CONDITION REPORT: A solo exhibition by Joseph Josue Mora

I am really pumped to announce the next solo show in the space! This installation work and sculptural pieces will challenge your viewpoint on labor. "By identifying gestures in my art making process, such as removing tape after painting a gallery wall, creating scratch marks on a gallery wall when sandpaper is used to conceal the holes from previous exhibitions, and pushing joint compound through drywall, I fossilize the unseen labor of an art preparator. These actions help me relate the unseen labor of undocumented immigrants who support the operations of many industries in the US. I see art preparators and undocumented immigrants working in the shadows of great institutions but are rarely recognized. Through my practice, I communicate and question the parallels of the bureaucratic processes and spaces in which I exist."

Joseph Josué Mora has exhibited in the Chicago Latinx Art Now Biennial (2016), National Museum of Mexican Art (2018 and 2023), and debuted a series of new and ongoing work in a solo show titled Clearance at the Chicago Art Department (2019). Mora co-organizes Undocumented Projects since 2017. He was selected as one of the eight Breakout Artists of 2022 in Newcity Chicago Magazine and at the Chicago Artists Coalition. In May 2022, Mora created a temporary graphite mural titled Needed, But Not Wanted (In Masses), through Mind Map, a bi-monthly program at MANA Contemporary Chicago. Mora was selected as an artist for the Center Program 10, 2023, at the Hyde Park Art Center, where he also exhibited between December 2023-February 2024. Mora’s artwork can be found in the collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Illinois State Museum in Springfield.

In addition to Mora’s studio practice, he also has experience in gallery work as an art preparator and most recently as the Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Staff Advisor for SITE Galleries and INCUBATOR at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he holds a bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from.

SO excited to welcome David Vosburg into the space for a solo show! ‘Ambulatory’ is a body of work while walking. Not simply able-bodied transit, but moving through the world in pace with ourselves as beings: not running ahead or facing backward. This pace is both routine and radical, unhurried and urgent. A generative contradiction in a world pushing us out of rhythm with our bodies and one another. The materials—clothing, broken glass, temporary signage, animal bones, and so on—were gathered during daily walks over several years. These works are things seen as much as created, inviting movement and careful observation from viewers. Things passed over in the everyday are recontextualized, raising questions about time, power, the environment, and our human relationship to them. How do we live well in an era formed by overproduction and under provision? What is the dynamic between made objects and the natural world? Between regimented modern time and the long arc of deep time? Between power and entropy? And, more concretely, did I just see a disembodied Barbie leg?

Artists and pieces from right to left: “Double Crossed” by Lemareye Jones, “Embrace” by Reevah Agarwaal, “He Hurt Me/He Hurt Me Not” by Reevah Agarwaal, “Best Wife Ever” by lauren kingsley schoepflin, “Beverly” by Salvador Campos, “Flowers” By Jek Jergens, “Give / Get” by Anna Skaug, “A Harsh Reality” by Matthew Cortez, “Call Me” By Meg Koeller, “Murmur” by Milo Callahan Brown, “Mother’s Grotto” & “Lovers Grotto” by Sophia Karina English, “Spaces To Play In” by Jenny Halpern, “Superman: Sextape and Wedding Ring” by Millicent Kennedy, “Too Much Is Never Enough II” by David Vosburg, “Too Much Is Never Enough IV” by David Vosburg, “Too Much Is Never Enough V” by David Vosburg, “Torn” by Amber Frances, “Warm Blooded” by Amber Frances, “Vanished” By Milo Callahan Brown, “I Will Speak To You As The Birds Speak To Me, And Maybe Then You Will Listen” by Ava Hockey, “My Final Offering To You, Here It Is Again! All Of The Things I Have Always Been” by Ava Hockey and “Shielding- Every Year I Get A Little Warmer” by Ava Hockey

We also had three incredible readings by Bekka Schaffer, Fidel Gutiérrez and Julián Martinez

It all started when…

I decided to turn my studio space into a gallery! 2024 is going to be a big year and I want to make moves as a curator in a more public way. So here I am, offering up my studio as a project space for performance, sound, visual art and anything you can think of! I am calling it yes project space as it’s a place to say yes to yourself, yes to the work, yes to community!