Andrew Holmquist: Video and Editioned Artist’s Books

July 11—August 9, 2014

Carrie Secrist Gallery is pleased to present a summer project by gallery artist Andrew Holmquist on view from July 12 – August 9, 2014. A recent graduate of the MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Holmquist is known for his investigations in abstract painting. For this project, the artist exhibits video and print work as an exercise in unifying his ideas and research across form and media.

Please join Andrew Holmquist in conversation with Matt Morris on Wednesday 6 August at 6 PM. This event is free and open to the public.

In our second gallery, Andrew Holmquist screens three new videos, shown on a loop in the order in which they were created:

Set against a pocked partition, Former Glory (May 2013) venerates 1970s gay iconography. In its abstract use of screens and holes, the work recalls the glory hole as a venue for sexual anonymity and objectification. His face masked, Holmquist appears in the piece as performer, dressed in confusing costume that mixes construction worker, geisha, and abstract painting.

In Shining Shimmering Splendid (December 2013), Holmquist composes objects to create gestures similar to those found in his paintings. As before, the artist performs, but here he is semi-nude, and the references are more subjective. The film’s soundtrack, “A Whole New World” from Aladdin (1992), not only dictates length; it also provides a slick contrast to the clumsiness of the props.

Shot in one continuous take, Painting Time and Space (May 2014) mimics the process of constructing a painting. The rhythmic handclap of the children’s song “Miss Susie” regulates duration, while its singsong lyrics add sexual tension through gay signifiers. In this newest work, the objects and gestures act as characters, and the artist is visible only through the choreography of his choices.

In the gallery’s main space, Holmquist devises a reading room where a set of ten editioned artist’s books will be available for perusal. Created in offset print, the books utilize many of the themes, forms, and colors found in his painting, but address the content with a more direct narrative and representational style. Holmquist presents traditionally bound forms as well as accordion books and puzzle boxes. The ten books will be available in a box set as well. Finally, a new wall treatment echoes the narrative of Holmquist’s newest text ConXion (2014) and ties together the moving and still images on view.

Andrew Holmquist (American, b. 1985) lives and works in Chicago, IL. His exhibition history includes two solo exhibitions with Carrie Secrist Gallery, as well as Slow and LVL3, Chicago; GOLDEN Gallery, New York; Jolie Laide, Philadelphia; and Cumberland Gallery, Nashville. He received the 2014 Carrie Ellen Tuttle Fellowship for exceptional merit in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For more information please contact Stevie Greco at 312.491.0917.