PARALLELS Opens This Friday At THE MISSION

By Julia Weeman in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 23, 2013 4:00PM

This Friday, Part 1 of PARALLELS // A Collaboration with ACRE Residency opens at THE MISSION. This two-part exhibition will feature new work by ACRE residents Joshua Albers, Celeste Cooning, Yhelena Hall, and Heather MacKenzie.

Part 1 of the exhibition will feature work by Celeste Cooning and Heather MacKenzie. Cooning is a Seattle-based artist whose interest in pattern and ornament led her to explore the medium of cut paper. She creates oversized decorative motifs with a stylized nature intended to conjure sensations of wonder. Her body of work, The Power of Three, features draped, hand-cut geometric cutouts that reference the Japanese hemp leaf pattern, Asanoha. The triad configuration of her work explores astronomy, methods of maritime navigation, and the exponential growth and expansion of the universe. MacKenzie is a Chicago-based artist whose work investigates systems to confront ideas of abundance, logic, and waste. She creates art that challenges the perception of conventional craft materials and the traditional themes of femininity and domesticity associated with textile and stitch. Her installation, FATHOM, investigates petroleum-derived fibers. Discarded acrylic sweaters are wound into hand-rolled balls that correspond to the depths of deep-sea oil wells.

Part 2 will feature work by Joshua Albers and Yhelena Hall, and will open Friday, August 2. The artists share an interest in the physicality of the human body and present investigations of the relationship between experience and perception. Albers is a Chicago-based artist whose work uses information technology and explores the poetic potential of re-purposed consumer hardware, with a focus on the Microsoft Kinect. His work examines methods of mapping the shape of information to understand the experience of human perception. Hall is a Chicago-based artist who uses raw and manufactured materials to explore the relationship between space and identity. She creates intricate structures that employ natural phenomena to evoke contemplation of common architectural forms. Hall's project, Un-distant Flights, is inspired by the human desire to fly. The work incorporates video and a 3D model of a bizarre flying machine from pre-Wright brothers aviation history, and brings the experience of flight to the viewer.

PARALLELS Part 1 opens this Friday, June 28, at THE MISSION, located at 1431 W. Chicago Avenue. The opening reception will be from 5-7 p.m. and the show will run through Saturday, July 20. Part 2 opens Friday, August 2 and will be on view through Saturday, August 24.