| « The Goddess at The Artistic Home: Sad Story About Celebrity | Weekend Art Pick: East Garfield Park Open Houses » |
Art Fri Oct 25 2013
IPaintMyMind Snags Permanent Gallery Space Within Green Exchange
Photo by Abel Arciniega of Tequila Graphics
To me, there is one simple guiding principle behind art curator Evan La Ruffa's website-turned-nonprofit art organization, IPaintMyMind: introducing people to affordable local art is mutually beneficial for both the customer and the artist. Over the course of the five or six years since its inception, La Ruffa and 26 volunteers have written about local art and music, installed exhibits and organized performances in Chicago park districts, public schools and community centers under the "IPMM Gallery Initiative."
The sustainability of art has always been at the core of IPMM's mission, so it makes sense then that that the organization has a shiny new home within the country's largest LEED-certified business community, Green Exchange, 2545 W. Diversey Ave., Suite 255.
The permanent gallery space is impressive with its lofted industrial ceilings and sleek modernist feel. La Ruffa says having a central location to host exhibits and performances will allow them to really "put their flag in the ground."
"As a nonprofit, one thing that was important to me was trying to build a more realistic business model," he says.
Guests of all ages attended the gallery opening on Thursday, October 17th, which showcased the eclectic exhibit "Chicago Is." Moody photography by Angie Mejia, whimsical screen prints of personified machinery by Dan Grzeca and bold printed sneakers by Bucketfeet were among the artwork on display.
In addition to putting on more exhibits and performances in the new Green Exchange gallery, La Ruffa hopes to continue to improve upon the IPMM Gallery Initiative and the Print Project. The latter is a program in which the organization pays for the production of a limited edition print by the artist of their choosing. Once the print is sold, the profits are split 50/50 between the artist and IPMM.
More information about IPaintMyMind is available here; donate to the organization here.
