Artist Next Level With Sergio Gomez | Interviews, Resources And Business Practices For The Contemporary Artist

Parallel Lives is created and curated by Luis Martin, Founder and Chief Curator of Parenthesis Art Space currently located at Brooklyn Brush Studios in Brooklyn. The exhibition kicks off in Chicago at Next Level Gallery at the Zhou B Art Center co-curated by Sergio Gomez, Founder and Director of NXT Level Projects. This collaboration invites the audience of both cities to think about art and the Artists that made the work in terms of context and questions the influence of place and time. Furthermore, the PARALLEL LIVES series will create a platform to expand the Artist’s reach to forge a wider sense of community and visibility. Both events coincide with established community art events. The Chicago opening will occur on May 20th, during “Third Fridays”, a longstanding monthly program initiated by Sergio Gomez that has created a robust audience around the Artists at the Zhou B Art Center. The New York opening takes center stage in Bushwick during an annual weekend summer arts festival, that is now a major attr

Julia Haw (b. 1982, Flint, MI) attended Western Michigan University with a concentration in painting.  She is recognized for her highly bold, nostalgia-inducing and memory-staining paintings. She deals with issues rooted in personal life, Midwestern culture and Western Culture at large that delve into feminism, ageism, memory deterioration, death, intimacy and confrontation. She uses oil paint on cotton or linen as her mainstay medium, in order to achieve empathetic coverage of these socially and emotionally shared issues, and has been able to achieve considerable viewer pause through her dedicated work habit, vibrant color choices, straightforward subject matter, and by using people and objects within her community as models.  Haw’s paintings tend to function as highly relatable, ensuing discussion amongst viewers, and bringing the public forum necessarily back.     Her work has been exhibited in such places as the Chicago Cultural Center, IL State Museum, and extensively with Claire Molek.

Enrico Magnani is an Italian artist who is living among Italy, France, and Germany. His first exhibition opened November 1997 in Milan. Until 2006 he worked as figurative painter and after a transition period his work has become exclusively abstract. His original abstract artworks have brought him in few years to international attention and been presented in museums, foundations, private galleries, and public institutions in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, UK, Vatican City, and the USA.   

Lisa was awarded an Artists Residency at the Studios of Key West for 2016. She was one of six artists awarded a two year Residency from 2010-2012 at the Merchandise Mart of Chicago. Her art appears on the cover of NY Times Bestseller, Colum McCann's novel, TransAtlantic, which won the 2015 D&AD Award of Excellence in London, England. Domenic Iacono awarded Lisa Best of Show in the 2014 Less Is More Exhibition at the Mitchell Gallery in Annapolis, MD. She is featured on the Cable TV Show, Artist to Artist, is a multiple Award Winner through Manhattan Arts International, exhibits throughout the United States and has her art in private/public collections throughout the world.  

Alberto Aguilar wrote this biography but will be speaking in third person. For an unexplained reason he has omitted the word art from this paragraph but has made one exception. Alberto is a Chicago based ___ist and teaches at Harold Washington College. He is coordinator of Pedestrian Project a program dedicated to making ___ more accessible and available to all. Currently he is ___ist in residence at the ___ Institute of Chicago. Aguilar's creative practice incorporates whatever materials are at hand as well as exchanges with others. His work integrates his various life roles and has been exhibited at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary ___, the Queens Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American __, the Nelson-Atkins Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of ___.

Maria Gaspar is an interdisciplinary artist born in Chicago. She has presented her work at The MCA Chicago, Jane Addams Hull House Museum, the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, the Alpineum Produzentengalerie, and Artspace New Haven, amongst others. Recently, Gaspar was awarded a Creative Capital Award, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Award, the National Museum of Mexican Art Sor Juana Women of Achievement Award, and residencies at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago and Project Row Houses in Houston. She was featured in the Chicago Tribune as Chicagoan of the Year in the Visual Arts in 2014. She is an Assistant Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Gaspar received her MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Dan Ramirez been exhibiting Nationally and Internationally for over 35 years. A major influence in his work during his formative years was the Minimalist movement of the late 50’s and 60’s and a love for the art of Barnett Newman. Over time, his paintings developed into a synthesis of Geometric Abstraction coupled with the visual aesthetic of Minimalism. Dan tends to see his work as a form of Minimalist/Romantic/Baroque. Dan is in the collections of numerous major museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, The National Museum of Mexican Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, MOCRA, St. Louis, The Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, and Fundacion Llorens Artigas in Spain. There are numerous books and publications featuring his work and he is currently represented in Chicago by Zolla Liberman Gallery.

