News

Vertical Gallery is very proud to present ‘Textura,’ a solo exhibit featuring multidisciplinary artist and illustrator lefty OUT there.

VIEW THE EXHIBITION HERE

‘Textura,’ which runs from Oct. 1-22 at Vertical’s 1016 N. Western Ave. location, exists at the intersection of art and science, spotlighting lefty OUT there’s signature repeated shapes — a.k.a. “polymorphs,” a term for compressed patterns commonly found in nature — in a wildly diverse range of styles and settings. lefty OUT there will attend the show’s opening reception, taking place Saturday, Oct. 1 from noon to 6:00 pm.

‘Textura’ — lefty OUT there’s first-ever solo gallery showcase in his native Chicago — extends and evolves the artist’s career-long obsession with patterns and textures. The trademark ‘lines’ that recur across his paintings and murals, often likened to cell structures and vibrations, achieve new heights of creativity and craftsmanship in this body of work.

lefty OUT there estimates he has drawn well over a million polymorphs over the course of his career, with no end in sight. “How I draw the pattern is always different as I'm painting the piece,” the artist explains. “There are multiple nuances per line. I'm making sure that I’m keeping it balanced, keeping the spacing the same, keeping the line width the same, and that it's all building off of itself. It’s a process of constant problem solving.”

With ‘Textura,’ a collection several years in the making, lefty OUT there turns his focus to what he calls “wall sculptures” — i.e., three-dimensional, tactile objects boasting uncommon presence and depth.   

“This show embraces the beauty of materials like yarn, fabric, Plexiglas, and wood. One piece might be soft and plush, while another might be hard and concrete,” lefty OUT there says. “Also, the show is interactive. People are going to be able to touch tufted rug pieces and crocheted pieces. They're even going to be able to touch the piece with nails driven into it. It's a much different experience than just looking at something on a wall. It’s going to be intense for some people, but I like intensity — it’s the overarching word in my career.”

lefty OUT there channeled his creativity into playing piano before turning to visual art at the age of 18, taking inspiration from Chicago’s vibrant street art community. The self-taught, left-handed painter spent years crisscrossing the globe in a relentless quest to refine his pattern-dominated aesthetic, eventually making his mark in cities like New York, Miami and London as well as Los Angeles, which he now calls home. lefty OUT there’s portfolio also includes large-scale installations for locations like Nobu, club E11EVEN, Chotto Matte and Chicago’s Ambassador Hotel along with collaborations with brands including Nike, Facebook, Samsung and McDonald’s.

lefty OUT there
‘Textura’
October 1 – 22, 2022
Opening reception: Sat Oct 1, noon – 6pm
Vertical Gallery, 1016 N Western Ave

Email us at sales@verticalgallery.com for the digital collector's preview

Stella Gallerie is very proud to present ‘Anxiety Est. 03,’ a collection of new paintings by Chicago-based multimedia artist Sergio Farfán.

‘Anxiety Est. 03’ (which occupies both Stella Gallerie in Miami and Public Studio in Tampa, and is presented in partnership with Chicago’s Vertical Gallery) features close to three dozen new canvases grappling with the seminal moment in Farfán’s life to date: his family’s abrupt relocation from their native Peru to the United States — a tectonic shift that set in motion his childhood anxiety, but also directly inspired his career as an artist. Farfán will be in attendance when ‘Anxiety Est. 03’ opens at Stella Gallerie on Thursday, Sept. 22, and will travel to Tampa for the Public Studio opening on Saturday, Sept. 24.

‘Anxiety Est. 03’ explores childhood trauma through the lens of Farfán’s signature cartoon-cubism approach, poignantly yet playfully bringing to life the emotions and experiences that reshaped his adolescence upon arriving in America in 2003. Farfán’s parents did not inform him about the family’s relocation plans: in fact, the animation-obsessed seven-year-old boarded their plane believing he was en route to a Disney World vacation. While the aircraft briefly touched down in Miami, the Farfáns continued on to Chicago, where Sergio struggled to adjust both to his new surroundings and to the absence of his extended Peruvian family — a struggle that manifested as crippling anxiety.

