Gallery 901
MATTHEW SCHAEFER
JUNE 7 - 30 , 2025
OPENING RECEPTION JUNE 7 | 5 PM - 7 PM
My education in the arts started early. Both my Mother and Father were heavily invested in literature, visual arts, classical music, etc. There was a severity of sincerity as well as a desperate identity that rose above the cultural norms of the 50s and 60s, the youthful formative years of my life. I always felt comfortable expressing myself through painting rather then the traditional means of socialization. Painting was encouraged and it became a way of communicating. My life. I was recognized as an artist but I was not prepared emotionally for the competitive nature of the economic world that could have helped me. I attended Silvermine College of Art in New Canaan Ct. from 1968 thru 1970. I was restless and traveled here and there throughout the seventies. My identity as a artist has never left me. I always found work to cover the costs of paints and canvas and shelter. I first started showing my paintings in Ct. around the early mid 1970s and was well received. Being a rebellious individual, at the time, I missed many opportunities that were offered. My experiences on the road released me from the burden of conformity. I moved to Chicago around 1980 and began showing my work in various galleries. In the early 2000’s I joined Flatfile Gallery which gave me many opportunities to display paintings. I am now represented by several galleries in the vicinity.
KARSYN PRESCOTT
JULY 5 - 30, 2025
“Unstraightened: Queer Growth in Crooked Places”
Opening Reception - July 5, 2025 | 5 pm - 8 pm
"Karsyn Prescott (he/they) is a transdisciplinary artist and emerging art therapist whose work explores the intersections of queerness, disability, and trauma. Rooted in personal narratives—scars, surgeries, and survival—Karsyn uses humor, irreverence, and found materials to center what is often unseen: dysphoria, embodiment, and emotional complexity. He is currently pursuing an MA in Counseling: Art Therapy at Adler University, where this exhibition also serves as his Social Justice Practicum project.
Unstraightened is a body of work that reclaims the messy, tangled process of healing. Through sculpture, painting, and mixed media, it speaks to the lived realities of being trans and disabled—on both micro (individual) and macro (systemic) levels. Drawing from his own experience navigating care systems in Miami, Florida and now Evanston, Illinois, Karsyn contrasts resource accessibility, community belonging, and the politics of visibility in different regions. This show is both personal and political: a space where scars are emphasized, not erased, and where survival becomes its own form of resistance."
