RECEDE (PHOENIX) I 24 x 23 in / 60.96 x 58.42 cm, Inkjet print by Alberto Aguilar in custom frame using salvaged materials from recently closed Chicago public schools by John Preus, 2017

MOBILITY EQUIPMENT I 95 x 22 x 30 in / 241.3 x 55.88 x 76.2 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

SENTINELS I 19 x 19 in / 48.26 x 48.26 cm, Inkjet print by Alberto Aguilar in custom frame using salvaged materials from recently closed Chicago public schools by John Preus, 2017

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

LEFT BEHIND (CITY HALL) I 30 x 21 in / 76.2 x 53.34 cm, Inkjet print by Alberto Aguilar in custom frame using salvaged materials from recently closed Chicago public schools by John Preus, 2017

VIRTUE SIGNAL I 72 x 32 x 16 in / 182.88 x 81.28 x 40.64 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

MEMORIAL (PHOENIX) I 21 x 18 in / 53.34 x 45.72 cm, Inkjet print by Alberto Aguilar in custom frame using salvaged materials from recently closed Chicago public schools by John Preus, 2017

SHARD # 2 I 32 x 28 x 40 in / 81.28 x 71.12 x 101.6cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

PEDESTAL I 48 x 21 x 31 in / 121.92 x 53.34 x 78.74 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

SNOWFLAKE CONSPIRACY I 26.5 x 19 in / 67.31 x 48.26 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, blueprint, marker, 2020

SHARD 1 I 60 x 43 x 18 in / 152.4 x 109.22 x 45.72 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

TABLE I 30.5 x 52 x 24 in / 77.47 x 132.08 x 60.96 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

RAHM EMANUEL, 4228 N. HERMITAGE AVE, CHICAGO, IL 60613 | 7 x 4.5 x 0.5 in / 17.78 x 11.43 x 1.27 cm each, work from Jason Lazarus, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

CHICAGO ARCHIVE SERIES - INFINITE SET I 15 x 15 x 15 in / 38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm, materials salvaged from recently closed Chicago public schools, 2020

JOHN PREUS

A STATE OF THE UNION

NOVEMBER 6, 2020 - JANUARY 23, 2021

MEET THE ARTIST
Friday, November 6 | Time slots: 6 pm & 7 pm

Pentimenti Gallery welcomes the holiday season with John Preus’s A State of the Union, the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.

John Preus’s most recent work is a reckoning with our collective history as a nation, and the psychological implications of mass trauma and recovery. He focuses specifically on a body of materials salvaged from 50 shuttered public schools in Chicago, from which he creates specific objects for art spaces, as well as objects for functional intentions. His work questions the distinction between art and craft, and highlights the classist divide inherent to these dueling associations.

In A State of the Union, Preus presents 2D wall sculpture, functional sculptural objects, and video installation. Showing in our project room is Preus’s time-based installation, “The Occult in Public Policy”, in conversation with a prefabricated preacher’s podium.

John Preus sees each piece made from “collective compost” as being imbued with a social history that it reveals openly, challenging the viewer to confront their own personal history, and their entanglement in a national historical narrative. The specificity of the sourcing of materials highlights the community impact of public schools that have closed in Chicago and elsewhere.

While coming to terms with history prescribes a religious, psychological, or physical route to recovery for the individual, mass national healing and processing presents a more convoluted path. John Preus asks the uneasy question of whether it is possible to right ancestral wrongs and aspire towards loving recompensation and mutual recovery.

John Preus received his BFA from Gustavus Adolphus College, and his MFA from University of Chicago. He has exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Smart Museum, University of Chicago; John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI; The Donnelley Foundation, Chicago, IL; Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL; Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA. He was the recipient of the Smart Museum Commission Grant; Chicago Cultural Center/Taste of Chicago project award. His work is held within the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and since 2015 has shown at Art | Basel | Miami Beach; The Armory Show; The ADAA, among others. Preus is represented by Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago IL; Rena Bransten Gallery, San Fransisco, CA.

To ease concerns about COVID-19, we will be following strict social distancing protocols. RSVPs are required to attend the meet the artist event.
For all inquiries and to RSVP, please contact us at mail@pentimenti.com or +1 215.625.9990.