“I remember being in Peru and not having any anxiety. I was a normal, happy kid,” Farfán says. “But flying from Peru to Florida and then from Florida to Chicago, my heart started racing and I was nauseous. I was shaking and sweating. It was not until my freshman year in high school that I was diagnosed with anxiety, and that led me to art therapy. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to deal with my anxiety and using art as a form of meditation.”

Farfán credits art therapy — a technique that utilizes creative expression as a means to address a patient’s negative thoughts, emotions and behaviors — for giving him the tools necessary to bring a project like ‘Anxiety Est. 03’ to fruition.

“Art therapy didn’t just teach me how to draw, but also to draw whatever I felt, and to put meaning into it,” he explains. “‘Anxiety Est. 03’ processes what I felt coming from Peru to the U.S. — what anxiety did to me, and how I dealt with it. Each painting tells stories about coming to America: what immigrants experience to come here, and what life is like when we get here.” 

‘Anxiety Est. 03’ represents the culmination of a long and winding creative process. Farfán originally conceived the series in 2017, one of four ongoing collections of paintings he launched that year; in preparation for this exhibit, he completed and reimagined works in progress since five years earlier, concurrently continuing the ‘Anxiety Est. 03’ series with brand-new pieces that delve deeper into his core thematic concerns and demonstrate his evolving mastery of color. For example, both “Color Esperanza” (on display in Tampa) and the ‘Anxiety Est. 03’ title painting (exhibiting in Miami) confront anxiety’s chokehold on Farfán’s psyche, but while the former is serene and contemplative, the latter delivers Picasso-inspired anarchy, complete with appearances by animation icons Tom and Jerry.

“Back in 2017, I was in a very bad mindset. I was sharing very personal stuff in my paintings, and It now feels very immature. So I went back and painted over everything I don’t want people to know, because it’s all behind me now,” Farfán says. “It felt like I was collaborating with my younger self. In fact, it almost feels like we’re two different people, because we all change every day. But I still really like the paintings from back then, because they show a lot of character.”

Vertical Gallery first displayed Farfán’s work in a 2016 holiday-themed pop-up exhibit, and included several of his canvases in its 2019 and 2020 anniversary shows. In late 2020, Vertical presented ‘Looking for Dreams in a Kan of Soup,’ a solo pop-up that explored the artist’s debt to his boyhood hero Andy Warhol while simultaneously embracing a more abstract approach that escaped Warhol’s shadow altogether — an approach that informed the dazzlingly colorful, mind-bending work presented in Farfán’s first full-fledged solo exhibit, 2021’s ‘Five Years.’

Contact victor@stellagallerie.com for sales inquiries.

Vertical Gallery is pleased to release "Binky Inna Bottle", the new print from Bianca Pastel. This new print will be released online Wednesday, September 14 at noon central time.

PURCHASE HERE

“This piece is very personal to me, it is the exploration of caring for my inner child through self-expression. Throughout my life I’ve had trouble expressing myself and communicating my emotions in a way that is effective. Oftentimes I end up feeling misunderstood, invisible or trapped inside a glass bottle of my emotions. It feels as though people can see me but they can’t hear me."

"I think children feel just as deeply as adults but don't have the verbal communication to express it. I use Binky as a muse to express myself and what I’m feeling as a way to heal my inner child and also connect with youth who may share similar struggles. A lot of us grew up in spaces where it wasn't ok to be sad or to just be and now our emotions are bottled up in unhealthy ways. Through this piece I want to communicate that you are seen and heard.” – Bianca Pastel

Bianca Pastel is a Chicago-based artist who envisioned a career in art since the age of 5. Her biggest influences behind her work derive from 90's movies/cartoons, Art Deco, photography, and music. Bianca studied art and design at Columbia College and her experience ranges from doing album covers and children’s book illustration, to animation and graphic design. Her goal with her work is not only to have fun, but also to remind people of childhood memories and provide her audience a feeling of nostalgia.

