Dimensions: 16 x 20 inches
Screenprint on UniLustre
Edition of 50 + 2AP
Printed by Process/Process
Auspicious Arrival is Gertie's inaugural print edition by Chicago-based artist Leonardo Kaplan and produced by Process/Process. A screenprinted edition of 50 on metallic UniLustre paper, it depicts a pile of keys and key chains. Seemingly left there for the viewer's own pleasure, shapes like rollerblades and teddy bears and slogans like "service industry" offer us clues into, if not an invitation, to occupy the worlds of this keyholder. But for the artist, keys are also symbolic. In a review of his recent exhibition Thirteen at Mickey, writer Annette LePique wrote that Kaplan asks "viewers to understand how images—the refuse of our daily lives—become icons, and how such iconographies functions as spiritual Band-Aids, both wound and salve in confronting the anarchy of modern living."
The print is a natural relfection of Gertie's mission. As Chicago's growing platform for contemporary art, Gertie offers access for individuals to experience the city's studios, galleries, museums, and creative spaces as part of a deep commitment to artists who live and work in Chicago.
The print release on September 10 is occasioned by a conversation between Kaplan, Gertie Director of Curatorial Affairs Gareth Kaye, and the artist's longstanding interlocutor the artist Ben Foch, Their conversation will explore the varying facets in the life of artists who have continued to work in Chicago across generations and exhibition models, tracing the symbiotic relationship between artist run projects, the commercial ecosystem, and institutional affiliation.
Auspicious Arrival was developed, produced, and printed by Leonardo Kaplan in collaboration with Process/Process at their studio in Pilsen.
Leonardo Kaplan (b. 1985, Bogota, Colombia) is a working artist in Chicago. He has exhibited in galleries across the US and Europe, with exhibitions at Specialist Gallery, Seattle; The Graham Foundation, Chicago; New Capital Projects, Chicago; Freies Museum, Berlin; No Place, Columbus, OH; and at NADA Art Fairs, in New York and Miami. He co-directed The Hills Esthetic Center and BOYFRIENDS, and currently directs Special Feature, which founded in 2021, exhibits emerging artists working in all media.