Devening Projects invites you to a special summer event featuring the artwork and music of Chicago artist and synthesist Zander Raymond. Zander is well known for being a prolific maker of enigmatic laminated collages as well as for his moody, atmospheric synth work. Secrets From a Squirrel his most recent album was just released on Florabelle records. He’s also been showing and performing a lot this year so we’re super excited to break our no-shows-in-the-summer rule to showcase some of Zander’s beautiful new collages while he generously composes some sounds during the afternoon with a short performance. This is a one-day event; we hope you’ll take some time away from the beach to hang out with us and celebrate this incredible young artist.

Event details: Sunday, July 30th from 2 – 5pm. Performance at 3pm.

As Zander says about his work: In my studio practice, I see debris as a resource. Drawing from a stockpile of found materials, tools, and images, I improvise with what is at hand. Through gentle nudges, notices, and gestures, I coax the work into existence—paying careful attention to the pre-existing character embedded in the material. I’m interested in the subtle character that emerges through various forms of compression and transfer such as lamination or relief printmaking, where the material enacts its own agency and chance determines the final image. In most cases, an object’s subjectivity or assigned role is deactivated as soon as it enters the studio space, often spending several months rubbing up against various other found materials before finding a spot in the work. I am interested in the subtle character that a mark develops through various forms of transfer; the forms tend to retain the essence of the source while simultaneously fostering the unpredictable marks of chance. I am equally interested in how utilizing the detritus that surrounds me could indicate an autobiography or say something about experience. I see the studio as a permeable environment, existing remotely anywhere that objects, images, tools, and ideas converge and ask me: “what is possible?”