PURCHASE HERE

Bianca Pastel
Binky Inna Bottle, 2022
19-color screenprint on Mohawk Superfine UltraWhite 160lb cover
20 x 26 in., 50.8 x 66 cm
Edition of 30, signed & numbered by the artist
Printed by POP!NK Editions
$350

Bianca Pastel
Binky Inna Bottle, 2022
19-color screenprint on Mohawk Superfine UltraWhite 160lb cover
20 x 26 in., 50.8 x 66 cm
Artist’s Proof Edition of 5, signed & marked A/P by the artist
Printed by POP!NK Editions
$450

Bianca Pastel
Binky Inna Bottle, 2022
Hand-Embellished 19-color screenprint on Mohawk Superfine UltraWhite 160lb cover
20 x 26 in., 50.8 x 66 cm
Five unique 1/1 Hand-Embellished Printed, signed by the artist
Printed by POP!NK Editions
$1,000

Vertical Gallery is very proud to present ‘Façade,’ a solo exhibit featuring Chicago-based painter and street artist Pizza in the Rain.

VIEW THE EXHIBITION HERE

‘Façade,’ which runs from Sept. 3-24 at Vertical’s 1016 N. Western Ave. location, assembles new paintings memorializing and mythologizing the urban landscapes of days gone by — the often-overlooked places and spaces woven into the memories of Chicago’s patchwork of communities. In conjunction with the show’s opening reception, taking place Saturday, Sept. 3 from noon to 6:00 pm, Vertical also will release two new Pizza in the Rain (PITR) prints.

While ‘Façade’ features Pizza in the Rain’s graffiti-enriched interpretations of buildings from throughout Chicago, the exhibit focuses on neighborhood landmarks in and around Logan Square (the artist’s former residence) and the Old Irving Park area (his current home base).

“’Facades’ are places that it sometimes seems no one cares about, when in fact they hold a deep meaning,” Pizza in the Rain says. “A lot of these buildings are places where I’ve had personal experiences, whether it’s a place I used to visit all the time or a place that catches my eye when I’m on a bike ride. Even though these sites are no longer in vogue, I know they still hold fond memories for many other people, too.”

All the works featured in ‘Façade’ begin with reference photos snapped via PITR’s smartphone. Next he creates detailed pencil sketches — similar in style and scope to architectural blueprints — before commencing work on the final painted piece. “The last step comes as I’m painting, when I bring in personal details and recreate elements of work by graffiti artists I admire,” PITR explains. “Each piece is my fantasy version of how that particular building might look, but I always remain true to its real-world aesthetics.”

The self-taught Pizza in the Rain — an alias harkening back to the artist’s childhood — cites his mother (a professional photographer for 35 years) and father (the force behind a nonprofit established to boost literacy rates among inner-city children) as formative influences. After a teenage dalliance with graffiti art, he pursued a career in corporate America, but rededicated himself to drawing, painting and public art after experiencing ‘Three Sides to Every Story,’ a 2014 Vertical Gallery exhibit featuring the work of fellow Chicago artist Grant William Thye.

Pizza in the Rain made his Vertical debut in 2018 with the trio show ‘Counterparts,’ alongside Joseph Renda Jr. and CROP. A year later he returned to the gallery as the mastermind behind 'Landscapes,’ a group show commemorating a 13-month-long collaborative public art project celebrating the architecture of the Windy City. PITR has additionally exhibited in galleries in Portland and New Orleans, and spearheaded public art projects in Miami, New York City, Los Angeles, Paris and London.

Pizza in the Rain
'Facade'
Sept 3 - 24, 2022
Vertical Gallery, 1016 N Western Ave.

Vertical Gallery is pleased to present French-graffiti artist Ador’s first Chicago solo show ‘No Protected Species’. The exhibition will run from Sept 10 through Oct 2 at Vertical Project Space’s West Town location (2006 W. Chicago Ave. #1R; enter via the alley off Damen Ave.)

Ador lives and works in Nantes in the West of France. He has created his own universe filled with imaginary characters inspired by fairy tales, circus spectacles, and current events. Ador’s goal is to portray the point where the silly meets the serious.

Ador has painted murals and exhibited work worldwide. We have been working with the artist since his first visit to the gallery in 2014.

Ador
‘No Protected Species’
Sept 10 – Oct 2, 2022
Vertical Project Space
2006 W. Chicago Ave. #1R