[Chicago] within(Reason): a contemporary art and photo space is proud to host Gestures In a Blender, a solo exhibition of works by Chicago artist Justin Santora, opening Friday, May 8, 2009. The free event is in conjunction with Pilsen's popular 2nd Fridays gallery open house evening. More than 35 neighborhood galleries will be open to the public for free.
Justin describes his approach to his current body of work as follows:

My subject matter is often ordinary or mundane, sometimes humorous, and occasionally nostalgic. In the last year, I have been fortunate enough to have found a voice in both the personal and cultural themes I address, as well as in the medium of screen printing. Lately, I have been drawn to the concept of artificial flight. The very idea that one can take common materials – canvas, aluminum, fiberglass, a sheet of notebook paper – and create structures that defy gravity is infinitely inspiring. Manmade structures of flight inherently serve as an affront to the forces that aim to keep us grounded, particularly as we grow older. Through art, I am pursuing my own little place in this world. The subtext is that I retreat ever faster from the adult life I’m working to avoid – that is, one of assimilation and sacrificed autonomy.
To be clear, I am less interested in preserving youth or adolescence than I am with resisting archetypal adulthood. From the professional workplace to our elected officials, I regularly see so-called "adults" act with profound sanctimony, hypocrisy, and sycophantism. I have grown increasingly uncomfortable with societal expectations to abandon fundamental moral principles for social complacency by somehow coming to accept the insanity of the world as "just the way things are."
Through doctrines made ubiquitous by corporate media, platitudinous sloganeering, fashionable apathy, and the marginalization of dissenting opinions, we are taught to be subordinate as we work and act against our collective best interests. And we’re taken along on witch hunts, wars and every imagination-stifling reality show in between.
Therefore, from whatever recesses of the margins I currently operate, I seek to undermine this culturally issued set of instructions – the corrupt and sinking ship we are all coerced into boarding – in every gesture, no matter how insignificant.

The show opens Friday, May 8, with a free reception from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., and will be open by appointment through May 20. Admission is free. For directions and map, click here. To inquire about a viewing by appointment, or for all other inquiries, email ron (at) artwithinreason.com
BONUS SHOW: In addition, tonight only we are pleased to stage "More Hope In a Hard Place," a group show with contributions in various media from 20 artists and photographers, to raise funds for the library we support in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. For a preview of works available, all under $75, please visit our Flickr page. If you'd like to reserve something in advance, email us!


Thanks for your interest in this web site, in our exhibitions, and in the change we are helping to create in Kenya!