CHICAGO, IL–The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is delighted to announce a new group exhibition titled Wanting it Both Ways, featuring mixed media works by Bill Conger, Tanya Hastings Gill, Mie Kongo, and Jennifer Mannebach. 

Opening Reception Hours:

Friday, April 8 - 6-9 pm

Saturday, April 9, 12-6 pm

Sunday, April 10, 12-4 pm

Before it became synonymous with a defect or shortcoming, the etymology of the word “flaw” related to a fragment, splinter, or piece of something, and was closely associated with the idea  of a stray ember.  A fragment or “flaw” as a spark, a glowing ember, is an incendiary condition  quite different from the more typical notion of a fragment as a leftover or remnant.  

These insistent fragments may preserve a fleeting moment or memory; something that is not embalmed in time but is a flickering touchstone to revisit and find more–more permutations, more iterations, and more potentialities. These artists contend with the desire to capture a sense of the fugitive, often  manifesting in fragmented forms that speak to the interdependence of things. They are acutely  aware of how small altercations can shift things substantially, looking at the interplay of material  identities, as well as the relationship between the maker and the materials.  

This practice of working with forms and ideas can result in work that can feel like a temporary  capture— revealing the desire to have it both ways, to hold still for a moment in time, just long  enough to see what gathers at the edges before releasing it into another recombinant state.