Oh hey thanks @TimeOutChicago #LVL3 (Taken with instagram)
LVL3 Opera?
uhhmmm
![Cool
Chicago students started the art galleries LVL3, HungryMan and Carousel Space Project
Robin Juan, Vincent Uribe and Robin Kang explain how to balance schoolwork with exhibitions
By Lauren Weinberg
Though Medicine Cabinet, a project space housed in a Bridgeport bathroom, is on hiatus, “alternative” galleries—many only slightly less bizarre—thrive in Chicago, and have for several years. Often run by artists, these galleries range from extra bedrooms one noise complaint away from a police shutdown to legitimate live/work spaces. While their missions differ, these venues tend to support avant-garde art that’s harder to sell than conventional gallery fare—and several were founded by students.
“There’d be no way I could do this in New York,” SAIC student Vincent Uribe told me earlier this year, when I visited him at LVL3 (1542 N Milwaukee Ave, third floor; 312-469-0333). The Los Angeles native opened the Wicker Park gallery in 2009, just after he finished his freshman year. A roommate had been hosting exhibitions in the live/work space; when he moved out, Uribe took over, spending two months installing adequate lighting and painting it a standard white. Now aided by associate director Allison Kilberg, a classmate, Uribe has maintained a regular schedule of group shows ever since, and exhibited at Chicago’s NEXT and MDW art fairs.
Uribe and Kilberg want LVL3 to maintain professional standards. Rather than showing work by their friends—a common pitfall—they make sure to highlight artists from outside Chicago, some of whom they find online. “I take a lot of arts administration classes,” Uribe tells me. “We do proper agreement forms. I do [publicity] postcards.” Because he funded the gallery alone for a long time, budgeting was his biggest headache. Sometimes he had to decide whether to advertise shows or buy groceries.
SAIC alum Robin Juan, who cofounded Logan Square’s HungryMan Gallery (2135 N Rockwell St) when she was a student in 2008, experienced similar conundrums. “I’d buy snacks for the gallery on my food stamps,” she admits, “but it’s not like that any more.”
HungryMan has done well enough to allow Juan to open a sister gallery in her hometown, San Francisco. But “when we first started, it was really an experiment,” she recalls. At first, Juan says, HungryMan’s staff would simply tell artists, “Oh, you want to have a show? Cool.” Now, the gallery’s management does extensive research and preparation before every exhibition, conducting two studio visits. It always had a clear mission, however: “We wanted to create a space that…gave artists a lot of freedom. We also thought this would be a great way to create community.”
A desire for community also inspires Robin Kang, who opened Carousel Space Project(1310 N Hoyne Ave) in Wicker Park when she moved to Chicago from Brooklyn earlier this year to pursue an M.F.A. at SAIC. “I thought it would be a great way to meet other students, and begin a dialogue across different media and departments at my school,” says Kang, who encourages her classmates to propose exhibitions. “The first opening had some performance art, and there was a sound installation in the shower.”
Alternative galleries don’t have to last forever. Kang, who wants to focus on her own artistic practice, isn’t sure running Carousel will ever be her primary job. But Juan’s and Uribe’s ventures are shaping their careers. Uribe recommends Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber’s book ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career (Free Press, $16.95) to would-be gallerists. “It goes through really basic things from consigning works to pricing to studio visits,” he says. Still, “There’s a lot of things you have to learn by doing: paperwork, getting artists to ship you things, and dealing with customs.… Having to get something shipped from Canada without being stopped by the border patrol. That was a weird challenge.”](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpxyro4Ug91qzg4fvo1_500.png)
Cool
Chicago students started the art galleries LVL3, HungryMan and Carousel Space Project
Robin Juan, Vincent Uribe and Robin Kang explain how to balance schoolwork with exhibitions
By Lauren Weinberg
Though Medicine Cabinet, a project space housed in a Bridgeport bathroom, is on hiatus, “alternative” galleries—many only slightly less bizarre—thrive in Chicago, and have for several years. Often run by artists, these galleries range from extra bedrooms one noise complaint away from a police shutdown to legitimate live/work spaces. While their missions differ, these venues tend to support avant-garde art that’s harder to sell than conventional gallery fare—and several were founded by students.
“There’d be no way I could do this in New York,” SAIC student Vincent Uribe told me earlier this year, when I visited him at LVL3 (1542 N Milwaukee Ave, third floor; 312-469-0333). The Los Angeles native opened the Wicker Park gallery in 2009, just after he finished his freshman year. A roommate had been hosting exhibitions in the live/work space; when he moved out, Uribe took over, spending two months installing adequate lighting and painting it a standard white. Now aided by associate director Allison Kilberg, a classmate, Uribe has maintained a regular schedule of group shows ever since, and exhibited at Chicago’s NEXT and MDW art fairs.
