This exhibition features 19 works by the gallery curator, Seth! Leary.
“This body of tiny works could be described as 40 years in the making, although most of that was gestation. The small metal pieces have been following me around since 1986 (plus or minus a semester on either side) when I was taking metals and jewelry classes at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I saved these tidbits to “use someday” and this month was that someday. I also included photographs and a few other bits that date from that same period. It felt like a particularly productive time, shortly before my graduation with a BFA in Art Education in 1987. It was a time of endings and beginnings so the title is kind of an obvious play on the year and the colloquial expression. (I decided against calling it Nix 86; felt a bit too on the nose.) Right now, none of the pieces are for sale but that could change. Please enjoy and share your feedback.”
Catch this exhibition while it is up until July 3, 2026.
By Post I | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Postmarks from letters from my friend Tim and cousin Rita and copper pieces.
By Post II | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
The photo of the mailbox was taken in 1986 in Urbana, Illinois.
End of the Trail I | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
I think that the little balsa stick was from a 1983 or 1984 school (U of I) project.
End of the Trail II | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photograph taken at the cemetery in Harristown, Illinois in 2026.
Untitled | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Untitled | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Book | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Text is from a 1986 National Geographic
Book/Sky | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photograph of the sky was taken in 1986.
Practice I | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Also in the exhibition is a bronze cast. All are remnants from 1986 ring making and a relationship that didn’t survive.
Practice II | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photographed in 2026, the concrete core is from the Child Development Laboratory in Urbana, Illinois and was used in an art installation I did in 1985.
Leftovers | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Leftover Cemetery | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photographed at a demolished structure at the cemetery in Harristown, Illinois in 2026.
Footwear I | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
The stitched bit is from a Nike swoosh from a pair of shoes I wore circa 1986. Background and text are from a 1986 National Geographic.
Footwear II | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Background photograph was taken circa 1988 at my copy shop at 215 South Sixth Street in Springfield, Illinois. (The address was originally 217 but either I or the previous tenant inadvertently changed it to 215.) The excavated tile probably dates to when the shop was a Luer’s Shoes store.
Untitled | 1986/2026 | Mixed media on canvas
Untitled | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photographed in my parents’ yard in 2026.
Untitled | 1986/2026 | Copper and brass
Untitled | 1986/2026 | Copper
These two pieces were hammered out (and one acid etched) in 1986. I combined them for this exhibition.
Untitled | 2026 | Photograph & acrylic on canvas
Photographed at my parents’ house in 2026.
Gallery 1624 