Emilio Nadales
“Street Photography from my point of view is a time-capsule, unintentional document which interweaves a static past and a continuous present. It is a travel to your subconscious mind, inner self, as much as your past. It is so an unique personal experience that any comment about it from external sources is subjective, irrelevant, and nonsense because your personal experience cannot be analyzed for anybody except you who has created it.”
-Emilio Nadales
Emilio Nadales is an American Artist and Photographer who lives in Chicago. Born in Venezuela, he graduated in Advertising in 1997, and was studying Law, Politics, and Philosophy before moving to the U.S.
Sex Workers Art Show
As both a national organization and a local entity in Chicago, SWOP is an organization dedicated to the central tenet of Rights Not Rescue. To that end, SWOP is run and governed by those of all sexual identities who have been or are currently engaged in sex work. The individuals of SWOP have established a mission of giving voice and empowerment to those engaged in sex work. SWOP works to replace stigma and misinformation with education and advocacy. The political, legal, and ground level ramifications of this work are dedicated to ensuring the rights and safety that any one of us can readily demand and expect in a free society.
– Luna Rail, Agitator Artist / Curator.
Trauma Bodies Birds Waiting For The Bus
Agitator Gallery is proud to serve as a bridge between the overlooked artist and the world.
This group show allowed Sarah Bell, Danielle “Deo” Owensby, Jeff Horwat, and Jen Lau to utilize their voices and speak loud and clear of our current times to a new audience interested in novel perspectives of the world. Trauma Bodies Birds Waiting for the Bus offers a closer look at the vulnerability of our relation with the others.
Trurute
The skateboard as an element that exist between human, planet and movement served a surface for the spiritual art of Trurute.
Trough psychedelic imagery the visitor is transported to sublime aspects of their selves, elevating consciousness and bringing people together.
The Steve Ediger Art System
A retrospective celebrating the life and work of Chicago artist Steve Ediger, who died in 2016. Ediger’s paintings are expressions of an idiosyncratic, and experimental esoteric approach to reality. The body of work produced out of his system is bold and expressive. A mixture of whimsy and mystery, The Steven Ediger Art System is an immersive experience of this artist’s body of work, focused on his most prolific period, between 2014-2016, with a soundtrack of his music.
This exhibit was created in close alliance with Steve’s family to preserve his legacy.
Symbolic Representations of Personal History
Six artists present their personal histories in oil and acrylic paintings.
Curated by Agitator member artist Andrea Kaspryk.
Artists: Noël Ash abriella Boros • Andrea Kaspryk • Jonathon McKay • Kateryna Tkachenko • Xiaotong Zhao
Hard to Kill: Art by Survivors of Sexual Violence
The show featured 26 artists from around the United States and included photography, poetry, performance, film, video, painting, sculpture, and drawing. Community members came to listen to artists present on their work and show their solidarity for survivors. Art is a vehicle for awareness, especially for difficult to discuss topics like sexual violence, and awareness paves the way for lasting change.
Curated by Agitator member Danielle Owensby
Artists: Anneasha Hogan • Ashley Giles • Azul Nogueron • Bill Davis • Carole McCurdy • Deva Suckerman • Geordi Helmick • Jana Dean • Jenna Jo Pawlicki • essica Brackett • Kaiden Dunn • Katina Bitsicas • Megumi Naganoma • Myah Brimmer • Nicole Foran • Oaklee Thiele • Rabia Tayyabi • Rachel Korotkin • Sara Peak Convery • Steve Smith, Tacie Jones • Ty Merton • Yvette Cummings
The Anti-Model Minority Show: Breaking the Myth
Curated by Jean Lau
In the beginning of this year my grandmother passed away. Although she had lived in the United States since 1978, she had never learned to speak English fluently or drive a car, and she was okay with it. She was the cultural matriarch of our family and helped raise us from birth. She was the reason why Mandarin was our first language, why pork stew is our favorite food, and why we learned how to play mah-jong.
