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| Above: Mike Rea, right, at Devening Projects for the opening of "Exile on Main Street" on March 9, 2014, with Esau McGhee, left. |
"Exile on Main Street"
March 9 - April 12, 2014
Devening Projects and Editions
3039 W. Carroll Street
Chicago, IL
http://www.mikerea.com/
http://deveningprojects.com/
"For over a decade, Chicago artist Mike Rea has used his bombastic wooden sculptures to conflate notions of working hard and playing hard. Regenerated moments of cinematic horror, science fiction, comedy and drama intermingle with memory to form bizarre personal narratives. Whether the work operates as conventional sculpture or as props within interactive installations and performances, these typically large-scale works sensitively reflect a culture of humor, violence and vulgarity.
Although he continues to mine pop culture and its stereotypes, in 'Exile on Main Street,' Mike Rea is discovering some edgy new themes. Pulling from the margins of literature and films, he’s taking set pieces that one might barely notice moves them front and center. Chain link fences, bathroom stalls and graffiti are meticulously reproduced in wood to become poetic moments of the desired and the strange. Replicated boom mics place the audience on the set, casting them as complicit participants in his production. These objects and sets are familiar; they’re almost clichéd in certain filmic and literary genres. Ultimately, it’s the way Rea uses material from the constructed reality of fiction and places it directly in our own. The result is both funny and unnerving."
Quotation above from: http://deveningprojects.com/artists/also-featured/mike-rea/
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| Above: A detail of carved wood elements in Rea's piece "Moby Dick," 2014. |
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| Above: A detail of carved wood elements in Rea's piece "Moby Dick," 2014. |
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| Above: An overview of built and carved wood elements in Rea's installation "Moby Dick," 2014. |
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| Above: A gallery overview of Rea's manifold installation "Exile on Main Street," in Devening Projects from March 9 - April 12, 2014. |
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| Above: A detail of a carved wood element in Rea's installation "Dalton, Wade Garret, Brad Wesley," 2014. |
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| Above: A detail of a carved wood element in Rea's installation "Dalton, Wade Garret, Brad Wesley," 2014. |
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| Above: Rea's installation "Ahab, Queequeg, Stubb, Elijah, Ishmael," 2014, in background; "Moby Dick," 2014, foreground. |
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| Above: An overview of one built and carved wood element in Rea's installation "Dalton, Wade Garret, Brad Wesley," 2014. |
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| Above: The built and carved wood element in Rea's installation entitled "Brutus, Fideleo, Rocky," 2014. |
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| Above: An overview of the built and carved wood "Brutus, Fideleo, Rocky," 2014, as seen through "Moby Dick," 2014. |
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| Above: The built and carved wood element in Rea's installation entitled "Slight Nipple (Michelle My Bell)," 2014. |
Image (1) March 9, 2014;
Images (2-12) March 22, 2014;
Copyright Paul E. Germanos.
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