On view now through December 23, 2023 at Zolla Lieberman Gallery is Glenn Wexler’s Above & Beyond. This dynamic and sleek installation couples works from Wexler’s Urban Sky series with images made in depopulated train stations in Seoul, South Korea, and Bangkok, Thailand. Wexler, a long practicing artist and designer has maintained an active career in Chicago for over 30 years. He has produced interior designs and installation for the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Depaul Art Museum, to name a few. This week, the COMP Magazine caught up with Wexler to discuss his current show, his connection to Asia, and his studio process.
I mainly create photo-based urban themed artworks and installations with a cultural, an environmental, and space awareness. When I was a 12-year-old boy in the 1970s, my best friend and I would often sneak onto the transit system and explore various areas of Chicago from Oak Park. On one occasion, while prowling the trains, we stumbled upon an area unfamiliar to us. Looking down at the busy intersection from the train platform, we were intrigued and exhilarated, the signage, the architectural structures, and the people; it was as if we discovered another world. It was my first encounter with a culturally charged neighborhood, we were in Chinatown and this was a life-changing moment for me, I was fascinated and it expanded my thinking. Years later, when I got my first camera, Chinatown was the first place I consciously decided to photograph. Since then, I have traveled the world and I’ve found profound inspiration in following my sense of curiosity and need for urban cultural discovery; this is the foundation for my creative process.
I believe my works are interconnected thematically, through my use of the photographic process, and the various industrial materials I choose to use to create my pieces.
I’m obsessed with and inspired by architecture and product design. So, rather than depicting my ideas on a canvas, I lean towards building and assembling them. I think of my work as a bridge between art and design.
I have spent a lot of time in Bangkok, Thailand, over many years, as my son is Thai. With each trip to the city, I took notice of its transformation, specifically its airport, train system, and buildings. Its modernization became something I wanted to encapsulate and reference in my own work.
I also work as a graphics technician alongside my art practice, producing and installing exhibition graphics and signage for various museums and art fairs in Chicago and New York. Working on these projects has also put me side-by-side with many talented and inspirational graphic designers, like James Goggin, Jason Pickleman, and many designers at the Museum of Contemporary Art. In the mid 1990’s, I began to realize that the media and products used in the graphics field had great potential for creating artworks and site-specific installations. I am regularly finding new uses of products from ever-progressing graphics industry, leading to new ways to explore interior and exterior spaces.
The ability to find new opportunities to produce my work and share my ideas.
More recently I have been exhibiting with W. Gallery near the West Loop. The team there, along with the talented artist and curator Zach Weber, is young, smart, and energetic. I have a window installation on view there for the remainder of the year, and I look forward to working with them on a future project. Also, my solo exhibition opens at Zolla Lieberman Gallery on November 10 and runs through 2023; the gallery will also be presenting some of my new works at Art Miami 2023 in early December.
For additional information on the studio practice of Glenn Wexler, please visit:
Glenn Wexler – https://www.glennwexlergraphics.com/
Zolla Lieberman Gallery – https://www.zollaliebermangallery.com/glenn-wexler—above–below.html
Shoutout Miami – https://shoutoutmiami.com/meet-glenn-wexler-visual-artist-graphics-technician/
Glenn Wexler on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/glennwexler/
Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Wexler
Artist interview and portrait by Chester Alamo-Costello
