Please join me for a virtual artist talk with Hasselblad on November 18th at 11 AM ET. I will be discussing my work and practice as well as sharing a little insight into working with the amazing Hasselblad cameras.
Wed, Nov 18, 2020 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM CST
If you're interested in tuning in, click HERE for details.
I'm pleased to have two pieces from my City Space series on display at Expo Chicago with the Catherine Edelman Gallery. If you will be at the fair, make sure to stop by booth 257. I will be around the fair this week, I hope to see you there.
Expo Chicago
September 13-17, 2017
Navy Pier 600 E Grand Ave Chicago, IL 60611
Catherine Edelman Gallery : Booth 167
Southeast Museum of Photography
1200 W International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114
July 30 - September 28, 2019
Lecture and Reception
Thursday, September 12, 2019
5:00 PM 7:00 PM
Urban Constructs, photographs by Clarissa Bonet features selections from two of her current portfolios, City Space and Stray Light. In the first, City Space, Bonet recreates scenes of urban life. City Space expands on the genre and practice of street photography by capturing the psychological impact of her experience of the street not live, but via the thoughtfully and deliberately reconstructed image. The second portfolio, Stray Light, Bonet continues this investigation of the nature of a constructed reality and how one approaches the disparity of organic life in artificial environments. To learn more about the exhibition, be sure to visit www.smponline.org and join us for the artist lecture and reception happening Sept. 12th at 5PM.
SFO Museum : San Francisco Airport
Terminal 2
Departures – Level 2 - Pre-Security
Jan 29, 2019 - Oct 03, 2019
In her ongoing series, City Space, Chicago-based artist Clarissa Bonet explores the urban landscape from a pedestrian perspective, producing dramatic images that draw focus both on the surface of the city and the psychological resonance of the architecture within it.
As part of her working process, Bonet roams the city, observing the idiosyncrasies of the urban environment and taking note of chance encounters and interactions between strangers and their surroundings. Bonet later restages these moments during ideal weather and lighting conditions to produce striking photographs that evoke the almost contradictory sensation of solitude one often feels amidst the towering buildings and anonymous crowds of the city. Transformed by the artist’s use of deep shadow, striking light, and muted color, routine moments become elevated and hyper-real, offering an opportunity for us to reflect upon our own relationship with the urban environment.
Born in Tampa, Florida, Clarissa Bonet earned an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and a BS from the University of Central Florida. Her work has been exhibited globally at venues including the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Aperture Foundation in New York, and the Ballarat International Foto Biennale in Australia. Bonet’s work has been featured in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, CNN Photo, Harper's Bazaar, and Juxtapoz, among others. Her photographs are held in numerous institutional and corporate collections including the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, the University Club Chicago, and the JP Morgan Chase Art Collection. Bonet’s project, Stray Light, is partially supported by an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Bonet lives and works in Chicago.
New Midwest Photography presents the work of ten artists who use their cameras to make sense of the people and places that inspire them, blending personal observation and regional knowledge to produce photography that uniquely reflects this place. Curated by Andy Adams of FlakPhoto Projects, it includes work by Clarissa Bonet (Chicago), Jess T. Dugan (St. Louis), Tytia Habing (Watson, IL), Jon Horvath (Milwaukee), Julie Renee Jones (Dayton, OH), Dave Jordano (Chicago), Nathan Pearce (Fairfield, IL), Barry Phipps (Iowa City), Jason Vaughn (Milwaukee), and Lindley Warren (Iowa City). Join us at the opening reception on September 7 to meet Adams and several of the artists.
Following the reception, the Wisconsin Book Festival is hosting exhibiting artist Berry Phillips who will speak about his new book of Iowa photographs. Barry Phipps: Between Gravity and What Cheer kicks off at 7 PM at the Madison Public Library.
MIDWEST ART PARTY, 8:30 PM
Afterward, FlakPhoto and Wisconsin Book Festival are hosting a social hangout for the creative community at the Corral Room. There will be a cash bar, food to order, and plenty of conversation.
Excited to be a part of the Museum of Contemporary Photography's Fine Print Program. Fortress, 2016 will be released as a limited edition print of 30. The sale of editioned Fine Prints directly supports artistic and educational programs at the MoCP. Prints by more than 60 artists are available online including works by artists of local, national, and international renown. Please consider supporting the museum by purchasing a print. Please visit MoCP's website here to see all of the prints in their Fine Print Program.
