15322 East Jefferson, Grosse Pointe Park, MI, 48230

Opening reception: Friday, May 17, 6-9 pm.
Closing party: June 14, 6-9 pm.
Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm, and by appointment, please call or email prior to visiting the gallery.

Perspectives, Alexander Fedirko painting exhibition

Preview:

Alexander Fedirko art opening in Grosse Pointe Michigan

view from my studio the first month I lived there. Loved the city at night.

It was Mid October when I moved in to my studio at 1932 South Halsted, the 15th i believe.  I had very few things in Chicago and I believe the weekend after the 15th, I went back to Michigan and got a truck load of things, bed, cabinets, books, etc…  My mom and dad drove out with me and helped me move things in, fortunately I had a freight elevator in the building, (big + for me), and was able to move large things with ease to the 2nd floor. I got my things in there and so began my gathering of things for my studio space.

Work at Skyline continued to go in a positive direction, I was getting used to the schedule, 7:30am-5:30pm, and was starting to get the position of creative project manager.  I worked with some great people and most were happy to help me along when i had a question.  I was finishing up jobs from the previous project manager, I shadowed her my first week, and was starting to get my own jobs to quote and research for the company.  One such job was multiple fiberglass ribbon benches, 15-20′ in length, for the headquarters of Sara Lee.  I really enjoyed the business aspect of doing large jobs for various clients, the site visits and figuring out ways to give them the most product for their money.  It was architecture and art school with real world parameters.

The hours were long, but it was such a great feeling to get back to my art studio and be back in the space I always wanted since Undergraduate Art school.  I started to get excited about painting again and began sketching ideas for what my first painting would be.  I didn’t have much time to do studio work, just a few hours after work and the weekend, but i was excited.  With 16′ ceilings and almost 1000 square feet, I was ready to take on some big projects.

pic from my Chicago studio window

This is the month I moved to Chicago.  Before this I had worked as a Carpenter and was desperately looked for work in the architectural design field to no avail.  With my girlfriend at the time working in Chicago, I was visiting the city regularly by train and started applying for jobs there.  I broke up with my girlfriend, but still had a lot of resumes out looking for work in Chicago, and in August I got a call from Skyline Design asking me to come in for an interview.  I went out there, dressed in full suit, and interviewed for the position of project manager of art & design services.  i loved the work place, the people and the type of work, and I it went good enough that I was asked to come in for a 2nd interview the next day.  With no where to sleep, I stayed in the Lincoln park hotel that night.  I went back and was offered a job at the company.  I was offered $37,500 with an increase to $40,000 after three months.  I was really excited to finally be working in the art & design field.  I was asked to start the next week Monday.  I went back to Grosse Pointe, MI, where I was living at the time, (with my parents), and told everyone I was off to Chicago for this job.  We had a nice dinner with friends and family, no big good bye party, and I was off to Chicago.  This decision to go would turn out to be one of the best decisions for my creative life.

SO, Off to Chicago…fresh off my birthday on August 28, I was finally in the big city, a place I wanted to be since my days in Architecture school at the University of Michigan.  I showed up to work Monday morning and was thrust into project management under the guidance of the girl that was leaving for a new job.  It was a lot of Excel spread-sheeting, client interaction and vendor coordination.  I liked it, it was fun to multitask, and the jobs were creative enough to get really involved in the projects.  Things like numerous red fiberglass ribbon benches for the headquarters of Sara Lee and the centerpiece chandelier made of various sheets of acrylic for the Chicago bar Pops for Champagne. I first stayed with my cousin, Mark, and his family, in River Forest, just outside of Chicago.  I stayed there for a week until the commute became too much and my cousin house was too small for me to stay long term.  So my mom contacted her cousin in the city, who lived in Ukrainian Village, just west of ht ecity, and she said she would happily let me stay there until I found my own place.  One of her daughters just went away to college so there was room in her house for me.  As it turns out, it was within a mile from the house and a very convenient bike or car ride to work.  The family was extremely warm and welcoming of me and I have fond memories of dinners, watching TV, (dancing with the stars and Monday night Bears games), and getting my cup of coffee in the morning.

Finding my loft space…I finally felt settled in, I enjoyed work, my temporary housing was wonderful, I was able to save up a bit and on the weekends started looking for my own place.  I looked into apartments but I really wanted to move into a loft, just like the NYC artists did so I could get back to work on my painting interests in my off time.  Some 2 bedroom options were workable, but I really wanted the loft space, so I remembered my that I got an email from a friend months ago, about lofts that are for artist through the company Podmajersky.  I emailed them and set up a showing of what they have available.  It was around the end of September, when I visited the South Loop Neighborhood, she showed me a space high on the 2nd floor of a building, it was nice but not what i was looking for.  She then took me into 1932 South Halsted, a beautiful old building, and showed me a unit on the 2nd floor.  when she opened the door, I knew this is what I always wanted.  it had distressed hard wood floors, tall ceilings, exposed pipes, wide open floor plan, and my favorite, two 5′x10 windows.  It was quite dirty because somebody just moved out, but I loved it.  I looked around it and saw the stove and sink but no bathroom.  I asked where the bathroom is and she responded, “ooo, there isn’t a bathroom in here, its down the hall, you share it with your neighbors…but its very European!”  I was a little concerned about this, sh wanted me to let her know asap as others were interested in the space.  I left to go back to Ukrainian Village and that night i discussed things with the family i was staying with, made a pros and cons list and decided I liked visiting Europe, and that i could live with the bathroom situation, the only con.  Pro’s being the open space for studio, plenty for live space, the beautiful large windows, the wood floors, the opportunity to show in 2nd Friday art walks and the overall feeling that this is what I always wanted to live in for the last 10 years.  So I called the next day and told Karen I wanted the space.

