Waterworld

My photo Terminus—shot on my iPhone 5s in January 2020 of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina—was selected to be exhibited in 71% - The State of Water at Palazzo Costanzi, Sala Umberto Veruda, during Trieste Photo Days in Trieste, Italy! Here are some install shots by Exhibit Around, as well as my original photo (see if you can spot it in each exhibition photo). Grazie!

(View more of my mobile photography here, and read more about that Patagonia trip—the last time I travelled—in my pre-pandemic post “Alegría.”)

Switching gears to showcasing others’ talents: My new art, poetry, and writing zine, LAMINATOR Vol. 1, is available to pre-order! On the cover will be this piece:

Charcoal drawing called Acolyte #1 by Win Wallace,
an artist in Lockhart, Texas

And on the inside: Poetry, prose, and artwork across all media (including painting, illustration, painting, collage, textiles, and more) by 68 artists, poets, and writers from all over Chicago, the country, and the world.

It also has an accompanying online exhibition! A few of the artists featured in the zine have art that’s available for purchase; this includes the originals of their pieces in the publication, as well as bonus pieces. Browse them here and support independent artists!

Pictured above are ethereal digital paintings printed on Giclée Archival Paper by Buuchau Chau, a self-taught digital artist from Waterloo, Canada.

You Ain’t Zine Nothing Yet

I’m so excited to announce the contributors in my inaugural zine, LAMINATOR Vol. 1! This new publication—Artists on the Lam’s first physical booklet—features work by 68* artists, poets, and writers from all over Chicago, the country, and the world. This is a labor of love.

*(If you think that’s a lot (it is): The submission process unexpectedly became highly competitive for a little zine; I received applications from over 200(!) people, a record number for me. It got to the point where one night I actually continued to review entries in my dreams.)

In this volume, enjoy poetry, prose, and art across all media and forms—including illustration, painting, photography, collage, textiles, and more—by:

Ami Moregore, Ami Watanabe, Angela Townsend, Annie Govekar, Audrey Clarendon, Buuchau Chau, Chantal Danyluk, Charlene Moy, Christine Lozano, Claire Cai, Constance Volk, Cynthia J. Lee, Dana Albalushi, Darcie Denton, Darinka VZ, Emily Andrews, Emily Thornton Calvo, Fei Ewald, Fernanda Morales Tovar, Gabe Drueke, George Peterson, Gloria Tang Yuze, Hayden Minor, InsomniaBird (Susie Xiong), Jamiece Adams, Jasmine Marie, Jessica Smit Mattingly, Jonathan Espinoza-Perez, Josepha Natzke, Julia Graczyk, Kathy Halper, Keelan McMorrow, Kelly Eden, Klinta Kalneja, Kurt Kreissl, Laura Cantor, Laura Catherwood, Laura Rodriguez, Lillian Prichard, Maddie Hinrichs, Maham Ali, Marcia Biasiello, Marie Magnetic, Mark Banks, Mary Kate Fahrenbach Venturini, Meri Kukkavaara, Nalendra Ezra a.k.a Ejura, Nancy Bechtol, Olukorede Ojelade, Oscar Eduardo de Paz, Patrick Earl Hammie, Pedro Patti, Renata Hernández, Renee McGinnis, Richard Gessert, Sarah Lorentz, Seth King, Shannon Sphar, Sneha Paul, Sophia Croasdale, Stafford Hiroshi Smith, Taryn Okesson, Tiffany Gholar, Vaishnavi Sivaprasad, Wendy Wahman, Win Wallace, Yulin Yuan, and Zee Tan Zhi Wang

Created and edited by Jenny Lam

Pre-order the zine here, where you can also get a sneak peek at some of the artwork and poetry inside, as well as view a mini online art exhibition featuring some of the contributing artists!

Pictured above: A charcoal drawing called Acolyte #1 (this will be on the cover!) by Win Wallace, an artist currently based in Lockhart, Texas, and an oil painting called Wallflowers by Emily Andrews, an artist, actress, and musician from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Open Call for Artists, Poets, & Writers: Submit to Artists on the Lam’s 1st Zine, Laminator

Artists on the Lam is thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural zine, Laminator! All artists, poets, and writers from anywhere in the world are welcome to submit work for publication!

In an ever increasingly digital world, we often find ourselves seeking ways to unplug, searching for the tangible, the analog, something tactile and physical we can touch and hold with our own hands, something to keep and cherish as a memento, as ephemera, something to lose, something to find, something to give and share with a loved one like a secret.

