As usual, on 2nd Friday's of every month, Pilsen galleries open their doors from 6pm-10 pm for art aficionados to look around, sip on some wine, have some food, etc. This was a quite eventful evening as not only was I able to view some interesting work within the galleries, but I stumbled upon several artist studios right above the 4Art,Inc. gallery. The 2 most notable studios I was very impressed by were: Bryan Sperry and Robert Marshall.
Bryan Sperry does incredibly interesting sculptural relief using found objects, such as scraps of metal, wood, hub caps, cooking wok, etc., anything he finds abandoned around the neighborhood. He has a great compositional talent for selecting these unwanted pieces, deemed useless by their previous owners and creating something extraordinary that can captivate the viewer for hours. He uses construction glue to hold them together, as he does not know how to weld, but you cannot tell by examining these works closely. Moreover, to emphasize certain forms within these compositions he uses mostly primary colors as well as black. They look well-made and well thought out, although he says they do not take as much time to put together as one would have imagined. (He can make one in a day!) In addition to these sculptures, he creates paintings that focus on a nude female body rendered in a cubist influenced technique. He makes most of his living and commissions from the paintings, hence his studio is affluent with the sculptural reliefs. Actually, all of his work appears to have some influence from the cubist era, which I love.
Robert Marshall creates stained glass work. He had several of his stained glass light boxes on display which are very captivating not only because of the incredible colors, but also due to the cut of the glass, and the use of composition. His process is very time consuming, preplanned and well designed, which makes these pieces a must have in ones home. He makes most of these works for commissions. If you would like to learn his technique, he holds classes at his studio, and all you need to do is sign up!
Bryan Sperry and Robert Marshall are located at 1932 S. Halsted, 5th floor. Sperry's studio is on the left hand side as you come in, and Marshall's studio is the first door down the hall on the left hand side.
Please check their websites: