COMA (2006 - 2008)
The California Occidental Museum of Art was an apartment space organized by myself and Annika Seitz. Group exhibitions were generally held for a single evening, and generally unthemed.
DFP-F° (2005)
DFP-F° was the second DFP installment at the Fahrenheit Gallery in Kansas City (MO). Once again I gathered artists willing to tackle the goddess topic, but decided to recruit a couple of Kansas City artists to perform an ambassadorial role in receiving the show. I invited them to treat the exhibit as a sort of invasion, and to deal with it in whatever manner they deem appropriate.
DFP-1Q (2004)
I asked artists to create the "most powerful and sublime" goddess art that they possibly could. It was partially a dare to my friends and peers, and partially a response to the culture atmosphere following the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The show took place at 1/Quarterly (Chicago).
Aka "The New Science Fiction." This was an exhibition of about domestic tending and gardening, but presented under the banner of "The New Science Fiction". The intention wasn't to lure viewers to ponder the relationship between the two themes, but to create a situation for the artists where overtly bizzare gestures could risk striking a sour note, as if trying too hard to relate to the title. The exhibit took place the the Lisa Boyle Gallery.
To say I "curated" this show might be putting it a little strongly. Renee Gory and I create our usual fantasy art in the basement (modeled after a crusty rock club VIP room and an occultic sanctuary). I decided to offer the main gallery upstairs (a large living room) to Chuck Jones, whose gregarious personality would would make him appropriate for filling the most social space.
While giving some small erotic paintings to my girlfriend at a
restaurant, the pieces were spied by a gallery director (and proprietor of
a women's gym) who liked my choice of female muscle as a subject. What I
thought would be an interested diversion from my usual works ended up
being the core of my work for years after.
The Softcore Pornography exhibit was held
at the Century 900 Gallery (Chicago), and the title was a cursory summation of my own pieces. I invited nine other
artists into the show, asking them to apply themselves to the title as
they see fit.
Compound Fracture (2001)
I organized this show at the Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago) -- a continuation of Organic Produce with the same roster plus a few more artists drawn in as collaborators. Since the show would no longer be nested in a medical environment, the "guts" theme became optional -- although I did require that the new works had to springboard somehow from the Organic Produce works.
Organic Produce (2000)
Organic Produce was held at the International Museum of Surgical Science (Chicago). Twelve artists were involved, each asked to adhere to the theme of "guts", given that the museum collection had very little in the way of organic material.
Snake Fist and Crane Fist (1997)
An apartment exhibit including Mindy Rose Schwartz, Renee Gory, Carmina Andreuzzi, and myself.