Monika Plioplyte – Cyclic Pagan Patterns & Universes

One item I am drawn to is direct display and conversation. Monika Plioplyte holds these nonevasive traits in her art practice and the manner in which she carries herself. In recent time, there's been an insistence to avoid frankness and honesty due to our present socio-political milieu. In Plioplyte's ... Read more

Elnaz Javani – Intersecting Craft, Ideas & Parietal Art Today

Elnaz Javani has located the importance of combining adept craft with art forms and storytelling that date back over a millennium. Though rooted in the past, Javani's practice addresses a range of contemporary ideas that are highly relevant today. This week The COMP Magazine visited Javani at her studio ... Read more

Angelo Mantas – Traversing Technology, Time & America

Angelo Mantas has been making photographs in Chicago (and beyond) for more than 5 decades. This week The COMP Magazine caught up with Mantas in the South Loop to chat about growing up in the city (during the the last century), how his photography inquiry has changed over his ... Read more

Chester Alamo-Costello – A Two-Pronged Approach

In 2014 Chester Alamo-Costello started The COMP Magazine with a group of students (Egzon Shaqiri, Jessica Cuevas, Evan Griffin, and Jazzmyne Robbins) as a platform for covering new art and music in Chicagoland. In addition to functioning as the magazine’s publisher since inception, Chester has had an extensive career ... Read more

Jeffrey Grauel – Life Cycles: Antiquated Patterns to Funerary Wreaths

Having been raised out west in the 1970s in a family where arts and crafts activities were common, it is not entirely surprising that Jeffrey Grauel's aesthetic practice uses materials often aligned with this time period. What becomes fascinating is how and why Grauel, while working today with seemingly ... Read more

Todd Mattei – Highly Reactive Introspection

Todd Mattei's means for circumventing sonic and visual strategies during a period of life in transition reminds of the sweeping force we each encounter as creatives during fractured unpredictable moments. There is a clear sensitivity to his practice. This can be seen in the diverse array of art/music collaborations ... Read more

Matt Kayhoe Brett – Shifting Vision & Weird Phenomena

Part visual anthropologist, part optics investigator, Matt Kayhoe Brett’s artistic practice can be seen to reside in the past, present and future simultaneously. From collecting and arranging mundane artifacts found in the studio or outdoors to working with industrial grade materials, Brett’s ongoing examinations suggest visceral digestion and application ... Read more

Karen Azarnia – A Convergence of Fragments & the Cinematic

Karen Azarnia culls memory, time, and family occasions to produce felicific paintings that are informed, in part, by art history and immediate personal experiences. Recently, the COMP Magazine made a visit to Azarnia's studio at Mana Contemporary to discuss her ongoing curatorial and painting practice, how she balances family ... Read more

Ji Su Kwak – Balanced Talk & Fluid Identities

The studio of Ji Su Kwak is spartan. Neatly organized in the space are a couple completed works, a couple shelving units with just enough materials to continue experimenting with on new projects, a small table with a laptop, one chair, and a stool. Her practice takes on a ... Read more

Eric Stefanski – Paint Drips, Death & Humor

Coming from a diverse background, Eric Stefanski creates visceral paintings and sculptures that are rooted in the humor and work ethic commonly associated with the working class. His approach and visual vocabulary is abrasive, bold, and comedic in their heavy handed absurdity. This makes them appealing, fresh, and on ... Read more
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