Ani Afshar, CLIMBING TREES GREY SKIES

WINTER INTO SPRING
THE MARVELOUS WEAVINGS
of ANI AFSHAR
click here to read the blog

Ani Afshar, SMILE (detail)

Ani Afshar, Stories (detail)

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Taurus Omega, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Kostis Georgiou w/Connie Mourtoupalas, President of the Hellenic Museum in Chicago at a luncheon at Hilton | Asmus Contemporary

Kostis Georgiou, Thesis, 18 x 24 x 5 cm

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Arica Hilton in front of "WHATEVER IT IS" mirror with poem. Meltem Aktas and Sven Asmus in the background.

I FLOW LIKE WATER II, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

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REFLECTION, sculpture

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Sven Asmus moves from Rolls-Royce showroom to art gallery...
Click here to read the rest of the story

DENNIS MANARCHY

METAL

on exhibit at 
Hilton | Asmus Contemporary

Dennis Manarchy "Girl w/Blue Glasses" from the show "METAL" opening reception September 7 at Hilton | Asmus Contemporary

TURKISH TEA WITH ANI AFSHAR

ARTIST TALK

SATURDAY, MAY 11
2 pm to 4 pm

WEAVING GARDENS 
CASTING SHADOWS

silk & mohair weavings, tulle constructions

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KOSTIS GEORGIOU 


PIXELS
PAINTINGS & SCULPTURES

CLOSING RECEPTION 
AND TALK ABOUT THE OEUVRE 
of KOSTIS GEORGIOU
2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward 
appearance of things, but their inward significance." -Plato

A pixel, short for picture element, is the smallest element of an image that can be illuminated or darkened.  And so it is, with the paintings and sculptures of Kostis Georgiou.  Infused with an alchemy of brilliant colors, these smallest elements burst with emotion and lyricism.  Please join us as we welcome Kostis Georgiou to Chicago for an exhibition of his paintings and sculptures following his 5-museum tour in China.  

Exhibition runs through April 12th, 2013

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BODY & SOUL
PART II

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11
5:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Hilton | Asmus Contemporary | THE SOUL
Jennifer Norback Fine Art  | THE BODY 
Addington Gallery | WHERE THE TWO MEET

paintings, poetry, video by ARICA HILTON
sculpture by
BELGIN YÜCELEN, ÇETIN ATEŞ, 
 jewelry by TAMMY KOHL

The next chapter in this collaborative exhibition between three galleries addresses the themes of symmetry, color and an deeper exploration into the history of birth through death (or transmutation of energy). 

ARICA HILTON & SVEN ASMUS at opening of BODY & SOUL, Part I

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WHAT IS SOUL? 
By Arica Hilton

 "How does an artist visually define SOUL?  That was the challenge when I began the exploration and connections of SOUL, combined with and exclusive of, BODY, for my December exhibition at Hilton | Asmus Contemporary.  I have always painted, whether on canvas or in my poetry, an interconnection between the human being and the universe, as in my series, WHERE STARS ARE BORN.  That was the beginning of a lifelong search for the origins of life, my own, and in general.  So where is the link between the elements that comprise a nebula, those clouds of dust and gases in the galaxies far, far away from our earth AND the human SOUL  We know that without the creation and destruction of stars, we would not physically exist.  What is the underlying relationship between that realm of spirit and the physical aspects of the world we live in?  Can we quantify SOUL?

In many mythological, religious, philosophical, and psychological traditions, SOUL is considered incorporeal (meaning, without a body)  and, in many conceptions, the immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object. In ancient Greece, AIR was considered to be incorporeal (movement)  as opposed to EARTH (solid).  The Catholic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, attributed "soul" (anima) to all organisms but taught that only humans are immortal, as in #6 of the Webster definition above.  Other religions teach that all organisms, not only humans, such as animals, plants, rivers, mountains and natural phenomena possess souls. This latter belief is called animism,  where there is no separation between the spiritual and physical world. And then there was Carl Jung, who described the anima and animus as elements of the collective unconscious, a psychic awareness that exists by an accumulation of experience by preceding generations.

So what does this all mean to me?  Is the soul a manifestation of the essence of life? Does it materialize from the mind process? Or is it a separate "thing" that exists in our bodies that the ancient Egyptian Goddess Ma'at can weigh on her scales of truth and justice when a person dies.  

