Mike Kloss @ The Hills
Mike Kloss
The Hills Have Thighs
January 22, 2009 The Hills THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER hosts an opening reception on Friday January 22nd, 2010 from 6-10 P.M. at 128 N. Campbell Street, Unit G, in Chicago, IL. The show “The Hills Have Thighs” features a mini-retrospective of Michael Kloss’ darkly imaginative pen and ink drawings, colorful detritus sculptures, and idiosyncratic minimal collages. Curated by his closest friends, this exhibition sifts through the deep pile of Kloss’ work and puts forth a strong display of his unique style. Kloss’ work ravages the pits of emotional, social and cultural despair in an effort to shed a hopeful and humorous light onto his own condition. This prehistoric sludge of lost love, drug and alcohol inducement, fear of society and the dark north woods all work towards the bright light of love and lust, purity found in nature, the warm tropics and humor over pop culture. Omnipresent are figures, cartoon-like blobs, and animals fixed in Kloss’ imaginary landscapes that reveal themselves to be alive. Rocks, mountains and hills develop breasts, eyes and thighs, grounding Kloss’ acid-soaked visions of the surrounding world. Through the development of composition, radical sense of humor, and acute attention to his intuition, grows a dark (and grimly hopeful) world. With darkness there is light. THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER is a newly developed artist-run space located in the depths of Chicago’s Western Corridor. Boasting a history as a music venue and installation-themed art loft with Artist’s studios and an audio recording facility, THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER is opening their latest venture; a white-walled exhibition space. The space exists to promote a constant flux of challenging and undervalued contemporary artwork hosted in a non-commercial, artist-controlled environment. Come watch as we throw our proverbial hat (beer hat) into the ring of Chicago Alt-spaces. Mike Kloss, (b.1978) received his BFA from the Milwaukee School of Art and Design in 2004. Recently Mike has been making motivational recordings and cutting stuff up. THE HILLS ESTHETIC CENTER Media contact: 128 N. Campbell Ron Ewert, Organizer Chicago, IL 60612 (630)-632-2555 Hours: Thursday and Sunday: 1-6PM, or by appointment thehillsgallery@gmail.com
