3/25: SLOW DANCE // new works by MATT AUSTIN + EJ HILL
SLOW DANCE
new works by MATT AUSTIN + EJ HILL
MARCH 25-26, 2012
Opening Reception: Sunday, March 25, 4-8pm
Open Hours: Monday March 26, noon-4pm
ACRE Projects
1913 w 17th Street, Chicago 60608
Matt Austin, Bird Hanger, Archival Pigment Print, 20×24″, 2012
SLOW DANCE
There are innumerable instances in one’s lifetime when a decelerated pace is not only necessary but inevitable. These moments may appear under the guise of an injured lower back, resulting in a perfectly-timed bout of rest and relaxation; they might appear as a mid-day cell phone battery death, granting one the opportunity for a temporary and guiltless disconnect. On the other hand, there are the times when days quickly become nights that become days (which become days all over again). However, these differing moments share the same seat of significance. They are to each other as the up is to the down, as the inhale is to the exhale.
On March 25, Matt Austin and EJ Hill come together at ACRE Projects for SLOW DANCE, an exhibition of new works highlighting the negotiation of individual positions within a given union. Through photography, writing, and drawing, Austin and Hill dissolve boundaries between what are typically viewed as dichotomous relationships, in order to highlight their complementary nature. In a constant back and forth and sway from left to right, Austin and Hill lead and follow, while committing (and submitting) to synchronous (and separate) rhythms.
At the opening, the artists will be present with their new collaborative publication titled “/”. The / publication is a 60-page book comprising drawings, writing, and photographs printed in an edition of 30; each copy is signed and numbered.
MATT AUSTIN (b. 1986, Hartford, CT) is currently an artist and educator based out of Chicago, IL. He received his BFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2009 and is teaching for the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Senn High School, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lillstreet Art Center, and Hyde Park Art Center. He has recently been involved with various community projects including the ACRE Artist Residency Staff, a co-founded art installation project known as TAIST, and an experimental pedagogical project The Mountain was a Gift. His photographs have been exhibited widely, including exhibitions at the Catherine Edelman Gallery, NEXT: Invitational Exhibition of Emerging Art, the MDW Art Fair, and the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sullivan Galleries. He recently received the Illinois Artists’ Council Grant that will fund the publishing of his book Wake that will parallel that body of work’s inclusion in the kids are all right, a large group exhibition at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in October 2012 that will travel to the Weatherspoon Art Museum and the Addison Gallery of American Art through 2013.
More information about Matt Austin can be found at www.mattaustinphoto.com
EJ HILL is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. Much of his work incorporates his own body, exploring its physical properties and limitations as well as its role in cultural signification. Recent exhibitions include One Inch Punch (Los Angeles),dream, in, the, act at Kunz, Vis Projects (Chicago), Overkill at The Mission Projects (Chicago), and One-Day Performance at LiVE WORK (San Francisco). EJ earned a BFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2011 and is a current MFA candidate at UCLA.
More information about EJ Hill can be found at www.ejhill.info