Don’t get us wrong—we’re all about the digital realm too; after all, Artists on the Lam started out as a blog back in 2011 (and it’s still going strong!), and during this ongoing pandemic we pivoted to virtual exhibitions (such as SLAYSIAN in 2020, DECAHEDRON in 2021, and HYGGE in 2023). And, of course, you’re reading this online.

But this project has been a long time coming; Laminator is the brainchild of Chicago-based artist, indie curator, writer, and Artists on the Lam founder Jenny Lam, who has been keeping snail mail—and the USPS—alive for the past 15 years with her beloved postcard project Dreams of a City, and who was probably the only young person in the world who didn’t get a smartphone until 2014 (and then stubbornly used that same old phone for 7 years).

And, much like the soothing sounds of a pencil scratching on paper, there’s just something about the feel of flipping through the pages of a good book.

What we’re looking for:

• Visual art
• All mediums and forms are welcome! Examples:
• Drawing
• Painting
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Collage
• Etc.!
• Poetry
• Prose
• All forms are welcome, including non-fiction such as personal essays, anecdotes, letters, etc.!

There’s no theme; submit your best work! (But if that’s too broad for you and you’d like some guidance, here’s a theme Artists on the Lam has always been obsessed with: Dreams. Interpret that however you wish.)

There’s no application fee! It’s free to submit to the zine!

Ready to apply? Complete the steps below:

It Pours

My 2017 photo Singing Sands—shot on my iPhone 5s—has been selected to be exhibited in Ancestral Landscapes: Investigating Heritage and Home at NOT REAL ART! View the show here. Thank you to curator Kirsten Bengtson-Lykoudis for choosing my work.

(This is a photograph I took while walking to Crescent Lake after a camel ride on Echoing Sand Dune, a.k.a. Singing Sand Dune, or Mingsha Shan, or Mingsha Mountain, in the oasis of Dunhuang—which in ancient times was a bustling hub on the Silk Road—in Gansu province, China. One of my favorite places on Earth. View more of my mobile photography here.)

So, with Twitter imploding, for social media you can also follow me at:

• Facebook: facebook.com/TheJennyLam
• Instagram: instagram.com/artistsonthelam
• TikTok: tiktok.com/@artistsonthelam
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thejennylam
• Tumblr: artistsonthelam.tumblr.com
• Mastodon: mastodon.art/@jennylam
• I’ve joined Meta’s new Twitter competitor Threads, of course: threads.net/@artistsonthelam

And if anyone has a Bluesky invite, I’d be much obliged!

When It Rains

I’m one of the Selected Photographers for the Urban Photo Awards 2023 in Trieste, Italy! And the competition received a staggering 12,000 submissions! Two of my works have been published in their gallery: My 2014 photos Petal (yes, the same piece in yesterday’s post) and On the Boardwalk, both shot on my iPhone 5s. Thank you to all the jurors!

[Update: I’m a Semifinalist!]

Speaking of that beloved phone I used as my camera for seven years… Here’s one of the photographs Taylor Glascock took of me for HuffPost Culture Shifters 2023 that did make it into the article.

My favorite portrait in the feature.

As Taylor wrote on her Instagram, “Jenny was so game for my ideas on a frigid Chicago day.” It’s not often I’m in front of the lens, and it was fun!

And: Stay safe in this air quality, everyone!

Winter Garden

I’ve been chosen to exhibit my artwork at the Chicago Public Library during May in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month! I’ll be exhibiting at the Harold Washington Library Center—the massive main library downtown on State Street! Thank you, CPL!

In 2018, I was at the West Chicago Avenue Branch in Austin; in 2019, I was at the Coleman Branch in Woodlawn; and in 2020, I was going to show in Logan Square, but it was cancelled when COVID hit.

This year, my exhibit will essentially be a photographic love letter to Chicago, featuring photographs I’ve taken around our wonderful city throughout the past decade—a fitting display, since (unbeknownst to me when I dreamt up the idea) CPL happens to be celebrating its 150th anniversary! Super stoked for spring.

Harold Washington Library. Photo via Chicago Public Library.

Speaking of exhibits and thoughts of spring, I’ve curated a new online exhibition of 30 artists from around the world, at all stages of their careers, working across all media, and it’s all about getting cozy with art. Read the press release for HYGGE below (and, if you’re navigating from the blog’s main page, after the jump).

