"Life is very much about rule-breaking, about confrontation. Otherwise history would just stand still. Someone has to come along and break the rules and try, for whatever reason, to go about things in a different way. Even if it is a simple sense of adventure, a sense of exploration. You explore concepts and things that interest you, but you are also exploring inside of yourself."
Ed Paschke was born in 1939 in Chicago. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons led him toward a career in art. As a student at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago he was influenced by many artists featured in the Museum's special exhibitions, in particular the work of Gauguin, Picasso and Seurat. Although Paschke's interests leaned towards representational imagery, he learned to paint based on the principles of abstraction and expressionism. Paschke received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1961, and his Master of Fine Arts degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1970.
Between his graduate and undergraduate work Paschke traveled and worked a variety of jobs amassing the experiences that would shape his artistic style. During a brief period in New York, he was exposed to Pop Art philosophy and began to incorporate elements of this style borrowing images directly from the print media and other elements of popular culture. Themes of violence, aggression, and physical incongruity prevail in his work of this period. Returning to Chicago in 1968 he exhibited with other artists whose work, like Paschke's, shared references to non-Western and surrealist art, appropriated images from popular culture and employed brilliant color throughout a busy and carefully worked surface. Known collectively as the Imagists, their work attracted attention both regionally and nationally.
Paschke's work of the 1970's reflects society's subculture as the artist replaced images from the print media with images derived from the electronic media. In Paschke's most recent work, he enlarges scale to a grand proportion and includes images of such well-known figures as George Washington, Elvis Presley, and Mona Lisa. His work reveals a powerful interaction between humanity and technology capable of shaping perception at the most fundamental level.
Selected Exhibitions
(art)n Virtual Visions, Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, October 29, 2002 - January 5, 2003
influence CHICAGO influence, A R E N A Gallery, Chicago, IL, September 8 - October 14, 2001
Digital Printmaking Now, Brooklyn Museum of Art, June 22 - September 2, 2001
Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, November 4, 2000 - January 28, 2001 (PDF file)
Electronic Immersions: Four Generations of Illinois Artists, Illinois Art Gallery, James R. Thompson Center, Chicago, Illinois, September 2 - October 24, 1997
The Art in Embassies Program, for exhibition in American Embassy: 97 Bonn Ambassador Kornblum, Germany, October 31, 1997 - October 31, 1998
Selected Publications
Lee, Eric McCauley (2004). Selected Works: The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman, Oklahoma. (PDF file)
Richter, Marianne, et. al., (2003). Union League Club of Chicago Art Collection. Union League Club of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
Kushner, Marilyn (2001). Digital Printmaking Now. Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York.
Rifkin, Ned (2001). Chorus of Light: Photographs from the Sir Elton John Collection. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, in association with Rizzoli
International Publications, New York, New York. (PDF file)
Warren, Lynne (1996). Art in Chicago: 1945-1995. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois.
Benezra, Neal (1990). Ed Paschke. Hudson Hills Press, New York, New York.
Also see Tracking Ephemera: No Fumare por Favore/Primondo
References
Schwalb, Harry, Model Dealer, ARTnews, Summer 1998
Bowie, David, Super-Banlism and the Innocent Salesman, Modern Painters, Spring 1998
Gallery Representation
Maya Polsky Gallery, Chicago
Galerie Darthea Speyer, Paris
Tracking Ephemera : No Fumare Animation + Interview with Ed Paschke [from 1997]