The Beginning of my Chicago years…It would be ready by mid October and I could move in any time after then.  I was excited to finally have the space I always wanted.  Little did I know, I would spend the next six years in this space and create some of the best work of my life.

44th president added for artprize

And I’m nowhere to be seen in that list…Top 100…But that’s all good, didn’t expect to be, (I wont lie, I would love to place in the top 10 and get paid!).  Though, a curious bunch has made the top 100 again this year, and, well, I’m not surprised by that either, that’s Artprize for you.  Here is my submission: http://www.artprize.org/alexander-fedirko/2012/43-going-on-44 …Vote 5-3-4-9er’-6 please…with your help I can do it!   do it all night long!  This is a cool video of me painting it in case you wanted to know how i did it: painting 43 and Barcelona

Being a participant in last years Artprize, I went all out knowing I would have to be large and impressive in talent at the same time, to compete for the grand prize, so I gave Grand Rapids my four Chicago landscapes which totaled 32 linear feet x 8′ of beautiful Chicago in its beautiful urban monochromatic black and white oil paint.  They were displayed in a wooden framed box that I prefabricated and assembled on site to create an all encompassing view of Chicago when you walk into it, and become the sears tower when you stand in the middle.

This was the way I saw the city that was so near and dear to my heart.  Time, it took me 8 months to complete as a full time artist.  But alas, this was not good enough for the lovely voters of ArtPrize.  I was nowhere to be seen in the top 100, and in debt beyond what i initially planned due to a lost rental car key experience the night of installation that left me scrambling around the BOB looking for a key in a Big Old Building until closing time and the local Holiday Inn charging me $160 to get a room at 4:00AM.  Fortunately the key turned up and the extra expenses came out to $300ish, totaling something like $1200 to do the entire exhibition.  An exhibition I thought would amount to some sort of something…but nothing came out of the experience.   I hope people enjoyed the installation, the few I got to talk to the first weekend of the show, I got a great response.

Exhibition at 515 North State Lobby, Chicago, IL a month before artprize 2011

But I guess it couldn’t hold up to the dog sculpture, construction guy show thing(I’ve seen better acts on Michigan Avenue in Chicago), and Gerald Ford bust thing along with the other fantastic top 10 finalists of 2011.  Sour grapes, nah, I’ll continue to do this, its fun to show, I’m here again in 2012.  Its just more fun when something positive comes out of it other than debt. I actually had a blast going out around the city last year.

Which brings me to my point, this is why I kept my installation simple, couldn’t over-invest and get grumpy about Artprize 2011.   With my painting, “43 going on 44″, I tried to tap into the electoral context of this years USA election, just as i did with “43″ when it was painted in 2008.  I actually though the piece would be a perfect fit at the Ford Museum, but I guess the powers that be though else wise.  Oh well.  The wall across from the reception desk at the BOB was a great spot and should have been seen by thousands of people.  Again, I hope people enjoyed the installation and got a kick out of seeing all the presidents as a group like that.  People that visited my Chicago studio when i had it on display always loved it.  I just want people thinks twice when they wonder where this great country has been, what it needs now and where its going in the future, (I am neither a democratic or republican, I just want an honest government to lead this country into better times).  Here is the best photo I got of the painting via a friend in Grand Rapids.

I look forward to visiting next weekend to see my painting in the midst of the competition.  Perhaps with my next entry I’ll make a painting with dragons, knights and animals with a frame made of junk metal with dimensions of 10′ x 20′.  Here is a cleaner pic minus #44:

44

43

Art poster, i liked it. It gave me some encouragement prior to the show.

And might be my last…but never say never, never know where life will take you.  This happened in my hometown of Grosse Pointe so cost in travel were minimized so it made sense.

I dont want to sound like I’m so far above being in art fairs, but they are a pain in the ass.  Take down and set up sucks.  Windy conditions made things even worse.   Most people are looking for cheap stuff and the fair actually did bring down the value of my art.  I felt a little out of place between the older couple selling hair bands and the Native American selling exotic oils and jewelry.  All good for them, but this scene is just not for me.  My only hope is that aside from the few people that really received the work and appreciated what i put on display, I hope the larger percent of the visitors got something beyond the norm when it comes to these kinds of shows.  It was fun to show to my Hometown, and see old people from the past, so hopefully a show in an indoor space is nearer than further in the future.

HCTBLTORB w/ Pickles on Wheat & White was one of the first paintings I did when I moved to Chicago back in 2007.  I moved to the city in August of 2006 for a job at an Art & Design firm as a project manager and worked there until August 2007.  Work got slow and I lost my job, but I saved up enough money and was starting to exhibit work out of my studio was some success that I decided to give art a try full time.  This painting began in the winter of 2007 and due to work, I could only work on pieces at a time after work or on the weekend.  So the deisgn idea of a sandwich worked perfect for the working time I had available.  Layer by layer I worked on the painting, designating each layer to a sandwich component that then became the subject for something I wanted to express visually.  Below is the painting with descriptions of the layers and what each means.

This painting, along with two other small ones, will be featured in the upcoming food inspired exhibition, Aliment, at the Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens, MI, From August 3-August 30.  Opening Reception Friday August 3, 6-9 PM.

Anton Art Center, Aliment, A food inspired art exhibition Press Release