NEW YEAR, SAME OLD POLITICS, featuring new mixed media work by Fredrick Holland and Dread Scott, will fill Gallery A and Project Room # 1.

Fred Holland, who is on the faculty of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has long been known for political art. He has shown across the US, and been continuously reviewed since 1979. This is his third show with FLATFILEgalleries, by whom he is represented. Past shows were Politically Incorrect in 2002, and Advise and Dissent in 2004, which was listed by New City as a “don’t miss”, during Art Chicago 2004. Formerly a sculptor in bronze, Holland turned provocateur as a form of political expression, often deriving symbolism from Nazi and modern governmental propaganda posters, taking license with maps and globes, and crafting exquisite objects with deeper meanings.

Dread Scott is a Brooklyn artist whose installation What is the Proper Way to Display a Flag received national attention in 1989, when it was shown at the Art Institute. George Bush Senior declared the piece “disgraceful”, and the US Senate denounced the work when passing legislation, 97-0 to “protect the flag”. Scott has shown throughout the US, and has been collected by the New Museum of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum in New York among others, and he has been extensively reviewed in the national press, on television and on the radio.

In The Library, we present ACTS OF MEDITATION, new paintings by Chicago artist Jennifer Sweas, whose textural canvasses are layered and frosted with repetitive faux text. More meditative than obsessive, these pieces are gestural and delicate. This is Sweas first show at FLATFILE. The Library Gallery is dedicated to the exposure of previously un-shown and young artists, consistent with FLATFILEgalleries’ mission of showing artists just beginning their careers.

In Gallery B, Jin Lee and Ann Arden McDonald’s work merge in ALONE IN THE LANDSCAPE. Chicago photographer Jin Lee has shown throughout the US and Korea, Switzerland, and Syria. Her work has been collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. She has been reviewed in over two dozen publications including Art in America, Art Forum and the New York Times. In this show we feature her large format images entitled Sleep. Ann Arden McDonald is a UK born photographer who grew up in Atlanta. In the past ten years, she has had 30 solo exhibitions in 10 countries, and has been published extensively, including a monograph released in 2004. Her work is in the collections of six museums including the Bibliotheque Nationale, The Detroit Museum and The Houston Museum of Fine Art. Her work in this show is comprised of self portraits described by Celine Mayrand of CV Photo Magazine: “…dreams and reality merge, rather than splitting apart…For all their extreme precision, these black and white photographs are imbued with a disturbing lyricism that seeks to evoke the ecstasy that is both distressing and dramatic.”

Project Room 2 will house an installation by Joan Truckenbrod, entitled DARK SHADOWS, CONCEALING STAINS. Truckenbrod, whose work in the past has explored subjects like breast cancer and the alienation of aging, is currently tackling the difficult subject of the war in Iraq. In this installation, Truckenbrod explores stories about the war in Iraq that never surface in the news, having been hidden by the US Government. Wrapping the room in Tyvek home wrap as a metaphor for protection, Truckenbrod exposes the conflict between the content of the newspaper articles filled with lies through the symbolic peaceful nature of origami cranes folded from those newspapers. A longtime faculty member of the School of the Art Institute, Truckenbrod is represented internationally and has shown in Germany, the UK, Turkey, and Canada as well as throughout the US. A monograph, Joan Truckenbrod Portfolio, was published in 2005.

The gallery is open from 11-6, Tuesday through Saturday or by appointment, and is a member of CADA, the Art Dealers Association of Chicago. Full CVs are available on any of the above artists upon request.