Commands, Rules & Other Suggestions

      The Ainsworth-Gallery will present a collection of photographs by Jon Balke entitled Commands, Rules & Other Suggestions. 

        The artist, Jon Balke, of Plainfield is well known in the Midwest as a master of large format black and white photography.  His work is included in numerous collections both public and private throughout the United States.  Mr. Balke is also a poet and this portfolio displays his wit and wisdom on several levels.

        This exhibition begins with the premise that all art, tells a story.  All artists are communicators.  They translate what they observe into forms that non creative people can understand and appreciate.  Ideas, concepts, and spoken words play an incredibly important role in the process of storytelling.   The viewer of this body of work will see signs of all kinds collected over many years from the artist’s various travels.  Many are incorporated into the artist’s composition with a clever title that reminds you that this artist is also a poet.   Some have obvious incongruous visual humor, others are more subtle.  As Balke says “I have consciously tried to communicate or tell a story with my images by simultaneously combining more than one window of perception.  In this exhibit, I postulate that the overall storytelling impact is enhanced by the marriage of the visual and textural content.”

        The Ainsworth-Gallery, Joliet’s oldest commercial art gallery showing original work by living artists, is celebrating its 14^th anniversary at the Taylor Street location.  All exhibited art work is for sale.  For more information call the gallery at 815.726.1840.