"I have always believed in the centers of the body that collect and distribute energy. I believe that we, as physical beings are more than a collection of atoms, molecules and cells.  We have a brain that is stimulated by thought. But how is thought actually manifested in our brain?  And what about the process of the heart?  Many of us "think" with our hearts, or often with our "gut."  We have the ability to distill feelings and thoughts through various organs of our bodies.  Where and how does that apply to SOUL?  Can we differentiate how the ultimate nature of our spirit interrelates with our bodies?  These are questions that have perplexed me for years. 

When I think of SOUL, I cannot help but think of the word, LOVE.  To me, LOVE is the connector of everything, the link to life, so to speak.  In my poetry and paintings, each is infused with that recognition, in connection with the earth, the air, the stars and beyond.  Perhaps I subscribe to the philosophy of Animism.  All aspects of the elements that comprise the universe permeate through my works.  As far as I am concerned, searching for Soul is searching for Love.  Contrary to popular belief, I believe LOVE is the "grounding" force in  life.  So many people think of love as a weakness, not a strength, as an ethereal, transient, figment of one's imagination.  Very much like SOUL that people think of as an ethereal, elusive, mist of some sort that is separate from the body.  I think the chemistry between LOVE and SOUL is unmistakable, interchangeable. If we believe in a faith-based definition of Soul, then Love is  inexorably intertwined with that concept and thus, the Body becomes the vessel for the intermingling of these various dimensions of consciousness."...... ...to read more please click here

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HILTON | ASMUS
SCULPTURE COLLECTION

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DONALD SULTAN with ROBERT CREELEY
"VISUAL POETICS"

In the tradition of Blake, Morris and "Les Livres des Peintres", "VISUAL POETICS, THE ART OF DONALD SULTAN, 1999, hales from the acclaimed series, Master Contemporary Books. This 17" x 22.5" volume is hand silkscreen printed on museum quality, 300 gram archival Coventry rag paper, Smythe sewn and hand casebound in black Brahma leather, wrapped with a high quality and enduring hide. This limited edition fine art book is in the collection of Museum of Modern Art and along with numerous other museums.  

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ANI AFSHAR
FROM ISTANBUL 
TO CHICAGO

As a child I had always been interested in making things and looking at art.

In my twenties I discovered weaving as a medium and taught myself all that I needed to know to create what was in my imagination. At the time I was also living in Iran and discovering the rural crafts that fascinated me.

Everything I weave stems from an impression, a mood. The first stage is a rough drawing in which I try to capture the the feeling of a moment through notations, shapes and divisions of space. When I start a piece, I select the colors and try to match them with a sketch. Once the work is on the loom, I follow the chosen colors and overall division of space as closely as possible. The next stage – the details- are more spontaneous; I usually know where things are going to be, but not exactly what they are going to be. These develop instinctively with colors, beads and textures. In weaving one is always going forward. I work with very basic techniques using the textures and colors as a palette. Once I have woven, I don’t go back and unravel or embellish; everything is created on the loom. 

My jewelry collection was developed for the high fashion mass market, with the vocabulary of weaving and embroidery that was familiar to me while keeping in mind the demands of the end user and the market.

The Tulle Constructions are the product of many small projects assembled into one; and at other times they stand alone. They don’t have the restrictions of a medium or an end user. 

I was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1946, went to school in Switzerland when I was twelve. There I met my husband from Iran there, and came to Chicago in 1966, always navigating between these four countries either for long vacations or to live. Although I was brought up in a very contemporary environment, the Middle East was always attractive to me. I am sure that my subconscious is flooded with all the cultures that I was exposed to and, without my express intent, they undoubtedly show up in my work. 

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FROM ATHENS TO CHICAGO

Kostis Georgiou was born in 1956 in Thessalonica, a town thriving with life and activity, and the second port of Greece. 

After his secondary schooling in Athens, he went on a quest to find his identity. For six months he tried living in Sweden but missed the heat. He went to Florence to study stage design, and then returned to Athens where he went to Art College to study painting and sculpture under Pr. D Mytaras and Pr. D.Kokkonides. He finished his studies at the Royal College of Art in London under Pr. Peter de Francia.

