Two exhibitions were on view at Goldfinch gallery in early fall this year—Scott Wolniak’s “Crosscurrents” in the front gallery and Carris Adams “Signs All Kinds” in the rear gallery. The two artists have different styles, so much that one might be compelled to explore the two exhibitions separately. However, the intimate layout of Goldfinch Gallery creates an interplay between the works on display, granting a peek into the other artist’s world from each gallery.

        Visually, the two artists are opposite. Adams’s signs are stark and monochromatic, more of an installation than a collection of individual works. Wolniak’s paintings are aesthetic and colorful, each with its own subject and meaning. Because of this contrast, Wolniak’s paintings feel inviting, offering a colorful break from the self-proclaimed morgue of Adams’s installation. Adams in return provides a sense of place, structure, and footing in history allowing viewers to become grounded and humbled before transcending completely into abstraction.

 

 

        Wolniak’s abstract paintings are easy to enjoy. Some of the titles are funny which sets a lighthearted mood for viewers—for example Painting for Octopuses consists of an array of rounded shapes suggesting suction cups and tentacles. The layers of texture throughout give the sense that the painting might be enjoyable for an octopus to see and feel. Texture further becomes a part of the narrative in When Do Roots Talk to Each Other? Here, pumice is mixed with brown paint to look like soil through which little squiggly shapes dance like animated characters.

 

 

        The combination of materials such as pumice and paper pulp creates texture, giving depth to the character of Wolniak’s mark making. Comparing the two largest paintings, Window and Bird and Radish Et Al—Window and Bird is grounded in the world with a recognizable space and a recognizable subject. The eye trips around looking through windows and finding birds within the abstract shapes. Radish Et Al is more ambiguous, as though Wolniak took the abstract language he used for Window and Bird and then created an abstraction of that language. Big globs of gray texture appear like punctuation in this new visual language. These globs stand out on the surface of the canvas more in this painting than the textured areas of his other paintings.

 

 

        The work in “Crosscurrents” is not a ‘speech act’ like Adams’s “Signs All Kinds.” Adams’s installation has a heavy socio-political feeling to it in contrast to the psychological spaces created in Wolniak’s paintings. Wolniak explains in an interview with Elizabeth Lalley of Goldfinch Gallery, “These paintings have no purpose other than to be paintings.”

 

 

         Adams describes her installation as a morgue.

        “Stored. Forgotten. Bought. Sold. No longer existing. Never mine.”

        Black text painted in enamel on frosted transparent sheets of Dura-lar plastic are layered along the walls, revealing and obscuring bits of text. A large grid of black lines visible through the layers of the frosted plastic create a structure like a billboard. The installation is not a completed work but a growing collection of thoughts—like a sketchbook. It is also a practice within a practice that began during the pandemic and transitioned into this installation. Someday the signs might turn into fully realized paintings, or they might remain in their current state.

 

        The words appear to come from different storefront signs. Some are recognizable as locations in Chicago like Huck Finn Donuts and Top/Less Liquors. The exclusion of letters highlights the incidental degradation of language as time passes and the actual signs have been neglected and parts become missing or illegible. The installation is a visualization of a between state, not used but still existing.

        Adams has built a rather complicated multilayered installation that is charged with history as it references spaces, stores, and businesses whose names reflect complicated aspects of American history. The text exemplifies a modern Americana style as Adams incorporates funny names like “GIMME SOME SUGA CAFE” or uses “k’s” in place of “c’s” like in ”KLEEN WASH”and “KOOL BREEZE OTEL”. Also, repetition of the word “plantation” evokes problematic themes. Words are extracted out of their previous form as signage and collected to be examined and documented like bodies in a morgue.

 

 

        At first glance, the exhibitions do not seem connected except by physical proximity. Wolniak’s work grabs more attention with its fun colors and textures. Adams’s work, in contrast, is harder to decode and has an overall serious tone that is not present in Wolniak’s pieces. In this way, the pairing feels uneven. But spending time with both reveal that there are complementary elements. Both artists use material to incorporate three-dimensionality. Adams’s layered signs make the layered aspect of Wolniak’s paintings stand out more. And, they are both also working with language—Wolniak building an abstract lexicon of shape and texture while Adams collects words and letters as she builds her morgue.

        This is not the first time Adams and Wolniak are working together. Aside from previous exhibitions at Goldfinch Gallery, Adams participated in an exhibition of zoetrope works called Wheel of Life at the Hyde Park Art Center, which was curated by Wolniak. The connection between the exhibitions is subtle, but discovering it enhanced the experience and encouraged a deeper read of the works in both galleries.

 

 

Rebecca Memoli is a Chicago-based photographer and curator. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MFA in Photography from Columbia College. Her work has been featured in several national and international group shows.