artists

Nick Haas
visit haastyle.com

bio
As an artist and photographer, Nick Haas’ digital print art has been the focus of exhibitions in Chicago and Los Angeles. His clients include companies such as The William Morris Agency, Random House Publishing, Livingstone Partners, Studio F Design, Art Effex USA, Night and Day Pictures, Safeway Insurance, to name a few. Nick’s work has been featured in CS Interiors Magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune Magazine, motion picture title sequences, and various residential and professional settings across the country.

artist statement
The urban environment fascinates me. I love the everyday objects-- buildings, power lines, cars, train tracks-- for their complexity and function. We co-exist with them, yet take them for granted and they go unnoticed. We interact with these objects everyday, but overlook the role they play in defining the city's appearance. This idea inspires much of my artwork.
Media used: Digital Photography, Photoshop, Digital Printing, Masonite, Metal, and Wood

Kurt Kreissl
visit kjkcreative.com

bio
Kurt Kreissl is a painter, digital artist, and photographer. He was raised across the United States, finally settling in Chicago, where he earned a BFA from DePaul University specializing in graphic design. During this time, Kurt honed his artistic talent discerning his passion for oil painting as well as digital media. He was awarded a private student gallery show at DePaul. Since graduation, he has been doing strictly commission works for private clients and collectors. The one exception is his entry and accolade from Projekt30, an online juried exhibition, for its "Sex Issue: Volume 2" competition. Kurt currently works and resides in Chicago.

artist statement
My life has always revolved around two constants: a love of art and a love of women. Combining these passions only seemed natural. My art is comprised of mixed media: oil paint, graphite, and digital. Although my processes vary for each medium, the collective body of work relies on realist elements woven together with fluid and sensual organic forms to capture the senses and pull you into a world of lust.
My work emits the sense of a body in motion: twisting, breathing, sex on canvas. The mindset from which I work lies within the realm of those rare moments of intimacy where time ceases to exist, mundane reality dissolves and physical pleasure and spiritual ecstasy merge.
Media Used: Oil Paint, Graphite and Digital Photography

Shellie Fiocca
visit focusbalancecreate.com

bio
Shellie Fiocca is a working artist and full-time web designer for Orbit Media Studios, living in Chicago, IL. She relocated to Chicago from Ohio for graduate studies at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she focused on Visual Communications and Art Therapy.  While working towards her degree, she developed her video editing and production skills and participated in exhibitions at SAIC and The Chicago Art Department.

artist statement
My 2-D work is perpetually short-term, "ultra-personal," therapeutic, and meditative. I manipulate mainstream mail order catalogs and magazine advertisements to create intimate and personal remnants. In doing so I reveal imperfection, complexity, and vulnerability that did not exist in the original. Each piece disturbs the sequentiality and intended meaning of the original found images. The cumulative and ritualistic nature of the work is very important. With quick eliminative strokes I create my own story for that moment in time. As one page in a novel cannot tell the whole story; my work is most effective as a collection of small works - cumulatively creating an intimate narrative.

Media Used: Found Print, Gesso, Ball Point Pen, Marker, Photoshop, Flash, Wacom Tablet, Mini DV Final Cut Pro

Nate Winter
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bio
Nate Winter is a writer of many things. His writing spans popular culture, marketing, art critique, humor, poetry and short fiction. He's a graduate of the University of Michigan with a background in communications, creative writing and French. He lives in Chicago.

artist statement
There is a visual language to the artwork of Nick Haas. It's one of distorted geometry and structural surrealism that communicates an unmistakable vision of the city. But below the visual surface lies a narrative language that yearns to be written. Every uprooted building and shadowy overpass has a story to tell. Each dark corner and chain link fence is a persona to introduce. My goal is to bring these narratives to life through writing, and further the conversation Nick's imagery begins.