After his wanderings, he decided to settle in Athens where he felt at home. From 1988 to 1991 he taught painting and stage design at the L.Stavrakos School of Cinema and worked for theatre and the Greek television company ERT. At the same time he continued to paint and sculpt. Soon this is all he did, devoting himself to his art, preferring his work as an artist to more lucrative activities at that time. It was a necessity for him to create and bring forth forms from his soul and being. He likes both painting and sculpture and has the incessant need to go from one to the other continuously. For him, they both express the same tension. They are not soft but have a declamatory style, majestically orchestrated, with bright, frank,unrelenting colours, the space inhabited by people and animals. This theatricality is doubtless due to Georgiou’s years of training and experience.

Recent pictorial works by the artist use the same artificial settings, breaking away from traditional methods of composition. Georgiou creates another universe where the onlooker can grasp the silent language of colour and form. His palette in much of his work, is reduced to primary colours and black, (considered to be the absence of colour yet used as one). This simple use of yellows, reds, blues and black, bring an emotional intensity to each stage, almost film-like, in his canvases. The spectator is invited to enter and participate in the action taking place. For example, works such as  Domina, Tempus, Optimus, Stasis and Ecce Homo on three levels: the setting of the scene, the scene itself and in the semi-dark background where one guesses that something is happening.  Even more lively and interactive is the rather dark canvas Dreams  which shows a diver. Here Georgiou brings us into his own thoughts. He considers that a creator is not an artist but someone who dives into deep waters to translate an original and indefinable work. He is one of those artists with an insatiable appetite for creation.

When he feels the intrinsic need to turn to sculpture, a means of changing medium, he is driven by the same passion, to reposition and open his paintings to other perspectives. He began sculpture when he was twenty-four years old and held his first three dimensional exhibition in 1986. Everything is created from beginning to the end in his studio. He is the only person who touches his sculptural pieces. He tries to master stainless steel, sheets of iron, aluminium, and more recently, bronze. He solders, hammers and paints. It is only for work in bronze that he refers to a founder. Today he makes new sculptures. They are conceived to become monumental works installed in towns, making the environment a more beautiful and pleasant place for the inhabitants. The three bronzes Phylax, Galileo, Epiphanion are remarkably simple with great purity of line and a minimalist structure. In contrast, the Thesis and Stasis, types of strange, almost human, animals, transport us into a fantastical land. While Motion, Bridge, Dancers and Acrobats are more lyrical, lively and theatrical.This is doubtless Georgiou’s way of transporting us into a new world.

Pick Keobandith
Docteur en Histoire de l’Art – Ph.D
Director of Qu Art
October 29th, 2012

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BODY & SOUL 
CLOSING RECEPTION

ARTIST TALK 
hosted by ELYSABETH ALFANO  
(FEAR NO ART & THE DINNER PARTY)
 Special Guest, 
actress NORA DUNN

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
 (Doors close at 7:15 when filming begins) 
click here for more information

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Sven Asmus & Arica Hilton with Ray & Denise Drasga, in front of the painting they purchased, "ONE DAY LIKE RAIN"

Arica Hilton, SOUL LIGHT, Mirrored Cubes, Swarovski Crystals, Styrofoam, Wood

John Jostrand, Sven Asmus, Dennis Manarchy, John Clark, looking up in rapt attention at SOUL LIGHT, the mirrored cube, Swarovski Crystal installation by Arica Hilton

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ÇETIN ATEŞ  
SCULPTURE

Çetin Ateş's sculptures are a profound yet playful addition to the upcoming BODY & SOUL exhibition. The sculptures echo the kind of inner reflection the show hopes to inspire among viewers, delving into worlds beyond the tangible.

Sculptures such as COURAGE OF THE SHADOW resurrects the Greek myth of the daimon--benevolent guardian spirits which provided guidance and protection to individuals they watched over.  The representation of the daimon in this piece is mystifying and enables a spiritual realm to exist in our reality. 

Ateş's work provokes an assessment of one's past and future, fitting beautifully into  the upcoming celebrations of rebirth during Christmas and the new year.  METAMORPHOSIS is a sculpture that encompasses these gestures as a man literally climbs to his desirable state--a heavenly being. 

The title evokes this magnificent change from one self to another--a process in which we all strive to take part.  The sculptures provide a way for viewers to remember not only their mortality, but the spirits within them, awakening for another wholesome year.

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COURAGE OF THE SHADOW, honed metal sculpture

METAMORPHOSIS, honed metal sculpture

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I AM OCEAN, honed metal sculpture

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