archive
Tom Denlinger - Much, Much More Than Previously Imagined
May 16 - June 28, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 2008, 6-9pm
Gallery Hours: Saturday, 11a.m - 5 p.m. or by appointment
CHICAGO, IL - rowlandcontemporary is pleased to present Much, Much More Than Previously Imagined, a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist Tom Denlinger. This exhibition will run from May 16 - June 28, 2008. This is the artist's first exhibition with rowlandcontemporary.
Within the framework of many museums, narrative, as represented through a collection of images and artifacts, is one aspect that helps to frame a seamless, historical concept. Tom Denlinger's multi layered and large scale photographs explore this unique dynamic by attempting to interfere with and redefine historically recognized images and narratives within the context of his studio practice.
Working with landscape related images found in museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, and the Chicago Academy of Sciences Notebaert Nature Museum, Denlinger alters these images by re-photographing them as projections onto fragmented landscape dioramas he has built in his studio. Each of these dioramas is constructed of materials found from the environs of each institution.
For the work Around the Museum of Contemporary Art: Struth, Denlinger selected Thomas Struth's photograph of museum patrons gazing at the Pergamon Altar. Here he takes advantage of two aspects of photographic documents - as icons and as serial ephemera - to exploit a paradox common to both museum and photographic practice. By recontextualizing the image, he exposes not only the notion of the artist inserting himself into the artwork, but also the artists' self-conscious effort to align themselves with established cultural history.
By addressing landscape, culture and photography, Denlinger aims to undermine the bucolic vision and implied timelessness of museum dioramas. The photographs invite close inspection and imbue layers of meaning; while re-presented as flat, serialized and fragmented, his deeply spatial photographs compromise a present moment in which the museum also participates.
Tom Denlinger received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from California State University. Recent exhibitions include Chiese di San Samuele, Venice, Italy, Chicago Academy of Sciences Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL, and Cesare Pavese Fondazione, San Stephano Belbo, Italy. In 2002 he received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Artadia Foundation. Denlinger is co-author of the forthcoming book The Exquisite Corpse: Collaboration, Creativity, and the World's Most Popular Parlor Game, scheduled for publication in 2009.
For more information, please contact the or call 312 421 6275.