He[art]h

I am thrilled to announce the online opening of HYGGE international exhibition! And it’s the perfect weather for this show too! (Freezing, my friends!) I’m so excited to share with you the amazing group I’ve curated; they’re 30 talented artists working in all mediums and forms (painting, illustration, photography, sculpture, multimedia, textiles, you name it) at all stages of their careers (for some of them, this is their first exhibition ever) from all over the world (for a couple of them, it’s actually summer). They are:

Alix Anne Shaw, Andrew Nelson, Anthony Le, Caroline Walser, Charles Inge, Christine Lozano, Cristy Corso, Danielle Pontarelli, Darcie Denton, Darin Latimer, David Martinez, Diane Ponder, Eli Tatosian, Emily Calvo, Glenn Wexler, Han Songyun, Karen I. Hirsch, Katharine Joy Houpt, Kristel Becares, Kristen Neveu, Kurt Kreissl, Marie Magnetic, Mark Pol, Mendy, Nancy Bechtol, Nancy Natow-Cassidy, Patricia Biesen, Sami Mark, Su Lin Lim, and Tony Tran.

View the exhibition here (main page) and here (click on each thumbnail to read each artist’s story and browse their artwork).

Collect the art here.

Stay in, get cozy, and enjoy!

Beginnings

Happy and healthy new year, everyone!

Looking back: These were my top liked Instagram videos and photos of 2022. (View ‘em in full here.) Thanks, friends.

Looking forward: As announced in the previous post, I’m starting 2023 by curating a new online exhibition, HYGGE, and here’s the call for artists! All artists working in all mediums and forms (painting, illustration, photography, sculpture, multimedia, installation, textiles, performance, etc.) from anywhere in the world are invited to apply. Deadline: January 16, 11:59pm.

Call for Artists: HYGGE

Artists on the Lam invites all artists to submit work for this online group exhibition, opening January 30, 2023

hyg·ge (pronunciation: hyoo-guh) noun

1. a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or wellbeing, evoked by simple comforts such as being wrapped in a blanket, having good conversations, enjoying food, etc.
2. a form of everyday togetherness; a pleasant and highly valued everyday experience of safety, equality, personal wholeness and a spontaneous social flow

We’ve all been there: trudging through snow, trying to shield our faces from wind so cold it hurts, questioning our lives and life itself.

One thing this pandemic has taught us is how to better appreciate the simple joys of staying in, being with people you care about, and enjoying art together, from watching a film to browsing an online art exhibition—really!

Creating interactive exhibitions—such as 2016’s acclaimed LEXICON and 2012’s acclaimed I CAN DO THAT—had been in Chicago artist and independent curator Jenny Lam’s wheelhouse. When Lam pivoted to digital exhibits during the pandemic, this resulted in such shows as 2020’s acclaimed SLAYSIAN, which not only garnered praise but also had outlets remarking on the very nature of the virtual platform:

Sixty Inches from Center: “Since she couldn’t bring audiences to see the show in person, she brought SLAYSIAN directly to audiences, transforming it into an online exhibition we can view from the safety of our homes. It’s now available for us to click through in digital space, where we are free to take our time and linger over the amazing work of all the artists she brought together, including extra multimedia content that wouldn’t have been possible in a traditional physical exhibition space.”

Winter’s Bloom: “Every one of the featured artists [has] a rich story to share and I encourage you to take a moment to sit with them, to share them. Just this morning my pieces came into bed with me, snuggling on a lazy Sunday. On a whim I pulled up Jenny Lam’s website and we spent the morning scrolling through the exhibit, reading about the artists and choosing your favorite pieces.”

South Side Weekly: “The digital forum offers the opportunity for at-home viewers to take part in this important work—to help these stories grow, evolve, and be seen.”

This new year, Artists on the Lam presents HYGGE, a new online art exhibition. Stay in your PJs, grab your drink of choice, and experience art, all without braving the elements.

All artists working in all mediums and forms—painting, illustration, photography, sculpture, multimedia, installation, textiles, you name it—from anywhere in the world are welcome to apply.

Claude Monet, The Magpie.

Application:

Humanities

Contributed to the #artvsartist challenge with closeups of some of my quick sketches! View my drawings (and more) in full here and here. Lensa who? AI what? All you need is a pencil and paper, baby.

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been selected to exhibit my drawing Tree Hugger, which I made when I was in high school, in Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery’s 12th Annual Nature Art Exhibition! View the show here. Thank you, LST!

Artist opportunity: Chicago DCASE’s 2023 Individual Artists Program Grant application is now open! The deadline is January 10, 2023, 5pm. I’m a past recipient. Both times I applied, I was selected to receive the grant!: The first was for my interactive public art and mapping project, Dreams of a City*; the second was when I conceived of SLAYSIAN**. More details for IAP here.

*(Recent interviews about that passion project / labor of love!: WGN Morning News (video, recorded live), WBEZ (audio, recorded live), Chicago Reader (article).)

