“Snowbirds”
An installation by Ryan Mandell
October 16 – November 12

Opening Reception:  Friday, October 16th 6pm to 9pm
Eastern Expansion Gallery
244 W 31st St Chicago, Illinois
El:  Red to Sox/35th
Bus:  29, 35

Extreme wealth affords an experience of reality unburdened by the traditional concerns of the middle and lower classes.  Wealth has dictated our current built environment, and is the requisite to continue to augment it.  With sufficient financial instruments an individual can literally construct reality, tailor it to their individual desires, and in essence, create a personal utopia: Presidential libraries, the palatial compounds of Middle Eastern sheiks, and Graceland are examples.  This propensity, coupled with a higher tolerance for extravagance and decadence in contemporary culture, promises a future populated by landscapes and architectures that only exist as hyperbole now.

About the Artist:

Ryan Mandell earned his BFA in Drawing from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2003, and an MFA in Sculpture from Indiana University in 2007. While in graduate school he was selected for the “Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture” award from Grounds For Sculpture, and the International Sculpture Center in Hamilton, New Jersey.  He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Pennsylvania State University in State College, and previously taught sculpture at the University of North Texas in Denton and Indiana University in Bloomington.  His work has been recognized by Sculpture Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago magazine, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  He exhibits nationally and internationally, with past shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Berlin, Germany, and upcoming exhibitions in Dallas and Albuquerque.