Mandy Cano Villalobos mingles cultural histories and personal narrative to make sense of nostalgic sentiments and life’s ephemerality. Her materials include dirt, human hair, and pig blood, which she employs as a dual symbol of filth and redemption. In the Sisyphus series, the artist repetitively marks the paper with circular patterns, thus transforming the action of painting into a meditative ritual. Erogenous and mournful, Modern Day Magdalene is a bed of burlap and human hair, a quiet reflection upon the disappointments and desires of an aging woman. Among these pieces and others, Cano Villalobos provides a thoughtful, somewhat sad pause, through which viewers might recognize their own vulnerabilities amidst her visceral materials and the stories she grafts into her work.

070 Artist Edra Soto shares her story and talks about the “Present Standard” exhibition at the Chicago Cultural Center. Edra Soto (b. Puerto Rico, 1971) is a Chicago-based artist, educator, curator, and gallery director. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000, as well as attending Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2000), Beta-Local in Puerto Rico (2011), and the Robert Rauschenberg Residency Program in Captiva, Florida though a 3Arts Fellowship (2013), among others. She recently co-curated  with artist Josue Pellot the exhibition PRESENT STANDARD at the Chicago Cultural Center. With her husband Dan Sullivan, she designed and fabricated THE FRANKLIN, an outdoor project space that they co-direct. THE FRANKLIN has received support from various institutions, including the Propeller Fund. Soto has received a commission from the Chicago Transit Authority, and her GRAFT project will be featured at the Western Avenue stop on the train line to O'Hare

Artist Brandon Graving talks about experimental printmaking and surviving Hurricane Katrina. Brandon Graving is an artist whose focus is experimental printmaking and sculpture. She has expanded and contributed to experimental techniques in printmaking and been at the forefront of creating very large scale monoprints. Her print installation " Ephemera: River with Flowers" , is the largest monoprint made by a single artist measuring 10.5' x 32'. Collected by the Frederick R.Weisman Foundation, this work was on exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.

  With Dordt since 2001 David Versluis has taught graphic design in the Department of Art and Design. Prior to the College, Versluis worked extensively in professional design as a graphic designer, art director and advertising manager. Professor Versluis has presented papers on graphic design at various national conferences including the biennial CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) conferences. Many of his students have received recognition for their design work with regional non-profit clients. Several of his students have produced award-winning projects in professional competitions on the state and Midwest regional levels. Versluis practices graphic design on selected projects and is actively producing prints, sculpture and exhibiting in national and Midwest regional juried art exhibitions. In addition to teaching the graphic design courses, Versluis is the advisor for the pre-architecture program at Dordt College and is director of the Campus Center Art Gallery and curator of the Dordt College Perman

With a zeal for the creative and imaginative, Janice Bond is a communications, programs, and business development strategist specializing in arts and culture. A combination of "Northern edge", "Midwest will", and "Southern hospitality", Bond's forward thinking and high energy approach has been utilized over the past decade in a range of curatorial projects and programs. Her insight has also been an integral part of developing interactive, and creative marketing campaigns.  The debut of her company SAVANT | SAVANT in 2009, began the incalculable journey of Janice leading stellar collectives of great artistic minds and institutions as a consultant. From Dakar to Detroit, local art exhibitions to international music festivals, her continued interest and investments in arts and culture stems from her passion for developing more impactful, shared, restorative, and sustainable creative economies globally. In the community, she lends her time to multiple organizations and institutions as a gracious speaker, board me

Born in Iran to the daughter of a civil engineer, and an educated artist, Sarvin Haghighi experienced great joys, and harsh challenges. In a very short while, the pendulum would swing from privilege and independence to experiencing war firsthand, and the most basic of freedoms revoked. for Sarvin, the answer was art. Sarvin Haghighi merges traditional Iranian art forms with a contemporary sensibility. In combining Farsi calligraphy and Islamic architectural designs with mixed media (including resin and gold leaf) and bold lines and framing, Haghighi affirms the enduring aesthetic of a culture that is too often represented through the limited lenses of war and political turmoil. The meticulous composition of these works share the laconic beauty of Rumi’s poetry, which ultimately works to create and emotionally resonant homage to tradition in the frantic modern world. 

