See The Best Of Chicago's Emerging Artists At Ground Floor

By Julia Weeman in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 18, 2012 7:00PM

Work by Rachel Niffenegger.

Check out work by the best of local up-and-coming artists at Ground Floor, a biennial exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center that opens this Sunday. The show spotlights new Chicago talent and will feature work from recent local MFA graduates Jeremy Bolen, Guillermo R. Gudino, Julie Renee Jones, Tony Lewis, Andrew Thomas Lopez, Eric May, Rachel Niffenegger, Josh Reames, Casilda Sanchez, Neal Vandenbergh, and Shane Ward.

Ground Floor has earned a reputation for both introducing the most promising students to the professional world and for showing consistently dynamic, fresh work. The show is the brainchild of renowned photographer Dawoud Bey along with Sze Lin Pang, Jason Salavon, and the Art Center's Exhibitions Committee.

Expect innovative multimedia art ranging from photography to video to installation-based work. Many of the artists experiment with unusual materials, such as waterproof polyester in Gudino's prints or the river sediment in Bolen's archival pigment print. Those featured have won numerous awards and grants and have distinguished themselves as artists to watch.

Ground Floor opens tomorrow from 3-5 p.m. at the Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave.