Local Chicago artist Claire Ashley has an ongoing art exhibit at NEIU’s Fine Arts Center Gallery, through March 28.
Currently, Ashley teaches first year art students at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, while balancing both her family and artistic life. And while she makes Chicago her home, her Scottish upbringing makes an impact within her artwork.
Ever the energetic and exploratory artist at work, Ashley started to make large scale paintings (8 x 8 ft.) of what she thought were abstract grids back in her homeland of Scotland. After her move to the States, and some reflection, she came to the comical conclusion that “they were actually giant tartan paintings.”
Her interest in the grid and its patterns, metaphors and especially structures, may be a reflection of her often chaotic lifestyle. Within the process of creating her mixed-media works of drawing, painting, sculpture, photography and installations, Ashley is seeking “not solace, but space in which to think.” Stimulation, surprise and playfulness are discovered and relished in Ashley’s artistic processes. “I use the framework of content to direct the choice of medium; however, I also like to allow the work to develop through process intuitively in the studio.”
Besides her Scottish childhood, some of Ashley’s artistic influences/inspirations are: Rauschenberg’s paintings, all works by Eva Hesse, Rebecca Horn’s early performative actions with sculptural props, Richard Tuttle, her art students, and family.
Ashley applies found objects, architectural structures, various materials and playfulness to her fun and interwoven artworks on the human condition. Her work seeks a metaphorical representation of humanity’s cultural attachments and endeavors.
In her current art exhibit at NEIU titled Flown the Coop, Ashley’s interest in everyday materials as a way to talk honestly (of the human condition/choices made, weight carried, structures formed to create order, and general chaos) is represented in fun and interesting ways. The remnants of Ashley’s family’s cereal boxes form a collage of interwoven recycled strips, forming a giant human face that looks out at the audience. Another entire wall hosts little plastic army men and other small toy figures sprinkled throughout in compromising situations; mostly tucked in/around toothpick barricades, and at times encased in wax. Interlaced strips of photos and paper form squares with openings/voids found within their centers. An eye-catching, cheerful, pink blow-up curtain is hung from the ceiling, with the bottom-pleated cuts complementing the jagged toothpick bottoms of the toy soldier wall series. Lastly, be sure to check out the tracing paper cut-outs that are grouped together behind the desk area of the gallery.
Ashley’s work is an innovative and fun way of poking holes in society. At the same time, the deeper messages and metaphors need a closer inspection than just a first glance. That is where the big picture presents itself.
Claire Ashley’s current exhibit can be viewed until March 28 at the Fine Arts Center Gallery.
Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday, 11-6
773-442-4944
www.neiu.edu/~art/gal.html