The O'Connor Art Gallery presents "Urban Insights," an exhibition featuring the works of two Chicago-based artists, Jesse Howard and Jason Reblando, through February 27, 2013.
"Urban Insights" presents the artists' efforts to showcase urban experiences that often go unnoticed.
Chicago native Jesse Howard has built a large following since transitioning from a career in commercial art to fine art in the 1980s. His drawings and watercolors focus on the social interactions of people within an urban setting, including the disenfranchised or homeless, and often present images of African American males as he has seen them in Chicago urban settings.
He has exhibited widely and is an artist member of the Oak Park Art League. He holds a bachelor's degree in commercial art from Ball State University.
New York-born photographer Jason Reblando has made Chicago both his home and the subject of his art. His Lathrop Homes series features the landscapes and residents of Chicago's Julia C. Lathrop Homes, a diverse public housing complex located in Logan Square. Through its subjects, the series examines concepts of race, space, and nature within the urban context.
His photos have been featured in several news outlets, including the New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek. He has also produced radio stories for Chicago Public Radio and multimedia presentations for the McCormick Foundation.
He is a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award, and his work is collected in the Museum of Contemporary Photography's Midwest Photographers Project, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He received his MFA in photography from Columbia College and a BA in sociology from Boston College.
About the O’Connor Art Gallery
The mission of the O’Connor Art Gallery is to present the Dominican University academic community with timely, relevant and focused contemporary art exhibitions that foster critical and thoughtful dialogue across disciplines. Exhibitions are curated with the student body in mind, as they are meant to introduce students to new and innovative artistic concepts, practices and strategies. Located steps from the art department’s studios and classrooms, it is particularly accessible to art students as a space for intimate engagement and reflection.