FREE LOVE
Mican Morgan, Porous Walker
Curated by Jeffrey Grauel
March 28-April 24, 2010

“Love”, like “art” doesn’t have a single simple meaning. Every song ever written, every play, movie has tried to figure out what it is and how to deal with it. All of this collective brooding has reduced the language and images about love down to a few we recognize right off, hearts and broken hearts. Artists Mican Morgan and Porous Walker use this lexicon and suggest a slightly new one for an idea refresh and a necessary laugh. Love is not stale; it’s free.

Mican Morgan manipulates relationship clichés like her sculptural materials. She pulls them apart and sticks different bits together with results that continue to be familiar yet slightly off. Nuggets of base wisdom and metaphors to love by become objects and vignettes. Getting “hitched” and braiding are scrutinized as actions of affection, but things aren’t always rosy. Expect a few bombs to drop. Cue Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield.”

Porous Walker’s artwork depicts the parts of life and relationships that make us uncomfortable or exists only in fantasy. He makes them accessible like bathroom graffiti or a note secretly passed amongst schoolboys. Indecent and hilarious, his distinct style invokes psychedelic imagery from the 70s and exists somewhere between Dr. Seuss and R. Crumb. Porous’ drawings seem like they haven’t matured past adolescence, and that is a good thing. They never should. They have a fresh wisdom to impart. Sometimes as simple as, “Don’t do this.”

Mican Morgan is a lady and Porous Walker is a dude. Mican lives and works in Chicago and Porous on a houseboat in Northern California. Mican is the keeper of the Thorne Miniature Rooms at the Art Institute. Porous Walker is not Porous’ real name. Mican earned her MFA from UIC. Porous’ artwork has been featured in magazines and galleries all over the world.