**(Which finally happened in person last year! You can continue to enjoy the original virtual version from 2020 here and read about SLAYSIAN in press coverage (including feature articles, reviews, and interviews with the artists and myself) from 2020 here.)

Can you believe this was a decade ago?: Throwback to December 2012 when I went to Miami for the first time and then wrote my now-classic blog post “Notes from [an] underground [art scene advocate / Miami Art Week virgin].” The middle paragraph of image 3 might be one of the funniest things I’ve written. Also, check out the tags I wrote (bottom of image 4). And the 5th image is the kind of comment I love receiving, and what makes it all worth it.

And speaking of older blog posts: Congratulations on winning the World Cup, Argentina! The last place my parents and I traveled to before the pandemic (remember when I lived up to the “globetrotting polyglot” descriptor in my bio?), and I miss it. I waxed wistful about it in the post “Alegría”; read about people, love, life, and getting stranded.

Happy and healthy holidays, everyone! Consider making a year-end gift to Artists on the Lam here. As always, I am so grateful for all of you.

Become a Patron

Support Artists on the Lam here

Since its founding in 2011, Artists on the Lam has been dedicated to championing local artists while channeling global perspectives (our motto!), making art accessible, breaking barriers, building community, inspiring people to see the world anew, and demonstrating that art is for everyone—all to acclaim.

Hailed by the press and the public as an “art wave-maker,” “a global arts mover and shaker,” “a pioneer of art that is interactive, collaborative, and as much fun for viewers as it is for artists,” and as an enterprise that “keeps Chicago’s arts and cultural scene fresh, engaging, and thriving” and “embodies everything that we, in the art world, need,” Artists on the Lam has spent the past 11.5 years cultivating a vibrant international community across 177 countries and counting, connecting artists and art lovers from all walks of life.

We’ve launched the careers of emerging artists and provided a prominent platform for emerging, mid-career, and established artists alike, whether it’s through the blog that started it all, which was voted “Best Local Visual Arts Blog” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago issue by readers like you, or through groundbreaking—and rule-breaking—interactive art shows, such as the landmark exhibition I CAN DO THAT, which was voted the audience choice for “Best Art Exhibit” in the 20th anniversary edition of NewCity’s Best of Chicago issue by visitors like you.

From massive audience participatory shows like LEXICON, which was lauded by visitors as “wonderful training and exercise in the world of art appreciation,” to storied celebrations like SLAYSIAN, which South Side Weekly praised for its “role in educating and engaging with the broader Chicago community” and for “showcasing a subset of artists that have always been part of the city’s art scene, but rarely acknowledged as a collective,” at Artists on the Lam we’ve always prided ourselves in being at the forefront of art.

We’ve also always prided ourselves in being entirely independent and free.

If you’ve ever had fun at one of our events, connected with one of our artworks, enjoyed reading—or been oddly moved by—a post on the blog, found respite perusing a pandemic-era virtual exhibition, or would simply like to express your appreciation for the things we do, consider making a donation here! Your name will be included on a published list of patrons.

Your support goes towards

• Keeping the site (including the online art galleries of hundreds of talented artists) up and running;
• Keeping the site and blog ad-free and without any paywalls;
• Keeping in-person events free to attend;
• Helping produce these events and allowing them to be the best they can be;
• Helping pay our assistants;
• And so much more.

In the past, Artists on the Lam has been awarded grants from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and has received COVID-19 pandemic relief funds from The Soze Foundation’s Artist + Activist Relief Fund Grant, Chicago Artists Relief Fund, Secret Walls’ Support Your Local Artist Fund, and Propeller IMPACT Fund Grant.

Thank you endlessly for your generosity and for supporting artists and the arts!

FAQ

Can I make my donation recurring?
Yes! To make your gift monthly, donate on PayPal here.

I’d like to support Artists on the Lam in other ways. Is this possible?
Yes! You can browse the online shop, you can write about / feature Artists on the Lam in articles and interviews, you can utilize our services, you can attend our exhibitions (both in-person and virtual) where you can collect the original works of our talented artists (join the mailing list to keep up with when these events happen), and you can spread the word about all the things we do!

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Yes! You can donate on someone else’s behalf. Make a note of their name and any other details you’d like in the “Additional Info” field.

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No, since Artists on the Lam is not a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

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The payment processors used are Stripe (for credit cards) and PayPal.

Laureate

Last summer, a college student completed her undergraduate thesis about SLAYSIAN! I have her draft and it’s 26 pages all about the artists in the exhibition I curated! I’ve always talked about wanting to inspire others but when it actually happens I’m always surprised. So unbelievably honored.

