October 6th Opening Reception

OCTOBER 2017 (Chicago) – Morpho Gallery presents five Artists from our Winter Emerging Artists Exhibits; each Artist was selected from a series of five shows from January- March 2017. We exhibited over 120 artists during this timeframe.

Marty Trejo, Jose Bolet, Melissa Kucia, Howard McMackin and Bob Proce each have their own distinct styles, with each artist complementing each other.

Bob Proce an alumnus of the Art Institute of Chicago, the American Academy or Art, and the Institute of Lettering and Design, has produced art in various different fields. Specifically, he has worked as an art director, letter artist, portrait artist, instructor at the Institute of Lettering and Design, private drawing instruction, and has always worked in the field of costuming/ corporate logo design and construction. Exhibited extensively in the Chicago area in both the private and public arena, Proce typically works in acrylic, graphite, oil, wood, plaster, plastic, sculpted cloth, and paper-mache.

Howard McMackin has always fascinated by nature’s fractal rules such as the map of veins in a leaf, how different trees choose to branch, or the shapes of crystals and mountains. During a walk, a very long time ago, I noticed how beautiful the water in the street had become. Engine oil swirled within the puddles glistening with intense neon moving colors. The colors lined-up in rainbow patterns as the water flowed and trickled into a pattern of streams toward the drains. This day I marveled about the patterns of rivers and the shapes of mountains as the oily water chose paths across the pavement. And for the first time, I wondered how it could be captured in a painting.

Melissa Kucia is a contemporary painter. Her work is about color, light, movement, texture and emotion. She paints until she is moved by something outside herself where the color, composition and the whole piece unite to match what’s in her mind’s eye.
Melissa’s technique consists of layering colors on canvas and paper. She attacks her surfaces using brushes, palette knives, her fingers and any other tool that will do the job, while working and reworking the surface until she obtains the desired effect.

Marty Trejo is a 22-year-old artist living in the suburbs of Chicago. He double majored in art and exercise science at Concordia University Chicago, where he received Bachelor of Art degrees in both fields. Currently, he is back in school at Concordia acquiring his master’s degree in applied exercise science; although, he is still unsure what specifically he want to do with that master’s degree. He is also currently work at Concordia as a graduate assistant for the human performance department, and, in addition to that, he works at Erickson Art Studio in Lisle and is a bartender and server at the Patrick C. Haley Mansion in Joliet. Although he is young, he has experience working in his school’s art department and gallery, as well as assisting artists in their studios. Two of the artists he has interned with are Tom Robinson and Scott Gordon Wills. He has also shown his own artwork at several galleries and other art events. On top of all of that, he is a father to a one year old and tries to maintain his own artistic practice. All in all he’s just an average guy trying to make a living like everyone else.

Jose Bolet has been featured among others at Peripheral Arteries Biennale, in the 2017 edition online magazine, 11th edition of International Contemporary Masters 2017. He is also the author of the book “Rendering in Black, 25 Drawings Across US”, Xlibris, 2015, which is a recollection of his experiences traveling around US and various other places he has traveled. The artist is now working on his second book that is a political theme graphic Novel, while also exhibiting his paintings and drawings in local, national, and international venues.