Ron Ewert

I create paintings, installations, and assemblages that investigate non-linearity, spatial ambiguity, and dislocated semiotic associations.  It is through the play of these formal elements that I can ground and make visible my experience of an essentially fragmented contemporary existence.  In my work I often employ varying strategies of negation, both physical and conceptual, to arrive at a more unpredictable image/object.  Decollage, negative wood scraps, under-painting, unfinish, optical confusion, absurdity and impermanence are some of the ways I explore the territory of the negative within painting.  One way this manifests itself is through the final stage of removing masked areas of a painting to reveal the initial raw fabric layer, bringing the background forward, conflating layers.These strategic approaches allow for the interruption of the sequence of production in my work and point to negative space as a location for play and the affirmation of subjectivity through form.

In the creation of my work, analogous to Freud’s theory of dream symbolism, every material and formal decision embodies a rich yet cryptic cathexis of reference points.  Certain references are more transparent than others; while some are only legible to elements of my viewership, many are self-reflexive and appear absurd or nonsensical.  Across a series of works the notion of humor may seem imperative and so I will draw out subtle comparisons and illustrations of terms like Irony, Cynicism, and the Pathetic.  Some works appear extremely reduced and formal, yet an interpretation will yield a spiraling paratactical chain, much like the materials list in the description of one of my magnetic assemblages.  The use of magnets and steel to construct assemblages points to Rauschenberg and minimalism, but also to the simple if not silly illusion afforded by magnetism.  A steel chain may suggest bondage, pet ownership, and Internet “links” and still remain a readymade 2D mark in a quasi constructivist composition.

Bio:

Ron Ewert was born in the suburbs of Chicago, inspired by baseball, comic books, and his father’s vinyl sign-making business.  He attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, graduating with a BFA in 2004, when he got his first computer.  Ron received his MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012 and currently is co-director of The Hills Esthetic Center, an exhibition space he founded in 2010.  This fall Ron will have work in exhibitions at Peregrine Program and Autumn Space in Chicago and Monya Rowe Gallery and Launch F18 in New York.  Ron lives and works in Chicago. 

www.thehillsestheticcenter.com

 Ron Ewert

 
1982 b. Glendale Heights, Illinois 

Lives and works in Chicago, Illinois 

EDUCATION 

2012  MFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2004  BFA, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design

2002 Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Ireland  

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 

2012 

Did You See Heaven: WYSIWYG, Peregrine Program, Chicago IL (Upcoming)

SAIC MFA Exhibition, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL (Upcoming)

Civic & Arts Exhibition, Union League Club. Chicago, IL (Upcoming)

MONO//TON//POLY//CHROM, Freies Museum, Berlin

The Whitney Houston Biennial, Murdertown, Chicago IL

2011

Painted, curated by Tyson Reeder, Green Gallery, Milwaukee WI

Roger's Grocery: Mess Hall, Chicago, IL

Ghost Show, American Fantasy Classics, Milwaukee, WI

Wow and Flutter: Dynamic Range in Analog Art, Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL 

Abeaiaa Sligrsr Vrgiimn, American Fantasy Classics, Milwaukee, WI  

Next invitational at Art Chicago, Chicago, IL 

The Hills Esthetic Center at MDW Fair, Chicago, IL

Small(er) Works, Manifest Exhibitions, Chicago, IL  

2010 

RePaired, curated by J. Gibran Villalobos and Katie Waddell, SAIC, Chicago, IL

There, Now It Will Last Forever, The Family Room, Chicago, IL

Tech-Noir, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, IL

Lumpy Trouser Demons Etc…, Northern Exposure, Chicago, IL

Get It Together Again, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

2009 

Harvest, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL

Money, Booze, History and The History of Booze Money, Plaines Projects, Chicago IL 

2004 

I know you are but what am I, MIAD, Milwaukee, WI 

2002

Ironic Being, Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Ireland 

AWARDS 

2012  Frederick Fursman Scholarship

2011 SAIC Student Leadership Award

2010  SAIC grant  Illinois

Arts Council Grant

2009  Chicago CAAP Grant

2008  Chicago CAAP Grant

2000  MIAD Merit Scholarship

2000  Glenbard East High School “Best in Show” 

RESIDENCIES 

2010  Harold Arts Summer Residency Program

2009  Harold Arts Summer Residency Program   

COMMISSIONS 

2011 Miller Coors, Next Chicago Sculpture Commission

2010 Walgreens, “Creative Differences” Public Mural, 1372 North Milwaukee Avenue Chicago, IL