FIRST LOOK: 2018 MoCP Fine Print Party
The 2018 MoCP Fine Print Party is a public unveiling of four new prints that will be added to the MoCP Fine Print Program. Prints will be available for purchase. All proceeds will support MoCP exhibitions, public programs, and community engagement efforts. For tickets and more info click here.
Tue, June 12, 2018
6:00 PM – 8:30 PM CDT
Please join me for an artist talk at Perspective Gallery this spring.
PERSPECTIVES ON PHOTOGRAPHY SPEAKER SERIES 2017-2018:
Our perception of place is formed through our personal experience of it over time, a two way process between the observer and the environment. In turn, we each form a personal, unique understanding and mental image of any given place. For the past seven years, Clarissa has been using the camera to make tangible her understanding and vision of the urban space. In her talk, she will discuss two concurrent and ongoing projects, City Space and Stray Light, and provide insight into her work and creative process.
Join us at the National SPE conference in Philly for a candid and informative conversation about how we as artist sustain ourselves financially and fund our fine art practice.
2018 SPE Annual Conference
Saturday, March 03 - 9:00AM to 10:45AM
Grand Ballroom Salon G
One of the most important elements of being an artist is also one of the least discussed: how do we sustain ourselves financially and fund our fine art practice? Pulling from diverse perspectives, the four practicing artists on this panel will discuss the various ways they support themselves financially. Panelists will address how they identified income sources that aligned with their fine art work or skill set and will also talk about using jobs and assignments as a springboard for personal work. Additionally, they will address specific details including lecture fees, gallery commissions, day rates, licensing fees, and much, much more.
I am very excited to be a part of this years Society for Photographic Education Midwest conference! Please join me for an artist talk where I will be discussing my two current and ongoing bodies of work City Space and Stray Light.
Saturday, October 14, 2017 @ 11:00am,
Urban Constructs: City Space + Stray Light
Developing Spaces/Places
When October 12-15, 2017
Where Embassy Suites by Hilton East Peoria Riverfront Hotel & Conference Center, East Peoria, IL
Keynote Speaker Penelope Umbrico
Featured Speakers William Fox, David Taylor, Wendel White
Honored Educator Judy Natal
Clarissa Bonet: Urban Constructs: City Space + Stray Light
Northeastern Illinois University
Gallery Fine Arts Center Gallery
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60625-4699
(773) 583-4050
October 11th-November 17th
Two photographic series are juxtaposed to reveal the shift of our perception of the city as it moves from day to night.
Reception: Friday October 20th, 6-9pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday October 25th, 12pm
Image: Clarissa Bonet, SL.2016.0603 NYC (From the Stray Light series), Pigment print, 2016
This project is partially supported by an Individual Artist Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events, as well as a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
I'm looking forward to participating in Filter again this year. I will be on a panel along with David Alekhougie, Eileen Mueller, Carly Ries, Guanyu Xu and moderated by Aimée Beaubien called Professionalizing the Artist. We will share our experiences balancing risk-taking in our personal work with the pressures to simultaneously provide a professional context for our efforts. Come check it out!
Presented by: Clarissa Bonet, David Alekhougie, Eileen Mueller Carly Ries, Guanyu Xu, and moderated by Aimée Beaubien
Date: Sunday, September 24
Time: 12:00 pm –1:00 pm
Cost: FREE
Location: Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel
I will have two pieces from my City Space project on display at Expo Chicago this year with the Catherine Edelman Gallery. If you will be at the fair please take time to stop by booth 257.
Expo Chicago
September 13 — September 17, 2017
Navy Pier 600 E Grand Ave Chicago, IL 60611
Booth 257
Please join me on Monday Sept 11th at 6pm for 4x5: The Stories Behind the Frames
4x5 is a new storytelling and schmoozing event for Chicago's photographic community.
Created by Chelsea Ross & Lucy Hewett, the idea is simple:
5 of Chicago's most provocative photographers.
4 images each.
All of the stories.
They may be tales of heroic technical feats, comedic context that is concealed in a perfect composition, miraculously catching that magic moment, or something substantially more subtle.
