work wear blues

Extract from Press Release:

‘In work wear blues, Puthod creates a ‘break room’ for objects belonging to different economies, including several borrowed and found components from tradespeople in the north and northwest sides of Chicago. Puthod’s instinctive and anecdotal ‘on the ground’ research within the fabric of the city has resulted in a group of works formed by on-site production and narratives of encounter.

The large variety of vacant and in-use storefront displays and window signage throughout Chicago are reflected in Puthod’s series of suspended Flex-o-glaze panels. Their poetic slogans–AUTO, BODY, REPAIR–are drawn from the seemingly endless array of car garages local to Weatherproof, with phrases that simultaneously connect the human and machine. While looking for scrap car parts, Puthod met mechanic/gardener Frank Cortes at Oil Plus Repair, a family-owned garage located few minutes from the gallery. His emissions workshop is an oasis of fig trees, grape vine cuttings, and begonias thriving among exhausts, car lifts, and spare tyres. Following several friendly conversations, Cortes agreed to loan of one of his cherished plants to the exhibition with a list of care instructions. Puthod’s exploration of local trades provided another unexpected connection with family-run neon fabricators, Lightwriters Neon Inc.. Based in Chicago since 1977, Lightwriters founder Jacob Fishman has been making neon signs and graphics for businesses and artists for over fifty years. Puthod visited Fishman’s home workshop and the Ravenswood workshop of his daughter, current Lightwriters Director Zoelle Nagib, with a proposal to revive unused, stored, or spare neon parts. Lightwriters kindly loaned a set of components from an existing artwork made by Fishman, which are reconfigured into a new wall-based installation by Puthod.’ more here