SPACE 242 proudly announces its January 2009 exhibitions SUBURBAN ENTANGLEMENTS and FOLD THIS LEG FIRST. The exhibitions, both on view January 30 through February 20, feature new multi-media work by artist Edward Monovich and new paintings by Kristen Mills respectively. The opening reception, Friday, January 30, runs from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Boston’s South End, 242 E. Berkeley Street, 2nd floor (between Albany Street and Harrison Avenue). Mr. Monovich and Ms. Mills will also host an artist talk Thursday, February 19, from 7:00 to 8:00p.m.

Visit www.flickr.com/photos/space242 for a "sneek peek."

RSVP required for attendance at either event at www.space242.com.

Beginning on January 30, regular gallery hours will run Friday evenings, 6:30-8pm, and by appointment. No RSVP is necessary for visiting during regular gallery hours.

SUBURBAN ENTANGLEMENTS features new mixed media drawings on graph paper and murals filled with warm, colorful, suburban landscapes juxtaposed with twisted characters, corporate logos, textual messages, and politico. What may appear at first as innocent, hopeful, and illustrative, then reveals itself as ironic, even disturbing. Great, powerful eagle heads adorn little boys with amputated feet; Middle Eastern palaces erupt in a toddler’s sandbox. Airplanes soar overhead in sublime pastures, back yards, and on small-town ponds with wheel chaired boys sporting weed whackers, raccoon-headed Dolce & Gabana wearing flower gatherers, and round-bottomed, camel-headed babies.

Of his interactive murals, Monovich explains “the process implicates both viewer and artist within controversial and pertinent issues of our time.” The murals are coated with a varnish so viewers may “tag” their responses with dry-erase markers. “Participating encourages critical thinking, exchange, and exploration of cultural issues,” he says.

For the past twelve years, Monovich has created artwork that directly involves the viewer. His interactive works incorporate viewer graffiti, connect-the-dots, paper dolls, pop-up levers, hidden text, and magnets. In 2004, Monovich completed his first “viewer graffiti” exhibition at the Drawing Center in New York – which changed and evolved with ongoing participation.

Citing influences including Kerry James Marshall, Erwin Wurm, Masami Taraoka, 7-Eleven, Chiho Aoshima, James Rosenquist, Jessica Stockholder, Edouard Manet, and Peter Saul, Monovich earned a M.F.A. in painting and drawing at The University of Texas. Additionally, he studied ethnography, African culture, ritual, arts, and language in Sierra Leone, West Africa—where he witnessed powerful secular and sacred rituals involving masqueraded performers—which influence his work today.

His work has been exhibited abroad in Columbia, England, Belgium, Italy, and throughout the United States, and has appeared in numerous publications including Flash Art, Voices of Art, Time Out New York, and a variety of daily and weekly newspapers. He is the recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship.

Monovich, originally from Kalamazoo, MI, has taught at the University of Texas (Austin), Metropolitan State College (Denver, CO), and The Newark Museum (Newark, NJ). He resides in Belmont.

FOLD THIS LEG FIRST features a series of small works on wood by Kristen Mills. Exploring a variety of muted pastels, each may be an everyday object, a chair, ladder, bed – or include a phrase of words, logo, or drawing. According to Mills, “my current work is about reassessing the notion of privacy. I strive to use imagery that can be seen as benign or even slightly silly as a metaphor for my own, and, my presumed perception, of others’ private lives.”

Whether a whimsical penguin carrying a very large banana under its arm or what might be a series of variable sized thumbs (or not), the titles, all a number out of “one hundred million” is about “meeting impossible expectations that lean on the verge of absurdity,” says Mills.

Citing contemporary influences Sophie Calle and Francis Alys, Mills notes “the notion of creating arbitrary restraints and enticing viewer interaction is something that I desire to achieve in my own work.” She has exhibited throughout Boston and New York, and is an Assistant Professor and Arnheim Gallery Director at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Additionally, she coordinates Art Jump Off, an after-school program in Dorchester. Her artwork has appeared in many publications, and has found home in many collections, both private and corporate.

Originally from Ohio, Mills grew up in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and has drawn since the age of three. She earned a B.F.A. in drawing and painting from Rivier College (Nashua, NH), and her M.S.A.E. from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. An artist in residence at the Midway Studios in the Fort Point Channel arts district, Mills lives in Boston.

SPACE 242 MINI THEATRE (during the opening reception only)
FILMS THAT HURT FEELINGS: The Works of Carey Burtt
Presented by BUFF (Boston Underground Film Festival)

SUBURBAN ENTANGLEMENTS is sponsored in part by The Weekly Dig and ArtScope Magazine.