4x5 is an opportunity for photographers to meet and learn about each other's practices, as well as for the broader arts community to get hip to some of the best photographic work being made in our city.
For our first event, we are thrilled to present:
Marzena Abrahamik
Reginald Eldridge Jr.
Clarissa M Bonet
Matthew Avignone
Alyssa Schukar
Cocktails before and after the presentations.
FREE & Open to ALL
A piece from my Stray Light series will be included in the group exhibition Not Knowing, details below.
Not Knowing
Opening Reception September 1, 7-11pm
Exhibition runs through Sept. 1 - Oct. 14
Heaven Gallery 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor
Contact dave@heavengallery.com
Not Knowing
Claire Ashley, Karen Azarnia, Clarissa Bonet, Dan Devening, Robin Dluzen, Andreas Fischer, Celeste Rapone, Melody Saraniti, Ann Toebbe, Noah Vaughn
Curated by Gwendolyn Zabicki
Writing is a process of dealing with not knowing, a forcing of what and how. We have all heard novelists testify to the fact that, beginning a new book, they are utterly baffled as to how to proceed...At best there is a slender intuition, not much greater than an itch.
--Donald Barthelme, Not Knowing
An artist embarks on her task without knowing what to do. There is some kind of energy that she is manifesting as she works, and it has a larger form. To know in advance as to what that form is, is to reduce it.
--George Saunders on Not Knowing
When inspiration strikes, it feels as if it comes from outside oneself. The process of making art involves a kind of subtle foreknowledge, an awareness of the work before it exists, and communication with neurological processes deep within the wordless mind. In the search for answers, an artist finds more questions lingering in that uncomfortable place of not knowing. The result of that discomfort, according to Barthelme, is the possibility that the artist might show the viewer, “the as-yet-unspeakable, the as-yet unspoken.”
Good art is hard. An artist can over-think and become paralyzed, but to Barthelme, “Problems are a comfort” because it is through problem solving, or making choices, that the artist moves from not knowing to finding a unique and defining style. Take for example, the story of one of Chicago’s great culinary achievements-- the Italian beef sandwich. Essentially, poor entrepreneurs on Maxwell St. figured out how to turn salt, cheap cuts of meat, and stale bread into an inexpensive, delicious meal. They were constrained by cost and by what ingredients were readily available. Similarly an artist responds to and creates constraints, imposing limitations or rules within the work. Paradoxically, it is within these constraints where freedom and innovation are found.
Being an artist is to live within a series of constraints and limitations. Today, an artist must make her way in the world within structures that are in the process of collapsing, dissolving, or becoming irrelevant. The rigid gender roles of the past, normative definitions of family and caretaking, are all being renegotiated. The particular methodologies parent artists (and female parent artists in particular) have to come up with in order to continue to work while parenting are not yet standardized or obvious. They must be hammered out individually. The artists in this exhibition make a different kind of work-- thoughtful and contemplative art made alongside working, teaching, and raising a family. Overlapping limitations and opportunities define their style. They embrace “not knowing” in the way they make their work, but also in the uncertainty and the freedom of living in this state. They are: Claire Ashley, Karen Azarnia, Clarissa Bonet, Robin Dluzen, Dan Devening, Andreas Fischer, Celeste Rapone, Melody Saraniti, Ann Toebbe, and Noah Vaughn.
Artist talk
Sunday, October 1
1-2pm
At the end of last year MoCP purchased two of my images for their permanent collection. I am thrilled one of the images, Perpetual Shadow will be in their upcoming show re:collection, opening next week. Hope to see you there!
Opening Reception: Thursday, 7/13 from 5-7 at MoCP
Museum of Contemporary Photography
at Columbia College Chicago
600 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605
re:collection is a celebration of the MoCP’s vast archive of photographs, and an exploration of how we perceive images. A stream of images runs through the galleries, spanning the history of photography and offering a diverse array of approaches. Each photograph speaks to its neighboring photograph in terms of content, form or another, more subtle, connecting factor waiting to be discovered. At certain junctures, tributaries are formed that group related ideas and address some of the most pressing social issues of our time. Each line of images starts with a camera-less construction, a nod to the beginnings of the medium when images were made without the camera apparatus as we know it today, and a gesture meant to underscore the unreliability of photographic representation.
