April 13, 2024
Elgin ArtSpace Lofts
51 S Spring St, Elgin IL 60120
loop and repeat is an art exhibition featuring area artists who highlight fundamental elements of music and picture-making.
Experimental musicians and picture makers will showcase loops and repetition as the basis for their work, despite new technologies for mass production polluting digital spaces.
The exhibition explores how technology has changed people's engagement with music and pictures, and how artists can help shape a better future for social media and digital consumption.
Adrian Mesino (Co-Curator)
Artist/Illustrator living in Elgin, Illinois. His interest in local art drives him to experiment with low-resource art exhibits during his Elgin Art Space Lofts residency. Collaboration with local artists is central to his curatorial practice.
Matt Gilleran (Co-Curator)
As an artist, Matt studied baroque music, "World Music" and modern pop. He is a guitar player and musician.
Pink Slip Zine (Co-Curator)
Pink Slip is a grassroots collective of DIY zinemakers and artists based in the Chicago suburbs. The goal within their magazine is simple—to spotlight underrepresented creatives and to create a space to share ideas and art. We’re here to nurture our community and show what we love about the Midwest.
Musical Performances
The Nunnery (Sarah Elstran)
It begins with one voice, layered upon itself becoming a lush soundscape. The Nunnery is an independent musician who bridges the gap between bright-eyed pop composition and hands-on atmospheric live layering of voice. Her vocal loops give us the kind of detail and wide multi-octave range that we might come to expect from a marquee pop star, while her production decisions continually keep us guessing as to what rabbit holes her tracks might fall into next.
Aux Chord (Matt Gilleran ft. Tyler Buck)
Aux chord is a musical project where I attempt to synthesize the known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns — mixing electronic and analog to get the brain and body active. Tyler Buck accompanies on drums for this special performance.
Ceruleum
Listen to their new single 6pm by Ceruleum on Spotify. Ceruleum is a shoegaze band from Elgin, IL.
The Art Work
Tim Ramirez
Hydrosonic Light Show (displayed via TV video)
Tim Ramirez was born in Silvis, IL and has been living in Chicago for 9 years and working as a live visual artist for 3 years. Primarily, I create analog imagery for live bands and events acting as an extension of the music performance, fully immersing the audience in a psychedelic experience. I’m always seeking new ways to use my art in unexpected and experimental ways, while maintaining an analog presentation. All visuals are made with vintage A/V equipment including slide projectors, overhead projectors, hand painted 35mm slides, liquids, found objects and hand made do-dads. This is an art form that emerged in the late 50’s and I feel it is important to keep analog and hand made visuals effects alive in an age of a mostly digital landscape.
Zine Wall
Featured Work
Pink Slip Zine - Selections from (Anthology)
Themselves Press - In A Pickle (Printed Zine)
A. Hester - Cueball vol. 2 (Graphic Design Zine)
Grachki - Grachki vol. 2 (Graphic Design Zine)
Annie Hex - Ungrabbable (Collaged Zine)
Vales Madre - Trauma Brain (Poetry Zine)
Nat Stellato - Chaos (Photo Zine)
We will be having a special screening of Under the Rainbow Umbrella by Kenzie Jean at 6 pm to kick off the show.
Kenzie Jean
Under the Rainbow Umbrella aims to explore emotions on a spectrum of color. Through wardrobe, film, and music, this production is a multi-sensory experience that aims to engage and immerse the audience in the spectrum of Kenzie's emotional journey. From fear, anger, and sadness to joy and peace, Under the Rainbow Umbrella is a short film and art therapy project, emphasizing art's therapeutic and transformative power.
Picture of Natalie Pivony (left) and Emily Baughman (right), two painters living in Elgin, Illinois.
Emily Baughman
Energy flows and matter cycles. This is a fundamental belief of the universe and acts as a central theme in my work. Through art, I have always married my love of science, life, and loss. In my current series of work, Bright Grief, I focus on the parts of loss that follow you into the everyday moments of life.
Grief will never end, but it doesn’t take away from the beauty of life. In my art, I express this feeling through the use of juxtaposition; mixing bright colors and disturbing subject matter. There is rebirth after death I try to capture that doesn’t make the loss any less painful, nor should it.
Feelings deserve our respect. Sit with them. And understand them.
Natalie Pivoney
My current series of oil paintings feature surprise compositions I caught on my phone during everyday instances - a night out at a bar, a party, working in my studio, or sitting on the couch. In these compositions, I found joy in pushing around oil paint to create illusions of depth or form. I’m thrilled with the effects of light and color on everyday objects and obsessed with the abstract translations that happen alongside illusions of realism.
Adrian Mesino Illustration
Artist/Illustrator living in Elgin, IL. Mesinos' focus is watercolor painting. His most recent body of work experiments with the chemistry of commercial artist materials and the relationship between watercolor, gouache (opaque watercolor), and the paper support. The goal of these paintings is to express the mediums’ distinct quality and distinguish watercolors' potential to make bold pictures with an unduplicated effect.