Yale Factor: "4 Decades" at the Zhou B Art Center

In the mid 1980s, I was studying Illustration at Northern Illinois University. To my recollection, the program offered two professors with which to work… Jay Paul Bell and Yale Factor. Both were amazing father figures who had high expectations of their students and—as with most children—the students never wanted to disappoint them.

As well as being talented Illustrators, both Jay Paul Bell and Yale Factor were—and continue to be—fine artists. For most of his career, Bell has been producing beautiful large-scale paintings of rural landscape… not too strange considering NIU’s cornfield location. But Factor has moved through numerous subjects of passion—from beautiful graphite renditions of faces, to obsessively complex painted landscape, and personalized still life compositions that play with the viewer’s sense of reality. The work of Yale Factor presents a compulsively detailed exploration of the subject. And for the past five weeks, the evolution of Factor's career has been on display in a retrospective titled “4 Decades” at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago. 

Yale Factor "Ruminations of a curious mind"

I visited the exhibition last night. It was beautifully staged with a central alter of paintings, which I believe were produced in the 80s. They offered ridiculously detailed, old-world renditions of the acquisition of knowledge… Opened books presenting scientific illustrations accompanied by various lab specimens, or wrinkled roadmaps defining a journey intertwined with unique personalized objects. The paintings are intriguingly unique. 

Yale Factor

But as I explored the room, I found—on an exterior wall—an intimate study of a gasping piranha. I was intrigued with this image: A beautifully rendered powerful animal, struggling to breath…mouth open exposing its razor sharp teeth—body wrenched… searching for the water from which it was taken. The incident takes place against a soft-focus surreal achromatic background—perhaps an oil stained beach or haze induced sky. Conceivably a comment on the current global climate crisis? 

The exhibition closed last night during a “Third Friday” event but the opportunity to view Factor’s work remains. He has a studio/gallery within the Zhou B Art Center, located at 1029 W. 35th Street in Chicago, Illinois 60609. Contact him at: yalefactor@gmail.com, or by phone at: 815.762.5243

3rd Friday's... Check out the 2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Compeitition

Six Chicago-area artists were awarded a total of $3,000 in prizes at Bridgeport Art Center’s 2nd Annual Art Competition awards ceremony on the evening of March 8.

I recently became aware of an art community just south of downtown Chicago, in Bridgeport. I've been meeting with artists to review work for upcoming exhibitions, and came upon the Zhou Brothers Art Center and—almost right across the street—the Bridgeport Art Center. Both locations house artist studios and both host a 3rd Friday event at which time the studios and galleries within the buildings, are open to the public.

The Zhou Brothers Art Center, located at 1029 W. 35th Street, Chicago, is open from 7-10pm and includes an opening for an exhibition of work by the Zhou Brothers from their American Period. The show, described on their web site, presents...  "a selection of works from the 1990's as one of the most pivotal periods in the art career of the Zhou Brothers. A decade that was characterized by permanently establishing themselves in Chicago while projecting exponentially in Europe and throughout the world."

NIU's MFA exhibition is presented in the second floor gallery. The ten artists include five painters, two sculptors, a metalsmith, a printmaker, and a video installation artist.

While you're in the building, make sure you attend the opening reception of "Monochrome" the spring, Galley Artists, exhibition at 33 Contemporary Gallery. The works presented in the exhibition range from painting, drawing, printmaking, photography and mixed media.

When you're finished there... head over to the Bridgeport Art Center, located at 1200 W. 35th Street, Chicago. Make sure that you see the 2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition on the 4th floor. The show opened a couple of weeks ago and it's been touted as "a diverse and fascinating overview of contemporary art in Chicago." If you don't have an opportunity to attend tomorrow's event, the show continues through April 18th. I should also mention that one of my paintings was included into the 2nd Annual Bridgeport Art Center Competition... It was awarded "Best in Show". The 3rd Friday event at the Bridgeport Art Center runs from 6-10pm. 
.