ (‘Write letters’) series. The leading subjects are letters, which I sometimes see in advertisement photography or on billboards”, says Czeremuszkin-Chrut. “My work is very intuitive. I quickly draw specific lines which are my first concept, and which later on I change hundreds of times.”

“Fall Back”, acrylic and oil on canvas’, brings the viewer broad brush strokes blending color, grays and blues forced into purple. There are deep scratches topside through the layered paint. There’s washed pink near its heart with dark, questioning droplets directing toward the deep, the regal purple, the wondering, before shouting loudly, ‘where are you going?’, spreading its fever.

“The, ‘Fall’, series touches upon the topic of two people coexisting and the resulting psychological supremacy of one of them over the other”, the artist shares. “From these, risky combinations and contrasts of colours arise, which only seemingly do not go together.” These works do not wait around for the viewer to catch up. They’re off and fluid and one need leap in front of them.

Her, “Fell Down”, mixed media, brings more purple, and scraping on a broad swath of brown. There are written letters between two figures in this work. “I am often inspired by press, photography and lettering. However, I am not interested in the messages they carry. I dissect them, strip them of their meaning while giving them a new one,” explains. “The elements of lettering included in my works have no communicative value whatsoever, but only a visual one. In a way, they are a manifestation of the modern world. Images just fall into my head and evolve into new ideas.”

The ineluctable works of Tadeusz Belecki are both bold, powerful and have visited upon the gallery in the past. There’s an intriguing texture and immense dimension to his works. They embrace back and kick high. “There are influences, on every moment. They sometimes change the whole artistic searching process. Sometimes even in a drastic way. The influences come from art history or every day life,” he says. His stirring pieces are washed and dreamlike.

“The choice of colours is the result of an evolution, a research process which is always changing, sometimes in an unexpected way. More and more often, there are violent combinations of colours, sometimes accidental,” he continued. “Before, there were more thoughtful, calm, esthetic combinations of colours. Before, I was in search of harmony and balance. Nowadays, the colours I am using are more nervous, stressful, more chaotic.”

Czeremuszkin-Chrut meets that with a game changing, “The limitation of colours? I want my paintings to become sterile, monochrome and very economical. I am also planning to go back to mural painting of large format – contact with a wall arouses very different emotions in a spectator as well as in the artist…texture and scale of a wall are a huge challenge.”

Bilecki’s phenomenal, “The Apparition of the Geisha –suite”, acrylic on paper strayed early on from ready made shades in grid and forethought. The works are pastel like. They are comfortable in the conviction and flavor.

He does not fight for change or evolution in these works. “It is not useful”, he shares. “The need to create, artistic searching is much stronger of me. I am doing it during my whole life, and it is a long time since I stop from thinking about the use of creating, if the creation act is helping me or the other way round.”

Czeremuszkin-Chrut convictions sway differently. “Fighting is involved in each of my paintings because most of them are created through multiple changes of decisions regarding the way of painting (which leads to over painting as a consequence). When matter resists, rivalry and competition are born. The painting resists and demands; it does not allow me to ‘break’ it and shape it.”

Giving thought to future works she sees,”… evolution, and I carry out this process on purpose. I am interested in endless synthesis of human form, in making its personality traits disappear completely, “she says. “I aspire to create a new and individual human form – my own human form. Apart from anonymity, also biology characterized by hidden sexuality, is important to me. I would like to make my work deeper in a psychological sense: a human being as an anonymous entity and at the same time as embodiment of the crowd.”

“I like it very much to observe the evolution of my work, but only when observing the work already done (as if this was already historic)”, says Bilecki. “I never think about it when creating or when preparing my future art works. I have no idea! I leave it, the theoretic art, to redactors and great philosophers, as for instance you,” he shares in jest, “You always have a global look. I don’t.”

www.ec-gallery.com

CONTEMPORARY FIGURATIVE THEMED WORKS: Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut, Tadeusz Bilecki

(Chicago) The EC Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition featuring selections of the gallery's contemporary figurative-themed works. An opening night reception will be held at the gallery, 215 N. Aberdeen, Friday, December 11, 2009 from 5-9 PM. “These highly imaginative works present powerful expression and dynamic composition”, said Ewa Czeremuszkin, curator and gallery owner.

Included are three large oil paintings of Agata Czeremuszkin-Chrut, featuring semi-abstract figure poses, and “The Apparation of a Geisha Suite”, of Swiss based artist, Tadeusz Bilecki, a large scale acrylic. This exhibition highlights Czeremuszkin-Chrut's and Bilecki’s styles. They reflect the nature of the artists, with use of bold color and powerful expression and they invite the viewer to explore the variety of the pieces and their formats.

Agata’s works do not present philosophical or theoretical background. She purposefully eliminates attachments to her paintings, achieving a pure sense of each work. Her strokes, and each extended line or figure, are elements in the temporal evolution of the work. Each has its own specification, each its own character. Her style has been described as a mixture of the new figurative representation and geometric movements of the 20th century, when color was the most important. Agata’s main theme has remained the same - the human body, the works evolving clearer and cleaner as she developed with her work and inspiration.

The prolific Tadeusz Bilecki’s manipulation of elements—the paint itself, its application, and its support—in addition to his attention to the color of a painting’s are boldly reflected in his works. His pieces are characterized by continuous, multiple repainting. His works establish a pattern as if the action itself is indisputably the motive for search after a form which can be modified without any limits in a variety of media and formats. Bilecki uses a mixture of techniques and materials (metal/paper or ceramics/fabrics).

Czeremuszkin-Chrut resides in Poland, and received her MFA from the The Academy of Fine Arts in Poland, Wroclaw in 2008. She is the recipient of the 2007 scholarship UE Socrates-Erasmus -Edinburgh College of Art. She has had solo exhibitions at Sienna Center Gallery, Warsaw, Poland; Dluga Gallery, Poland and EC Gallery, Chicago.

Bilecki’s work has been exhibited at Honen-In Gallery, Kyoto; Calibri Gallery Osaka; and AF Gallery Colombo, and other places. He received his MFA from The Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland in 1976.

For further information and/or images, please contact the gallery at info@ec-gallery.com or 312.850.0924.