As the decades passed, she picked up different bits and pieces of American culture: a passion for recycling, Smarties candies, and watching her favorite show, Wheel of Fortune.
I was born and raised in the Midwest where I was one of two Asian American kids in my class. Throughout my life I have often found myself caught in between two conflicting cultural identities, zhongguoren or Chinese person and waiguoren or American person. (Ironically the word for foreigner is synonymous for American in Mandarin).
This is common among immigrants and first-generation Americans but not something that is often represented in popular culture. I wanted to give my peers a space to voice their experiences while confronting the Model Minority Myth. Simultaneously challenging the idea of what it means to be American and the definition of American culture. – Jen Lau, Agitator Artist / Curator
Artists: Kat Liu • Joyce Jiao • Alice Mao • Archangelo Crelencia • Yi Chun (Maggie) Cheng • Danesh Kothari • Angel AnQi Gu • Marqus Nguyen • Jen Lau
Everything Has Changed:
Life Altering Health Care Experiences in 21st Century USA
Everything Has Changed features work by artists who have experienced — or are experiencing — life-changing health care experiences. The exhibit includes 2D work, 3D work, gallery-hosted video, and an evening of performance.
Curated by Agitator member Gretchen Hasse
Artists: Brett Taylor • Frederick Nitsch • Mason Pott • Meagan Keating • Micah Dillman • Michael Gallagher • Patrick Wilkins • Hamsen Peeler • Perry Danis • Rachel Wallis • Tanuja Jagernauth • Salvador Campos • Sara Peak Convery • Sara Sinuk • Zoë Sapienza • Chuck McNally • Brianne LaPelusa • Carole McCurdy • Jennifer-Hochgesang • Mimi Tolva, Jessica Fenlon • kinnari Vora • Sid Yiddish • Stephanie Sinuk
Immigrants to Go – Alonso Galue
Alonso Galue (Venezuelan, b. 1994, Chicago Based) BFA at the University of Los Andes, is a multidisciplinary artist whose experimental use of traditional painting and sculpture articulates speeches on labor, existential crisis, and totalitarianism. In his Immigrants to Go series, he uses clay to portray the faces of food industry workers on floating plates with actual food. As the exhibition progresses, the food rots, creating an uncomfortable situation for the observer who faces the hidden laborers.
Rostros Indigenas by Miguel Akira Mar
Rostros Indigenas seeks to conserve and highlight the beauty and spirit that exists within the descendants of indigenous people, framing it not only for the present but for future generations to see.
Captured, Sculpted, Written – Ramin Takloo-Bighash
This installation is inspired by Ramin’s childhood in a fishing town on the Persian Gulf and his love of movies. This popup show features a multimedia sculpture, “The Entertainment Center”, built from rope, found wood, and images of Ramin’s favorite Iranian movies, set in a site-specific presentation of Iranian calligraphy. Ramin Takloo-Bighash is an Iranian artist living in Evanston. He learned Iranian calligraphy from his father and from Seyed Reza Beyt Anab as a teenager in Iran. He has lived in the US since 1995.
Figure Tuesdays Exhibit
A showcase of work produced at and inspired by Figure Tuesdays, Agitator’s weekly figure drawing meetup.
Artists: Michelle Cast • Archangelo Crelencia • Dana Fretty • Maranda Gerla • Michelle Grave • Gretchen Hasse • Timothy Inklebarger • Andrea Kaspryk • Sue Kim • Jen Lau • Sam Park • Junad Rizki • Adrian Rockchild • Andrew Rose Vickers
First Annual Gala
The 2019 Agitator Gala Show featured work made by Agitator members. The opening reception was Bahaus themed, with members and the public invited to attend in Bahaus costumes.
Member Artists: Michelle Graves • Gretchen Hasse • Larry Kamphausen • Andrea Kaspyrk • Jen Lau • McDonald Predelus • Luna Rail