Education
MFA, Studio Arts, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 1997
BFA, Painting, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 1994
About The Artist
Chicagoan Stephanie Brooks tweaks the canons of Conceptual and Minimalist art with her sleek signs and 3-dimensional objects that wryly comment on our utilitarian modes of delineation.
Using found writing that is often extracted from self-help manuals or bureaucratic forms, Brooks reconfigures the language of these seemingly objective texts in order to bring to light the multiple meanings inherent in them. Her minimalist-inspired works have the look of poetic abstractions, but upon closer inspection can be seen as representations of everyday standardizations. Brooks’ varied process employs a wide range of industrial materials–such as aluminum, enamel and wood–as well as varied techniques that range from sculpture and painting to photography and engraved text.
Brooks has had institutional solo at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Museum in Atlanta, GA and the University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, IL and solo exhibitions at galleries such as the Suburban in Chicago, IL and Peter Blum in New York, NY. Brooks’ work has been included in several group shows at museums and institutions including The Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, IL; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in Chicago, IL; The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art in Indianapolis, IN and the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, AZ . She was also awarded a commission for public display in Grant Park in Chicago, IL in 2008, and is currently a faculty member in the sculpture department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago, IL.
Galleries
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
Work
Exhibitions
-
Anything for a Laugh: Humor in Contemporary Art
The works for this exhibition range from works that address serious concerns with humorous affect to others whose intent is more purely comedic. Together, they provide an intriguing snapshot of the manner in which comic strategies manifest themselves in contemporary art.