Jenni Prokopy is the founder of ChronicBabe.com, where she draws on her experience with fibromyalgia and other conditions to teach women to live incredibly in spite of illness. She tweets @ChronicBabe, speaks onstage across the country, consults with amazing clients, and wants YOU to have FUN even if you’re sick! For 23 years (the past 14 as an entrepreneur), Jenni has enjoyed success as a writer, editor and consultant to hundreds of organizations worldwide, helping them craft and share their messages. She focuses on working with health care organizations—sharing stories of strength, wellness and inspiration in the face of adversity.

In this episode, artist and gallery owner Dan Addington talks about what galleries want in an artist.  Dan Addington is an artist and gallery owner who has been exhibiting his work professionally since 1992. His paintings have been featured in group and solo shows across the US, and are in numerous public and private collections including but not limited to the Chicago Cultural Center, Contemporary Art Workshop, the Evanston Art Center, the Highland Park Art Center, the Riverside Art Center, the Beverly Art Center among others. Dan has served as visiting artist at colleges across the US, recently exhibiting work and teaching workshops at St. Cloud State University, MN, Ball State University, IN, Arkansas State University, John Brown University, AR, and Judson University, IL In addition to his role as practicing artist, Dan has served as curator and director of various galleries since moving to Chicago in 1995. He has been owner and director of Addington Gallery in Chicago since 2007. Dan has sat on panels and

In this podcast, Sergio & Dr. Yanina Gomez Wrap-Up 2015 and Share Plans for an Online Art Community in 2016

In this episode, you will learn how to keep a positive mindset in 2016. Sergio & Dr. Yanina Gomez discuss five practical strategies to help you choose a proactive attitude for the new year. 

MFA Merit Scholarship The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. BFA Printmaking Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Phila. Pa. Founder and Master Printer at Hummingbird Press Editions located on Chicago's south side. Thomas has published such artists as Kerry Marshall, William Conger, Richard Hunt, Willie Cole and Barbara Jones-Hogu among others. He as taught at Tyler School of Art, The School of the Art Institute Chicago., Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Anchor Graphics, Columbia College, Penland School of Crafts and Ox bow and is currently on faculty at Chicago State University. His own artworks are included in various private and public collections, exhibits nationally and abroad. Recent commissions include the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Chicago Transit Authority.  He is represented by N’Namdi Contemporary Miami-Detroit.

Wesley Kimler was born in Billings, Montana. Largely self-taught, his college campus was effectively a conflation of the streets of Afghanistan, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Laguna Gloria School of Art in Austin, Texas. His work can be found in many collections, private and public. Of his work in the group show Constellations at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Margaret Hawkins --critic for the Chicago Sun Times-- said: But categories hardly matter. Perhaps the most stunning gallery is also the largest and most loosely defined, the room devoted to fantasy. It is anchored by two enormous paintings -- a Chuck Close portrait of Cindy Sherman on one end and Wesley Kimler's tour de force "Umurbrogol," which despite its somber subject features vast swaths of delicious pink and purple paint. Some of the less imposing works here may be as memorable. William Baziotes' "Cat" is a satisfying discovery, as is Brice Marden's abstract meditation on the light and color of olive groves in Greece.

René Romero Schuler is a recognized contemporary artists. Now living in both Chicago and Carmel, CA, Renee is creating powerful images of strength and vulnerability Her work is in the permanent collections of The Union League Club of Chicago, Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA) in Chicago and St. Thomas University – Sardiñas Gallery in Miami. Whether on canvas, paper, or three-dimensional sculpture, René studies the relationship between what is immediately apparent at the surface and what exists beneath. She creates visually powerful images that haunt us with their beauty and truth. René’s work has been exhibited during Art Basel Miami since 2011, and exhibited internationally in Paris, Rome, Paxos and Beirut. She continues to be permanently represented in the United States and in Paris, France. A book, René Romero Schuler: Life and Works, showcasing images of the artist’s thick impastos and striking figural canvases in addition to providing readers a look into her artistic process, was released in 2013.