JERRY BLEEM
September 6 – October 17, 2020
Reception: Sunday, September 6, 12 ‐ 6pm
Gallery hours Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 1-5pm, by appointment.
Masks and social distancing are required.
Curated by Anne Harris
Exhibition essay by Anne Harris: Jerry Bleem: STILL
List of works in the exhibition: Jerry Bleem: STILL - List of Works
Video Jerry Bleem: YEARNING Emma Lazarus' poem The New Colossus is spoken in a number of languages as Jerry Bleem crochets work from a stripped U.S.A. flag.
Jerry Bleem and Anne Harris Virtual Performance and Conversation on Zoom Saturday, October 10, 2020 from 2:00-3:00 PM
Jerry Bleem, Potholder for a Large Hot Potato When Nationalism Polices the World, 2009, U.S.A. flags, linen cord, 54 x 54 x 3
The RAC is pleased to present Jerry Bleem’s solo exhibition Still, which will take place in both our Freeark and FlexSpace galleries. This exhibition is a continuation of Jerry Bleem’s extended series, Nationalism. Begun in response to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Bleem transforms well-used American flags into contemplative objects. He does this by cutting each flag into a single, narrow, continuous strip which he then crochets into artwork ranging from wall-sized tapestries to palm-sized soft sculptures.
This by-hand process negates the mass-production of the repurposed flags. Instead, crochet evokes earlier hand-stitched banners, ritualistic repetition, as well as ceremonial hand-carrying and hand-folding. The pieces themselves are organically patterned, with weathered color and seductive surfaces. They invite aesthetic pondering and art history connections, from Jasper Johns to David Hammons. Their challenge lies in their relationship to politics and culture.
This work builds on our history of displaying, manipulating and dissembling the flag in celebration, ceremony, fashion, decoration, propaganda and protest. In the end, Bleem’s work is distinct. By using our flag as both material and subject, he transforms it from the symbol of American patriotism into a metaphor for our complicated, contradictory history.
Bleem states, “By rearranging the surface of the flag, I hope to turn it from something familiar into something that must be deciphered. In the process, I hope a viewer might wonder how the flag (to which we ‘pledge our allegiance’) also measures our failure to extend ‘liberty and justice for all.’” --Anne Harris
Jerry Bleem, The Flag of the Un-United States of America, 2006, U.S.A. and Texas flags, 54” x 90”
About the Artist Jerry Bleem is a Chicago based artist as well as a teacher, writer, Franciscan friar and Catholic priest. His work has been exhibited at venues ranging from the Chicago Cultural Center to the Central Museum of Textiles in Łódź, Poland, and is in such public collections as the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) and the Museum of Art and Design (NYC). Awards received include numerous Illinois Arts Council Fellowships, as well as Arts Midwest and NEA Regional Fellowships. Bleem has also been awarded fifteen artist residencies ranging from the Roswell Artist in Residency program (Roswell, NM) to the Lacawac Sanctuary and Biological Field Station (Lake Ariel, PA). Bleem’s writing accomplishments include his regular column “Eye of the Beholder,” for U.S. Catholic Magazine, as well as contributions to Surface Design Journal, Fiber Arts, and numerous other publications and catalogs. Bleem is also Associate Professor, Adj., at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he teaches in the Department of Fiber and Material Studies.
Jerry Bleem, Decorative Nationalism, 2006 through present, U.S.A. flags (each element is a single flag), heights range from 4.5” to 7.5”
Gallery Hours: Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays, 1-5pm by appointment only. Masks required. All of our exhibitions are free and open to the public.
For additional information, visit www.riversideartscenter.com or contact Freeark Gallery Director Stephanie Brooks at sbrooks@riversideartscenter.com
This exhibition is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; and sponsorship from the Riverside Township.