Alicia Eler Art Critic & Curator [email protected] www.aliciaeler.com
BIO Alicia Eler is a Chicago-based art critic and curator. As a critic, she writes primarily about emerging art that examines queer identities and culture, feminism, gender, race, the networked identities of social media platforms, American culture and the destruction of the natural world. Her curatorial practice focuses on emerging artists who are working within and pushing the boundaries of cultural identities.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE ESSAYS 2013 Azadeh Gholizadeh, Within the Threshold at Chicago Artists’ Coalition BOLT Project Space (forthcoming) 2013 Peregrine Honig, LACED at Gallery 210, University of Missouri at St. Louis 2012 Progressive Rituals essay for The Great Refusal: Taking on New Queer Aesthetics, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 2012 Ellen Greene, Invisible Mother’s Milk at Packer-Schopf Gallery, Chicago 2010 Peregrine Honig, LOSER at Dwight Hackett Projects, Santa FE, NM 2009 Carrie Schneider, Response: Art and the Art of Criticism, University of Illinois at Chicago 2008 Peregrine Honig, WIDOW Magazine essay
MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS & BLOGS Art Writer & Critic 2006–current • Chicago Correspondent, Hyperallergic.com • Chicago Art Critic, Artforum.com • Contributing Art Critic, Newcity Newspaper • Writer/Editor, OtherPeoplesPixels.com • Visual Art Researcher, ChicagoArtistsResource.org • Arts writing and criticism published in Art Papers, RAW Vision Magazine, Time Out Chicago, Flavorpill, Windy City Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Gallery News, Windy City Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Kansas City Review, Gapers Block, ReadWriteWeb and Bad at Sports.
INDEPENDENTLY CURATED EXHIBITIONS ACRE Exhibitions & Residency 2012–2013 Curator Curating four exhibitions featuring emerging artists Oli Rodriguez, Aiden Simon, Will Haugerty, Kris Harzinski, Meg Leary, Emily Carter, Kate Hampel, Alicia Chester, Abinadi Meza and Ricardo de Sousa Costa. www.acreresidency.org
Performance Anxiety 2009 Co-curator with Jefferson Godard International video art program exploring the performance of cultural identities Featuring artists Rochelle Feinstein, Kate Gilmore, James Murray, Carlos Rigau, Greg
1 Stimac and Stacia Yeapanis. Screenings on French channel freebox 129 and German Unitymedia/Kabel BW through sfte.TV and at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
Video as Video: Rewind to Form 2008–2009 Co-curator with Peregrine Honig Exhibition explores video as the new painting. Work featured investigates the medium of video art through painting, drawing, photography, sculpture and Internet-based coding languages. Video art by international artists Rob Carter, Rochelle Feinstein, James Gulliver Hancock, Abhishek Hazra, Julie Lequin, Mioon, Julie Orser, Luana Perilli and Taras Polataiko. Video as Video traveled from Swimming Pool Project Space in Chicago to the Bridge Art Fair in Miami, International Art Affairs in Washington D.C. and Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.
New Media Lecture Series: Cory Arcangel at Oberlin College 2006 Curator Visionary new media artist Cory Arcangel (OC 2000) presents a talk and hands-on workshops for his alma mater, Oberlin College.
GRANT COMMITTEES Critical Fierceness Board Member 2011–present Regular member of the Chances Dances Critical Fierceness Queer Art Grant, a biannual microgrant that awards sums of $250–$500 to emerging queer artists. In 2012, Chances Dances expanded the award to include the Mark Aguhar Memorial Grant, which funds up to $1,000 for projects by queer woman-identified and trans-feminine women artists of color. http://www.chancesdances.org/fierceness
BIBLIOGRAPHY 2010 Schumacher, Mary Louise, “Keeping art and feminism alive on the Internet,” Milwaukee Sentinel Journal, December 21 2010 WTTW Chicago Tonight TV Feature Program on Nicole Hollander & Alicia Eler’s BadGirlChats.com, December 20 2010 Schmich, Mary, “Sylvia Finds New Life on a Blog,” Chicago Tribune, November 14 2010 Ritchie, Abraham, “Welcome Back: Guide to Chicago Gallery Openings,” ArtSlant Magazine, September 13 2010 Terez Rosenblum, Sarah, “Oak Park Comedy Bash Promises Comedy Goodness,” Chicago Sun-Times, May 27 2010 Foumberg, Jason, “The State of the (Visual) Art,” Newcity Newspaper, March 23 2010 Dulin, Pete, “Widow, A Fashion Magazine by Peregrine Honig,” Present Magazine, February 22 2009 Foumberg, Jason, “Tuning In,” Kansas City Review magazine, Winter 2009 Isé, Claudine, “Chicago Curators’ Performance Anxiety on Souvenirs from the Earth TV,” Bad at Sports, December 2 2008 Furnari, Rachel, “Review: Video as Video: Rewind to Form/Swimming Pool Project Space,” Newcity Newspaper, September 29 2008 Lund, Karsten, “Art: Video as Video: Rewind to Form,” Flavorpill Chicago, September 20 2008 Klein, Paul, “The Changing Landscape: Artists Take Charge,” Huffington Post, September 19
2 2006 Hung, Hseuh-Min, “Obie Alum Makes Super Mario Art: Artist Arcangel Relishes in Unusual Media,” The Oberlin Review, April 14
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