 
(Here’s the online art show, March 2020-∞; here’s SLAYSIAN 2.0, the in-person exhibit, November 2021-January 2022; and here’s press coverage of the virtual exhibition, from 2020.)

And: The previous post has a massive roundup of updates; check it out if you missed it!

Cuernos

I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been selected to exhibit my 2020 photo Torres del Paine and my 2015 photo Fall in Love—both shot on my iPhone 5s—in Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery’s 12th Annual Landscapes Art Exhibition, and I’m one of the Top Winning Artists in the Photography & Digital Category! Thank you, LST! View the show here and view more of my mobile photography here.

Torres del Paine (early January 2020)

Sold: My 2016 sketches Of Dragons and Assassin II! Thank you so much to the collector for your support! (It’s like the universe balanced things out; that day I hired a fellow artist to be an attendant for my upcoming art fair booth, and then less than an hour later I received a notification about this sale!) If anyone else is interested in giving my art a new home, more of my handmade illustrations/drawings and paintings are available for purchase here.

Of Dragons (2016)

Assassin II (2016)

Here’s a little video I took before sending them off. (Not pictured: How nerve-wracking slowly tearing out Assassin II from my sketchbook without ripping it was.)

And: The updated COVID-19 booster (the one that finally helps protect against omicron) is available in the Chicago area! I scheduled my appointment at Walgreens for next week. Get your shots!

Lion’s Pride

  
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been selected to exhibit my 2016 photo Sai Kung, shot on my iPhone 5s, in Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery’s 12th Annual Seascapes Art Exhibition! Thank you, LST! View more of my mobile photography here.

I’m also excited to share that I’ve been published in Bruxelles Art Vue’s Human Body Is Art 2022 book! My copy finally arrived, and what a beautiful volume it is. I’m proud to be a part of it! Featured on my pages are a 2007 oil on canvas painting and sketches from my 2008 series Gossamer. Thank you, Art Vue Foundation!

And: Today’s my birthday!

14th birthday party, post- laser tag. (Who else had one of
these bubble shirts in the 00s? I think mine—in my favorite
color, of course—was a gift from a previous birthday.)

Spaces

I’m pleased to share that I’m one of the Urban Photo Awards 2022 Selected Photographers! And they had over 10,000 submissions! Here’s my page in the competition’s gallery, featuring my 2015 photo Spiral, shot on my iPhone 5s.

I’ve also been selected to exhibit my drawing Tree Hugger, which I made when I was in high school, in Exhibizone’s Kingdom Animalia 2022 international online group exhibition! The show runs throughout July.

oil bar on paper

Here’s a fun shirt I ordered from a local bookstore.

And I’ll close with this: A page from my diary when I was 13, Ravinia Festival, Highland Park, summer 2001.

Some links:

• My Twitter thread of GoFundMe links for victims and survivors of the July 4 parade mass shooting.
• An important article by Elad Nehorai for The Forward: “This couldn’t happen anywhere: How coverage of the shooting failed Highland Park.”
• Jessica Kaplan, a Highland Park painter with ME/CFS whose bio and statement I wrote, is collaborating with another local artist to raise money for her beloved hometown. 100% of proceeds go to the community.
• DECAHEDRON artist Kathy Halper, whose hometown is also Highland Park, created this piece as a response to the tragedy. She has prints as well as the original oil painting, and she is donating 100% of proceeds to the victims.

Sum of its parts

Some exciting announcements and news:

I’ve been selected to publish my work in Bruxelles Art Vue’s Human Body Is Art! Here are my pages in the book, featuring a 2007 oil on canvas painting and sketches from my 2008 series Gossamer. Thank you, Aleksandra Rowicka and Art Vue Foundation!

I’ve also been selected to exhibit my 2014 photo Haka in Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery’s 12th Annual Figurative Art Exhibition, and Pivot Design featured me in their story of Chicago artists who inspire them! Thank you all!

Congratulations to SLAYSIAN artist Kaitlyn Hwang for being an Outstanding Service in Arts and Humanity Awardee! Here’s her interview with Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs:

Like the previous post, I’ll close with my highlights of recent art around town: Nick Cave’s first retrospective Forothermore at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (here’s a related Gala Performance featuring none other than Patti Labelle and Nona Hendryx, also on TikTok); Immersive Monet & The Impressionists at Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago, by the same folks behind Immersive Van Gogh (note that I still wear a facemask); and more on Instagram.

Happy summer, everyone! (Even to those of you south of the equator. I’m mentally sending you some of our record heat.)