CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Recognition and reading are the themes of two artist-organized group shows on view Oct. 28 through Nov. 26 at I space, the Chicago gallery of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• "Value" features sculpture, jewelry and tools by U. of I. alumni artists Ian Bally, Frankie Flood and Hye-young Suh. Organized by U. of I. art and design professor Billie Theide, the show includes Bally's sterling silver cast from plastic cutlery; Flood's stylized pizza cutters, inspired by outlaw biker culture; and Suh's elegant, elaborately crafted necklaces fashioned from junk plastic, bottle caps and fake jewels. According to writer Polly Ullrich, the pieces included in the exhibition "are vehicles not only for everyday use but also for concepts, for analyzing issues and for questioning mainstream culture.
• "Pages," curated by Buzz Spector, professor and chair of Cornell University's art department and former U. of I. professor of art and design, includes works by artists who interpret the page as a conceptual armature.
The exhibition is the second in an ongoing curatorial project in which Spector invites viewers to consider reading in relation to the gallery gaze.
Artists Ann Hamilton, Jane Lackey, Stefana McLure, Sylvia Ptak, Karen Reimer and Elena del Rivero present page-like fields of text or writing. Khoi Uong's information-laden broadside becomes visually overwhelming, while Jochem Hendrick's folded newspaper includes no stories, but rather, serves as a map of the movement of its readers' eyes.
Marco Maggi, Creighton Michael and Anne Wilson use lines, shadows, cut paper and stitches as substitutes for text in their work.
John Sparagana and Graham McDougal manipulates magazine pages and text, and Peter Stanfield's short stories rely on a hinged apparatus that contextualizes the story he is telling.
An opening reception is scheduled to take place from 5-7 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the gallery, 230 W. Superior St., Chicago.
I space gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.