Uribe and Kilberg want LVL3 to maintain professional standards. Rather than showing work by their friends—a common pitfall—they make sure to highlight artists from outside Chicago, some of whom they find online. “I take a lot of arts administration classes,” Uribe tells me. “We do proper agreement forms. I do [publicity] postcards.” Because he funded the gallery alone for a long time, budgeting was his biggest headache. Sometimes he had to decide whether to advertise shows or buy groceries.
SAIC alum Robin Juan, who cofounded Logan Square’s HungryMan Gallery (2135 N Rockwell St) when she was a student in 2008, experienced similar conundrums. “I’d buy snacks for the gallery on my food stamps,” she admits, “but it’s not like that any more.”
HungryMan has done well enough to allow Juan to open a sister gallery in her hometown, San Francisco. But “when we first started, it was really an experiment,” she recalls. At first, Juan says, HungryMan’s staff would simply tell artists, “Oh, you want to have a show? Cool.” Now, the gallery’s management does extensive research and preparation before every exhibition, conducting two studio visits. It always had a clear mission, however: “We wanted to create a space that…gave artists a lot of freedom. We also thought this would be a great way to create community.”
A desire for community also inspires Robin Kang, who opened Carousel Space Project(1310 N Hoyne Ave) in Wicker Park when she moved to Chicago from Brooklyn earlier this year to pursue an M.F.A. at SAIC. “I thought it would be a great way to meet other students, and begin a dialogue across different media and departments at my school,” says Kang, who encourages her classmates to propose exhibitions. “The first opening had some performance art, and there was a sound installation in the shower.”
Alternative galleries don’t have to last forever. Kang, who wants to focus on her own artistic practice, isn’t sure running Carousel will ever be her primary job. But Juan’s and Uribe’s ventures are shaping their careers. Uribe recommends Heather Darcy Bhandari and Jonathan Melber’s book ART/WORK: Everything You Need to Know (and Do) As You Pursue Your Art Career (Free Press, $16.95) to would-be gallerists. “It goes through really basic things from consigning works to pricing to studio visits,” he says. Still, “There’s a lot of things you have to learn by doing: paperwork, getting artists to ship you things, and dealing with customs.… Having to get something shipped from Canada without being stopped by the border patrol. That was a weird challenge.”
same old same old
lvl3:
Chicago Art Magazine interview part 1
Opening Reception:
Friday, October 22, 2010
6:00 - 10:00 pm
Coffee mugs represent a place of sentimental permanence. Mass-produced and in the homes of many, coffee mugs are an interesting way to gain cultural insight. They have a variety of functions. As an object, they are a symptom of consumer culture and tradition. We buy them, drink, collect and gift them.
In a traditional sense, the technique and material used to craft mugs still remains the same. With ceramics the form for making a vessel is one of the first techniques a student will learn in traditional studio practice. Far removed from what kitsch art signifies, the act of creating mugs in studio practice is very personal and time consuming. However, the tourism and souvenir industry relies heavily on the production of coffee mugs and with pop culture being the largest demand of object ephemera it puts traditional studio practice to shame.
This project showcases the artist and mug as a unit all while confronting the qualities of the space from what is typically expected in a traditional gallery setting. The show is located at LVL3’s temporary project space on the 15th floor of the Merchandise Mart. This project is also being held in conjunction with Chicago Artist Month. The theme this year focuses on the artist’s studio. In this show, mugs are selected by each artist and displayed as objects in lieu of the participating artist. This unique approach provides an interesting opportunity for the viewer to distinguish a perspective on both the collective and singular dynamics of art practice. While focusing on the artist, the show also demonstrates a larger conversation between the similarities and differences in culture and tradition.
text by: Nicolette Caldwell
Alysia Kaplan
Andrew Holmquist
Andrew Norman Wilson
Annie Bielski
Ben Russell
Brook Sinkinson Withrow
Carson Fisk-Vittori
Clara Kim
Clint Enns
Daniel Eatock
Daniel Shea
David Robert Elliott
David Sampson
Dominic Paul Moore
Easton Miller
EJ Hill
Jason Lazarus
Jason Pickleman
Jeremy Tinder
Jessica Bardsley
John Riepenhoff
Kate Ruggeri
Kate Steciw
Katie Kraft
Katy Keefe
Leslie Supnet
Liz Nielson
Lucy Chinen
Marco Kane Braunschweiler
Martine Syms
Mat Rappaport
McKeever Donovan
Megan Plunkett
Michael Sirianni
Nick Nold
Olivia Swider
Patrick Bobilin
Paul Kenneth
Rachel Niffenegger
Randy Sterling Hunter
Ryan Travis Christian
Samuel D York
Sangho Choi
Stephen Eichhorn
