Adrienne L. Glover, Artist & Creative

It’s here! DECAHEDRON is now live!

June 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of Artists on the Lam. Celebrate with us!

It was on Monday, June 6, 2011, that I published my first post on what would later be voted “Best Arts Blog” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago issue.

As part of the celebration, I’ve curated an international exhibition called DECAHEDRON.

Knowing from the start that this would be virtual, I wanted to involve more artists than I would for any physical show, as a way to truly take advantage of having an online platform (when getting interviewed about 2020’s acclaimed SLAYSIAN, one point that kept coming up was the silver lining of being able to exhibit bonus pieces as digital exclusives), and to truly fit a milestone anniversary.

I invited all artists from past shows, invited other artists I admired but hadn’t exhibited yet (likening the process to an episodic TV series where you wander the land embarking on different adventures and meeting different characters, and then in the end you go back and revisit all your old friends and ask them to be part of your heist), and—in keeping with the nature of Artists on the Lam group shows—put out an open call for artists too. Past, present, and future are all intertwined.

The result? A show with 74 artists, with over 350 works of art.

Hailing from all over Chicago, the country, and the world, DECAHEDRON’s participating artists include:

Adrienne L. Glover (@a-glorious-art), Adrienne Powers, Agnieszka Ligendza, Alba Margarita (@albamargaritaart), Alex Kostiw, Alix Anne Shaw, Allen Vandever, Angie Redmond, Brianna Lynn Hernández Baurichter, Bruce Riley, Caroline Walser, Carrie McGath, Céline Browning, Chad Kouri (@chadkouri), Charlene Moy, CHema Skandal!, Chris Silva (@lovercraft). Christine Nicklos, Claire Ashley (@claireashley), Clarisse Perrette, Corinne Halbert, Cristy Corso, Czr Prz, Dan Castranova, Danielle Pontarelli, Diane Ponder, Emily Calvo, English Prevo, Glenn Wexler, Hazel R. Magnolia, Heidi Jensen, InsomniaBird, James Gu, James Jankowiak, James Mosher (@moshershow), Juliann Wang, Julius Dizon-Cruz Bautista, Justin Suico, Karen I. Hirsch, Kathy Halper, KC Winter, Keelan McMorrow, Kristin Cass, Kurt Kreissl, Laura Catherwood, Lee Eun Young, Lisa Goesling, Mac Blackout, Mairin Hartt, Mark Pol (@markpol), Mary Porterfield, Mazon, Megan M. Rivera, Melissa Wang, MelonJames, My Linh Mac, Nancy Bechtol, Nathan Stanton, Nik Burkhart, Olivia Shih, Patricia Biesen, Patrick Earl Hammie, Peyton Rack (@peytonrack), Priscilla Huang, Ramiro Silva-Cortés, Rialin José, Richard Gessert, Robert Apolinar, Robin Monique Rios, Sam Riesmeyer, Stafford Hiroshi Smith, Tiffany Gholar, Toby zur Loye, Yuqing Zhu, and you.

View the exhibition: main page & artist pages

✨ DECAHEDRON in numbers! ✨

View the exhibition here (main page) & here (click on each artist’s page to enjoy their art and words)

VOLLEY

In the absence of sunlight,  in the absence of a genuine river, I blew air into a balloon. I gave my breath over to its empty shape. I filled & pinched & no matter how fast I tied it off, how tight & swift, the air, my own, drained out. And here I was again and here you were. Watching? No, imagining. So think what this balloon might represent if we passed it back and forth and took turns adding our breath. What the quick tying might. And our marveling at its lovely shape, like an egg but also a tear-drop. Our hands on it, our fingerprints darkening its surface all powdery and matte at first, with a bare sheen. Think of the balloon sent into a crowd at a party. How that crowd might move to keep it in the air, protective and playful, almost flirting with itself, a crowd with light volleys will send & resend a balloon upwards, high above their heads. Until it drifts down and asks to be touched by them again. And with such innocent gestures, they do. Though eventually they too will tire of this. I can’t just say innocent; I know that. But I’m going to say innocent. Innocent as a balloon not meant to last. Think of it handed back and forth between us.

Ari Banias is the author of Anybody (W.W. Norton, 2016). He lives in Berkeley, CA, where he teaches poetry and works with small press books.